Blood & Roses: Warriors of the Krieger (29 page)

I closed my eyes and reached out for her with
my mind. My heart ached from the pain she was experiencing. She was
running thru the shallow tree line that bordered Grayson Road. She
was heading for the estate. I breathed a sigh of relief and took
off for the Hummer. I jumped in and floored it, all the while
wondering what had disturbed her about that man.

Charity was sitting on the edge of the bed
crying. Lydia was trying to sooth her. It wasn’t helping. I took
slow steps, keeping my hands out in front of me. The emotional pain
radiating off of her was almost unbearable. I immediately sank down
on my knees and placed my hands in her lap, “My love, what
happened?”

“I…I can’t,” she murmured before she broke
off into another round of tears. Her palms were covered in pink
drops from where she’d been crying into her hands. Charity looked
at Lydia with pleading eyes and then rolled away from me onto the
bed. She curled herself into a ball and threw a pillow over her
head.

I tried to crawl into the bed with her but
stopped when she whimpered. Lydia grabbed me by the arm and pulled
be away. “Dragus,” Lydia whispered, “don’t.” I looked between the
two of them, aggravated they wouldn’t tell me what had
happened.

“What the hell is going on?” I growled.
Charity flinched and continued to cry. “Did Richard say something
to you?” I got no answer from Charity, so I turned to Lydia.

“So that’s his name,” she grimaced. “That
sorry piece of shit!”

“Lydia, please don’t,” Charity mumbled from
under the pillow. Lydia bit her lip trying not to speak the words
she was dying to say.

Nobody would tell me what was happening, so I
resorted to reading her mind. Charity was using every bit of her
power to block her thoughts. I couldn’t break through to even get a
hint as to what was on her mind. The more they refused to talk, the
angrier I became. “Stop blocking me!” I yelled. The walls vibrated.
I didn’t care. My hands were shaking, fingers tingling, the hair on
my head prickled and I saw red. I know my eyes had changed. I could
feel the blood rush into them and my fangs shot out painfully
fast.

“Get out!” Lydia growled. “Leave her alone.”
She had the gall to become protective over Charity. Lydia’s eyes
glowed crimson and she physically growled at me. I stood there
shocked by her actions.

It was then that Charity slipped and I saw
her thoughts all too clearly.

Richards face covered with sweat; his
super-sized hand holding her wrists above her head, so she couldn’t
fight back, as she begged him to stop; her unheard cries for help.
The sound of him taking her blood and her body against her will was
burned into her memories. Charity’s screams echoed through my
mind.

“Charity?” I whispered. She removed the
pillow and looked at me like a scared child. I walked slowly around
the side of the bed. My mind quietly calculated the ways I could
punish this animal for the things he had done. There was no
punishment severe enough in the world to compensate for what this
man had done to her. I wanted to bathe in his blood; tear him limb
from limb with my bare hands. My internal rage burned like acid
through my veins as I approached her.

“Lydia, please leave,” Charity whispered.

“Are you sure?” Lydia asked.

Charity nodded and turned to look at me. She
flinched back as she looked at my face. I had to blink and shake my
head to clear the blood that had seeped into my eyes.

“I’m…I’m sorry Dragus,” she cried. “I can’t
go back there.”

I debated on whether or not to touch her. She
sat there looking at me like I was a life preserver just out of
reach. Before I could speak, she launched herself onto my lap.

“Shh, I got you, love,” I whispered as I
rocked her slowly. “I don’t want you to worry about a thing.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she
whispered.

“Why not?” I asked.

“It hurts too badly,” she cried.

It was surprisingly hard to remain calm as I
held her. The main thing I needed to do was to have a warrant
issued for him. Granted, if this was only ten years prior, I
wouldn’t need a government permit. All I would need was a sharpened
stake. I have half a mind to bypass that little rule and sneak over
to the hospital; kill him with my own hands.

Charity stiffened in my arms, “Are you mad at
me? I feel your anger.”

“No
mi amado
, I would never be angry
with you,” I whispered.

