Blood & Roses: Warriors of the Krieger (3 page)

I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt the
Krieger
that just entered the room was the warrior from my
dreams so long ago. I watched him move just as he did in my dream,
soft and graceful, but still with authority and pride. There was an
aura of strength and power around him.

I gave myself a little internal shake because
I couldn’t think of him right now. Only Lydia and I knew about this
dream. I had to look away before someone caught me gawking at him.
My eyes moved from his to the other warriors who followed him.

The four other
Krieger
were standing
at attention behind him; I knew this because they all sported the
same dragon tattoo on the right side of their necks. The tattoos
were all identical, each one starting just behind the earlobe; the
dragon’s nose peaked out underneath. The dragon’s body curled into
an S, ending with the pointed tail resting on top of their collar
bone. They were not as large, but still built like brick shit
houses. The warrior behind Dragus was just as tall, but with very
short blonde hair, his shirt said his name was Ashby. The two
beside Ashby were identical twins. They both had disheveled brown
hair and golden eyes, which meant they were mated. The twins stood
just a few inches shorter than Dragus. Their shirts read Bastian
and Powle. Last but not least, Rowland. He was absolutely scary
looking. There was a scar that ran from just under his right ear,
to the underside of his chin and through his lips and that’s where
it ended. Obviously this was a human scar; vampires heal too
quickly to get them. His hair was long, almost even with his chin
and his eyes were the color of coal. The part of his face that
wasn’t ruined by the scar was soft and inviting. Like you just
couldn’t help walking up to him and stroking his cheek, but the
rest of him screamed Viking, from his set jaw to his muscular
chest, all the way down to his boots. Rowland smiled at Lydia and
she shivered. His bright red hair and crystal blue eyes with dark
rims, never left her face. As he scanned the area, his eyes
darkened; the blue no longer visible. His eyes now jet black. It
was my turn to shiver.

Dragus stopped one of the waitresses, Abby,
and spoke quietly to her. She smiled and very slowly raised her
scrawny little hand and pointed directly at me. I gasped, wondering
what the hell they wanted with me.

Dragus’ face lit up like a child’s for a
split second. His beautiful blue eyes seemed to momentarily bulge
before settling back into the hard chiseled stone faced warrior he
was known to be.

Did he recognize me? No, that was my dream.
Dragus had to be years, if not centuries older than me. How would
he have known about me? There was no way I was going to mention
this to him; he may think I’m crazy.

They marched in a precise military formation
toward the bar. I risked a glanced over at Lydia. She had removed
the clip and was primping her already too straight auburn hair,
shifting nervously in her seat. Just like her to think of her own
hormones first, instead of doing a little freak out like me;
wondering what was going on. I stepped off the stool just as they
approached.

“Are you this establishment’s owner?” Dragus
purred in a sultry, raspy kind of way. His voice reminded me of a
deep, sexy roll of thunder on the horizon. His accent was hard to
place, maybe Romanian. Yeah, something like that; it didn’t matter
to me. It was sexy as hell; just as I remembered from my dream. I
noticed how his eyes wandered from the top of my head to my breasts
to my feet and back up slowly. It was all I could do to keep from
chuckling at his assessment. Dragus’ lip turned up slightly, just
the corner of his mouth raised in a half sided smile.

“Um, yes,” I whispered. “I’m Charity
Harwood.” He held his hand out for mine. Once I reached up, he
immediately sank to one knee, placed his right fist over his heart,
and kissed the back of my hand. If my heart still worked right, it
would have exploded. The feel of his velvet lips against the back
of my hand was like a shock to my body. Every nerve from the top of
my head, to my toes and all the ones in between tingled and I know
damn well I shivered.

“My lady, I am Dragus, head
Krieger
for Port Royal,” he smiled again, and what a smile it was. “May I
speak to you in private?” The way he said ‘my lady’ seemed a little
too formal to me, like I was royalty. I blew it off as just his way
of greeting a female of his kind, even though I have never met a
Krieger
who did that. Bonded females of the
Krieger
were to be address as ‘my lady’ or something formal like that,
since the
Krieger
were considered royalty.

