Immortal Protector: Vampire Mates

by Alice K. Wayne

  “What the hell,” she said aloud, looking between her phone and the massive man making his way into the room. Her father still hadn’t replied, and she had no idea what this new man wanted.

  He was so tall his head nearly scraped the ceiling. He had to have been close to seven feet. His skin was tanned and covered in what she could only guess were tribal tattoos. She had never seen anything like him before, and he definitely wasn’t Russian.

  The bullets stopped as everyone in the room realized someone else had entered. They didn’t know who he was or what organization he belonged to, so a tense pause interrupted the fight.

  “Russian lady, are you alive?” he called out, unable to see her, his voice was deep and held an accent she was completely unfamiliar with.

  “Alive behind the table.” She held up her purse in case any of the Persians decided to shoot at her.

  “I’m gonna kill these guys, and then we’ll split,” he said – almost as if he had told her to get her shoes on so they could go grab some ice cream.

  The Persians turned around, guns blazing, and Katya’s mouth dropped.

  ~

  Five tiny guys with guns was a boring fight for Kai, but that’s all he had to work with. So he would just have to deal with it.

  Just as they began firing, he pulled out two of his own guns and let it fly.

  The Persians were good shots and well-armed. If it wasn’t for his supernatural speed and sight, they might have stood a chance. Unfortunately for them, he did have those things, and they were about to suck on some lead.

  They tried to land shots, but they came too slow. They would have been better off if they would have tried hand-to-hand combat, but then again, they were simply humans, and humans could never compete with the speed at which a vampire could move.

  He dodged the shots quickly and in what he felt was an elegant way. Katya looked over at him with a mixture of confusion and fear, and he wasn’t quite sure if he enjoyed it or wanted to calm her down.

  Had her father explained to her what he was? Did she even know that he was coming? The look on her face said neither of those conversations had happened, which was going to make this one fun night for him.

  Kai was tired of playing around with these clowns. Like a predator, he attacked, grabbing them, slamming them together, twisting arms and dislocating shoulders. They screamed out in agony as he broke teeth and shattered jaws, but it was a sound that he was used to.

  Finally, they lay in a crumpled pile of bloody bodies, and he turned to her.

  “Let’s go.” He tucked his guns away and held out a massive hand to her.

  “Who are you?” Her eyes were narrowed at him, and to his surprise, she wasn’t afraid of him. It took a giant set of stones to look at someone who had just physically ripped apart other human beings and hold your head up high.

  “We can discuss all of that when we get you somewhere safe. Let’s go.” He shook his hand impatiently, knowing that at any second, backup for these guys could be rolling in.

  She didn’t take his hand, but she stood up and delicately smoothed her skirt, brushing gun powder and soot off of it, again, as if she were oblivious to the blood bath around her. With careful steps, her high heeled feet managed to step around the pools of blood everywhere, and he couldn’t help but gawk at her a little.

  Not only did she seem completely unbothered by the gore around her, she acted as if this was just another Saturday night for her.

  What the hell are Russian women made out of? He thought to himself as she floated past him and out into the cool night air.

  “Which one is yours?” she asked, looking at the vehicles out front, and he had to shake the shock from his face.

  People used the term “Ice Princess” a lot, but they weren’t kidding when it came to her. She was more concerned about keeping her shoes clean than about the fact that she just witnessed several murders.

  “The bike.” He jerked his head over at the motorcycle and was once again amazed that she simply strode over to it and hopped onto the back, leaving room for him to slide onto the front seat. The skirt she was wearing rode up to the point of teasing him, and he licked his lips.

  Shaking his head softly, he climbed on in front of her and, revving his engine, took off.

  They rode in silence for a few miles, and she seemed completely unbothered by his presence or the situation. She asked no more questions and seemed totally cut off from everything that had happened. Maybe she got rescued by random guys a lot? He thought to himself.

  Making a left, he headed down a narrow alleyway, and for the first time, her attention seemed to perk up.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, clearly bothered that he had taken her off of the main road.

  “I’m taking you to a hideout I have. We’ll wait there until someone from your family gives me further instructions.” His voice was low but strong against the wind.

  “Pull over,” she said calmly, and he felt something press against his ribs.

  The Ice Queen had pulled a gun on him.

  “I’m here to protect you, Katya,” he replied, honestly shocked. “Your father hired me; I’m your new bodyguard.”

  “I said pull over.” She pressed the barrel harder against his body.

  “Katya, I need to get you to safety. Get the gun off of me. This isn’t a game,” he barked, sincerely pissed off that the universe had decided to play such a crappy joke on him.

  Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger, and the bike jerked hard, first left then right. He tried to slow down and come to the easiest stop possible so that she didn’t go flying, but she pulled the trigger again.

  Kai growled out in pain now as the back end of the bike slid out, and she jumped off the bike, landing in a smooth roll.

  “Get back here!” He stood up and threw his bike down, flat out amazed at what she could do in heels. “The Persian back up will be on our tails any second now, we need to get out of here!”

