Blood & Roses: Warriors of the Krieger (22 page)

“What did Mistress Kai call you about?” Full
blooded witches were respectively called ‘Mistress’ by the immortal
community. Kai and I have been friends for so long that I dropped
that part and just called her by her given name.

“She’s a little worried. A Dr. Christopher
Mason called her about helping with the potion. Do you know
him?”

“Yes, he is the physician working with the
seven infected civilians that are being held in quarantine
there.”

“I thought there were only two that you found
the other night,” I asked, confused. “Kai was a little worried
about trusting the doctor. Maybe you should call her.”

“There have been more attacks and it’s
getting worse by the night. We may have to put up a mandatory
curfew. For safety,” he sighed. “If we have to do that, can your
business handle being shut down for a week?”

“A week!” I squeaked. “Dragus, I’m fine on
money, but my crew may suffer. They’re on rehabilitation and need
the money. I mean, I guess I could pay them with medical leave
money or something, but they will miss out on their tips.”

“Would they risk their safety just for the
extra money?”

“I guess you have a point. When are you going
to set the curfew?”

“The curfew will go into effect tomorrow
night at nine. Only trips to the Red Cross will be authorized. I
will call Mistress Kai and let her know that the doctor is
reputable.”

After an emergency meeting and closing down
the club early, Brilliam and I headed back over to my house. The
front yard was littered with vehicles and by the amount of
Krieger
and
Nachtmann
in my yard made the whole scene
look like a family reunion.

Dragus had called and talked to Kai. He sent
over a
Krieger
to pick her up and drive her to the hospital
to meet with Dr. Mason. Meanwhile, I had to break the news to my
employees. I told them that their regular salary would be deposited
on Friday, just like always. Lydia and I decided to throw in an
extra one hundred dollars onto their pay for extras they might
need.

Brilliam escorted me inside the house and
once inside, Brock scooped up the television remote, flipping the
channels over to the local news to see what was happening in town.
The reporter was standing in front of the Red Cross talking about
the wait for the vampires to get extra supplies of the bagged
blood. I immediately checked my reserve and breathed a sigh when I
realized I had enough for the week. Granted Dragus would be around,
but I don’t know if I would have to go without him for a night or
two.

I knew that Dragus was out with about ten
other
Krieger
in the forest hunting for the Lycans. It was
getting easier to sense him when he was close. His body pulled to
mine, like magnets. The closer he was the stronger the pull, until
we were connected; a strange, but awesome trick. This was from the
blood sharing. Since I had been feeding from him, I noticed my body
was stronger. I could lift things easier and I found myself waking
a few minutes before sunrise. Dragus said that was normal and too
just stay inside my room until it was dark.
Krieger
can stay
up past sunrise and wake up before sunset, but cannot walk in the
sun.

I felt the pull of sunrise coming on me
quick. Brilliam had left about half an hour ago and my
Nachtmann
Keith was outside keeping guard. It was hard to
keep my eyes open long enough to get to my room, but I did it.
After locking the bolts on my door, I stripped down and grabbed
something to sleep in and climbed into bed.

The phone rang right at six o’clock. My eyes
had only been open a few minutes and I was being lazy, not wanting
to get out of the bed.

“Charity, what are you doing?” Lydia demanded
before I could say ‘hello’.

“I’m still in the bed, Lydia. What are you
doing?” I replied.

“I talked to Ashby and told him I wanted to
come to your place,” she paused. “He’s going to pick me up in a few
then I’m going to stay with you tonight.” Lydia cannot sit still
and I wonder how much she had to beg a
Krieger
to come and
get her. From the way I’d observed Ashby watching her lately, I’m
sure he didn’t mind.

“Why did you call Ashby, when you can just
come over here? Curfew isn’t until nine.” I teased.

“Well, duh!” she laughed. “I’ll see you
soon.”

After my shower, I felt Dragus close and knew
he was going to be here soon. Our relationship was strained right
now. He was working from sunset to just before sunrise and with all
the vampires in town on lock down, I didn’t know when it would be
back to normal. The thought depressed me terribly.

