Captiva Master - Vampire Warewolf Menage Six Feet Under Series Book 4) (13 page)

“I’ve kept many a vow over the years, worry not on this.” Ciaran inclined his head after Maestru turned to face him, his silver eyes glinting in the moonlight. The Alpha Beast now settling into a calm pace behind his irises.

“Maestru, I offer you thanks. I’ve used every spell in my arsenal, and each has failed miserably. In the past two weeks, we’ve lost fourteen of our own.”

“Fifteen,” Blade, Ciaran’s co-mate misted next to him, his face just as grim. “Gage is taking the fallen to their families.”

Maestru couldn’t stop another gasp of pain, his body coiling tight. “When Oycher called me, he said you had a problem the Scotland Coven Master couldn’t assist with, but I didn’t expect to come here and find Tesolos and his Vojaks had abandoned the fight.” Waving his hands at the fallen bodies, he immediately regretted the excruciating action. “I would have brought soldiers of my own.” Ciaran was far from Maestru’s friend, but on this, they had no choice but collaboration.

“Tesolos is a pussy.” Ciaran flicked a glance at Maestru’s chest. “Are you going to share your spell?”

“I don’t know.” Bargain time, in the vampire world, nothing was free. “My throat’s a little dry.”

“You know I won’t permit you to feed from my villagers or from my Pack.”

Maestru fought not to roll his eyes, but he couldn’t stop the action. “You and Blade smell tasty enough,” he stated the obvious. “If I feed from you two, then I’m not forced to take advantage of the weak and the unsuspecting already nestled in their cozy beds tonight. However, it will be a concession on my part - I do find children and seniors far tastier than werewolves,” he added with a heavy bite of sarcasm, tamping his ire. To them, Maestru would always be a monster, no matter how many of their Pack members and their Younglings he’d just saved. Not to mention the humans and werewolves he’d saved over the centuries.

Blade’s eyes bugged but Ciaran directed his co-mate, “Your blood is not required, Blade. Go home to our Rebecca and our son. I will arrive shortly to tuck him into his crib.” To Maestru, he offered his wrist as Blade disappeared into the night.

Without a second thought, Maestru availed himself of Ciaran’s rich, immortal blood, relishing the pop as his skin opened under Maestru’s fangs, and groaning unabashedly as the wet nectar hit his flaming throat. He was still amazed by Ciaran’s potency. Already, swallow-by-swallow, his body was knitting together under the blood’s incredible recuperating powers.

Ciaran explained what Maestru needed to know as he fed, “As I said, this is our third bout with these particular Undead. Only a depraved vampire would raise Undead from ancient, immortal corpses.”

Maestru took another swallow, in his mind, agreeing wholeheartedly. Raising a corpse into an Undead vampire was a bit tricky, a guarded secret the Species vampires had kept from the werewolves since the beginning of their existence. In fact,
only
certain vampires could raise an Undead vampire. Nevertheless, divulging any transition secrets would weaken his race, so he had to word any advice he offered this Pack very carefully. When he released his bite, he licked Ciaran’s wrist closed with a flick of his tongue and stepped away from the crypts. Once more, his body was whole, though seriously exhausted from going days without sleep. “Have any of these Undead ventured from the perimeters of Weremiasma, entering the human world?” The Scotland Pack kept its location hidden under ancient spells, much the way Jayce Jordan kept his Sanibel den hidden beneath a globe of miasma. Human eyes couldn’t see, nor could they enter unless a werewolf permitted them to do so.

“No, they haven’t crossed into human territory.” The Alpha got down to business. “What we do know of your vampiric customs is that you never choose an older corpse for Undead transformation because it turns out like this.” He stared at the carnage, disgust twisting his mouth. “Crazed creatures, non-stop feeding machines that prey on everything in their paths. Sometimes they even drink from one another, never distinguishing comrade from foe.”

“Yes, the older the corpse is, the more dangerous the outcome for those
living
.” Maestru never allowed any Undead to be raised from an aged deceased. Those vampires reborn usually arose from their death state maddened, only answering to their maker. Any distinction between right and wrong would elude them. “If the Undead is raised from a long buried werewolf or vampire, such as those we encountered tonight. You have double trouble. After all, even in a state of Undead, immortals are far more powerful than humans,” he added rather unnecessarily, “So, someone mightily powerful is pulling this crops’ strings.”