She didn’t speak much after that. I tucked
her into the bed and left her to step out into the hallway. My
first call was to Ashby.

“Dragus,” he answered on the first ring. Word
had obviously gotten back to him about Charity’s reaction at the
hospital. “What happened at the hospital?”

“I need an arrest warrant issued for Richard
Somers. He is a patient at Sacred Heart.”

“That’s the one we have the guard posted
for?” he asked, confused.

“Yes,” I snapped.

Ashby cleared his throat before he continued,
“What are the charges?”

“Sexual assault,” I growled. “The date of the
attack was the year 1745.”

I heard Ashby gasp as he put together the
pieces, Charity’s behavior at the hospital, her missing information
on her citizenship form, and my calling for the warrant.

“Tell the judge that if he doesn’t have the
paperwork signed by sunrise, I will have to queen override his
authority and I will deliver the punishment myself,” I
demanded.

“How about I just forget to call the judge,
or say he never returned my call?” Ashby growled on the other end
of the phone.

“It’s very tempting, but I have to do things
the right way. Please do not let this get out. I don’t think she
can handle it.”

“You know I will keep it between us,” he
paused. “How is she doing?”

“She’s scared and upset. I’m going to stay
here with her. Call me when the warrant is issued.”

My next call was to the hospital. I spoke
with Nurse Alice and told her to keep him heavily sedated. That way
there would be no way Richard could run away until we could find
him.

Charity was not in the bed when I walked back
into the room. The shower was running and I could hear her bathing
quietly. I was torn between going in there and checking on her, or
waiting for her until she was done.

I sat on the edge of the bed and waited for
her to emerge from the bathroom. When the door opened, she stood
there wrapped in an oversized towel. Her hair was twisted up away
from her head. I didn’t say anything as I walked over to retrieve
her gown from the dresser.

“Thank you,” she whispered when I handed it
over to her. The door remained open while she changed and brushed
out her hair. I watched the way she moved, sleek and graceful as
she combed each strand of her golden hair. Each pass with the brush
caused her natural curls to bounce back in its rightful place
framing her angelic face.

I loved this woman more than anything in this
world, and the thought of the monster violating her bit into my
heart. Anger caused my blood to boil and I clinched my hands to
keep from breaking something. I saw the pictures in her head, of
him taking her against her will. Her cries for help were drown out
by the primal growl of the monster feeding off of her; taking her
to the point of death. I squeezed my eyes tight, trying to stop the
vision that was now forever burned into my brain.

“Dragus?” Charity stood in the doorway
looking at me with a confused look on her face. She stepped back
when our eyes made contact. She was scared; I felt it. “What’s
wrong?”

I darted to her side and wrapped my arms
around her tiny waist, “Nothing,
mi amor
.”

“You’re mad,” she frowned.

“I’m fine,” I lied. Charity narrowed her eyes
at me. She knew I was lying. “Did you need something?”

She shivered and took a second to gather her
thoughts. “Dart guns,” her face lit up at the words, but I was
confused.

“Dart guns?” I replied, confused.

“Yes,” she paused. “Is there a way to use
those tranquilizer dart things on Adam? If we can exchange the
tranquilizer for the potion, we can shoot him from far away and
then get him to the hospital. Maybe have some of the darts filled
with the potion and others with Morphine.”

She made a valid point. “You might just be on
to something. Let me talk with Dr. Mason and Mistress Kai.” God,
this woman isn’t just sassy, she’s smart.

“I hate to do that to him, but he needs
help,” she sighed.

My phone rang and it was Ashby, “We have the
warrant. Do you want me to take him into custody?” I stepped away
from Charity so I could talk without her hearing.

“No, I will do it.” There was a moment of
silence on the other end.

Ashby cleared his throat, “I don’t think that
would be wise, sir.”

“You can meet me there in about fifteen
minutes,” I ordered. After I snapped the phone shut, I turned to
find Charity with her back to me; she was crying. She must have
heard what we were saying.

“You’re going to arrest him?” she cried as if
a weight of a thousand worlds had been lifted from her
shoulders.