I shut off the lights and headed upstairs.
The Hummer he drove was sitting out front, but he was out back with
the other
Krieger
. I peeked out the kitchen window and found
Dragus, Powle, Rowland and Bastian huddled together. They must be
talking strategy. The last thing I wanted to do was bother him
right now.

I wasted time folding and putting away
clothes. Then I scrubbed the shower and changed bed sheets.
Finally, I couldn’t wait another minute. My thirst peaked and I was
becoming uncomfortable. The back of my throat felt tight as I
walked toward the kitchen. By the time I put my hand against the
refrigerator handle, I noticed it was shaking badly. I wrapped my
arm around my stomach to stop the knife to the gut feeling there.
Not a good sign, bloodlust was an uncomfortable thing. My newbie
vampires tell me it’s like a mix between the flu and food
poisoning. I released my grip on the handle and took a moment to
steady my breathing. Dragus would sense…

“Come to me, Charity,” Dragus thundered. He
was standing in the kitchen doorway. The shaking was bad, but
nothing I couldn’t handle. Who was I kidding, it was bad. I needed
to feed now.

“I was just going to p…pour a glass,” I
sighed. “I didn’t want to bother you, you w…were busy.” Now my
voice was shaky.

“It’s my fault and I’m sorry. I can go longer
without blood than you can and I forgot.” He materialized next to
me and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me to his chest.
Dragus grabbed my hands into his and frowned, “You’re shaking.”

“Uh…y…yes, it just started.” I leaned into
his chest and drew in a shaky breath. His shirt smelled like fresh
cut pine trees, mixed with the earth’s soil. I noticed his pants
were covered in grass stains and he had taken his boots off before
coming inside. This meant they were probably soaked in mud.

The primal instinct to provide had me
drifting away from him, toward his shoes. For some reason, I just
wanted to clean his boots, almost obsessively. The need to clean
them was all I could think about, but he was in front of me before
I could make it across the kitchen floor.

“Where are you going?” he sounded
confused.

“
Mi amor
, your shoes. They are dirty,
I must wash them for you,” I panted, looking around his massive
shoulders at the muddy Doc Martins sitting in my laundry room. I
tried to walk around him toward his boots. My eyes were fixed on
them. Dragus stepped in front of me again and placed his hands on
my shoulders.

“Charity?” he started shaking me, trying to
get my attention, but I was too focused on his damn shoes! It took
all of my will power, but I finally snapped out of it. Dragus held
the tops of my arms, watching me suspiciously. “Are you well?”

“Um, yeah…I’m fine…I…I think,” I whispered.
“I d…don’t know w…why, b…but your dirty s…shoes are b…bothering
me.” I managed to laugh, but it was really shaky.

Dragus looked at me even more confused, “Do
you want me to move them?”

“N…No! Leave th…them,” I looked up into his
eyes. “Let me c…clean them b…before you go b…back outside.” I was
almost in a sheer panic, worry about them. Why was I so worried
about his dirty ass boots? It’s almost like…like it was my
job
. I just couldn’t let him outside without being properly
cared for. That would not be acceptable on my part. It was my
job!
Oh! Oh! I know why! Crap! I was bonding with him. It’s
too soon! I shouldn’t be doing this. It takes months, sometimes
years for bonding to happen.

Dragus let out a small chuckle and leaned in
to kiss my forehead. I was so shocked that I started backing away
from him. Between the bloodlust and the bonding, I was totally
freaking out. Dragus stood there holding out his hands as if he was
surrendering. “Charity, it’s okay. Please understand. This is what
I have been going through the past few days too. I’m obsessively
worried about you, love. The need to provide and protect has been
too painful to ignore.”

“You h…have?” I gasped, still shaky. His
words distracted me enough that I momentarily forgot about the
boots. “W…Why is it happening s…so soon?”

He stepped forward and took my hands, “I
don’t know why it’s happening so soon,
mi amado
, but I do
know that…I love you. I’m not questioning the way things have
happened. I’m just following my heart.”

This was no surprise to me. I knew deep down
that I loved the warrior standing in front of me, there was no
denying it. Remembering back to that dream, I truly thought he was
mine. After all the years, the dream finally makes sense. I took
one of his hands and placed a kiss across his knuckles. “D…Dragus,
mi amor
, I love you, t…too.”

