An Angel Among Vampires (32 page)

Unlike vampires, my angel side requires me to breathe and my heart must beat. I cough and gag as the dust begins to settle around me. I hear grunts, movement and scuffling near me. The haze is still too thick for me to see clearly. I feel a hand reach for me. I scratch and kick at the hand and arm, crawling away, out of its reach.

That is when I hear Demetri speaking. “Christien, how good it is to see you big brother. Master has finally granted us permission to kill you, no more restrictions. I will enjoy listening to you beg me for your life.”

“It will be you who is begging for their life, Demetri.” Christien disagrees then leaps on top of Demetri, riding him to the ground as he rips the appendages from Demetri’s body with his bare hands.

Christien is already moving towards me as I turn to look behind me. Jacques is coming at me with a large knife from feet away. His knife poised high in the air, aiming at my heart through my back. There is no time to move because he is already too close. I feel the wind around me move and a push on my back. My body is moving towards Christien, away from Jacques as his arm with the knife lands in the spot where I was standing.

“No!” Christien screams as he catches me. He releases me immediately, pulling a large blade from a sheath somewhere from his body and removes Jacques’ head. I can hear Roman and the other vampires or Weres entering the room. Roman quickly rips off Demetri’s head using his werewolf strength before he can heal. Another were does the same for the other vampire that attacked me. Roman and the other vampires scour the room looking for Hassan.

Christien rushes pass me, dropping to his knees to huddle around a figure on the floor. Shuffling a little to the right, I see Kayle has a knife sticking out of his back and he is lying very still on the floor. Moving closer, I crouch down until I am on one side of Kayle. Christien is on the other.

Christien looks at me, eyes full of emotion. “Would you allow Kayle to feed from you to heal this wound? I need to remove the knife from his back at the same time he is feeding. This may be the only way to save him. He should already be dead. Thankfully, Jacques did not have enough time to damage his heart beyond repair.”

I look at Kayle. His eyes watch me, studying my reaction to Christien’s request, waiting for my rejection.

“You don’t even like me. You could have let Jacques kill me. There wasn’t enough time for me to react and Christien was too far away. Why did you save me when you don’t even want me around?” I ask Kayle softly with all sincerity.

His eyes move to Christien then return to me. “I saved you because Christien loves you. You are not like the women he has brought around in the past. I was quick to judge you and I thought I was doing him a favor by what I said to you and how I behaved. I was wrong about you and I am sorry.”

“What is he talking about?” Christien asks me. “What did you say to
ma chatte petite
?” Christien asks Kayle as his temper rises.

I rest my hand on Christien’s arm. “Now is not the time for this Christien. Calm down and pull the knife out. He can feed from the vein on my arm so he can stay face down. Oh, you might want to have the other vampires in the room leave just in case he is a messy eater.” I tell Christien jokingly.

Christien looks at me and nods. All of the vampires leave the room in vampire speed, leaving the weres in the room to finish the search for Hassan.

Lying flat on my back next to him, I lay my arm out underneath Kayle’s mouth. Adjusting my arm position in small movements until he is satisfied, he bites down, taking slow, lazy pulls, as his eyes turn silver.

Christien removes the knife swiftly with a surgeon’s precision to prevent further damage to Kayle’s heart. Kayle takes a few more pulls from my vein then stops feeding, retracting his fangs. Lowering his head to the ground, he lies very still for several minutes.

I look at Christien expectantly.

Christien exhales in relief. “He is healing. He is focusing all his strength to fix the damage to his heart.”

Roman and another werewolf approach us as Kayle opens his eyes. Glancing at the now healed wound on his back, Christien helps Kayle into a sitting position.

“Hassan is not here. We have searched most of the room and we have not found any passages or hidden rooms. He must be somewhere else. Demetri and Jacques must have been here only to guard these vampires. Where do you think Hassan could be?” Roman asks Christien.

“Most likely, he will know that we have infiltrated this lair and have slain his two oldest vampires. Either, he will want revenge, coming after us with everything he has at his disposal tonight, or he will retreat to rebuild his forces or ally himself with another vampire. Based on my previous experiences with him, he will flee. My sire is a coward. He rarely does is own fighting and he knows he has lost this battle. These young vampires are no match for us, regardless of their quantity.” Christien says smugly.

“Should we kill all the vampires in the coffins?” Roman asks.

“No.” Christien states firmly. “When they wake this evening, they will receive a choice. Swear their loyalty to me by blood and become part of my get or die. This is often done when master vampires battle. It prevents vampire deaths and human deaths in the end by not requiring more vampires to replace those lost. I would like to leave some Weres and vampires here to control the fledglings and offer them the choice. Those who say they will blood oath to me will do so. Those who will not join my get, we will kill. I would like to keep this building for myself if it is in Hassan, Jacques or Demetri’s name. If not, we’ll strip it bare and I’ll have to find another location to house this many fledglings. The security is already in place here so it makes sense to keep it if possible.” Christien finishes.

Kayle nods. “I will see to it.”

“I am sure you will Kayle, but I have something else in mind for you. Get a few of the other older ones to assist Roman and his Weres. They can deal with these young vampires.” Christien nods respectfully to Roman.

