Dark Redemption (21 page)

         
Without a thought, Kate dove to cover Dominic’s body with her own. “No!” No way
in hell would she stand by as Dominic was taken from her
again.
Dominic sucked in a sharp breath as she collided with his shattered leg before
landing on his chest with a
thud
.

         
Massimo laughed, the boom of his mirth echoing through the dank stone room.
Kate looked up at her cousin in astonishment, and then glanced at Alexander.
Alexander bore a look of bewildered shock akin to what she felt.

         
“
Relax,
cuz
. If I wanted to
kill your boy toy, I would’ve done it by now,” Massimo boasted, then nodded
once at Dominic. “Ridolfi, you’re damn lucky Katerina wants you alive. I can’t
imagine the bitching and moaning I’d have to listen to for the rest of eternity
if you died again. So, go. Get the hell out of here and take her with you.
Protect her with your life or I’ll hunt you down and kill you myself.”

         
“Have you lost your mind, Cacciatori?” Alexander protested.

         
Dominic rose on shaky legs and helped Kate to her feet. They silently watched
the exchange between the two vampires, clinging to each other.

         
Massimo grinned at Alexander. “That’s assuming I had a mind to begin with,
Ambrogio. You always said I was a dumbass.”

         
“Never to this extent,
” Alex
grumbled. “I can’t let
you do this. As Captain of the Guard and her
tutore
, I am responsible
for her well-being.”

         
“Girls, girls, let’s not fight,” Dominic interjected, the corner of his lips
twisting into an amused smirk. Kate elbowed him in the ribs. The two male
vampires ignored him completely.

         
“Well, as the grandson of Gustavo Cacciatori and a royal member of the Grand
Council, I’m pulling rank. You are hereby relieved of your duties,” Massimo
sneered.

         
“You can’t do that,” Alexander protested. “You don’t have the authority.”

         
“I have enough to ruin you, Ambrogio. This time for good,” Massimo threatened.

         
“You’ll ruin yourself before you ever have the chance,” Alexander hissed. “I
don’t care if you are a Cacciatori, every vampire on this planet will be out
for your blood if you send our one chance for redemption away with our worst
enemy.”

         
“That would be my problem, not yours,” Massimo waved off the concern with his
hand. “But consider this, Ambrogio. No one knows how the prophecy will be
fulfilled. Perhaps Katerina’s unnatural attachment to the dog will be the catalyst
behind its fulfillment. In which case, there’s no sense fighting her on it.”

         
Alexander glared at Massimo in silence, his lips pursed in
displeasure.  

         
“The man has a point,” Dominic reasoned with a mischievous grin, breaking the
awkward silence as the two vampires stared each other down as though each was a
spoon the other hoped to bend with his mind. 

         
Nonplussed by their blatant disregard, Dominic gave Kate a devious smile. “Do
you think they’d even notice if we left,
cara
?”
he sham whispered to her.

         
“Maybe not,” Kate played along. “Perhaps if we back away, real slow like…”

         
“You’re not going anywhere, Katerina,” Alexander snarled, pinning her with his
razor sharp gaze. His golden eyes flashed back to Massimo. “Katerina belongs to
me. I’ve dedicated my life to her -- lived for her, protected her, lied for
her, and bled for her. I’ll not allow anyone to take her from me.”

         
“I don’t belong to you,” Kate huffed with indignity.
“Nor to
anyone for that matter.
I am not a thing to be owned or a prize to be
won. I am a
pers
—”

         
“You belong to me,” Dominic growled, his alpha possessiveness kicking into
overdrive at her declaration of independence. Great, now all he needed to do
was club her over the head and drag her into his cave.

         
“Yes, baby, but because I choose to belong to you,” Kate reassured him, patting
his broad chest.

         
“Like hell you do,” Alexander roared. “You are mine.
Promised
to me since birth.”
His golden eyes narrowed as he turned to Dominic.
“The wolf is mine as well. I captured him. He is my prisoner to do with what I
will.”

