Dark War Chronicles Box Set One (40 page)

"You won't lose me, I’m safe now."

"I know...I know." He captured her lips and teased the opening with his tongue until she let him in. He took her hand and led her into their bedroom. She paused for a moment at the mirror, examining Coran’s wolf and herself. It seemed that the wolf now carried a strange blue haze around it, a haze that surrounded Renee as well. Just like the colors around the panthers. Renee smiled, realizing what it meant. They were truly a mated pair.

Chapter Fifteen

*Six months later*

Renee giggled as Coran shoved cake into her mouth. Sputtering around it, she tried to swallow. Cheers came from the crowd watching them. Taking a piece for him, she shoved it in his mouth, smearing it across his cheek. The last six months had proven to be a challenge when it came to learning about the supernatural world and the politics of vampires, but Coran stayed by her side the whole time. He even dealt with her year round classes, with the exception of this semester. He made her take this one off so they could plan the wedding, get married, and go on their honeymoon.

"Really?" He asked, wiping his face off with a napkin Orion handed him.

Renee crossed her arms. "Really, it's called payback. You did it to me first, and now there's frosting on my wedding gown." She motioned down to the white dress.

"Just another reason to take it off you later." He wiggled his eyebrows and kissed her after she finished cleaning her face off. "Mrs. Hemming."

She beamed at the new last name. "I can't believe you agreed to get married."

"I have to indulge you and make sure you're happy in your short, mortal lifetime." His tone was joking and light, but she knew how serious he was. They discussed her mortality more often than she liked and she’d been hoping to avoid the subject today.

She put a finger to his lips. "Don't dwell on the sad parts. I'm now yours, Mr. Hemming, and that's what I wanted. Everything feels right and perfect. The Circle is behind us and life is good."

"Yes, but this is still the supernatural world, there is a war and there will be nights that I have to go out and fight. Times you have to be alone. I don't like the thought of that."

She shrugged. "I don't like the idea of you going out to fight; however, Tegan and I will have girls' nights and take over the new TV at home."

"Speaking of her, where did your bridesmaid go? She decide to go change out of her dress?" He asked. "I know she wasn't happy about the color."

Renee shrugged and glanced through the crowd in the courtyard of Lucius' estate. They had told everyone it was a venue for rent and the guests were only allowed in certain places within the building. It had allowed Lucius to control some of the event and make sure everyone remained safe.

"She might have, but I think she would have told us. Lucius has been so paranoid about her whereabouts since Markus came to visit." A strange feeling went through Renee when she spotted the other bridesmaids, all friends from school, taking pictures with the photographer. Tegan wasn't among them.

Coran seemed to follow her train of thought. "She doesn't like pictures and there can't be too many of her because of the whole not aging thing, but it is strange for her to just disappear."

"I'll check her room. Maybe she just got overwhelmed by the crowd, or Lucius needed her?" Renee swallowed the lump of nerves trying to climb up her throat.

"Lucius is over talking to Kassity." He pointed across the yard. "But yeah, why don't you go and check her room? I'll check over by the pond, sometimes she goes there for some quiet time."

Renee chuckled at the comment, as if Tegan were a child who needed rest. "All right." She hiked up her dress, glad Tegan had pinned up the long train for the reception. The tiled halls of the building were oddly silent when Renee entered them, giving a creepy feeling to her search.

"Tegan?" She called, making her way down the hall where Tegan stayed, hoping she didn't go back to the apartment. A sliver of light came through the cracked door and Renee gave a sigh of relief. When she pushed the door open she froze. Clothing dotted the floor, drawers lay upside down, contents scattered, and the bed was flipped off the box spring.

Panic started to fill Renee, and bubbled up as a scream. Coran found her and wrapped his arms her. "This can't be good. Fuck."

"I thought we were safe here." She whispered, her eyes wandering over the damage. "This means someone got in here."

Coran nodded and took a deep breath. "Demons. I smell demons and Tegan."

"How would a demon get in here?" Renee turned to face him.

He sighed. "Demons can create portals from their world to anywhere in our realm. The question is, why didn't they take Tegan back through one? I can smell her trail. I need to shift to track it properly." He kissed Renee's head. "Lucius disappeared, so I want you to come with me."

