Blood Of Kings (Transfusion Book 3)

by Stephanie Hudson

  But instead of swerving all over the place before crashing into some tree, I actually made it there in one piece. But then I also knew it was probably wise not to get too close. As I stopped my bike, skidding side-on the second I saw that the bad guys had already beaten me to the crash site. Which meant I was now faced with a convoy of blacked out off roaders, and even more mercenaries. I mean jeez, where did they keep getting these guys, ‘Ebay for ex-military’? Was there like some app for your phone out there for bad guys, like dating with profiles, list of accomplishments, hobbies, pictures and shit?

  I could see it now…

  ‘Likes to take long walks on the beach after a long day of kidnapping, murdering and blowing up shit. Hobbies include reading about evil dictators, fertilizing the garden with dead bodies and sharpening blades by a warm fire whilst watching Rambo with that special person.’

  “Hey, move along asshole, this isn’t a fucking show!” I jumped the second I heard someone behind me and then felt the back of my helmet being smacked, causing me to wince in pain. This was thanks to the lump there from where that bitch had shot me with a tranquilizer and I had fallen backwards. And well this, along with a bruised face that was currently being smushed into a fucking helmet, wasn’t exactly what I would have called a fun time.

  But then again, at least it was all black and currently hid the fact that the person they would have been looking for was staring them right in the face. So, it was a little more than satisfying when I heard him say into a radio,

  “Nah, just some punk kid that’s gonna get his ass kicked if he doesn’t fuck off.” I actually smiled at this before starting back up the bike and making my way past the wreckage going as slow as I could. There must have been about twenty guys, all stationed around it, making me wonder why the cops hadn’t arrived yet? It wasn’t as if a helicopter crash would have been missed, not being so close to the city.

  However, my question was soon answered, but first I drove off in the opposite direction and into the tree line. Then, once I knew I was out of site, I ditched the bike and started backtracking through the cover of the trees. It also helped that it was dark and I had the movements of their flashlights to follow.

  So, thankfully, I managed to stay hidden and thanks to the smoke that clogged the air near the crash site, well then, I managed to get close enough to see what was going on. The helicopter was a crumpled mess of twisted and burnt metal and I couldn’t help but suck in a shuddered breath, just thinking how risky my actions had been just to escape. Gods, but just knowing that I could have ended up in that wreck was enough to make me suddenly want to be sick, and in the end, I could barely get my helmet off quick enough before I did in fact hurl.

  Thankfully, I wasn’t heard as there was too much going on with the wreckage to hear, which included the bent and twisted propeller that came crashing to the ground making everyone shift further back. I watched as an older man emerged from one of the many vehicles and despite being dressed the same as the others, he held an air of importance like armour. This told me even before he spoke that he was about to start issuing orders. And I was right.

  “Right, ten minutes people and the authorities will be here, as they can’t be delayed any longer, so start moving out. Echo team, you know what to do, erase all evidence. Carter, get him on the phone, he will want to plan our next…”

  “Sarge! We’ve got something!” This came from a man who barely even let the car he had been in come to a complete stop before he was out of it and running to who I assumed was his Sergeant. He cut the guy off, who was obviously put in charge of this shit show and when I saw what he now held in his hand I gasped, knowing why he thought it so important…

  They had found my dress.

  “Oh shit,” I whispered knowing that having any evidence of me right now was only going be a bad thing. Because yes, they could have told Lucius that they had me, but any smart person would have demanded proof of life. And well, the words, ‘trust me’ wouldn’t have exactly cut it here.

  Besides, Lucius would hear of the crash before long, so even I knew they had to act quickly here. Because it wouldn’t take him long to put two and two together and no doubt the equation would equal my charred broken remains somewhere in the centre of all that broken burning metal. Oh Gods, but that thought was enough to make me want to heave up even more river water, because I couldn’t imagine the suffering he would endure thinking I was dead.

  “Where was it found?” the one in charge asked, taking hold of my torn and bloody dress and fisting it in his hand, as if he had just found a lifeline. Of course, not that they would know, but the blood wasn’t mine. No, it had been from when Lucius had held me to him, seeing as at the time he himself had been covered in the blood of his victims.

  “Not too far from here, less than half a klick, Sir…one of my men found it hanging in a tree.” This was when the Sergeant frowned as if thinking now how the hell that had happened…oh, if only he knew, ha the asshole wouldn’t have believed it!

  “Do you think the hostage is dead?” The merc asked, making the one in charge look down at the dress in his hand now deep in thought.

  “It would stand to reason, as I couldn’t see her surviving that,” he answered looking up at the wreckage, no doubt thinking that I had somehow been thrown from the helicopter as it was crashing.

  “And the dress?”

  “I take it your men did a throughout sweep of the perimeter?”

  “Yes, Sarge,” the merc replied making me wonder if they’d found the robbed punks under the bridge yet?

  “Then it’s a fucking mystery but at least this is something we can use until we find a body…better keep looking, we may need a few of those body parts later on as proof, should this not be enough,” he said before pulling out his phone and making a call. Man, I didn’t think I could have hated them anymore than I did, but then they started talking about my body parts and well, I was once again killing mad!

