Enslaved in Shadows (6 page)

“She’s with me, and Cyrian asked me personally to come here tonight.” The guy took one look at Bells and was immediately ta
ken by her appearance
. She had that effect on all men. He stood straighter and even had the audacity to adjust himself.
Pig.

“Fine, but don’t get mad if we play with the food.” He stated calmly.

Play with the food? Now he was referring to them as food? Bells grabbed her hand and they both walked into the entrance of Odessa’s. The vibe of something different thickened the air.
She could feel it.
There was a
n uncomfortable
feel to the atmosphere tonight. Everyone was sandwiched together dancing to the thrum of the music, and for the first time in a long
time,
the bar was closed. The shadows behind the glass moved to and away from the window as fish and
other marine life swam passed.

“This isn’t right.” Bells whispered. Her hand tightened painfully o
n
Jesminda’s arm as she started backing them towards the door. There was an audible gasp from
some people in
the crowd surrounding them as they walked.
Jesminda didn’t argue. She could tell that the scene here wasn’t right.
The DJ
in the corner said something about meat being near, and then the sound of Kanye West and Jay Z’s
“
No Church in the Wild
”
started playing
.
Heads looked up from their positions on the dance floor.
Nameless faces starred back at
Jesminda
with glowing eyes of gold and red. There were a couple of black eyes as well. Were they wearing contacts?
This must be one of those freaky-deaky parties, Jes thought to herself.

She could feel the breeze from the entrance of the club and as she scanned the crowd, there in a dark corner off to the right, her gaze fell on a pair of forest green eyes that stared back at her in recognition.
She also noticed the woman plastered to his front nuzzling his neck.
A lump formed in
Jes’ throat and it blossomed weighing painfully on her vocal cords
.
As if the woman
knew,
she was being watched she lifted her head slowly and turned to smile directly at her. She had blood on her lips!
Were those fangs?
The air in her lungs evacuated her body with such
force it took her to her knees.
She wasn’t cut out for this shit.

Fucking bastard!
It was a
one-night
stand. C
ompose yourself twit.
Weren’t there rules to these things? Did he have to hook up with the next girl so quickly?
No honor among sleaze is what it was.
She’d wanted to be carefree and experience the wild side of life. And for her
troubles,
all she got was rejection and pain. Granted it was
self-inflicted
, as she had no ties to him, but it still hurt like hell. She was so done with this shit! Jes picked herself up and dusted off her jeans. There was a small crowd of men with glowing red eyes heading in her direction. The heat in their glare scared her. All kinds of warning bells went off in her head, but the music was so loud it sounded muffled in her ears. She just needed to get out of here and away from
him.

Bells hands dug painfully into her arm caus
ing Jes to flinch at the pain.
They continued to move toward the exit and the much needed fresh air. She sh
ould have said something to him. A
nything!
Instead,
like an idiot she’d fallen to the floor. How stupid was that?
She was made of tougher stock!
Her mother always said hope was for fools.
What exactly were you hoping?
Well, she wasn’t expecting what she got back inside the club. Should she have? Fuck if she knew the rules to
one-night
stands. Maybe
it was just the fact that he seemed
so kind
and caring
to her
in the jungle. Maybe she was really that naïve.
He fucked your brains out and
left you there. How’s that nice?

Tears
threatened
to make an appearance, but she wasn’t about to cry over
him.
She’d be damn if she’d acknowledge the betrayal and utter loss felt seeing him with the wannabe vampire.

This island was full of dark secrets and superstitions. Her grandmother had told her Belmopan was the cradle of hell, the gateway for all in
tent and
purposes. She could believe it with the heat here.
Obviously,
Cyrian capitalized on that myth if the clubs private party tonight was anything to go by. Their eyes had all glowed and the manner in which they were carrying on proved they were enjoying themselves. Bodies writhing, low moans of excitement, and then there was
him.
With his new one night stand. At least
she
was promised the time of her life. Jes wished it was her, and trying to pretend otherwise was pointless.

“'I’m ready to go home.” Bells said.

“Me too
. Let’s
leave this place.”

“Smartest thing we’ve done the entire trip, I’ll pack our stuff when we get back to your pare
nts.
You get some rest.” Jes
rubbed the outside of her arms to ward off a chill that wasn’t present and they both walked toward the street in silence. Deception was a tricky thing, and could she even call it that? He’d warned her. Told her it was a onetime deal. She sighed as Bells signaled a taxi. Her body wasn’t programmed for
one-night
stands, certainly not for someone like her.

Chapter 4

(Five years later)

“Morning gentlemen, let’s all take our seats and get ri
ght to business. Its late and I
need
debrief you on the latest intel
.”
The captain cleared his throat as he watched his men get to their seats. It wasn’t every
day his men had a case this
monumental
. Opening the
file,
he mentally sighed. There was no photo of the mortal woman, the fact she had extra luggage made this case all the more sensitive.