  “If you think I trust you, you’re dumber than you look.” Her voice was even as she replied, not even a spike of fear over the fact that two bullets to the chest hadn’t put him down.

  He took a step forward, and she squeezed off another round, getting him in the kneecap. And this time, he went down to one knee, looking almost as if he were proposing to her.

  “Shooting me isn’t gonna help you, girl. Get back on the bike and let me take you to safety,” he demanded, already feeling his body beginning to push out the bullets.

  “Yeah, right. Let me get back on the bike so you can ransom me off to my family. Genius idea. I’ll take my chances out here and get home on my own.” She began walking away, and he felt his lip snarl at her for turning her back on him.

  Gritting his teeth through the pain, he stood up, but before he could even open his mouth, she turned around and shot him again, this time in the side of the face.

  Unable to keep his balance, he keeled over. Still walking away from him, he heard her cold voice say, “See you in hell, mother fucker.”

  ~

  Thanks to her excellent memory and knowledge of the streets, Katya made it home safely. Once or twice on her trip, she had thought back to the massive tattooed man. Normally when she took a life, she didn’t feel any remorse. It was the same as rinsing a spider down the drain when it got into her shower. If you came into her space, she would remove you; it was as simple as that. But this man had saved her life.

  Most likely, he planned to ransom me off later, she reminded herself, which swept away any and all guilt she had previously felt. It’s not like that hadn’t happened before.

  Still. Something about his dark eyes had called out to her in a way that, frankly, annoyed her. When he had been on his knees, hand outstretched to her, she had had to force her legs to move away from him. Those dark pools he had for eyes mesmerized her. They told her she was safe with him, that she needed to stay with him, to be with him.

  And that is why people are stupid. Sexual attraction will get
you killed, Katya. How many men have you killed, using that same method? She angrily lectured herself.

  Once she reached her home, she was met with armed guards. After shining a flashlight in her face, they let her move past them, and she placed her hand on the biometric scanner that would open the massive wrought iron gates to her home.

  Looking up, she saw no moon, only dark skies. Dark skies for dark eyes, an annoying sing song voice snaked through her mind, and she shook her head.

  “Dark skies because of the cycle of the moon, asshole,” she snapped aloud at herself and walked through the heavy doors.

  The front doors to the house once again had a small group of guards around it, but with the lights from the porch and house lighting her face, they recognized her easily, and there was no need to blind her with a flash light.

  Once inside, she found her father and brothers were furious. After receiving her emergency text message, her father had sprung into action.

  It would be war with the Persians now, and they were already calling high ranking members of their family to get out of bed and head over immediately so that they could strike back as soon as possible. They also clenched their teeth in a rage over how “easily” her guards had died.

  Shouts bounced around at how they deserved their deaths to have fallen so quickly and left their sister alone.

  Only Katya and her father stayed silent. The bottom line was that she had lived and was home safely, but two good men had lost their lives tonight. Everything else was just chump change.

  “What happened to the new guard?” her father asked, and her blood went cold.

  “New guard?” she asked dumbly, hoping against hope that he wasn’t going to describe the man she had just killed.

  “A massive man with brown skin and tattoos.” Her father stared at her hard, reading her reaction and knowing what had happened before she even needed to say it.

  “I didn’t think you had actually sent him. I didn’t trust him, so I killed him,” she spoke, just as calm as her father though her heart was hammering in her chest. She had killed an innocent man.

  “If you killed him, he was worthless anyway,” her brother stated, defending her actions.

  “He’s not dead. He’ll be back. Though, if I had to guess, I would say he is probably less than happy with you now.” Her father took a deep sip of his coffee but continued to stare at her.

  “Papa, I shot him in the face. He’s not coming back.” She didn’t want to argue with her father, but there was simply no way that this man had survived her assault.

  “Walk with me, Katya,” her father insisted, putting down his cup. He stood up and walked away from the rest of them without a single glance back. They were all so busy drawing up plans they hardly noticed anyway.

  Her entire life, she had been practicing that exact walk. It took skill and confidence to so coldly turn your back on people and walk away, not giving a single fuck at all that you had exposed a weakness to them, just daring them to use it.

  It was a show of strength and arrogance she had desperately hoped to achieve.

  Like a child, she scampered after him, knowing he would show her his short temper if she didn’t catch up quickly. Looking behind her, she saw her brothers staring after them with questions in their eyes, but no one would dare ask what was on their minds.

  Kazimir Korkovi was not a cruel man. He loved his children, and he loved his homeland, but the years had made him impatient and quicker to snap at those around him. He expected more from his children than he would ever dare to expect from others, and while his sons took this seriously, no one had ever taken it more seriously than Katya.

  Her father had always been her hero while her mother had always been a projection of what she never wanted to be. It wasn’t that her mother was a weak woman, but when she, or anyone, stood next to Kazimir, they seemed frail. She knew she would never have her father’s massive stature or his deep commanding voice, but she did what she could to mimic him, and as far as she could tell, it had worked for her.