“Yes, sir, please come to my office.” I
suggested and turned for the hallway. The room I use is fairly
average size for an office. I had a standard wooden desk with my
computer on top. Pictures in various stages of the construction of
Nights plastered the wall. The wall itself was painted red just
like the rest of the place.

Dragus left instructions for the other
Krieger
and followed me to the door behind the bar. I looked
back and Lydia was leaning against the bar, sizing up one of the
warriors, Ashby. I’m sure she will fill me in later. She was such a
tramp.

Dragus took one of the two chairs in front of
the desk as I walked around planting myself into my plush leather
one. My senses picked up that he was watching me move behind my
back. I suppressed a smile before turning toward him. I looked up
nervously when he pulled a picture from his back pocket. Hell, his
pants were so tight; I don’t know how the damn picture even fit
into the pocket. His legs were obviously corded with muscles. Each
one of them was as big as two of mine.

“Don’t be nervous, you’re not in trouble,” he
guessed. I laughed, remembering that
Krieger
could sense the
emotions of other vampires, along with their other special mystical
powers. Little did he know I wasn’t nervous about possibly being in
trouble; I was nervous about him in general.

“We’ve been searching for a vampire in the
area. He’s been accused of murder against humans…and vampires.” The
Krieger
handed me the photo and waited. I gave myself a
mental mind shake; putting the dream and his yummy looking legs
behind me. I had to answer his question.

Usually criminal vampires were not known for
killing others of our kind. It’s usually the rebels that make
trouble for us. They can’t afford the Red Cross’ prices and still
hunt in the night and because they wait too long to feed, they
drain the human and mistakenly kill them.

My eyes flashed wide when I looked at the
picture. This guy was familiar, very familiar.

“He was here three nights ago. That jerk was
manhandling my waitresses and tried to start a fight in the back of
the club. I had him escorted from the building. Who is he?” The man
in the picture was very handsome. He had sandy blonde hair and
beautiful green eyes, almost like emeralds. I have never seen that
deep of green in someone’s eyes before.

“Adam Castillo,” Dragus reached for the
picture. I surrendered it to him and then he continued. “His family
reported that he was attacked by a Lycan about two weeks ago. We
know that he has murdered three humans and four vampires since…and
they were all women.” His voice trailed off at the end. I assumed
he was saddened to talk about that last bit of information, which
confused me a little.
Krieger
were known for their caveman
like qualities. They’ve been trained to military precision, and
were called ‘warriors’ for a reason.

Lycanthropes are werewolves who were born
human. Once a human is bitten and the transformation is complete,
there is no changing back. They are stuck like that for eternity.
They lose all of their human memories and turn into beast of the
night. They also scared me beyond death. Their patchy fur and
wrinkled skin makes them look like zombie dogs. Yuck!

Vampires turn feral when bitten by
Lycanthropes. The Lycan’s saliva is poisonous and will eventually
turn them into a type of hybrid. From what I know of them, once
their transformation is complete, they remain on two legs, but look
like a mix of human and werewolf. They lose all humanity and when
they feed, they kill. Well, more like
eat
their prey. The
thought made me shiver.

“What does this have to do with me?” I asked,
confused. Dragus’ eyes flashed a little as he shifted in his chair.
His shirt pulled tight across his chest and I wondered how his
muscles would feel underneath my hand.

“We have already had reports of him being
seen in this area and we need you to be extra careful. Have your
employees only leave the club in groups. Remind them to call 111 if
he is seen.”

The human police had 911, we have 111. That
was something that the
Krieger
and the human’s government
established for calls concerning direct problems within the vampire
community. Human police do not have the strength or the fire power
to detain a feral vampire. When a vampire is enraged, there is no
way a human can handle that type of strength.

“Yes sir, I will meet with all of my
employees before they leave and activate our security protocol,” I
said, absently playing with a paperclip on the desk. This little
bit of information gave me some worry. I don’t want my employees
hurt or scared. I made a mental note to revise my security
measures.