She nodded, panic still clouding her mind.

Renee followed Coran out of the estate and back through the courtyard. When they were away from the reception party, Coran shifted and Orion stepped up to her side.

"What's going on?"

"Tegan's missing and her room has been trashed. Coran said he smelled demons in her room." Renee quickened her steps to keep up with Coran who was close to a trot. "How far do you think they took her?"

"There's no proof that she was taken." Orion argued. "They couldn't have dragged her through here without someone noticing. The courtyard was full of people and Lucius would have known that she was in danger, unless they were able to block her mind from him." He paused and shook his head. "Come on we're losing him." He started to run.

Renee ran after them, coming to a dead stop when they found Lucius, frozen, looking beyond a clearing in the forest. Coran shifted form next to him. Orion glanced at him and used his magic to manifest clothes onto Coran. Coran placed a hand on Lucius's shoulder. Renee glanced at Orion. "What's going on?"

"This is the end of Lucius' territory, he can't step foot into the other land without causing problems between us and the neighboring vampires." Orion whispered.

Renee pushed past him and moved next to Lucius and Coran. "I'll go after her, I'll find her."

Coran grabbed her when she tried to go into the clearing and held her close to his body. "You can't. You're one of Lucius' people now, it would be seen as him sending you in there. We have no way of telling if they stopped in the next territory or not. They could have dragged her across the country."

"She's gone." Lucius snarled, his power crackling in the air.

"Gone? Gone how? I thought if she died you died." Renee shrank back into Coran's arms when Lucius turned black eyes to her.

"She’s not in our realm anymore. I can't feel her, can't sense her.  We have lost her." His eyes turned to Orion, who backed away from the group. "You had one job, to protect her. Where were you when she was taken?"

Orion swallowed. "She wanted to get away from the crowd. I was talking with Derrik and told her I'd join her in a few minutes. The mansion is supposed to be safe."

"You left her alone, after everything that has happened the past couple of months, you left her alone!" Lucius bellowed.

Renee ran her hands up and down her arms as Lucius’ power marched through her. Her breath caught when he raised his hand and Orion flew against a tree.

"I trusted you with her and now she is gone."

Coran put Renee behind him. "Lucius, we all dropped our guard. Put Orion down and think about this. When was the last time you felt Tegan? When did your connection with her stop?"

"She was jumping in and out after the wedding. Twenty minutes ago, I felt her out here and then just gone." He dropped Orion. "She's gone..."

Renee took Coran's hand, not sure what to do in order to comfort Lucius. "What does this mean?"

"It means the demons have declared war on Lucius by taking his human." Coran sighed. "It means more blood shed and another enemy."

Lucius turned back to them. "Get back to the mansion. We will not let anyone see how much this affects us."

"There has to be something we can do." Renee protested. "We can't just lead our lives normally without knowing where Tegan is or what is happening to her."

"We have no choice. We cannot show weakness. I will do everything in my power to bring her back here. They can't kill her."

"You mean won't." Renee corrected. "You can't be sure about that."

Lucius shook his head and moved past her. "You two will still go on your honeymoon, it is expected. Orion, you will be working with me to bring Tegan back. And if she does not come back whole, physically and mentally, I will slaughter you."

Coran pulled Renee away from the conversation. "I know you don't like it, but—"

"This is war and politics." She muttered. "For better or for worse."

"In good times and bad." Coran finished for her.

Epilogue

Orion sat at the café table, sipping his coffee. Lucius hadn't turned up anything yet on Tegan, and the vampire got more irritable by the night. Coran and Renee returned from their honeymoon, but Renee was still heartbroken about Tegan not having been found yet. Orion’s failure stung his own heart, knowing he could have kept the demons from her. Who knew what the cruel creatures were doing to her.

"Orion, right?"

He glanced up when a blond female sat in front of him. "What do you want?"

"I'm Danielle, I'm...well, was Renee's roommate."

The name struck a cord with him. "You were the Hunter partnered with Cody."

