Wulf's Redemption (Borne Vampires Book 3) (31 page)

He saw his sword held out to him by Sam. Taking
it, he rose to his feet as Sam and Kai helped Lisle on hers. Years spent hating
her, dreaming of killing her was finally at hand and now he found he felt
drained. Lisle stumbled away from them. Standing straighter, she lifted her
chin, ready for the blow that would set her free from the madness she suffered.

 
“I forgive
you, Lisle Breber. May God’s grace set you free.” Alex swung his blade, slicing
through tissue and bone, ending Lisle’s torment. He felt a nudge. Edgar held
out a water bottle to him. “Thank you. Stand back, you don’t want to get burned.”
Dousing Lisle’s body, her head, he felt free as her corpse engulfed in flames
and turned to ash.

“Wow,” Edgar exclaimed. “Do they always burn like
that?”

“Some explode, making dusting them dangerous work.
Mind assisting us with the clean up?”

“Yes, sir,” the eager, young men said together.

“There might be survivors, so stay close to Mina
and Kai, who will dispatch them.”

“Get rid of the evidence vamps exist. Got ya.
We’re on it. Come on, Eddie. We need to refill our water guns.”

Sin stood beside Alex, nodding his approval. “Good
men. Where’d you find them?”

“Edgar was our bellhop. He and his cousin
volunteered to help out. How about Mina?”

“She’s fine, just ticked off that she couldn’t
personally kill Waters. Still pretty pissed about what he’d done to her and Kai
back in London.”

“Can’t blame her. Kai worried that she’d lose her
gift forever.”

“Any idea how to warn Faeroes, since we can’t call
or communicate with them?” Sin asked, watching Mina chop of the head of an
injured vamp.

“We have to fly there and warn them personally.”

Sin checked his watch. “Midnight. We’ve got to go
now!”

His stomach dropped. “Humans can go around in the
day.”

Giving him a funny look, Sin said, “Well known
fact. What’s your point?”

“Sam,” Alex asked, “did you see Harklee after you
were taken?”

“No, he’d gone into town. Missed the bloodbath. Why?”
Sam inquired, concerned when Sin and Alex started swearing. “What’s going on?”

“Harklee wants to prove himself worthy to Angel.
What better way than killing Faeroes and the Council.”

Sin slammed his sword back into his scabbard.
“Dawn is when Harklee plans to kill them.” He shouted, “Mina, Kai, we have to
leave!”

“What’s wrong,” Mina asked, cleaning the blood off
her sword with the last of the Holy water in the bottle she held.

“We’ve got to get to Berlin before dawn to stop
Harklee from attacking Faeroes’ castle.”

Sheathing her sword, she started swearing. “We’ll
have to push it hard to get there.”

“Eddie, Edgar, can you drive to Berlin?” Alex
asked, cleaning his sword of Lisle’s blood with the Holy water Sin handed him.

The cousins eagerly nodded. “We’re in. Wouldn’t
miss out on another adventure for the world.”

“Good. Take turns driving to Berlin and be there
in the morning. Kai, put in their minds where the fortress is.”

“Gentlemen, look at me.”

While she talked to them, Sam growled, “I’m in,
too. Harklee set me up, handed me right over to the Damned. I owe him.”

“More the better. Head on out of town now,” Alex
ordered, tightening the belted scabbard strapped around his chest and back.

“Yes, sir.” Edgar pushed his cousin to move
faster.

Sam paused and faced Alex. “My mother told me
about you before she passed away.”

“You’re mother? I didn’t know Lycans existed.”

“That’s because I’m not a Lycan, I’m Wolfen. You
met her in 1819 when you lived at Wulf Manor. She was the white wolf.”

“I remember her. She was brave to fight Lisle.
Sadly, she lost several of her pack in the fight.”

“Mother regretted not showing her human side to
you, to tell you she knew who the Wolf of Magdeburg was. And for not staying to
finish the fight with Lisle.”

“She was right to leave when she did. What
followed after I found my brother and Lisle went from bad to worse. She was
lucky to have escaped the madness.”

A honk sounded outside the club. “Watch for speed traps,”
Alex warned. “We’ll need the weapons Eddie and Edgar gathered for us.”

“We’ll be there.” Sam ran outside.

Kai took his hand in hers. “Alex, I think when we
get to close to Berlin, the greater my chance to break past Faeroes and Anya’s safeguards
and warn them.”

“God,
I hope so.”

A
faraway gaze in her eyes warned him she was reaching out to someone. “No!” Kai
clutched her heart.

“Kai,
what’s wrong,” Mina asked, laying her hand on her shoulder.

“I
can’t connect with Mom. They’re already at the fortress!”

