Blood & Roses: Warriors of the Krieger (8 page)

Before I could rip him a new one, he grabbed
me by the top of my shoulders and pulled me to his chest. Oh, what
a chest it was. I absolutely forgot what the hell I was going to
say to him. My hands automatically pressed against his neck. Every
time I touched him, it was like a jolt of electricity to my heart.
I jerked my hand away from him, as if I had been stung, and looked
up into his eyes.

Those blue eyes searched mine, like he was
looking for my soul. He must have liked what he saw, because he
slipped both arms tightly around my waist and lifted me to his
mouth. He had too, because I was almost a foot shorter than
him.

Oh man, his lips were like the cashmere. His
tongue slowly weaved through my mouth, tasting and testing. It felt
like the velvet petals of a rose; he tasted like strength and
power, just like his blood. When he used said tongue to flick
against my fang, the passion flared and the spot between my legs
pinged with jealousy.

I refused to let go, but as with all stolen
kisses, they were short and sweet. Dragus whispered my name as he
slid me down his muscular stomach. My leg caught the feel of his
hardening length, just before he set me to my feet. I smiled in
response.

“My lady, please let me help Adam. It worries
me that you were out there with the Lycans.” His voice was sincere
and his eyes told me he was worried. Dragus used his thumb to brush
a stray hair away from my cheek and I shivered.

“They won’t hurt me Dragus, you saw that,” I
reminded him.

“I will not let them hurt you either,
mi
amado
,” he sighed.
Mi
what? I have so got to brush up on
my foreign languages. “We will help him. I’ll do everything in my
power to keep him safe. There may be a cure. If there is, we will
find it.” I don’t know where this change of heart came from. I
thought the
Krieger
were all about destroying Adam and
others like him, but now he wanted to help; maybe because Dragus
saw his pain and longing through my thoughts.

With nothing more than a brush of soft
knuckles against my cheek, he turned to leave. Ashby and Rowland
were waiting patiently outside standing next to the jet black
Hummer H3, police style. They both graced me with a polite bow and
stepped inside the cruiser. Dragus looked back over his shoulder,
and smiled. Yeah, if my heart was still beating like it did when I
was human, it would have galloped right out of my chest. His
compassion reminded me of my long lost dreams.

Man, he sure did move fast. No first date, no
flowers, no nothing, he just came right on out with it and kissed
me. I shouldn’t be surprised. Vampires are like that. There is an
animalist side to our kind, almost possessive. Male vamps are the
worst; they just go for what they want. But the cool side is, once
they bond, they mate for eternity. No worry about divorce among
immortals. It just doesn’t happen. Hell I don’t think it ever
has.

The bonding could start and if you separated
yourself from your mate, the bonding instinct would eventually
fade. Staying around only strengthens the bond. Once the bond is
complete, there is no turning back. That is why Lydia is so hot for
humans. To her, they’re expendable, like money; where there’s one,
there’s a hundred. I’m no spring chicken either, but by no means am
I a tramp. I still have class.

I’ve dated both vampires and humans, but
never got so wrapped up in a male that I bonded. I quit looking a
few decades ago and decided to just live my eternity to its
fullest. Buying the vampire bar shortly after we announced our
existence was my shot at independence.

We went a little overboard. The Queen had her
personal
Krieger
use their vampire juju to convince the Wall
Street Journal editors to allow us to have the entire day dedicated
to our announcement. Every page was riddled with the truth about
vampires. She planned and worded the announcement well enough to
the humans that they knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that we don’t
kill when we feed.

Then she tapped into CNN, FOX News, CNBC and
all the other major television stations for a live broadcast. And
just like that, all hell broke loose. It took almost a year for the
humans to calm down and accept us. There were curfews in place for
humans and they armed themselves heavily. Until a U.S. Senator took
over and admitted that his pretty young wife was vampire. He led
the campaign for the Red Cross to start a donor program. Then the
U.S government took over. And viola! Here we are today, welcome, by
most, feared by the rest.

Dragus

“She has utterly lost her mind,” I grumped
after we climbed into the Hummer. “Charity thinks she can help him
all by herself.” I couldn’t believe what I saw in her mind. She
actually thought she could feed him and keep him like a pet!

