Dark War Chronicles Box Set One (20 page)

"It won't be long until Lucius knows that you messed with his human." One of the females stated. "If he hasn't already caught on." When she shifted, Markus caught a glimpse of the purple velvet lining her robe.

"I've erased her memories of me touching her mind. Unless Lucius has a psychic on his payroll, he won't know it was me." Besides, he knew Tegan feared him too much to tell Lucius. "I'm going to his territory to retrieve the stone myself. I have informants there who discovered where the stone was sent." He crossed his arms and glanced around the Circle. The Father's most trusted vampires, most of them second generation, untied in one simple goal. In order to raise the Father, there were certain things that needed to be obtained, the stone being one of them. "You make sure that the tomb stays secure and I will have your stone."

"And what are we going to do about the bloodlust? There is only one creature who will be able to sate it."

He knew who the creature was. If only he could prove it. "We will worry about that after the stone is in our custody."

"And your plan for that? You said your informants have located it?"

"Yes, I'm working with some rogue wolves in the area. We know that the woman who has it is considered an innocent, but after doing research on her, she's another piece of the puzzle. The goal is to get her and the stone, bring them both here, and then we will worry about the food source."

One of the males chuckled. "You are hiding something, Markus, you're always hiding something."

"I'm the Father's right hand, it is my privilege to hide things." He spun around to leave. "We must raise him before the Originals wake. They will want to stop us."

A mumble of collective agreement sounded behind him as he exited the room. The wind whipped his cloak around him while he stalked through the empty streets. The human would be his, the stone would be his, and his revenge on Lucius would soon be complete. All he needed to do was get to the United States and into the territory without Lucius noticing.

Wind whipped through her hair as she sprinted down the sidewalk. One more block and she would be back to safety. The people behind her seemed to be gaining quickly, faster than humans should be able to move. She shoved her way through a group of people who shouted about her being rude. She risked a glance behind her at the assailants. Shadows danced behind them, faint hints of animals, wolves and tigers. She couldn't believe her mind would play tricks on her at a time like this. A curse escaped her lips when she stumbled over a crack in the sidewalk. Someone's hand grabbed her purse, pulling on it until she slipped out of the strap, leaving the bag behind. Regaining her footing, she propelled herself forward. Risking another glance behind her, one of the men dumped her purse contents on the sidewalk while the other two continued their pursuit.

Her heart thudded against her chest and her lungs burned for air, but fear forced her to continue. She hit the main drag, breathing through the panic. The sidewalk was covered with club hoppers and college students, but witnesses didn’t seem to slow down her attackers. She darted inside the first door she came to. It closed behind her and she took a moment to breathe. Loud dance music pulsed against her, dampened by the walls. Turning to the main door, she found it blocked by a man in black. Giving her a bored look, he crossed his arms over his chest. Her hands shook when she handed him the ID that she thankfully always kept in her pocket.

"Five dollars." He handed her the card back and met her eyes.

She could have sworn there was a purple ring around his irises, but shoved the thought away. Now was not the time to dwell on things like that. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Cover charge, it's five dollars. No money, you don't get in." Never breaking eye contact, he moved further into the doorway.

Growling, she dug into her pocket and pulled out five dollars meant for another club. "Here." She shoved it into his hand then pushed past him.

She opened the door and her senses were instantly bombarded with music and pulsing lights. Her eyes searched the room and beyond the grinding bodies she found the bar. Weaving her way through the dance floor and up the few steps to the bar she started to wonder why she agreed to come out in the first place. Uninvited bodies rubbed up against her, hands patted her ass and she tried to swat them away the best she could. The adrenalin from the chase faded and her regret of leaving the house tonight wore on her.

How did I get myself into this, why did I agree to go to a club?  Right, because I'm almost thirty and I have no love life.
She managed to find an open seat. Hanging her head in defeat, she ordered. "Just a glass of water, please."