Alex
couldn’t breathe.

Mariah!

✝✝✝

An unfamiliar beeping in her backpack had Kai
shrugging it off and digging out Harklee’s cell phone out. Alex asked her,
“Kai, isn’t that Harklee’s phone?”

“Yes, and there’s a message.” Pushing to retrieve it,
the lock on the phone was no longer there. “Alex, it’s a news video.” Sin and
Mina leaned in to watch it.

 
‘On today’s
latest bombing, the suspects reportedly used liquid fertilizer mixed with other
chemicals. The results were complete destruction.’

“Alex,” Kai said, sick to her stomach, “the lawns
surrounding the manor is maintained by a landscaping company, right?”

“Shit, that’s how Harklee plans to kill the Borne.
Liquid fertilizer.”

“They used the gardeners and already have the
bombs in place,” Mina flatly said. Kai knew her better than anyone and knew her
friend was as torn up as she was.

Their family was in danger!

Sin pulled Mina toward the doors. “The real puzzle
is whether Harklee will use a timer or remote detonator.”

“Knowing the sick bastard,” Alex replied as he and
Kai hurried after them, “he’ll want to watch the explosion. Doesn’t matter what
device he uses, he’ll be there to personally oversee the deed done.”

That’s how they could stop him!

“Guys, if we find Harklee, I can stop him using
telepathy!” She pulled on her backpack as they left the club.

“Sin,” Alex ordered, “you protect our backs.
Girls, you stay in the middle. Pour the speed on. Let’s go.” He leapt in the
air.

They followed him.

God, please let us
find Harklee before
its
too late
,
Kai prayed fervently, fighting the
fear of losing her entire family to a vengeful human.

Chapter Fourteen

Endless miles passed as they poured on the sped to
get to Berlin before dawn. Between not feeding and the fight at
Club Vampyre
, she was running out of energy.

And Lisle.

Unsure how to feel about her strange compulsion to
forgive her and the remorse Lisle exhibited at the end, her willingness to have
her life ended had her wondering what she had said before she died. Was there
cure for humans infected by the Damned?

Feeling nauseous, she reached out to Alex.
“I’m sorry, Alex. I need to feed. I’m burned out.”

“I am starting to weaken, too. There’s a gas station
to your left. We’ll rest there and find us a donor. Tell Mina.”

She
passed on the message. Mina was relieved, needing blood, too. Same with Sin. Behind
the building, they landed. Her legs buckled under her and she was saved falling
by Alex’s steadying arm. He held her to his side.

“Kai,
why don’t you stay here, and I’ll bring a human here for you to feed,” Alex
offered.

“Okay,
I’ll wait here for you.” Kai took a seat on the pavement, leaning against the
warm brick wall.

Mina
sat down beside her. “I’ll keep you company.” She smiled at Sin, who knelt
before her, worried. “I’m fine. Just drained from the last couple of days. Go
on with Alex and bring a donor back, please.”

“I
love you.” Sin brushed her long, black hair from her face.

“I
love you, too,” Mina whispered, leaning to kiss him.

Awkward
moment, Kai looked away, finding Alex staring at her. She longed for a private
moment with him, uncomfortable expressing her feeling for him around others. Alex
winked at her, understanding her more than she did.

“I love you, Kai Jordan, and later, after we have saved
our people, I shall show you how much I love you.”

Hiding
her smile behind her hand, Kai liked the way Alex knew just what to say.
“I will hold you to your word.”

“Just as long as
you hold that beautiful body against me,”
he teased.

“Oh, I intend to
and much more,”
Kai promised huskily.

Clearing
his throat, Alex squirmed a bit when she flashed images in his mind what she
wanted to do to him. “Uh, I’ll be about bringing back a human.”

“Right with you.” Sin caressed Mina’s upturned
face before following him.

In silence, Mina and Kai sat, too tired to chat.
Kai held out her hand to the woman who was more a sister than a flesh and blood
one could be. Taking it, Mina rested her head back against the building. They
didn’t have to wait long when two men walked up to them, vacant expressions on
their faces.

Starving, Kai grabbed one and sank her teeth in
his neck, hungrily drinking his blood. She continued to feed, stopping only
when she heard the flutter of his heart. Jerking back, she closed the wounds
and blurred the bite mark. Hunger sated for a while, Kai gazed deep into the
human’s unfocused eyes.

“You will remember nothing of what happened here.
You are woozy from the heat. Drink plenty of water and find somewhere to rest.”

“Yes. Drink water. Rest,” the human repeated. The
man stiffly walked back to his car. The man Mina fed on followed him.

Alex and Sin returned. “Ladies, are you ready?” At
their nods, Alex leapt in the air.