Rowland laughed from the back seat, “She is a
strong willed woman. Ms. Harwood is going to give you a run for
your money.” He laughed so hard I felt the vehicle vibrate a
little.

Ashby leaned over and punched me in the
shoulder, “Do you really think she is the one Akalika said was
destined to be your soul mate? She seems a little pig headed to
me.”

I knew he was joking with me, but I still
didn’t like them teasing about her. My warning growl gave them a
little insight into what would happen if they didn’t stop harping
on Charity.

“Jeez, Dragus,” Rowland laughed. “You sound
like a bonded male.”

“Rowland,” Ashby spoke his name with a deep
warning tone, basically telling him to back off.

“Sorry Master,” Rowland was a smart man and
decided to stay quiet in the back seat. I glanced in the rear view
mirror and noticed him staring out the window.

I ignored the fact that I wanted to stop the
car and punch both of them. “She is the woman I have been waiting
half a millennium for. Don’t start on me.”

“You’re right, Dragus. We shouldn’t be like
that with you.” Ashby patted my shoulder and I relaxed, a little.
“I’m sorry.”

“When we get back to the office, I’m going to
hire a few more
Nachtmann
to stand guard outside her home.”
I was more talking to myself than to anyone else, but they still
heard me. Charity needed daytime protection. Her safety was first
on my mind.

“Are you sure she will allow that?” Rowland
sounded skeptical.

“I don’t give a damn what she will allow or
not,” I growled. “She is my concern and I will not leave her alone
out there without enough protection.” My chest ached just at the
thought of her being there by herself. I reached up and rubbed the
center of my sternum. The sensation wouldn’t ease as I tried to
loosen the tightness there.

“Do you really believe Adam can control
them?” Ashby asked.

“From what I saw, through her thoughts, he
was holding them back from attacking her. I still don’t know if I
trust his ability. He’s a telepath, not a sorcerer. There is no way
he can control animals, even Lycanthropes.” Not even the strongest
sorcerer can contain a pack of wild Lycanthropes. I’ve never met
one who thought they could either.

Rowland cleared his throat, “If they are
attacking our kind, why would they allow one of us to rule
them?”

“Good point,” I scowled. Something wasn’t
right about the whole situation. Maybe it was just a coincidence
that he was able to hold them back along the tree line. I couldn’t
put my faith in Adam to protect Charity from the Lycans, I just
couldn’t.

“He thinks there is a cure,” I shrugged.
“I’ve heard of a witch’s brew that helped an outbreak in Europe
awhile back. Charity is going to want to find a way to help. Maybe
we can look into it.” That’s all I had at the moment.

“Why don’t you get with Dr. Mason at the
hospital? He’s really into all that medicine stuff. I’ll bet he
could get information on a potion,” Ashby suggested.

“You may be right. I’ll call him later.”

After we arrived at the station, I called
Nachtmann
Keith. I’ll admit that even though Charity wanted
to hire him, I still wanted him under my orders.

“Master Dragus,” Keith yawned. “What can I do
for you at this hour?”

“I’m sorry, Keith. I forgot to check the
clock,” I laughed. “I just wanted to ask you to bring a few more
Nachtmann
over to Ms. Harwood’s home this morning. Make sure
one of them is an approved donor. She is expecting a visit from the
hybrid and I don’t want her out traveling to the Red Cross. She
wants to hire you personally, but I don’t trust her judgment. She
may just want to hire you and then turn around and fire you.”

“Point well made, sir,” he laughed
sleepily.

“For now, you will take your orders from me.
If she wants you do to anything out of the ordinary, please call me
first.”

“Yes sir, Master Dragus. I will set that up
for you,” he yawned again.

“Get some sleep, son. I will meet you at Ms.
Harwood’s home after sunset.” He hung up the phone and I glanced at
the clock. It was just after four in the morning.

Chapter 5

Dragus

Tomorrow night was my night off; I planned to
spend it with Charity. This was my chance to secure a date with
her. The thought actually made me a little nervous. I haven’t dated
in a very long time. In fact the last date I had, we ended up at
Woodstock; the first one. It was a double date that Ashby had
insisted I go on.