         
“Actually,” Massimo said with a smirk, “you lied to The Council about his
death. He belongs to us. On behalf of The Grand Council, I release him.”

         
“Over my dead body,” Alexander snarled, inching closer to Kate and Dominic.

         
“That can be arranged,” Massimo boasted, cracking his knuckles for emphasis.

         
“See?” Dominic quipped to
Massimo,
shoving Kate behind
his back in response to Alexander’s shifting. “Don’t you wish you had just let
me kill him?”

         
“Shut up, dog,” Alexander snapped, lunging for Dominic.

         
The two men crashed together, knocking Kate backward as they collided. Kate
glared up at them indignantly as they fought. The sound of flesh pounding flesh
and men breathing with exertion filled the air. Although weakened by weeks of
torture and malnutrition, Dominic was bigger and stronger. Yet Alexander was
quick and sure-footed, dancing around the bigger man as he tried to get a jab
in. He dodged and ducked, snatching a blade out of the box of torture
instruments.

         
This blade was different than the other weapons in Alexander’s arsenal of pain,
for it was made of pure silver. Kate could see the difference in the color, but
she also sensed the difference in Dominic. His muscles seemed tighter, more
tense and ready, as though his body realized the stakes had just been raised.

         
Alexander slashed at Dominic, but Dominic feinted from left to right and caught
Alexander in the face with his elbow. The vampire’s golden head snapped back
and blood poured from his nose, but he showed no indication of awareness.
Ignoring his injury, Alexander circled again, his blade held out and ready to
strike.

         
“Enough,” Massimo roared as Alexander swiped at Dominic again.

The
golden vampire made no effort to acknowledge his friend’s protests, continuing
his unsuccessful assault on Dominic’s defenses. Massimo stepped behind Alex and
dragged both of his arms behind his back. “I said ‘enough,’ Ambrogio,” Massimo
growled.

         
Dominic studied the two male vampires from beneath arched brows. Kate knew he
wanted Alexander’s blood. But Massimo’s interference was a game changer.
At least for now.

         
With a shrug, Dominic turned and helped Kate to her feet, offering her an
apologetic half-smile. Alexander fought Massimo’s restraining grasp, kicking
and flailing in an attempt to free himself.

“Who died and made you king of
the vampires?”

         
“I’m the future king, asshole, but as far as you’re concerned, I
am
the
king,” Massimo growled, struggling to keep hold of the determined vampire.

         
Massimo glanced at Kate and Dominic. “Get the hell out of here, while you still
can. And, Ridolfi, don’t forget what I said.”

         
Dominic nodded. “I couldn’t live with myself if I failed to protect her.”

         
“Good,” Massimo said with a curt nod. “Then don’t.”

         
“I won’t,” Dominic promised with a smile. “Thank you, Cacciatori. I owe you.”

         
Massimo glared at him, still fighting to keep hold of a raging Alex. “I didn’t
do it for you, Ridolfi. I did it for her. I’d rather kill you myself.”

         
Dominic nodded. “I know. But thank you, nonetheless.”

         
“You’re still an asshole,” Kate tossed at her cousin with an affectionate
smile.

Massimo
smirked back. “Yeah and you’re still a spoiled little princess. Now get out.”
He indicated the doorway with the jerk of his head.

         
Alexander muttered a string of obscenities and lunged for her, but Massimo held
him back. Kate drove her knee into Alexander’s groin, sending him sprawling to
the ground. It wasn’t the bloody death she’d imagined for him, but it would
have to suffice for now.

         
Massimo barked his laughter. “Take care of yourself,
cuz
.”

         
Blinking back tears, Kate nodded and turned to Dominic. With a reassuring
smile, Dominic took Kate’s hand and led her from the cell. They broke into a
sprint through the tunnels, running away from the sound of angry vampires and
the stench of neglect and torture.

         
“Wait,” Kate said, skidding to a halt.

         
“What?”

         
“I don’t know where we’re going,” Kate admitted, frightened by her own
confession. They could be stuck down there forever. Or at least until her
family woke up, killed Dominic, and dragged her back to her quarters.

