Feral Instincts (The Feral Series) (3 page)

Salvatore
stepped out of the ridiculous little store and took a deep breath of the dark
night air. He stood in the shadow of the black and white stripped awning for a
moment smiling.

One
of the shadows that lined the building separated itself from the others,
revealing the figure of a tall dark haired man.

“How
was your… ahem… shopping sir?” His second in command asked.

“Everything
was just as you said it would be. She is perfect. She looks so much like her.
So sensual, yet… innocent. She is the one I have been searching for.” Again his
eyes flashed red for just a moment before he regained control again.

“I
want her. Tonight.”  The two of them headed down the leaf covered sidewalk
to a sleek dark sedan.

“Yes
sir. I thought you would like her.” Marco said smiling smugly at his
accomplishment. The girl was sure to please his master and he was already
calculating how he would capitalize on taking credit for finding the girl for
his sire.

“There
is just one problem.” At Salvatore’s words, Marco’s smile was quickly wiped
form his face. “You did not mention that there was a Lykan in the area. The
scent of one of those dogs even lingers inside of the store.”

Marco
ground his teeth in response. He didn’t know about the Lykan but he certainly
didn’t want his sire thinking him incompetent. “Yes sir. My apologies sir. We
are aware of the problem. I don’t however foresee any delay with retrieving the
girl for you. Of course, I will see to the matter personally.”

“Yes,
see that you do.”  Salvatore was an ancient and powerful, master vampire.
He was certainly not someone Marco wanted to cross. A lovely replacement for
his dearly departed Earnestine, something like this could definitely put him in
Salvatore’s good graces. Salvatore was not a patient man and there would be no
tolerance for failure. Marco knew if he played his cards right he would be the
one that Salvatore chose to stand by his side and lead his new army. Much was
at stake and this was not a time for stupid mistakes.

“…and
Marco”

“Sir?”

“No
one touches her but me.”

“Of
course. I’ll see to it personally. Everything will be as you wish.”

Teagan
and Daniel stood waiting inside the office of the vampire clan chief. Teagan
folded his arms to keep himself from tackling Daniel while he watched him pace
back and forth in front of the marble fireplace. The bold tribal tattoo on his
forearm flexed as he clenched his fists. The man hadn’t stopped moving since
they had got here and he was driving him nuts. He was like a two year old
moving around the room, touching everything.

“What
are we doing here again?”

“You
know what we are doing here and stop pacing.” He growled at him.

Daniel
finally stopped pacing and walked over to the mahogany book case, picking up a
very fragile looking artifact he began tossing it in the air and catching it
again.

“Where
do you suppose these vamps get their money anyway? I mean seriously… have you
seen the size of this place?”

“I
don’t know and I don’t care. Let’s just focus on getting the job done and
getting the hell out of here. You know, I could have done this without you. Why
did you volunteer to come again?”

“Aw,
come on. Who could resist a chance to kill some vampires with the Council’s
blessing no less! Besides, I couldn’t let my favorite cousin and the pack’s
golden boy come to vamp central by himself. Say, how long do we have to stay
here anyway? I’m not really thrilled about living at vamp central. Although you
gotta admit the vamps sure know how to spend their money. I mean really, we
could fit the whole pack in here.

 “You
know that wouldn’t last long. The whole pack under one roof! We would kill each
other and have this place destroyed in no time.”

“Well
duh. That would be half the fun. Teagan, Teagan. What will we do with you?
Always so serious. You know, just because you are next in line as pack alpha
doesn’t mean you can’t live a little right now. You really have to loosen up
man.”

“Daniel…

“Think
of the party’s we could have. Do you think the vamps have parties here? They’re
all so up-tight, I bet you they have never had a party here. I mean come on!
They even have a pool! Who knew the vamps liked to swim? Did you know the vamps
like to swim? I bet you they don’t even use it. What a waste.”

“Daniel,
you…”

Teagan’s
response was cut short as the door of the office opened and Victor walked in.
Teagan could feel the power surrounding the vampire raise the hairs on his skin
as he entered the room. He was a tall, slender man with shoulder length white
hair, pulled back in a sleek ponytail. He was dressed in a very expensive
looking suit and looked more like the CEO of a major corporation than the head
of a vampire clan. Victor was one of the Breed Descendants. Breed meaning he
was a pureblooded vampire born from pureblooded vampire parents and Descendant
meaning he was from ancient bloodlines. Although he appeared to be no older
than his late thirty’s he was in fact over eight hundred years old.

“Sorry
to keep you waiting gentlemen and thank you for coming so quickly.” Victor
shook the hands of both of the men who suddenly seemed very out of place in
their worn jeans and thick soled boots. To make matters worse Daniel had decided
to wear a ragged t-shirt from one of his favorite bars to the meeting.

Walking
around his desk Victor gestured to the richly upholstered chairs in front of
him. “Please gentlemen have a seat.”

Teagan
and Daniel eased their large frames into the chairs in front of the desk.

“Let
me start by expressing my gratitude to the McLaren pack for responding so
quickly to the Council’s request.” Victor said while glancing at the almost
identical medallions both men wore around their necks. The Celtic symbols of
the McLaren pack were intricately engraved into the enchanted metal.

All
Lykan wore the medallions, each pack having their own unique design. The
medallions themselves were enchanted and gave the werewolves control over their
transformations and better control of their beast forms. Without the medallion
they would be forced to change with each full moon and they would be at the
mercy of the beast inside of them.

“My
father has spoken with the Council and the McLaren pack is prepared to help you
with anything you may need to end this rogue uprising.” Teagan answered
formally.  