"Until he had his mark stripped and was kicked out of the Society, yeah. Leave it to me to be partnered with a dumbass." Her cheerful face fell. "I need to talk to you about something."

Orion put his coffee down and met her gaze. "What about?"

"I need your help. The Hunting Society needs your help—"

"My plate is full." Why would he help the Society, he was neither human nor vampire. As far as he knew they had nothing to do with Fae. He needed to focus on any clues that would lead him to Tegan.

She glared at him. "I know who you are, Orion, what you are. Not to mention you have ties to Lucius, and right now I need those. I need any information and help I can get on the vampires in this area."

"Why?" He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "And why should I help you?"

Dani smirked and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "If you help me figure out why there has been an increase in human vampire victims in the last month, I can give you information on the crown that you lost."

His anger surged and he clenched his fists. "The Queen of Blood and Darkness banished me long ago, no one can help me with that. She shredded my wings to make sure I could never return."

"What do you have to lose by helping me out? If the victims continue to grow in numbers it will be Lucius that is blamed. I know for a fact that his territory cannot take that right now."

Orion's eyes snapped to hers. "What goes on in Lucius' territory is none of your concern."

"It is if people are showing up dead and drained of blood, Orion. Is your master to blame?"

Hell if he knew. Without Tegan here, Lucius seemed more like a time bomb than a vampire, but he doubted Lucius would kill his meals. "He's not my master."

"Please, Orion, I don't have anyone else I can turn to. I don’t want to involve Renee more than I have to. Of course no one in the bars is going to talk to me. I don't blend in well."

Wasn't that the truth? His eyes wandered over her tight black clothes, and the gun barely visible from under her lightweight black jacket. "You say you have information in regards to my rightful place." If Lucius couldn't rescue Tegan, or if she came back wounded, maybe Dani was the key to going home. His true home.

"I do, and once we get this figured out I'll give you the information."

He snorted. "That's a little like blackmail."

"Yeah, kind of. What do you say?"

Playing with his coffee cup, he tried to figure out how much trouble he'd be in if Lucius found out he was making a deal with a Hunter. He grinned. "I'm in."

DWC #3

Chapter One

O
rion rolled over as his phone rang. The ear splitting noise made him want to throw the thing out the window, but it wasn't the poor electronics fault he'd had a long night. No, he blamed Lucius and the demons that had dragged Tegan off. The number scrolling across the screen didn’t register at first, but then he realized it was the Hunter's. Dani...two months ago she’d asked for his help, since then she hadn't contacted him. Why now?

"What?" He snapped into the receiver.

"Sounds like someone had a long night." Her voice was chiding and he closed his eyes, trying to recall Danielle’s blond hair and big blue eyes, but instead conjuring an image of Tegan.

He muttered a curse under his breath at the thought of her still missing. "I was out until dawn trying to track down Tegan."

"Ah yes, the goose chase that Lucius has you on." She clicked her tongue, but then the teasing tone left. "We found a kill from last night. I'd like you to come down and take a look so you know what we're dealing with."

Orion sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Two months, Danielle." His gaze traveled over the white room that held only a bookshelf, dresser and a bed felt like home to him. With all his stuff neatly put away there was no clutter to distract him from sleep. Clean room, clear mind.It was one of the mantras that ket him sane.

"Yeah, well, shit's been busy on the Hunter side of things, and if you don't want us busting into Lucius' manor or questioning his people then I need you to get your ass downtown to Acacia Park."

Orion wrinkled his nose as he thought about the park. During the day it was filled with children, and most nights the homeless used the fountain to bathe. It wasn't his ideal place, and it wouldn't be the first place he'd dump a body. "Okay, I can be there in about fifteen minutes. I'm close, but I need coffee."

"Pick me up a latte?" Her voice was pleading; the Hunter had probably been out all night too.

He laughed. "Sure thing." Closing his phone, he leaned against the wall behind his bed and sighed. More than the need for caffeine drove his frequent trips to the coffee shop; the place had been Tegan's last stop before she turned in for the day. A routine she had kept for years. Part of him hoped she'd just randomly appear there. Shaking his head from his foolishness he untangled himself from the sheets. Orion showered, dressed, and left.