A Hunt Among Vampires (The Angel Series) (29 page)

Christien stands and walks with Roman to the window. The two wolves jump through silently, landing delicately in the grassy area outside.

“We’ll bring her back. I’ll call or text you when I know more. We need to go before the wind scatters her scent.” Roman doesn’t wait for Christien’s response before he follows the wolves out the window, jogging behind them.

“If Lenair has anything to do with Jessica’s disappearance, I will have her head.” Christien growls at Kayle.

“That is, if Jess doesn’t take it before you have the opportunity.” Kayle says amusingly on his way out the room.

“Good point.” Christien follows. “Gather a group of strong vampires to accompany us to Lenair’s lair. Scan their minds and make sure they are loyal to our get. I’ve had enough surprises tonight and I want things with Lenair taken care of before I meet with the Vampire Council.”

Christien frowns when he realizes that he has his mental shields locked down tight. He relaxes his shields a little to receive a flood of communication requests.

“What’s going on?” Christien asks, raising his shields to stop the buzzing of voices in his head.

“Lenair and a group of vampires arrived minutes ago. She is requesting an audience with you.” The vampire answers in a rush.

Christien blinks in surprise and looks over at Kayle to see a matching stunned expression on his face. “Would Lenair truly be so bold as to take Jessica, and then come to my home to gloat?”

Kayle shrugs, shaking off his surprise. “Where are Lenair and her vampires now?”

The vampire lowers his head submissively. “We could not prevent her from entering the house. She was too powerful. She said she would wait for you in the family room. None of us issued an invitation, so we don’t know…”

“It’s alright. We know who issued Lenair an invitation.” Christien waves away the vampire’s worry and turns to Kayle. “I want strong vampires in the room while we are meeting with her. See that an equally strong vampire from our get matches each one of hers.”

Kayle nods and enters the mind of the vampire that delivered the message to gain as much information about the vampires that came with Lenair as possible. Christien returns to his room and changes his casual wear to a fine suit.

While Christien is changing his clothes, Kayle secures Alex and the children in the basement vault with guards, verifies there are vampires patrolling the estate grounds, and fills the family room with vampires as Christien requested.

Kayle goes to his bedroom to change his clothes from jeans and a t-shirt to a nice pale blue dress shirt and dark blue dress pants. Christien enters Kayle’s bedroom as Kayle is putting on his shoes.

Not bothering to use words, Kayle projects to Christien all he has done in preparation of their meeting with Lenair. Christien nods approvingly and waits near the door for Kayle to join him.

When they step into the hallway, four large werewolves in their wolf forms greet them. Christien’s lips twitch in amusement when the wolves divide into twos to walk at Christien and Kayle’s sides.

“
Roman must have given his wolves instructions before he left.”
Kayle muses to Christien telepathically.

“
Having wolves at our sides will definitely catch Lenair off guard. She may wonder if there are other wolves at our disposal.”
Christien sends back to Kayle.

“
We should wisely use their presence to our advantage then.”
Kayle replies right before they enter the family room filled with vampires.

Christien adopts a cold expression as he scans the room and locks eyes on Lenair.

Lenair’s white-blonde hair stands out like a beacon in the room of mostly dark haired men and women. Only Kayle’s hair color is closest to the color of hers. Her pale blue eyes turn to Christien and a light sneer forms on her face before she can change it into a cordial smile.

“You have a lot of nerve entering my home without an expressed invitation by me, not to mention you have a small army of vampires escorting you, Lenair. What do you want?” Christien barks boldly, not bothering to pretend diplomacy.

Lenair’s cold sneer returns as she stares back at him.

The wolves at Christien’s side growl menacing and shift their stances, drawing her attention to them.

Christien watches Lenair’s gaze fall to the wolves at his sides. A flash of slight trepidation shows in her eyes before they return icy to meet his gaze.

“I have come to congratulate you personally on your success in conquering Devan and his get. You have impressed me with your swift and cunning battle tactics. I do hope the information I gave your
deuxième
was helpful?”

Christien grits his teeth in annoyance. “If you are here about an alliance, I am afraid I do not have the time right now to discuss the terms of our co-ruling of France.”

Christien has to fight back a smile when he sees Lenair flinch slightly when he mentions co-ruling France with her. Lenair’s jaw twitches slightly in her attempts to hide her irritation.

Within seconds, she regains her icy demeanor. “I know that you have spent little time in France over the past few centuries. Much has changed over the years. I have heard you are fond of the United States and have chosen to make the United States your home.”

“I understand Phedora gave you that impression.” Christien states boldly, subtly informing Lenair that he knows where she was receiving her information.

Lenair blinks rapidly. She suddenly feels wary about how much Christien may know of her plans. Her eyes dart back to the two werewolves at his sides glaring back at her before glancing around the room at Christien’s vampires surrounding hers. She finally notices that Phedora is not among them.

Dropping all pretenses, Lenair crosses her legs and lounges in the sitting chair. “With Devan and his get now out of my way, I want to rule France, alone.”

Christien crosses his arms defiantly. “Why should I hand over to you my half of France to rule?”

Lenair allows a small amount of her power to leak out of her, causing the hair on Christien’s arms to stand up as the air becomes electrically charged. “You have no interest in what goes on here in France. Do you truly wish to take on me and my get in order to hold on to something that you really do not want?”

“You are correct, Lenair. I have no interest in ruling France, but as a master vampire of a growing get, and newly made
tête de ligne de sang
of Devan
ligne de sang,
I have a responsibility to the vampires of my line to offer them my protection in my territories. Giving you all that I have obtained will leave my vampires without a homeland.” Christien shakes his head. “In addition, you have nothing to offer worth me willing to give up all I’ve gained tonight, just to allow you to rule France alone.”