Ciaran nodded. “By the spell you used, you broke some sort of connection between these creatures and their creator.”

Maestru lifted his arms, holding out his palms and willing a duplicate spell into Ciaran’s chest. “Yes,” he answered after he finished, watching as Ciaran rubbed away the burn, “but until you find their creator, you’re only cleaning up after his mess, losing your clan in the process.” He couldn’t speak of what happened inside the walls of Prince Volos castle, but there was a blatant connection, which told Maestru that Teslos’ brother, Bordis, was alive and kicking, in a dangerous sense. “Now, Alpha, I leave you in what peace I can.”

“A private word before you go,” Ciaran requested.

Maestru stopped misting, his body a profile of fog. “Yes?”

“Though I loathe many of the tactics you use, I will own up to the fact that I was indebted to you for aiding me in retrieving Rebecca, during the night when Rave nearly took her from me.”

Right now, Maestru didn’t have time for Ciaran’s guilty conscious. He needed sleep and Dakota, not in that order. “Fine, Alpha, some other time.”

“I’m letting you know that I’ve paid my debt many times over, by insisting Jayce Jordan and Bren Walker not kill you.”

Maestru was so sick of this. “Often, I wished Jayce had.”

“Something else is amiss.” Ciaran persisted, “You have a human under your roof, one who many are talking about, yet you haven’t made your intentions public.”

“There are no intentions to make public,” Maestru said warily, wondering where this was going.

“Your subservient vampires, as well as the other Coven Masters, shouldn’t have this example set before them. By your actions, they will follow, taking humans again whenever they damn well please. We don’t need to go back a few centuries, do we? Pets are frowned upon, and you won’t find a werewolf who will ignore those sins.”

“Hypocrisy at its finest.” A bark of laughter left Maestru. “We all know how you
took
Rebecca.”

Ciaran nodded. “I took her in order to execute her. A mistake I would have never lived down had I gone through with it. She was a rare gift of fate, a descendant of my deceased mate.” His eyes took on an eerie cast as if he were peering into Maestru’s aching soul, searching for something long lost. “I don’t know if I could ever come to offer you genuine friendship, Vampire, but we have a sad kinship, you and I. One formed from losing our mates of long ago. Thus, I must warn you of how fate can turn things around, when you least expect it. Just like fate did for me. For your sake, Maestru, if this human is yours, claim her. No matter what happened to your Aleena, foolish procrastination will only get your human taken or killed, and I’m sure you don’t want to go through that again.”

Night had long fallen, the moon shining high above the Gulf of Mexico. Through Renee’s side door window, Dakota blew Blythe a goodbye kiss as Rock and Sixten helped her into a sleek sedan. Dakota adored seeing Blythe again, although she couldn’t stop thinking about Adam. “How did Blythe get so big so quickly?” she asked.

Dru rubbed his forehead. “I have no experience in shifter gestation, but I’d say Blythe and her males are going to be parents sooner than I thought possible.” His mouth twisted with disdain. “Of all the Habaline
facility
records I’ve combed through, I can’t find a damn pattern. Some pregnancies went quickly into delivery, similar to what I expect Blythe and another female, Amy, are experiencing. Other pregnancies, such as that of Adam’s mother, went on for at least a year. There’s no rhyme or reason unless I dig through bloodlines, and frankly, that would get me nowhere. Adam’s twenty-seven years old, and he wasn’t the first born to those freaking mad scientists. The records are endless and disgusting, years and years of them.”

When Adam had revealed his past life to her, bile rose in Dakota’s throat. “If you read Adam’s records, could you tell if his mother was still alive?”

Dru shook his head. “She was nineteen and died while giving birth to Adam. Considering the quality of her life, living in chambers beneath the soil as food and a Habaline broodmare, death was her blessing.”

“Death as a blessing, I guess, in that instance, you’re right.” She would have died if Maestru hadn’t saved her, yet upon awakening, he life had changed dramatically.”

Dru zeroed in on her with his whiskey eyes. “Dakota, your life changed one ill-fated night behind Six Feet Under. Never forget that you wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for Maestru.”

“You can read my mind,” she whispered in shock.

“Yes, and to answer your next unspoken question,” he continued, “Maestru’s amazing blood healed
everything
.”

“So I really was a virgin,” she said quietly.

Dru confirmed, “Yes, you really were.”