         
Dominic grinned at her. “That’s okay. I do.”

         
Kate arched her brows at him and tried to suppress a laugh. “Let me guess, ‘you
asked.’”

         
With the shake of his head, Dominic laughed. “Not this time. I’m actually a
repeat guest here at Hotel Cacciatori Castle Dungeon.”

         
“Really?
But Massimo said they hadn’t used this place in
over a hundred years,” Kate protested trying to wrap her mind around her
husband’s prior immortal existence.

         
Dominic shrugged. “They haven’t. Let’s just hope they haven’t remodeled in the
last hundred and fifty years or so.”

         
Maneuvering through the stone corridors of the subterranean dungeon, Dominic
led Kate through a honeycomb of winding paths. It would be all too easy to get
lost in this place.

         
When at last they reached the base of a high, stone staircase, Dominic came to
a stop. Glancing around, he snatched a black wool blanket from a nearby room.

         
“What are you doing with that?” Kate asked, eyeing the blanket.

         
‘It’s daylight out there,
cara
,” Dominic reminded her. “I hope you
weren’t planning on waltzing right out into the midday sun without any kind of
coverage. I just got you back.”

         
Kate’s cheeks flushed with gratitude and embarrassment. Thanks to Dominic, she
would live to burn to death another day. “Yeah, I didn’t really think that far
ahead.”

         
Dominic’s eyes widened. “Please tell me you have a plan beyond
break Dominic
out of jail and hope for the best
.”

Kate
laughed. “Giovanni is waiting for us about a quarter of a mile south of here.”

         
“Thank God. I don’t know what I would’ve done with you if he wasn’t,” Dominic
admitted with a sheepish grin.  “I thought I might collapse a few miles
from the castle with your blanketed body huddled in my arms.”

         
“I have more faith in you than that, my love.”

         
“That makes one of us,” Dominic chuckled. “Come on. Let’s not put it to the
test though.”

         
“Hey, where’s your sense of adventure?”

         
“It’s on hiatus.” Draping the heavy blanket over Kate’s head, he pressed a soft
kiss to her lips. “I’ll see you on the outside,” he said with his dazzling
smile.

         
Kate couldn’t help but return his smile. “It’s a date.”

Bundling
her like a burrito, Dominic hoisted Kate onto his shoulder and gave her bottom
a playful smack.  “I’ll hold you to that,
cara
.”

Chapter
21

The
stifling air beneath the thick wool did little to ease the dizzying sensation
of ascending the staircase blind and backwards atop Dominic’s broad shoulder.
Yet with each step Kate knew they drew closer to freedom. Up, up, up they went,
until Dominic paused at the top of the staircase. The ancient door groaned as
he forced it open and the blanket caught fire around her.

         
Or so it seemed as Dominic stepped out into the sunlight. The warm rays beat
down on Kate’s back, infiltrating the thick wool of the blanket and the fabric
of her clothes to sear her sensitive skin. Kate whimpered and tried to burrow
into Dominic’s back.

         
“It’ll be okay,
cara
,” Dominic whispered soothingly to her, his voice
laced with concern. His gait became uneven, jostling her as he picked up the
pace and broke into a sprint. 

         
“Stop right there!” A voice ordered from behind them.

         
But Dominic kept running.

         
Kate flinched as gunfire split the air. Holding her breath, she waited for the
sharp pain of a bullet to bite into her skin. Shots rained down around them
like a hailstorm, kicking up clods of earth and peppering them with the spray
of rubble. The compelled human guards were little match for Dominic’s immortal
speed.

         
Or so she thought. A sharp pop pierced her right shoulder, a bullet driving
into her like gravel thrown by speed pitch. Kate gasped in shock and pain.
She’d been shot. The bastards had managed to hit her through sheer dumb luck.

         
A car door opened and Kate was tossed into the soft interior like a bag of
laundry. She felt Dominic’s body slide in next to hers and heard the door slam.
Tires squealed and the vehicle jerked into motion.