Roman returns the nod and goes back to the coffin-to-coffin search.

Epilogue

Christien, Kayle, and I return to Christien’s place. The sun should be setting within the hour. The skies are an angry red and purple mixture. The stars are starting to pop into the night sky one at a time.

Christien sends Kayle to his room and demands that he rest.

Christien guides me to his bedroom. We take a quick shower together, washing the grime of the battles off our bodies and lie on the bed naked in each other’s arms talking.

Christien describes to me the plans he has for Kayle. “I want to send Kayle on a mission to find Hassan before he can report to the Vampire Council about what has happened here. If Hassan reports that I have attacked him without just cause, the Council will believe him and come for me. If he mentions anything about me absorbing his get, I will have to answer to the Vampire Council for breaking the law.”

Christien admits to me that he should have asked the Vampire Council for permission before going after Hassan or at least had a valid reason for his attack. “Hassan is my sire. The Council is not going to be pleased that one of his own offspring is powerful enough to challenge him, with or without Demetri and Jacques. The Vampire Council will be very curious, possibly sending a representative to investigate when they find out I have claimed Hassan’s get and have killed Demetri and Jacques.”

Snuggling closer to him, I ask. “What will they do?”

“The Council may come to challenge me and my vampires to see if we are capable of overpowering a
tête
de
ligne de sang
. Hassan’s vampires may be young, but Hassan is a formidable opponent and they know how ruthless he can be. I expect they will come to investigate what happened here over the past couple of days. If the Council, somehow, finds out my get has more power then they should, they will investigate me and mine. During the investigation, they could find out about you. If they do, they will send their enforcers to seek and destroy you. The Council may eventually decide to terminate me for breaking Vampire Law.”

Christien confesses that he wants me to move in with him now that it is no longer safe for me to stay alone while the whereabouts of Hassan is still unknown.

For tonight, I’ll keep myself warm in Christien’s bed. I haven’t decided whether I will take him up on his offer to move in with him. Admittedly, I find his offer appealing. Regardless of my growing feelings for the vampire lying in bed beside me, I can’t help hesitate, thinking I might be better off on my own.

Coming Soon... Book 2 of the Angel Series

A Rogue Among Vampires

Here is a preview of A Rogue Among Vampires

It has been over a week and there has been no sign of Christien’s sire, the
tête de ligne de sang
that killed my parents, Hassan, since the confrontation with his vampires in the warehouse.

My best friend Tyler has been locked away downstairs recuperating from his recent change from human to vampire so I decide to pay him a visit since Christien and Roman are at the warehouse dealing with the new vampires Christien acquired from what is left of Hassan’s get.

I get dressed and I’m on my way to visit Tyler downstairs when I run into Kayle in the hallway.

“Hey, are you feeling better?” I ask, relieved to see him up and moving easier since receiving a knife to the heart during the fight protecting me.

I can sense the power radiating from the doorway from someone out of my view. I think it is Hassan so I grab my daggers and run to the door, then pause beside Kayle.

A petite woman with blood red hair, pale skin, blue eyes, and freckles is standing at the door. She looks at me. Her blue-grey eyes flash with curiosity, but blank quickly. She looks back at Kayle. “I am Jolene from the Vampire Council. I am here to deliver a message to your master.”

Kayle blocks the doorway with his body and stares at the petite woman standing on the porch. “My master is not here.”

Stubbornly, the woman raises her chin in defiance. “The Vampire Council has sent me here to deliver a message to Christien Aleran. He must come forth now.”

“Surely you do not intend on making me wait here outside alone until your master returns. Where are your manners? I am a representative sent from the Vampire Council. Are you going to invite me inside as your guest?” Jolene replies aghast

Kayle frowns and looks at me, giving me a pleading ‘Help me!’ look. He blanks his face before looking back at the petite woman. “I am under my master’s strict orders not to invite anyone into his home without his expressed permission. You may return to the estate when he is here.”

“As a representative of the Vampire Council, you will acknowledge my authority and invite me inside.” She demands capturing Kayle’s eyes with hers.

Kayle opens his mouth to follow her command, but I reach up, grab his head with my left hand and twist it hard to the left. His neck breaks and he crumbles to the floor. I step over Kayle, pushing his body away from the door with my foot. Standing in front of the pale, freckled faced, red-haired woman, I look her up and down appraisingly.

“I broke your neck so you could not invite her inside. I would hardly call you owing me anything for that.” I explain sheepishly.

“It does not matter the reason. That vampire cannot enter this house. We would all be vulnerable to her if she comes inside. No one should answer the door until Christien returns, especially not the humans.” Kayle demands strongly.

Kayle and I go through the house giving orders to everyone not to open any doors leading outside until further notice. No one is to go near any windows or answer any knocks coming from outside the house. We confine the humans inside the house to their living quarters. The vampires are to stay in the basement. The house feels empty as Kayle and I stroll through the hallways looking for anyone we might have missed. After dealing with the attack from Hassan’s vampires the previous week, we are being extremely cautious, especially because we have not found Hassan yet. With Christien away dealing with his newly acquired vampires, we don’t want to take any unnecessary risks.