Speeding faster, Kai felt the air change, warming
with the sun’s impending arrival. Alex sensed it, too, and sped up. Another
hour gave way and the sprawling metropolis of Berlin came into view. Goal in
sight, Kai searched with her mind for any way to warn the Borne of the danger
they were in.

Nothing.

“Alex, where is the castle? I haven’t had a chance
to see any pictures of it yet.”

He pointed to his right.
“We
have to travel another ten miles. You can’t miss it. It’s literally a fortress
with ramparts and a moat.”

“We have to find Harklee! He’ll detonate
the bombs right before they go to ground. He’ll want to catch them gathered
together, when they are vulnerable.”

“The great hall is where Faeroes and Anya
planned to hold meetings and entertain company. That’s in the main keep.”

“What the bombs
haven’t killed, the fire will finish the job.”
Sick to her stomach at
the thought of her family burning to death, dying so horribly, Kai closed her
eyes briefly. Opening them again, she sped up, flying side by side with Alex.

Situated on a hill, the castle rose majestically
in the predawn hour. Flood lights illuminated the grounds, the main keep. The
ramparts stretched around the entire fortress. The moat was not what she
expected. Void of water, the deep trench was green with grass, shorn short and
meticulously kept.

Where were the patrols? Why weren’t the Slayers
walking the ramparts, protecting those inside the castle? Searching for any
Borne, Kai came up with nothing. She switched her search to finding Harklee. Strange,
nothing from the human.

Surely Harklee would be close. Wouldn’t he?

“Kai, tell Mina and Sin to search the other
side while you and I search the lower road. I don’t see any of the Slayers.”

“There’s no one outside. We need to find
Harklee and any humans he might be using for the attack. Time is running out.”

“Hey, look over
there. Do you see the van?”
Alex asked, flying toward it.

Confused, she searched below and found it parked
behind a stand of trees. Mina and Sin saw it, too, and changed course. A human
sat in the driver’s seat. They dropped from the sky and cautiously surrounded
the vehicle with their guns drawn and ready to fire. Alex went to grab the
human out of the front seat and froze.

“Nobody touch the van!” Alex shouted. “The human
is wired with C-4.”

The man held a cellphone in his hand, his thumb
hovering over the call button. She tried to link with him, hoping to force him
to drop the phone. Emptiness was all she could find. Whoever got to him made
sure he could not be tampered with and he would push the call button when the
time programmed in his mind told him to do it.

She had to warn her mother about the danger they
were in, but how?

Gaeta said she would have the power of the gypsies
once she drank her blood. After a couple of days would the influence of Gaeta’s
blood have worn off? There was only one way to find out.

Kai faced the castle. She ‘pushed’ against the
mental walls her mother and those in the castle had erected. Closing her eyes,
she thrust her mind out with the same effect as punching a wall, the invisible
wall barring her from saving the vampires.

In her mind, she heard the old Gypsy woman say,
“Kai, we are with you. Take our power and send your
message to the ones you love.”

Stretching out her hand, Kai focused on Faeroes,
Anya, and her mother. Instead of pushing, she mentally screamed,
“Run! There is a bomb.”

No response. Stretching out both hands, she threw
all she had out, breaking past the barriers set up by her family to protect
those gathered. She saw her family; they were seated behind Faeroes, who delivering
an impassioned speech to those seated before him, at a huge round table. Twenty-one
council members were listening to Faeroes, who paused in the middle of his
speech. He tilted his head in confusion. The great hall was organized with fold
up chairs occupied by men and women watching their leader in confusion as he
glanced around him.

“Faeroes, you were
betrayed! Send everyone out of the castle or they will die,”
she mentally shouted at him,
forcing him to hear her.

“Kai? How is possible? You ....”

“The Damned have
planted bombs at the castle. You must run.”
She looked at the human in the van. Through her eyes,
Faeroes say the human’s thumb tremble.

Faeroes
shouted for everyone to run. Those nearest the tall, double doors leading to
the courtyard found it would not open. They broke the windows out and jumped. Rathe
joined Faeroes and they slammed their shoulders into the doors, trying to break
it down to help others escape. Faeroes yelled at Rathe to take Mariah out the
window, he would follow with Anya. He picked up Anya and helped her out the
window, then he hesitated.

The
human pressed ‘send’.

First
explosion rocked the ground, sending Kai and the others stumbling in the fiery
wake. Another explosion followed and her connection with Faeroes broke.
Explosion after explosion claimed the keep, the bombs focused mainly there.
Vampires were caught in the flames, the fire intensifying. Helpless, she
watched as they burned to death.