“Yes,” I whispered. “He needs to be punished
for his crime.”

“I know,” she sighed. “This is why I never
told anyone. Now I’m going to have to tell my story to a bunch of
strangers in court. I don’t want to talk about it, Dragus.”

I wrapped my arms around her again and kissed
the top of her head, “He has to be taken off the street. If he’s
done it to you, then think of how many others might be out
there.”

“You do what you have to do,” she huffed and
wiggled out of my arms.

The last thing I wanted to do was to leave
her here alone, but I also wanted to see the monster’s face when he
was placed under arrest.

I reached out for her, only to have her pull
away again. “I have to go meet Ashby at the hospital. I’ll be back
soon.”

Charity nodded, walked over to the couch, and
sat down. She picked up a book that had been brought from her house
and began reading. There was nothing I could say or do right now to
get her to open up to me. I sensed she was embarrassed and ashamed;
for that I felt anger. No woman should possess those feelings when
the situation was never their fault.

I grabbed my keys and returned to Sacred
Heart to serve some justice.

I found Ashby standing at the nurse’s
station, talking to Nurse Alice.

“Here are the forms,” he pushed them into my
hand. I looked over the charges and felt satisfied that we had the
correct documents. Judge Trenton signed the arrest warrant.
Good.

“Let’s go,” I growled. This moment could go
smoothly, but for some reason, I doubted this monster would go
easily.

Ashby and Nurse Alice followed me into the
enclosed room. Richard Somers was sitting up in his hospital bed
watching television. His face dropped when he saw the three of us
approaching.

“Good evening
Krieger
. I assume this
isn’t a social call?” he laughed.

Before I could issue a proper warning growl,
Ashby grabbed my elbow, pulling me back a few steps. “Easy,
Dragus,” he whispered. “We need to do this by the book.”

It was a warning I have said many times over.
That was my main rule when teaching new recruits or when sending
someone out with an arrest warrant. Ashby was right; the last thing
we needed was for my temper to get him off his charges on a
technicality.

“Richard Somers,” I swallowed. “You are under
the arrest for the sexual assault and attempted murder of Charity
Harwood.”

His bellowing laugh echoed through the room,
“Ah, the Lady
Krieger
, huh. I remember her. She was a very
delicate and sweet tasting human. Yes, I remember her blood
smelling like roses. Not much of a fighter either.” He took a
moment to close his eyes and lick his lips.

I lunged for his throat, but was immediately
grabbed by Ashby. Blood boiled into my new yellow eyes. Venom
dripped from my sharpened fangs as I growled so loud, I know it
shook the whole fucking hospital. Suddenly more hands were gripping
my wrists and the tops of my arms, before I was pulled out of the
room. The door slid closed and I turned to see Brock and William
standing there on alert, waiting for me to return to the room.

Brock started to speak, but I silenced him
with a hard stare, “Back off, recruit!” I refused to tempt myself
by going back in the room. So I stood outside the window and
watched Ashby take over for me.

Ashby stepped forward with a set of
handcuffs. These were not your typical garden variety ones. Because
of our strength, the cuffs had to be made of a special blend of
titanium. Not only have each pair been specially made, we’ve added
a special hardening spell to the links. The queen’s squire is the
most powerful sorcerer of modern times. He oversees each and every
casting of the cuffs. His spell on the cuffs also keeps the suspect
from using their powers.

Before he had a chance to shape shift, Ashby
had him cuffed. I knew the moment when his powers were drained,
because Richard slumped slightly, his blood filled eyes drained
immediately and he pierced me with an evil stare.

After Ashby left with the suspect, I made my
way down to the lab to speak with Dr. Mason and Mistress Kai.

Charity

My chest ached knowing Dragus was away from
the mansion. I felt it deep in my bones. The fact that he was
probably standing face to face with my murderer didn’t diminish the
pain I was under either.

With tears still streaming down my face, I
tossed the book on the coffee table and called Lydia. She was still
at the mansion and appeared almost instantly.

“Oh Charity,” she gasped when she saw my
swollen face. “What can I do?”