"You look like you could use something stronger." The deep male voice tinged with a slight Irish accent made her glance up.

She blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision; an image of a wolf flickered behind the man. It tilted its head up and sniffed the air before fading. She glanced away from the vision and focused on the man in front of her. His green eyes met hers, one dark eyebrow raised and she stared at him wordlessly. Renee studied his shoulder length brown hair, following the curve of his masculine jaw and soft looking lips currently set in a grim line.

"What's got you so shaken?" He leaned his muscled forearms on the bar. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Renee swallowed several times, trying to find her voice. "I was just robbed, mugged, whatever you want to call it." The male in front of her shot straight up, his eyes narrowed.

"Are you all right? Do we need to contact the police?"

The amount of concern in his voice confused her and she glanced down to study the wood of the bar. "I don't know, a group of men chased me down the street. I was supposed to meet friends tonight, but the men were there instead. They got my purse,” she paused and glanced behind her nervously, “but I could still hear them behind me when I came in here."

He filled a glass with water and slid it over to her. "They wouldn't dare follow you in here, trust me." He licked his lips and her eyes traced the movement as heat rose in her body.

What is wrong with me?
Closing her hand around the glass she sighed. How could he say that and be so confident about it? “I hope you’re right.”

He laughed and shook his head, his dark hair falling forward. "What's your drink of choice, lovely? It's on me."

"Rum and Coke, please." She leaned against the bar, playing with the glass as her mind traveled back to the chase. Rubbing her eyes, she tried to come up with any reason that they would be after her.

"Are you sure you’re okay?"

She found his deep voice strangely calming. "Yeah, I just don't understand why they were after me." She opened her eyes to find that he’d placed the drink in front of her. "Thank you."

He paused and something haunted passed through his eyes. "Sometimes humans do things that make no sense."

She frowned at the way he held his body, tense as if a bad memory consumed him. The way he said the word human implied he held knowledge of something darker. She shook her head. "I'm Renee."

"A beautiful name." The corner of his mouth quirked up in a smile. "I’m Coran. Welcome to The Corner."

She held up her drink. "To umm...new adventures, I guess. My first time in a club, first time downtown alone, and my first time being robbed." She gave a laugh because she knew she'd cry if she didn't.

"To new adventures." He muttered before going off to serve another customer.

Renee scanned the other patrons. The music from the lower area pounded against her, making it impossible to hear other conversations. She sipped her drink and the alcohol warmed her insides as the panic and fear faded. Her eyes met a pair of blue ones from behind the bar. "Need a refill?" The female bartender asked.

She had red hair and a look that said she didn’t put up with crap. She was more than a little intimidating. An image of a panther flickered behind the woman. Renee blinked a few times. The cat seemed faded compared to the wolf behind Coran. "Um, no thank you. I should probably get going actually." Renee finished the drink and set it down on a napkin before sliding off the barstool, hoping that her attackers were gone.

Coran watched Renee stand. Her bobbed brown hair hit below her chin, her glasses gave her character, and he was willing to bet that she was smart and quick witted. His eyes roamed her curves as she stretched. Yeah he'd like to run his hands over her body, but she was an innocent. A human.

He mentally cursed when she patted the back pockets of her tight jeans, looking for something. The wolf in him snarled at the feeling crawling through him, wanting nothing to do with physical attraction. Not after the pain of losing his mate. Coran tilted his head to the side and watched the human walk away. The female bartender elbowed him.

"Stop checking her out, you can't have her." Kassity put a bottle of Jack Daniels back behind the bar. "She's a normal."

"Doesn't mean I can't look." He snorted and turned back to the bar. "Hope she gets home ok."

"She's not your problem." Something in her voice told him Kassity knew more about the girl. But Kassity didn’t give up information and it was pointless to ask.

"I know, kitty, I know." He walked down the bar to a customer. While he served other normals around the bar his mind traveled back to Renee. The fear he smelled on her made him all too aware that she was unprotected, but he smelled something else on her. His wolf went wild at the scent of other shifters but there was nothing he could do. He rubbed his eyes and glanced over at Kassity who glared at him and shook her head.