         
“Are you okay, Kate?” Dominic asked, his fingers fumbling to free her from her
wool shroud.

         
Kate grimaced and tried to wiggle out of the wool wrapping. “I’ve had better
days.”

         
“You look like shit, little brother,” Giovanni’s boisterous voice crowed.

         
“Nice to see you too, Gio,” Dominic said. Kate could hear the relieved laughter
in his words.

         
At last, she freed herself from the cocoon of her blanket and blinked at
Dominic in the dim cabin light. “We did it,” she cheered, then flinched from the
pain the slight movement caused.

         
“Oh,
cara
,” Dominic worried, peeling the
blanket from her torso to inspect the gunshot wound to her right shoulder. “Let
me take a look.”

         
“Don’t do it,” Giovanni warned with a grin. “He might seem sweet, but deep down
inside he’s a sadistic bastard who loves to
rebreak
bones and pry metal out of people.”

         
“Thanks, Gio. I’ll take that under advisement,” she said dryly, leaning to
allow Dominic easier access to her wound. “It’s not like it could hurt much
mo--- Son of a bitch!”

         
Dominic’s deft fingers, usually so quick to please her,
probed at the hole in a none-too-gentle manner.
“I need a knife,” he
called to Gio, who absentmindedly fished a switchblade out of his pocket and
tossed it to Dominic.

         
Her husband caught the knife mid-air and flipped it open with expert precision.
Kate couldn’t decide if it was scary or impressive. She went with both,
considering what he planned to do with that knife.

         
“You can leave it in there, really,” Kate offered, eyeing the knife in fear.
“I’m not sensitive to silver, so I’m sure my body will just push it out as it
heals.”

         
“True,” Dominic agreed with a grim nod. “But that would take too long. You’ll
heal faster this way.”

         
“See? Sadistic bastard,” Giovanni confirmed with a nod of certainty.

         
Kate opened her mouth to deny it, but Dominic touched the blade to her wound
and she gasped instead. Focusing on breathing through the pain, Kate ignored
the fact that she had a knife in her back and took slow, even breaths.

         
Using the tip of the knife, Dominic forced the bullet from the hole. The pain
faded almost immediately. Oh, her shoulder still throbbed with a vengeance, but
it definitely appreciated not sporting a silver slug as it tried to heal.

         
“
Ahhh
, thank you, Dominic,” Kate sighed as the dull
ache faded into nothing.

         
Dominic brushed a light kiss to her healing shoulder. “You’re welcome,
cara
. Gio may call it sadistic, but I’m a firm
believer in taking care of the problem at hand, instead of waiting for it to go
away.”

         
“I’m glad you did,” Kate agreed. “That wasn’t so bad.”

         
“Well, he’s a lot nicer to you when he does it,” Giovanni said, giving Dominic
a sulky glance.

         
With a laugh, Dominic smacked his brother on the shoulder. “That’s just because
you deserve the pain. If you’re stupid enough to sustain the injury, then you
better be ready to put up with the pain. Besides, she pretty much took a bullet
for me. She’s my angel.”

         
“Hey, don’t forget your fearless older brother who came dashing to your
rescue,” Giovanni complained, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

         
“Did I see you in that dungeon?” Dominic teased back. “Nope, I’m pretty sure I
didn’t. But, hey, thanks for the ride, bro.”

         
“Give me any more of that attitude and I’m dumping your dirty ass on the side
of the road with a sign that says ‘free’ on it,” Giovanni threatened in good
humor.

         
Kate laughed.  “After all the work I just went through to get him out of
there? Oh, no you don’t. You so much as look at him wrong and I’m throwing
you
out of the car.”

         
“Fair enough,” Giovanni said with a chuckle.

         
“Where are we headed?” Kate asked, scrunching her eyes as though it would help
her to see through the dark tinted glass.

         
“Munich,” Giovanni answered. “And quit scrunching up your face or it’ll stay
like that.”