A cold, calculating smile spreads across Lenair’s face. “Oh, I think I do have something you want.”

Christien instantly knows by Lenair’s demeanor that she is responsible for Jessica’s disappearance. The knowledge that Lenair is responsible for Jessica’s abduction does not surprise him as much as Lenair boldly admitting to him that she took his mate.

“If you harm my mate in any way, you will truly understand what it is like to feel my fury!” Christien warns Lenair while allowing his power to trickle over her.

The wolves at his side understand his anger and shuffle anxiously beside him with their golden eyes fixed on Lenair. A low growl comes from the wolf to Christien’s right.

Kayle steps forward to stand beside Christien. “Where have you taken my master’s mate? Release her now before my master becomes your enemy. I will not be as patient with you if you force me to ask again.”

“Halt your attack. The human was unharmed during her capture. I only wished to use her…”

“Release her now!” Christien’s demand cuts off her response.

Christien and Kayle both unleash their power simultaneously, locking all of Lenair’s vampires in place where they stand, without giving any of them the opportunity to react to an attack on their
tête de ligne de sang.

Lenair’s eyes widen anxiously when her eyes meet Christien’s that are now swirling like mercury from his power release.

Christien growls irritably when he hears his cell phone ring in his pocket.

Chapter 21

I wake up bleary eyed and groggy. My vision finally clears after blinking several times and swiping the sleep from my eyes. Looking around the room, nothing looks familiar. For a moment, I wonder if Christien might have moved me to another room in his house before memories of what happened flood back into my conscious.

I remember hearing a soft thud waking me up slowly before a hand covers my nose and mouth. The strong smell of chloroform floods my lungs before I can think to hold my breath. My arms and legs go numb as I watch with droopy eyes Christien’s vampires enter the room and turn to ashes before they could assess what is happening in the room. I remember trying to push away the strong hand over my face, but my hands are heavy and won’t do what I want them to do. My eyelids continuously close over my eyes in long intervals, but they do not close fully before I catch the unfamiliar silver streaks in the eyes of my vampire captor.

Now, wide awake and pissed at myself for allowing a vampire to gain an advantage over me, I throw off the covers and climb out of the plain, twin bed I am in to look around the room.

The small ten by then room feels more like a cell and a small bedroom. Undecorated with only a bare bulb in the middle of the ceiling for light, I realize quickly that I have nothing to use for a weapon. With the thought of weapons on my mind, I search my hair for the silver stakes I usually keep in it.

The bun in my hair, which usually keeps my hair out of my eyes, is loose, but still intact. I don’t feel anything in my hair right away due to its thickness, so my hope begins to wither away when I feel the familiar burn when my fingers touch silver. Eagerly, I unravel my bun, which allows a single silver stake to drop on the ground.

They must have found the other stake and assumed that was the only one I had.
I exhale in relief as soon as I swipe the stake off the ground by the small wooden handle.

Leaving my hair loose, I tiptoe to the only door and put my ear to it, listening for any movements outside the door before trying the door handle. Hearing no movements, I try the door to find the doorknob locked. Using my vampire or angel strength, the spring in the lock gives with a twang. Pausing only for a moment to listen for footsteps, I open the door and slip out into a deserted hallway in what looks like a second floor of a large house.

Quietly, I slink down the dark hallway towards what looks like the stairs when one of the doors opens on my right. Before I can see who it is, I plunge the slender stake into the heart of the man exiting the room. I watch as the man registers surprise on his face. His eyes flash silver as I twist the stake in his heart, destroying it.

In a flash, the vampire turns to a pile of ash on the ground. Alarmed, I look in the room where the vampire just left to see three more vampires staring at me with startled expressions.

Hoping like hell that they are not Christien’s vampires, even though I don’t recognize any of their faces, I enter the room in preparation for a fight. One of the vampires stands slowly as silver streaks through his eyes. Pissed that all I have is a small silver stake to defend myself, I attack before they can formulate a plan of attack against me.

Kicking the vampire closest to me on the side of his head, I use my momentum to push off him, launching myself at the vampire sitting next to him that hasn’t left his seat. The vampire I kick propels from his chair, crashing into the wall causing the drywall to little the floor around him. The second vampire blocks my attempt to stake him in the heart, but loses his balance from the force of my blow. He falls backwards in his seat, allowing the third vampire a clear path at me.

I only have a split second to register the hunting knife in his hand before he crashes into me. Familiar with grappling, I allow my body to fall back naturally, using my momentum and foot to throw the vampire over my head against another wall. The first and second vampires recover from my original attack and come at me at the same time.

Using anything I can get my hands on as a weapon, I keep the two vampires at bay, but the noise our fighting is making will surely bring reinforcements.

My vision turns hazy the angrier I get. The speed of my attack becomes faster, preventing the vampires from being able to keep up. When I see an opening, I jab my stake home in one of the vampire’s heart, twisting as I remove it. Contorting my upper body, I slam my stake into the second vampire before the first vampire turns to ash. I turn to the third vampire as he backs himself towards the door. My vision clouds with a silvery haze. My heart is racing, and I’m furious. Not wanting the vampire to get away or call for help, I manage to do what I’ve only done once before when I was angry with Kayle.

The world around me seems to pause as I focus all my attention on the vampire in front of me. He seems to be stuck in mid step when I rush towards him, plunging my stake deep in his heart. I remove the stake and stab him several times in the heart to dispel my anger until his body disintegrates in front of me. Still fuming, I pick up a sword I find leaning against the wall and toss its scabbard on the ground on my way out the door.

In the hallway, several vampires line up against the walls, ready and waiting for my approach. Some blink in confusion when they see me come out of the room.

“Who in the hell is your sire?” I bark at them, raising the sword in front of me.

That is when I notice my hands are crackling with some kind of blue, electric fire.