“You have a security protocol?” he asked,
surprised. I smiled at his confusion. Most of these older vampires
still live in the past where women were helpless and couldn’t cross
a road without help. Idiots!

“Yes,” Duh! “It’s something I wrote in to the
employee manuals when I opened this place,” I announced proudly;
point for me for thinking ahead.

“Very well,” he nodded and stood up to leave,
but not before giving me the once over again with those sexy blue
eyes. Damn, it makes my girl parts quiver when he does that.
“Please make your
Nachtmann
aware of the problem as
well.”

“Oh, I don’t have a
Nachtmann
,” I
admitted. Annnndddd…..It took less than three seconds to get a
reaction out of him. That’s a record for when someone hears that I
don’t have daytime protection.

His eyes flickered then narrowed, “You don’t
have one?” I could have sworn I saw the blood start to fill his
eyes and then just as quickly, drain away. Oh, he’s mad.

“Nope, I don’t feel the need for one,” I
shrugged.

“Well, I suggest you hire one,” he spat.
“These feral Lycan victims can walk in the daylight,” his voice
thundered. After a short pause, he sighed, “In fact, I will send
one to your home at daybreak.” He stood up and marched his big ass
Doc Martin’s right out of my office before I could protest. What an
ass! I wasn’t only talking about his physical one – although I
checked that one too – I was talking about his attitude. Granted he
was the man from my dreams, but that didn’t mean I automatically
liked the warrior.

I heard Lydia’s heels clicking double time
coming for the office. She flung the door open and looked pleased.
“Please tell me you got a date with that hunk-a-man!” she
demanded.

“No! It was strictly business!” I yelled at
her. “Remember that guy that was in here a couple of nights ago?
The one that was grabbing at the waitresses and trying to start a
fight with that vamp lawyer?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah, he was creepy,” she shivered.

“Well, I guess he was attacked by a Lycan and
he’s turned feral; killing female vampires and humans. The
Krieger
Dragus wants us to be more careful. We need to put
my security plan in place.”

“Oh, Dragus,” she purred. “What a sexy name.”
Lydia actually sat back and fanned herself like a fainting movie
star. Her acting skills needed work.

“Yeah, okay,” I laughed, unsteady. “Hey, he
said we need to let our
Nachtmann
know. I guess once they’re
bitten by a Lycan, they can walk in the daylight. Make sure you
tell yours at home.”

“You don’t have one at
your
home,
remember,” she said sarcastically. “Don’t you think it may be time
to hire one?”

“Well, I have one now.” I grimaced. “He’s
sending one to the house. Jackass got up before I could tell him
no.”

“Well, he’s right, you need to hire one to
keep watch over the house,” Lydia smirked. She reached inside her
pocket and pulled out a nail file. The scratching sound of her
meticulously sanding them made the hair on the back of my neck
stand on end.

“Girl, I am 291 years old and you are 302.
Each one of us is stronger than the W.W.F. put together. I think
it’s pointless. My security system and access to my room could
deter a thousand year old vampire. Now get out of here and go meet
with the employees.” I shooed her toward the damn door before I got
a headache. And so I could think about the warrior from my
dreams.

I hung my head so that she wouldn’t notice my
little freak out about knowing Dragus. Of course she knew me better
than she knew herself.

“Wait a minute,” she said spinning around on
her heels. “There’s something you aren’t telling me, Charity. What
happened?”

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit,” she growled. “Spit it out,
Harwood!”

Lydia knew about the dream. In the beginning,
when I had first been turned, I told her about it. She had said
then that it may have been the vampire who attacked me, but I knew
that was not the case. The warrior in my dream was not out to hurt
me.

“I need you to think back to when I was
turned.” She nodded and looked really confused. “Do you remember me
telling you about the human dream I was having for months before
the attack?”

“Yes, about a warrior who was looking for
you?”

“The warrior in my dream was him,” I
whispered.