         
“You sound like Mama,” Kate said with a laugh. The thought of her adoptive
mother made her homesick. Maybe someday she could go back, even if just for a
little while. “What’s in Munich?”

         
“Germans,” Giovanni quipped.

         
“No shit, Sherlock,” Kate said, rolling her eyes. “What else?”

         
“Oktoberfest?”
Dominic chimed in.

         
“You two are hopeless,” Kate sighed.

         
“I have a home there, Kate,” Giovanni said. “You two will be safe there for a
little while, at least until you can make further arrangements.”

         
Dominic smiled his thanks at his brother. “Thanks, Gio.”

         
“You’d do the same for me.”

         
Surrendering to her rising fatigue, Kate snuggled into Dominic’s chest. She
didn’t care how filthy he was. He was hers and he was alive.

         
“Absolutely.”
Dominic’s chest rumbled against her ear
as he spoke. That was the last word she heard as she faded into slumber, lost
in the hum of the road beneath the car and the steady beating of Dominic’s
heart.

***

         
For Kate, the hundred plus mile trip to Munich went by way too fast. Perhaps
the fact she’d not slept all morning had something to do with it. Less than two
hours of napping was not near enough beauty sleep. Hell, it wasn’t even enough
beastly sleep.

         
“
Wach auf,
Dornröschen
.
Wir sind
in
Deutschland
,” Dominic whispered in her
ear.
That or some other gibberish.

         
Kate swatted at him and mumbled something along the lines of go away. As a night
nurse, she’d never been a morning person. As a vampire, she wasn’t an
anything-involving-daylight person.

         
Dominic chuckled, brushing kisses to her closed eyelids. “Time to go,
cara
.
”

         
Kate sleepily rubbed her eyes and tried to remember how much she loved him in
spite of the fact he insisted on waking her up. She still couldn’t bring
herself to move. Her body was so tired and Dominic was just so comfortable.

         
Dominic’s lips tickled her ear. “I have plans for you that I’m certain Gio
would rather not witness,
”
he coerced, his husky words filled with seductive promise.

         
Kate sighed in pleasure and molded herself into his hard frame. Sleepy sex
sounded phenomenal right about now.

         
His chest shook with soft laughter. “I don’t think Gio would take too kindly to
me initiating them right here in his car.
”

         
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,
”
Kate drawled, a yawn ruining her best Clark Gable
imitation.

         
“Well, I do,
”
Giovanni interrupted. “And since I drove
the getaway car and provided the hideout, you owe me one. Now get the hell out.
”

         
“Geez, Gio,
”
Kate sighed. “Someone has boy PMS. I think
Lindsey would tell you it’s time to get laid. Sperm retention syndrome makes
you crabby.
”

         
Giovanni’s face turned a deep shade of scarlet, though whether it was thanks to
her mention of his sex life, his sperm count, or Lindsey, Kate wasn’t sure. All
she knew was she’d ruffled her brother-in-law’s feathers. With an apologetic
smile, Kate pecked his flushed cheek.

         
“It
’
s okay if you’re celibate, Gio. If monks
can do it and find inner peace, so can you.
”
Kate was so proud of herself for holding a straight
face. Dominic howled with laughter.

         
“Have I told you lately how much I love you?
”
Dominic asked with a smile.

         
“No, but I have a feeling you’re about to show me.
”

         
“Damn right I am,
”
Dominic growled, leaning in to kiss her.

         
“Oh, get a room already, you two,
”
Giovanni growled.

         
Dominic grinned at his brother.
“
Gladly.
We’ll try not to trash your place too much.
”

         
“You better not,
”
Gio grumbled, mumbling something about a
black light and a sanitation team under his breath.

         
“Thanks again, bro,
”
Dominic said, slapping Giovanni on the
shoulder.

         
“Anytime,
”
Giovanni acknowledged with a nod.
“
Just be careful, you two. I can’t come bailing you out of
medieval dungeons all the time. It’s too much work and is hell on my social
life.
”

         
Dominic chuckled. “We’ll keep that in mind.”