  People didn’t necessarily fear her, certainly not the way that they feared her father, but they didn’t run her over either. They were cautious with her, which was a lot more than what most women in their world could ask for.

  “I traveled very far to find your new bodyguard – to a place I had no interest in going – and met with people I had no interest in meeting.” He let out a deep sigh as we began to walk the stone path in their backyard. “This should tell you how certain I am that I needed this man in particular to protect you.”

  “I’m sorry papa. He did protect me from the Persians, but I killed him. I shot him four times, he went down like a wounded animal. No man can get up from that,” Katya did feel guilty now, but she pushed the feeling to the side. There was no point in feeling it. The man was dead, and she was alive, and feeling sorry about it wouldn’t change anything.

  “He is no man, Katya.” Her father stopped suddenly and stared at her, and the motion carried the scent of the sleeping roses around them. “Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”

  “No.” She shook her head. Staring down at the rough stones under her feet she tried to figure out what he could be saying to her, but none of it made sense.

  “The Maori have a tribe of men who do not die. They feast upon blood and only go out in the night hours.” He stared at her hard for a moment then continued to walk.

  “He’s a vampire,” she whispered softly to herself before catching up to him.

  “He will protect you with his immortal life. You may have sent him to his knees, but he will be back for you.” Her father gave her a slight smile.

  “He is going to be back for me.” She bit her lip. Why did the Maori want her so badly?

  ~

  “You look properly fucked,” Ari said as Kai walked through the door to their industrial hideaway.

  When Kai had told his people he would be leaving to find his mate, a few of his men absolutely refused to let him go off to some “Russian shithole” alone. So two of them squeezed their beefy asses onto a plane and left paradise for the big freeze. He had expected the landscape to be cold, but not the women.

  Huge mistake.

  “My mate shot me,” he growled, dropping his big body down into the nearest chair.

  All around him, eyebrows shot up, but no one said a word. This was not the way finding your mate usually went.

  “Four fucking times, and then she left me for dead.” He kicked his muddy boots off and glared at them. “If I was a human, I would be dead right now.”

  For a few beats, the silence was thick around them, then suddenly, “I mean… that is kinda hot.”

  Laughs erupted, and Kai nodded his head vigorously.

  “Even as she was shooting me, I was like fuck me; look at her perfect stance; look at that trigger discipline.” He closed his eyes, savoring the memory. “She carries a 500 Smith and Wesson revolver. Do you know how heavy that has got to be for a girl her size? And she didn’t limp wrist it!”

  “You’ve got to marry this girl.” Tama clapped his hands together.

  “If she doesn’t kill me the next time I see her, I’m going to try,” he laughed though he wasn’t quite sure what would actually happen.

  He knew he should be angry, but that just wasn’t his style. He wasn’t that guy. Why waste time being mad over something he couldn’t change and circumstances she didn’t understand?

  “She’s not going to be an easy woman to win over.” Kai shook his head, still imagining her with her gun pointed at him.

  “Oh you mean the one who shot you in the face? That’s odd.” Ari jabbed at him.

  “She’s cold. Like… colder than ice.” He looked around the large warehouse they were holed up in and tried to think about how he could describe her. “It’s not really an act, not like she’s just trying to pretend to be a tough girl. It’s like she’s cold in her soul, like that part of her is just frozen. I don’t know what to do for a girl like that. Wha
t do you do to win over a woman that has spent her whole life striving to be independent, and self-reliant? How do you convince someone like that, that they should want to share their life with you?”

  “Warm her up.” Tama shrugged, like this was the easiest answer in the world.

  “Warm her up then.” A big smile spread across his face.

  ~

  To say that Katya wasn’t thrilled to meet with Kai, after shooting him and leaving him for dead, would have been an understatement.

  Her father had informed her that tonight they would hold a formal business meeting with all the Maori men and discuss business and safety tactics.

  If we simply would have done this to begin with, I wouldn’t have had to shoot him, Katya growled to herself as she squeezed her short, muscled legs into a pair of black leggings.

  Black leggings, black shirt, black blazer. Perfect.

  Even back before her fairytale life had turned to shit, Katya just wasn’t a person who liked bright colors or frilly styles. The friends her parents tried to get her to hang out with would come through the doors in loudly colored dresses with pretty prints, and they made her want to gag.

  The clothes looked nice on those girls, but they were not for her. Her mother would even tell stories of how, at just three years old, Katya would scream and fight when forced to wear a dress. And by four, she had figured out that if she allowed them to put her into the dress, she could hop on her bike, ride down the street, throw the dress into the neighbor’s yard, and ride around naked.

  Until the maids saw her and went chasing after her that is.

  Katya could put up with white and even some shades of red, but too much more than that was pushing it.

  Her father had never minded how she dressed. He would often sternly remind her mother that at least Katya wasn’t changing into skirts so short her underwear hung out; or sneaking push up bras and tube tops like the other girls in her high school.

  Mother, however, seemed like she would almost rather have that along with a flock of boys waiting outside to try and date her daughter than a gothic princess, who would rather kick high school boys in the face than date them.