Captain Dravaggio stood at the front of the room and waited. He adjusted the tie on his suit, but out of
frustration,
he took the jacket and tie
off. Suits were not
Dravaggio’s
thing. G
ive him a broad sword, hell a dagger and he’d be
happy
. This protocol shit was ridiculous. No one said anger management classes weren’t working.
Normally he’d be insane with frustration.
Instead,
he waited patiently for his team to collect themselves so he could begin. As his men took their seats, he took a sip of his coffee and cleared his throat. The warmth of the liquid calmed his nerves.
His entire team wasn’t assembled, but what men were present would be enough to get the job done.

“What we have here is simple,” he began. Somewhat
.
“A bi-racial mortal female, who is
very much aware of our kind since
her ex-husband sold
,
and still sells VAB.”
Vampire blood AB was lethal and deadly in large doses and was illegal to pedal on the streets by anyone.
The fact Marcus, who was assumed mortal himself, was able to get a hold of VAB spoke volumes.
What vampire would be willing to become a juice box, just to
ramp
up a bunch of humans or
non-humans
for that matter?

All vampires were AB negative. Vampires
were born, not infected with some virus or curse.
There was no such thing as a bite turning you fangy. That shit only happened in movies. You were born to mortal parents and because of some genetic mutation you just either were or you weren’t
a vampire
.
Most children died within the first six months after puberty.
Something the humans couldn’t figure out. They thought it was due
to
anemia. False
.
They died because their blood cells were disintegrating at a rapid pace and no new cells where there to replenish their blood. Vampires could eat and drink just as much as the next human.
Hell, they could even go out in day light, although they preferred not to.
The sun ate away at the health of their red blood cells causing them to have to consume more blood.
They didn’t have any special quality to them, and half of the immortal population ignored them all together.
The
Reg
s who couldn’t get to a supply of blood in time usually became the
Unit
’s biggest headache.
They’d break into blood banks depleting the blood in mass quantity.
Or they went out and killed. But the blood they consumed had to be compatible
.
T
here were a lot of hit and miss cases
early on
. But
Reg
s
’
body just like every other creature on the planet learned to survive and adapt. Mutate.
Their senses were heightened so they could smell their victims;
and
they lived longer as the replenished blood kept them in top form.
Vlad the Impaler ingested the blood of an immortal with an infected strain of demon blood.

So was born the
Vampiri
effect.
They couldn’t turn humans but they evolved into something a bit better by design, even more than the
Reg
s had. Those suffering from the
Vampiri
effect were everything Ho
llywood made them out to be and
more. With a few un-truths. They were not af
fected by holy water or garlic. They
had no problems with any
type of religious artifacts
and could go out in the day light without having to worry about needing more blood.
There were only three
Royal H
ouse castes of
Vampiri
.
If you weren’t affiliated with them, you were just like every other human who walked the streets. You were called a
Reg
or
Reg
ular.
To be accep
ted into their house you had
to be special. It was the only way to become part of their gen
e pool. Something to do with their blood’s
negative RH factor, not to mention they could munch on the blood of any human and not suffer adverse reactions. And because of their demon
ancestry they had fangs, were
Reg
s did not. Marcus was pedaling the high quality stuff. Someone was ta
king members of Royal
House Deadcrest.
Their blood was not only a stimulant but it also held
remarkable
healing qualities a
nd made mortals feel invincible. T
he high would last for days, but when it wore off, coming down was deadly.
There were some that said it had to do with their demon ancestor from the first strain of infection. Any immortal who partook in the drug, succumbed to what equaled crack in human terms. It was a high they didn’t want to come down from. An immortal addicted was a bad thing. Marcus threatened their way of life.
Humans were not supposed to ingrain themselves in the lives of immortals, unless it was consensual.
There were rules and Marcus and his band of idiots were breaking them.

Dravaggio knew this had everything to do with the missing vampire cases they’d been working on for the past 18 months, but he needed the human to put the pieces together for them.
She could be their only hope. M
ore and more Oliver was becoming a danger to himself and to the team.
His daughter was one of the missing vampires. She’d gone missing six months ago, taken while she was out with her friends at a dive that was known to cater to the
R
oyal
H
ouse members.

“She’s on the run and the details are sketchy, but I need full disclosure on her ex-husband’s drug operation. This woman is the key.”
He knew she was the missing link this case needed and he wanted to see it through to the end.

Oliver was the first to raise a question.

“Yes Olly?” Olly was one of the oldest living
Reg
s within a hundred mile radius. His family was the one most affected by the missing vampires.
Dagas, leader of
House Deadcrest
, was a constant thorn in his side, asking questions that Dravaggio was unable to give him answer to.
He may have been the
H
ouses leader but he was still a civilian. Oliver was in service to House Deadcrest and Dagas
’
brother-in-law. Dagas thought the relationship stretched into the
Unit
.
He was wrong.