Renee slammed the door of the house shut behind her, gasping for breath from her run home. Despite the fact that the men hadn’t been waiting for her, she didn't want to risk it. Running her fingers through her hair she let out a frustrated growl. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she dialed her roommate. "I screwed up."

"How did you screw up?" Danielle's voice came over the receiver, sounding bored as usual. The loud music of another club tried to drown her out.

Renee rolled her eyes. "There was a super cute bartender and I kind of ignored him."

"Where were you and why aren't you at this club?" Her roommate suddenly jumped to attention.

"I got mugged on my way, I thought it was safer to come home." Renee wandered to the kitchen and started looking through the cupboards. "But you're missing the most important thing here, there was a cute bartender and he bought me a drink." Not finding anything she wanted, she started straightening mugs.

"Back up a minute, you were mugged?" Danielle's voice raised a notch. "Are you all right?"

Renee let out a frustrated sigh and slammed the cupboard door. "Yes, I'm fine, I ran into another bar. Hello, where I met the cute bartender?"

“We’ll deal with the hot man later. Did you call the police about the mugging?" The sounds of the club started to fade away and Dani's voice became clearer. "I'm coming home."

"No, because I didn't lose anything. My ID was in my pocket at the time and I didn’t bring any cards, all they got was some cash and random crap. You don't need to come home. I'm fine here studying." A car door slammed in Renee's ear and she knew there would be no changing Danielle's mind. "Fine. I'll be downstairs."

"Good."

Her roommate hung up without another word. Renee slid the phone into her pocket and went to the kitchen.

"I still should have asked for his number." She sighed. Going to the fridge, she grabbed some grapes and found her backpack in the dining room. As she went down the flight of stairs, she brushed her fingers over the numbers labeling her basement. 410 1/2 hung on the brick wall, a joke between her and Danielle about the size of the place.

She passed the organized bookshelves and the pictures of her family without a second thought. Sitting down to study on her bed, her hand went to the necklace she wore and she paused. The clear stone threaded on a silver chain showed up with her 1/2 written on the box, sent to her without a return address and without her name on it. She pulled it off her neck and held it up to the light, watching as it flashed black then back to clear again. Her heart pounded, wondering what on earth it could mean.

Then she thought about the return of the shadows, seeing shapes and animals behind people, the bartenders with the wolf and panther, and her assailants with the wolves and tigers. The images started back up about the same day she had opened the package. Now that she thought about it, the panther at the bar appeared outside her house at the end of last semester, watching them. It wasn’t an ability she welcomed and she detested that it had shown up again. She had finally started to feel normal. A person who saw shadows was not normal.

"What on earth is going on?" Panic ran through her when she tried to reason everything out. Before it could take over completely, she put the stone back on and grabbed her schoolbooks to bury herself in her studies.

The slam of the front door hardly registered as Renee turned the page, but the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the stairs made her glance up. Danielle stood in the doorway, arms crossed. "Are you sure you're ok?" Her long blonde hair was back in a braid and she stood tall, demanding attention like always. She had the lean and fit body that reminded Renee of a runner.

Renee sat up and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Yes. They only got my purse, nothing important."

"I know you don't like people messing with your stuff, but I'm glad you're doing okay. Did they pull a gun on you or anything?" Dani didn't make a move further into the room.

Renee wondered if her roommate knew more than she let on. "No, they just chased me until they got my purse and backed off when I ran into the other club."

"And that's the club where you met the cute bartender?" No hint of a smile or encouragement.

"Yes, the club's name was The Corner. You know it?"

Danielle pursed her lips. "Yeah. You couldn't have picked a better place to be safe in."

"Then why do you look so upset over it?"

"I'm just worried about you." Dani finally cracked a smile. “Are you going back to get that bartender's number?"