  “We have your little bitch.” The Sarge said before quickly pulling the phone away from his ear, as even from this distance and I could hear the roar of rage. One that obviously was coming from Lucius who was on the other end of the phone.

  “You can make all the threats you want but it won’t change the fact we have her and in exchange for getting her back in one piece, my client wants the box and the real one this time,” he said in an authoritative tone that would have meant diddly squat to Lucius. It also made me wonder whether or not ‘sergeant pepper’ here would have sounded quite so convincing in his demands had he played witness to what Lucius had been able to do to over twenty of his men. And this was all in the time that it had taken me to tear out an all-important testicle…ouch, even my eyes watered at the memory and I wasn’t even a dude!

  “You want proof, fine, I will send you proof but mark my words Vampire, the next time you demand evidence of her capture, then I will be sending you a far bloodier picture, in the form of a piece of her mailed to your fucking door, assuming you still have one!” Then he hung up to the sound of another giant, supernatural man paddy that was coming from my boyfriend in the form of another demonic roar.

  “That sounded like it went as expected,” Soldier boy said, making his superior sigh before handing him the dress.

  “Indeed. Now hold this up,” he demanded and before long, my dress was being held up as he snapped a picture with his phone. And well, unless he was considering one just like it for his private collection when playing Sergeant Sally at the weekends, then it didn’t take much brain power to guess what he planned to do with this snapshot.

  “There, let the blood sucking bastard stew over that,” he said after sending the picture and I could only imagine the destruction that followed that particular message. Considering that by them sending him a picture of my dress meant that they most likely would have had to remove it from me first.

  It seriously made me start to question whether it was possible for a Vampire to suffer an aneurism or not. Because let’s face it, I ver
y much doubted the first thing to come to mind was that your girlfriend woke up in a helicopter, shot the pilot with a tranquilizer, before purposely throwing herself into a river from a crashing helicopter, something only accomplished by losing her dress. Yeah, that was a stretch even for me, I thought with a shake of my head. An action that only managed my headache to strengthen in its power, making me now want to swear like a sailor waking up with a hangover and finding ‘I love Mom’ tattooed on his ass!

  “Your orders, Sarge?”

  “Layla will lead him to Luitpoldkaserne. Have our men ready to intercept as he heads northwest on Föhringer Ring, that way we can barricade him in and escort him to the compound. The witch will take care of the rest as soon as he gets there. Now go, make it so!” I couldn’t help but laugh at this last bit, I mean who did this jackass think he was, Captain of the Enterprise!

  But then with this thought I couldn’t help but smile. As it made me think back to what Lucius had said this morning, shocking me enough to turn high pitch ‘only dogs can hear me’ levels when I found out he had googled the name.

  Well, at least now I knew their plan and all I needed to do was think of a way to get to him before they did. But, other than waving a great big flag in the air with a picture of the box circled in red with a great big line through it, then how I was going to achieve this I didn’t know. Because it also wasn’t as though I could just find that road he spoke about and start doing jumping jacks in hopes he would see me, and the bad guys wouldn’t! Damn it, but why didn’t I memorize his phone number! Gods, at this rate, then I was thinking about getting the damn thing tattooed on the back of my hand, labelled ‘for when the shit hits the supernatural fan!’

  Oh, how I remembered when my life used to be simple and what I wouldn’t give right now for a fluffy robe, a tub of Ben and Jerry’s and an overly complicated Lego set to complete. Now, that sounded like a Friday night to me! Not a night sneaking around in some bloody German woodland, squeaking as I walked thanks to the most impractical pants in existence…no matter how Arnie’esque bad ass they looked!

  So, on that note, as I watched the GI Josephine and Picard wannabe depart, I stuffed back on my helmet and made my way back to the bike I had hidden behind a fallen dead tree.

  “Now what?” I asked myself after slumping down with my back to the deadwood, trying to think of a viable plan of action that wouldn’t get me killed for real this time. Or one that meant possibly getting Lucius killed when he handed over that box.

  I spotted the rucksack I had stolen along with the bike and well, everything else I was wearing, and dragged it over to me before unzipping it, hoping that German stoners also carried flare guns these days. Then, just as I was about to rummage inside, I heard a twig snap behind me.

  “You again! I thought I told you to piss off!” I turned around and quickly got to my feet to see the same merc that had caught me earlier. So, I raised my hands the second I saw him start to raise his weapon and started shaking my head, mumbling all the fruit I knew in German, because for some reason in that moment it was the only shit that came to mind.

  “What the fuck you saying!?” The guy snapped as he came closer, which was exactly what I needed. I mumbled again, so he fell for it, taking that last step needed. Then I acted,

  “I said Strawberries are in season, dickhead!” Then I grabbed him by the tactical vest and yanked him to me at the same time headbutting him with my helmet. Something that ended up jarring my bruised face painfully but it was worth it, for the guy dropped to the floor unconscious half a second later.