“Come, you need not worry about my clothes.
Let me take care of your needs first,” he whispered as he pulled me
toward the basement stairs. “We only have a few minutes before
Lydia gets here, and I must return to the forest.”

Having Dragus there, helped with the shaking
in my hands, but until I’m able to sink my fangs into his neck, my
throat would still feel parched. Once inside the room, he dropped
his leather jacket in the chair by the door and then took a seat on
the bed.

I immediately sat across his lap and nuzzled
his neck. After a kiss on his vein, I bit into his tasty neck. The
blood flowed into my mouth and I was so relieved to have him here.
Bagged blood could not compare to the blood of a warrior. Man, I
wanted to stay here and nip on him all night, but I knew our time
was limited. I released him and healed his neck before he tossed me
on my back across the bed. This was his preferred method of taking
blood from me. I didn’t care, because I felt safe while he would
hover over me during his feeding. It was an obsessive, primal act
on his part; like an animal protecting its kill.

That was the first time in a very long time
that I had let myself get almost to the point of bloodlust. Now
that I was back to normal, Dragus and I needed to talk about this
bonding.

Bonding was a very odd and complicated thing
that happened between immortals. It’s an internal magnetism that
draws two soul mates together. Everyone I have ever met who has
been through this says it’s pure unadulterated magic and to never
question it. Once you find your true soul mate in the world, the
bonding just seals the deal. Was Dragus my soul mate? My heart
clinched when I imagined him not in my life and it swelled when the
idea of us forever blazed into my mind.

Before I opened my mouth to speak, I heard
Lydia entering the kitchen above us. Her tiny heels clicked across
the tile floor and then her voice echoed down the stairs. After a
soft kiss on his lips, I got up to greet my guest. Our conversation
would have to wait.

Once in the kitchen, Dragus and Ashby spoke
for a few minutes. I eyed the soiled boots by the back door. The
need to clean those boots was gnawing at my gut. My mind was
fixated on them sitting there just waiting to be cleaned. He needed
to be taken care of. Dragus caught my arm as I walked past him to
the laundry room.

“Leave them,” he whispered. “They’re just
going to get muddy again.” I nodded and looked over to see Lydia
staring back at me puzzled. After a swift kiss, the
Krieger
exited the kitchen door to resume their search of Shepherd’s
Forest.

“What’s with the boots?” she asked,
skeptical.

“They were dirty. I just wanted to clean them
for him.” I shrugged, because I wasn’t ready to tell her about the
bonding.

“Why are you so worried about the boots,
Charity? Now if it were your boots, I could understand the panic,
but Dragus’. I mean, come on! Why…Oh!” Her assessment stopped dead
when she realized what was going on. I flinched as she stared. Then
I swear I saw the light bulb flicker over her head; blaring to
life. “You did it! Didn’t you? You’ve bonded with him.”

“Not completely, but it’s starting,” I
admitted. “Don’t make a big deal about it. We haven’t had much time
to really be a couple yet, and we surely don’t understand it.”

I took a seat at the kitchen table while
Lydia poured herself a glass of wine. She watched me carefully for
a few minutes before asking questions. “What happened?”

Explaining was a hard task to accomplish, but
I managed to word it enough for her to understand. The feeling of
knowing when he is close; the pull of his body and mind to mine was
the hardest to explain. Lydia was fascinated by the whole process,
just as much as I was. I continued on with the feeling of being
whole when we were together, and the feeling of being safe around
him.

“Those boots triggered it, I think,” I paused
to take a deep breath. Remembering his dirty boots caused a
miniature tremor to rattle my body. “Damn, Lydia, I was so obsessed
about cleaning those boots, I forgot how thirsty I was. Dragus had
to shake me to get me to think straight again.”

“From what I understand, it’s a natural thing
and don’t fight it. Fighting the natural instinct that is your
vampire nature will only cause more heartache. As long as you love
him, you need to just go with it. He loves you. Anyone can see
that; the way he watches you, it’s like he’s looking at the sunrise
for the first time.” She shrugged and refilled her goblet, this
time adding a little B positive to the mix.