Dakota hadn’t heard from Maestru since the virgin-fueled fight, where she hadn’t believed him and slammed the door in his face. The joke was on her, and maybe she would consider apologizing, if she’d actually had the opportunity. She hadn’t. This afternoon, Adam had escorted her to Renee’s house so they could visit. Dakota wasn’t stupid. She realized that Dru was babysitting her until Adam came back from his Coven meeting. She shook her head, hoping all this babysitting wouldn’t be required when school started. Her waitressing at Six Feet Under had more than paid the bills, but teaching her six graders fulfilled her. She would never knowingly endanger the children by her simple presence, so she needed to discuss her life further with Maestru.

Dakota went for a change of subject, “I understand why I couldn’t visit my father this morning, but visiting hours are nearly over. Surely, he’s still not enduring tests?”

Dru shook his head. “Randall has shown a marked improvement today, and the staff has exerted his body by testing. He needs rest - it’s for the best, Dakota.” Dru’s phone beeped, and he excused himself.

Dakota didn’t buy Dru’s excuse about her father for a minute, but she knew when to press and when to hold her tongue. She walked back into the kitchen and caught Renee and Arian making out as if they were horny teenagers, instead of a married couple.

Arian stood up and pulled a kitchen chair out for Dakota. “I, uh, have to check in with Ryan, maybe take some shifts,” she said, accepting a dessert plate from Renee. “If he’s needing me, that is. I should be safe if Ryan escorts me to and from the building, right?” She’d never set foot in that alleyway again, that’s for sure.

“Believe me, Ryan’s already has those waitressing shifts covered for a while,” Renee said. “I swear he’s got OCD or something, lining everything up a month ahead of time.” She rolled her moss-green eyes. “Who does that?” 


“Organized people,” Arian piped in, ducking when Renee took a mock swing at him.

Dakota toyed with her plate, her stomach turning at the sight of food. “What’s going on with this Coven Meeting?” What was so important that Adam would leave her for most of the day? Better yet, why was she so needy of him?

“The Coven Meeting was cancelled to make way for an emergency Joint Faction meeting,” Arian answered without giving anything away. “Bane’s at our joint facility now.”

“Will the Coven Master be there?” Dakota asked.

Renee looked sympathetic. “Yeah, people are talking about you two.”

Dakota didn’t like the sound of that. “I can’t figure out what he wants with me.” When Renee stayed quiet, Dakota said, “This is the part where you tell me Maestru isn’t as bad as I think he is.”

Renee shook her head. “I don’t lie to my friends.”

Arian called Dru to the kitchen. “Hey, Dru, in a few minutes, I want to head over to the meeting.” He jerked his white-blonde head Dakota’s way. “She’s not to go anywhere until Adam gets back.”

“Not a problem.” Dru leaned in to kiss Renee. “What are you eating, sweetheart?”

“Dessert.” She smiled proudly. “Dakota and I cooked up a storm this afternoon.”

“And it tastes like something you made,” Arian muttered under his breath.

Renee narrowed her eyes. “Well, if you don’t like my crème canoe, don’t eat it!”

Arian started coughing as an amused Dru asked, “What crème canoe are you referring to?”

“I bought a special pan on the Internet and voila.” Renee lifted her dessert plate, where her knockoff Twinkie sat. “My crème canoe version is much healthier without added shortening or chemicals.”

Dakota forced down a few bites and wanted to tell her friend that she preferred shortening and chemicals to the alternative. Instead, she told the men, “We also made dairy free, chocolate dipped bananas… covered in nuts.” Dakota watched Dru’s lips twitch. “They’re hardening in the freezer.”

“That’s it.” Arian kissed Renee and disappeared.

Dru kept his composure, cupping Renee’s cheek. “I’m going to sleep for a few hours, sweetheart. Then, I’ll need you to come down so I can feed.” He then headed towards the kitchen staircase, disappearing into the wall with a whispered goodnight.

Dakota asked, “Does he ever get stuck in that wall, like half in, half out?”

“Never.” She wiped her mouth. “Though Bane says they rarely mist when fighting since they can reform in a worse position, like with a dagger or something in the gut.”

Dakota got nosy. “You’re not afraid of feeding Dru, are you?”

“Afraid?” Renee laughed devilishly. “Feeding my husband is one of the highlights of my day. It comes with all sorts of
perks
.”

“You never told me you were married to three men.”

“How could I?” Renee picked up their half eaten plates and brought them to the sink. “I have a question for
you
, though.”