  Then I smirked down at him and said,

  “Oh look, wouldn’t you know, I just made it so.” Then I reached for my bag, knowing my time here was up but then I as I caught sight of something in there an idea suddenly hit me.

  And well, there was only one way to describe it…

  It was…out of this world!

  Lucius

  Chapter 2

  Underestimated

  They had her.

  They had my Chosen One.

  I swear to the fucking Gods the wrath I would inflict on the world should anything happen to her was something no God would be able to prevent! The end of days had fucking nothing on me and neither did the wrath of a fucking Titan!

  I was beyond murderous. I was reaching a limit named ‘close to tearing this fucking city apart and burning it to the fucking ground’ furious! That’s where my head was at, which was why my already crumbling club was a single wrong word away from becoming swallowed up by Hell. So naturally, it was of little wonder why my people continued to give me a wide berth as I stormed back inside the building only seconds after knocking the bitch Layla unconscious. Only sparing her life thanks to Liessa’s interference. Something that forced me to see sense enough to stop from ripping her head from her shoulders…for now.

  I had no patience to wait for anything, needing now to get to the bottom of what happened to my girl, starting with the last place I knew she had been before being taken. By the Gods, but if I found evidence of her being hurt, then Hell was going to know about it, for even the lowest levels would quake in fear of my wrath!

  So, I ignored the lift and opted instead for the way I had got down here so quickly, doing so now by releasing my wings and launching myself straight up in the centre of the staircase, at least being thankful that it had been built larger than it had needed to be. But then, the second I took my first step into the lobby, I felt something so powerful it rocked me back on my heels. I would have thought it something else the Rogues had planted, as the force felt far too powerful for it to be anything other than that of a witch.

  But I had been wrong.

  It had been the force of the Gods.

  I found the wall behind me just so the strength of it wouldn’t land me on my ass, and then I was forced to close my eyes as a sense of dread washed over me. It felt as though I had just been plunged into an icy abyss, now drowning from my greatest fears.

  It was my Amelia.

  “My Šemšā’… my Šemšā… Še…mšā” I whispered this over and over again, shaking my head, trying to tell myself it couldn’t be true…it couldn’t be fucking true!

  I roared out and this time it wasn’t only in anger, it was in pure undiluted agony! The feeling that something had just happened where I was quite literally seconds away from losing her to the Heaven the Gods believed her destined for! This was when blind panic set in and in my desperation, I didn’t know what else to do but pray to the only entity that had given me anything other than my second life. Because he only had the power to take life, not grant it back like I wished he did have right now.

  As the Gods only knew how much he fucking owed me!

  So, instead, I ran into my apartment with a speed even I didn’t know I possessed until then. Then, the second I was inside, I was at the doors of my vault in another heartbeat knowing time was critical. So, I simply twisted the metal door with so much power that my hands transformed into that of my demon. Meaning that soon the metal wasn’t simply a warped and distorted version of its former self, but now it was dripping molten steel, from where my hands had brought forth the eternal flames of Phlegethon, one of the five rivers in Hell.

  It was one that branched off into Tartarus itself and right now, I could feel its pull trying to drag me further down into being consumed with its power. But my will was beyond all strength of others, and nothing could control me, not even the Devil himself as he soon discovered, when he demanded I take a life I would not grant him.

  But that was the past, and since then my power over Hell had only grown in strength. Meaning it was a war which Lucifer dared not risk for fear of losing his crown…a crown I most certainly didn’t fucking want! That was unless the Gods took what was mine in these very seconds and I needed an army big enough to storm into the gates of Heaven in order to claim her soul back. One that belonged to me and only me.

  But right now, I simply prayed it didn’t come to that, so instead I destroyed
the vault doors in seconds, making sure to use my will to bend the metal outwards enough to let me enter before coming to the gift once bestowed to me from the Gods.

  “Caliburnus,” I said kneeling down in front of it and then, once placing my hand upon the blade itself, I lowered my head. I bowed to its power before slicing my hand down it so as when I made this vow, I did so by honouring it with my blood.

  “My Šemšā …. ‘Save my Šemšā, my Electus born. Save her and my blood is yours… that’s all I fucking ask!” I shouted hammering my fist down next to the sword, feeling the floor give way as it cracked around my hand.

  “SAVE HER!” I roared down at the floor and after this the sword, the chooser of Kings, started to glow as if powered by the blood I’d just offered. A second later, the whole room erupted into a blinding flash of light, the force of which nearly blew me backwards. However, my sacrifice still needed to be made so I held on as my blood was drawn up through my flesh and into the blade. I ignored the pain, as to me it was simply a state of mind. Now the pain of losing Amelia, however, was one that had the power to tear me to pieces and completely destroy me!

  So, I held on, despite the blood it took, drawing it out of me as though it was feeding from my very life that Lucifer had granted me. It ran along the gleaming blade in rivulets of crimson streams feeding down into an ocean of blood. It coated the hand that held it, one that mimicked the Lady of the Lake who had been the blade’s bearer, charged with gifting it to its next chosen King.

  One it deemed worthy.