“Kai,”
Alex yelled at her.

When
she failed to respond, he swung her into in his arms and leapt up in the sky.
The van exploded in ball of fire, flames chasing them. At a safe distance, Alex
slowed to make sure Sin and Mina were with them before he flew on to the
castle. The screams of dying vampires broke over the roar of flames. A handful
of vampires grouped together in the courtyard, forced back by the raging fires.
Kai sought out her mother, relieved to find her and Rathe helping Anya
to her feet. The whole side of the keep was gone, the ground covered in the
rubble.

“Alex, put me down!” He did and Kai ran, stumbling
over broken glass, broken mortar blocks to her, yelling, “Mom!”

“Kai?” Mariah ran to her and they hugged, crying
in relief to be reunited. Alex, Sin, and Mina were right behind her. Mina went
to Anya, who was held by Rathe. The tall blonde struggled to run back into the
keep.

“Rathe, release me,” Anya cried frantically.
“Faeroes is still in there. I know he’s alive. I can feel it!”

Rathe shouted, “Alex, I need your help. We have to
find my brother.” To Anya, “We’ll find Faeroes, I promise. We’ll go inside
together. Understand? We must stay together. There is too much structural
damage and smoke. Watch where you step.” He released her when she understood
they were forming a rescue party.

“Rathe, meet Sin Dracula,” Alex introduced them,
ready to stop Rathe if he attacked Sin.

Sizing each other up, Sin extended his hand out to
a wary Rathe who accepted it. Rathe grabbed Mariah and kissed her hard before
heading back inside the keep. Anya followed. Sin and Alex brought up the rear.

Kai, Mariah, and Mina watched anxiously, holding
each other, fearful for their loved ones. She mentally searched for survivors.
To her relief, she found Faeroes.
“Alex, I
found him. He’s not far from where the window once was. I get only images of dust
and broken blocks. I think Faeroes is buried under mortar and wooden beams.”

“Are there any others alive?”

Scanning the entire castle, Kai bit her lip from
crying.
“No. Only Faeroes is alive. The
ceiling fell on him. He’s right under where Anya searches.”

“No one else?”
Alex repeated, stunned by the death toll.

Regretful, she replied,
“No.”

“Rathe and Sin are fighting the fires in
our area, pushing it back so Anya and I can help Faeroes. I love you.”

“I love you, too. Be careful. I can’t lose
you.”

“You can’t get rid of me that easy, honey.”

“Hurry. Faeroes is weakening. I can hardly
hear his heart beating.”

A vampire rushed over to them. “Mariah, the main door
was barred by a steel beam!”

“Where are the Slayers who were protecting us
while we held our meeting,” a woman demanded, cradling her broken arm, too weak
to heal herself.

Another answered, shocked by what he found.
“They’re dead. All dead.”

“How?” Mariah asked, stunned by the news.

“They were beheaded.”

Unable to comprehend a legion of Slayer taken by
surprise, Kai sought to link with Faeroes and somehow connected with him and Anya.
Anya fought to breathe, choking on smoke and dust, desperate to dig him out.
Unable to release him from his grave of stone and wood, Anya’s anguished cry
ripped the air, alarming everyone. Alex joined her, carefully removing heavy
blocks, mindful of the unstable floor above them.

“Alex, hurry,”
Kai cried to him,
“Faeroes is slipping away
from us. His injuries are bad and he cannot heal himself.”

“Kai, we need
more help!”
Alex grunted, heaving a heavy wooden beam from where Anya
directed him to uncover Faeroes.

Casting around her, Kai tried to figure out who to
call when the answer came within her. Facing the city of Berlin, Kai focused
her will and broadcast to all the Borne, to the gypsies, to the humans.

“We need you aid! Our king is trapped and is dying.
Come to the castle and help us free Faeroes.”

From where she stood, vampires streaked toward
them, uncaring if the humans saw them. Fire engines wailed, police cars were
speeding toward them. Kai ran inside the castle, ignoring her mother’s cry to
stop. Mina was right behind her, Mariah on her heels. They reached the ragged
hole in the stone floor. Peering down it, Kai saw Alex working with Sin to move
the rubble covering Faeroes. Rathe held his hands out, sweat pouring down his
brow, his face contorted in agonizing concentration as he fought to keep the
fires back.

“Help is coming,” she yelled to them.

“Careful,” Alex shouted back. “Where you are is
unstable. The whole thing could come down on us.”

Anya wept, her elegant features covered in soot and
grime. “Faeroes, my love, hold on. Please!”

Sin and Alex were moving more mortar and debris
when a groan of pain reached their sensitive hearing. Alex rolled his hand for
Anya to keep talking to Faeroes.