After that, I was asked to implement a
training program for the new recruits. For the next twenty years, I
worked on adding dorms to all of the
Krieger
Estates and
directed one
Krieger
, at each location, to school the young
ones. I like the more hands on training I had experienced when I
was first accepted into the
Krieger
. For the past forty
years, the program has been running strong. Although I have my new
duties here in Port Royal, I am still obligated to review the
program a few times a year. New recruits are processed through my
office and I am responsible for approving or denying their
membership into the
Krieger
.

After a hot shower, I made my way to the bed.
Sunrise wasn’t too far off, and I could feel the weight bearing
down on me fast. Closing my eyes, I succumbed to the pull of death
for the day.

Charity

When I came back to life Monday night, I
heard voices outside my house. I immediately let my senses take
over to see who was lurking around. Four human males were lingering
outside and I freaked. Screw calling 111; I dialed Dragus. It took
a minute to find my cell phone; I left it in my pants pocket from
the night before. By the time I opened it to call Dragus, my hands
were shaking. I was scared.

“Charity?” he answered on the first ring. His
voice sounded strained. “What’s wrong,
mi amado
?”

“There are four men outside my home. One is
my
Nachtmann
, the others I…I don’t know,” my voice cracked.
Yeah, I was scared. I hope to hell they aren’t hunters. Please
don’t let there be a bunch of people outside my door wielding sharp
wooden stakes. The thought of getting that close to a wooden stake
again made me shiver.

“Everything’s okay, my lady, I sent extra
Nachtmann
to your house this morning; just as a
precaution.”

“What for?” I asked a little confused.

“The Lycanthropes, of course,” he snapped.
“Adam may think he can control them, but I’m not sure. I can’t risk
your safety, just on his words.”

“You’re worried about my safety?” I teased,
raising one eyebrow that I know he couldn’t see. I jumped up from
my bed and grabbed a robe.

“I’ll be there shortly to stay with you
before he comes tonight. You should remain at home until I arrive,”
he suggested. Which was dumb, I had to make my nightly trip to the
local Fill-Er-Up for my feeding.

“Sorry
Krieger
, but I’m starving. I
need to make a trip into town, but I promise to return as soon as
I’m done.”

“No need. Open your door,
Nachtmann
Brady Wilson is an approved donor.” Well didn’t he just think of
everything? This is what I mean by obsessive males. Annoying as
hell, that’s what they are.

“Dragus,” I whispered. “I understand your
concern, but you can’t keep me trapped in my own home.” I’ve tried
being cocky and that didn’t work; now I’m trying to be
reasonable.

“Just humor me for tonight. Please?” he
begged.

“Okay, Okay,” I surrendered; only because I
was freaking dying of thirst. My throat felt like a box of
sandpaper had mated with acid and hatched their babies in there. My
stomach snarled with anticipation; knowing food was just outside my
door, like Chinese take-out. Hmm, there’s a business idea ready for
the taking, take-out donors; door to door delivery for a fee. I may
just be a genius. A really, really wealthy genius.

I clicked my cell phone off and grabbed a
pair of jeans; topped off with a Nickelback hoodie, and was at my
front door in a matter of seconds.

My newly hired
Nachtmann
, Keith, was
standing on the porch with another male. The new addition was about
six foot tall and looked just like a young Jude Law and smelled of
AB negative. I smiled, thinking Dragus was trying to stay on my
good side; sending me the very best.

“Good evening, Charity,” Keith said. He
obviously received the paperwork showing that I was his new
employer. It was a rule with me, all of my employees called me by
my first name, no excuses. Dragus must have instilled it in him and
for that I was relieved. The last thing I want to do is break
another person into calling me by my name. Calling me ‘Ms. Harwood’
or ‘ma’am’ just made me feel old. I was twenty-six forever!

“Evening Keith,” I replied. “Dragus said that
he sent a donor for me.” I looked around hoping it wasn’t the
look-a-like. I don’t know if I could handle sucking blood out of
him. It might be a little much for my female hormones to take.