“Thank
you.” Victor replied, folding his hands on the desk. “As you know we are having
trouble with a nest of rogue vampires that is rapidly increasing in size and
strength. So far, my men have only been able to eliminate a few of their
numbers. Since the werewolves are known throughout the Lore for their tracking
ability, the Council thought you may be able to give us a hand. This nest of
rogues must be eliminated with all due haste. They are becoming much more
aggressive and indiscrete. The local newspapers are full of reports of animal
attacks, brutal murders and missing persons. It’s become increasing difficult
to hide their destruction. If this continues it won’t be long before the
vampires can no longer hide our existence from the humans.

“The
situation here has escalated to the point that it has unfortunately come to the
attention of the Council. The rogues must be dealt with immediately for all of
our sakes. The Council believes that if the vampires are exposed it won’t be
long before the Lykan and the rest of the Lore is exposed too. As you know, it
is imperative to both our races that the humans never find out we exist. I need
not tell you the consequences would be devastating to both the humans and all
of the Lore if we were exposed.”

Teagan
folded his arms across his broad chest and leaned back in his chair. “I am
surprised the leader of this rogue uprising has been able to gather such a
large army so quickly. I’ve never heard of such a large group of rogues in one
area and working together. Ferals have always been a problem for the Lykan too
but there is usually just a handful of them and they are quickly hunted down
and exterminated.”

“Ya…”
Daniel interrupted excitedly, earning him a scowl from Teagan. “The ferals
remove their medallions and embrace the beast’s true nature. Lykan ferals think
the weres should not fight against our nature. They think we are the superior
race and shouldn’t have to hide who and what we are.” Daniel looked at Teagan
with an antagonizing expression on his face.

“You
sound as if part of you agrees with them.” Victor said, raising an eyebrow and
looking at Daniel.

Teagan
snorted. “Lykan with no control are little more than mindless beasts. Ferals are
extremely violent and aggressive and are capable of killing both humans and
other Lore creatures. They have even been known to turn on their own packs…”
Teagan shot Daniel a telling look. “… and even their own mates.”

Victor
raised one regal eyebrow at the underlying tension between the two men. “Yes,
in the vampire community our “ferals” are known as rogues. Our vampire rogues
are also quite aggressive and violent. As you may already know, vampires become
rogues by repeatedly drinking their prey to death. The high they get from
killing their prey is extremely addictive and comes at a cost. The rogues
quickly begin to go mad.  The more they kill the more demented and violent
they become until they lose all connection to their humanity and their vampire
nature completely takes over. It is a process that usually takes several months
and sometimes even years but we believe this nest has found a way to speed up
the process. We believe they are injecting the newly turned vampires with some
sort of drug. We do not know yet exactly what the drug is but it appears to
suppress all connection to their humanity allowing their vampire natures to
take control.  What used to take months now only takes days and it can be
done by force without the vampires consent.”

“Has
the Council been told of this drug you have discovered?” Teagan leaned back in
his chair and rubbed his forehead in frustration. This was a much bigger
problem than anyone realized.

“No.
We were concerned the news could cause panic among the vampire clans. We want
to wait until we know more about the drug they are using before we go public
with the information.”

“Dam.
You guys have one hell of a problem on your hands.” Daniel stated the obvious
earning him another killing look from Teagan.

“We
believe Salvatore Guerra is responsible for the creation of the rogue army.
Unfortunately he is also one of our Descendants. Being a Descendant, he is
extraordinarily powerful and appears to be able to wield a tremendous amount of
control over the rogues he is creating. We believe he is personally siring the
rogues. This is the only possible explanation for the control he has over them.

“If
we can get to Salvatore his rogue army will be much easier to eliminate.
Without a leader the rogues would quickly turn on each other and it would just
be a matter of time before we eliminated all of them.”

“I’m
surprised to hear that one of your Descendants is involved in this. What is he
after, why build this army?”

The
calm, shielded look on Victor’s aristocratic face actually wavered for a moment
before he responded to Teagan’s questions. “I would imagine he is after the
usual. Power or revenge. We believe his first move will be against my clan.
Salvatore and I have some… history.” A deep frown creased the brow of the
powerful vampire.

Teagan
wondered what kind of history that was but decided it didn’t really matter. The
rogue had to be taken out one way or another. The “why” didn’t really matter to
him.

“Well,
Teagan and I are the two best trackers in the pack and we will have your Salvatore
hunted down in no time. You vamps have a very um… distinctive scent.” Daniel
said with a smirk on his face.

Teagan
scowled at Daniel, the promise of retribution on his face.

“What…
What I say?” Daniel held his hands up innocently, smirking.

“When
can I meet with your general? I’d like to have any information they have on
Salvatore so far.” Teagan said as they all stood up, bring the meeting to an
end.

“I
will set up a meeting between you and Ethan immediately.” Victor moved around
his massive desk while straightening the front of his suit jacket. Teagan
noticed that his cool and composed mask was once again back place.

“I
hope you and Daniel will be comfortable in your rooms here at Claymore. Just
let us know if there is anything you need.” Victor politely held the heavy
wooden door open for them and then firmly closed it behind them once again.

“Ya,
comfortable surrounded by a bunch of blood suckers, like that will happen.”
Daniel muttered under his breath once they were out in the hallway.

With
a snarl and a flash of teeth, Teagan grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed
him into the wall. “Let’s try not to piss off the vampires and end up in front
of the Council on day one! Okay?”

“Okay.
Okay.”

“What
was that crap in there about ferals? Look, the whole pack was devastated when
Darrin went feral but there is no way you can defend what your brother did. He
almost killed Emily, his own mate. Then he attacked that family on the
outskirts of town. He knew we would have no choice but to hunt him down. He
made his decision.”