Blood & Roses: Warriors of the Krieger (17 page)

Kai was a beautiful twenty year old witch.
She was born into one of the most powerful bloodlines in the world.
The females of the Laveau bloodline are born with powers of magic
that could rival even the strongest vampire’s abilities. Her skin
was deep brown and reminded me of melted chocolate and her hair was
a few shades lighter. The Laveau family trait of green eyes was
evident in her stare, as well as her pouty lips.

Kai scooped me up into a tight hug, “Oh,
Charity, I heard about what happened. Are you better?” She offered
me a spot on the couch and then took a seat across from me in the
recliner.

“I’m fine,” I lied, sort of. I was physically
fine, but my heart was breaking. Dragus and his stupid mouth made a
perfect mess of an otherwise perfect moment between us. No matter
what Dragus said, I must help Adam; see if there is any way to
help.

“Okay, I’ve called mother and she is looking
into a potion. It may take a few days to make it…um, drinkable.
From what she tells me, it doesn’t go down quite that easy.
Something to do with toad slime and…,” she grimaced. I stopped
her.

“Ugh! Okay, whatever it takes. I just don’t
want to know what’s in it,” I shivered. You’re damn right; I didn’t
want to know what was in that potion. A big part of me was thankful
I wasn’t the one to try it either.

“I’m going to have to go hunt up some
Wolfsbane for the concoction. It’s very hard to come by these days,
but I think a friend of mine has some on hand.”

Kai and I spent a good part of the night
working on a plan to get the potion to Adam. From what Kai’s mother
had said, the potion would have to be ingested and may make the
hybrid very sick, before they got better. I couldn’t imagine
anything giving him any more pain that what he had already
experienced. I actually tried to contact with him in front of Kai,
but he would never answer.

“I don’t know why he won’t connect with me,”
I pondered. “Maybe it’s too late, Kai. Maybe he has completed the
change.” I looked up when she
tsked
. Kai was sitting there
with her legs crossed and a file in one hand, going to town on her
nails. The clock on the mantel chimed, telling me it was two in the
morning.

“The change won’t be complete until the next
full moon,” she paused and counted to herself, on her fingers.
“That would be in eight days. We’ve got time honey.” Eight days
didn’t seem like a lot of time to me, but Kai acted unfazed by the
deadline.

“How the hell do you know this stuff?” I
asked. I was in shock, that she may have had the answers all along.
Then I got mad at myself for not calling her sooner.

“Well, hello,” she pointed to herself. “I’m a
witch!” Then she laughed. I couldn’t help myself, I laughed too,
but only because after a day like today; I needed it.

I returned home, secretly hoping that Dragus
was waiting for me. My front yard held two Hummers, two human
police cruisers and three cars I didn’t recognize. Those obviously
belonged to the army of
Nachtmann
that were camped out
around the house. I pulled around back and was relieved to find
Lydia’s cute little red BMW convertible parked by the garage. She
had a key and the code to the alarm, so I knew she would be waiting
inside for me.

When I stepped inside the kitchen, Lydia was
sitting at the kitchen table drinking a glass of blood spiked
Merlot. “I’ve discovered a new way to drink this bagged shit that
taste like, well
shit
,” she shrugged, then laughed.

“Can you make me one of those? I’ve had one
hell of a night,” I sighed. It was all I could do not to break down
and cry. Well, I did look at Lydia and then my bottom lip quivered.
She tilted her head to the side and opened her arms toward me.

“What’s wrong? Tell me all about it.” Lydia
and I have always relied on each other, because we had lost our
families all those years ago. Lydia was my sister and my mother all
wrapped up in a best friend package.

“It’s Dragus,” I pulled back from the embrace
to wipe bloody tears from my eyes. “We had sex.” I suddenly became
a blubbering idiot and couldn’t finish telling her what happened.
Wiping the tears just made twice as many roll down my cheeks.

Lydia’s eyes popped wide, “Was it
that
bad?”

I laughed through the tears, “We had a fight.
I ruined everything and it was so perfect.” I sat down in the
kitchen chair and poured myself a double dose of Merlot a la B
positive. After a few sips, I was feeling better physically. “I
haven’t talked to him since and I don’t know if I will ever see him
again.” I dropped my head into my hands shamefully and sobbed
more.

“I don’t think he will quit seeing you just
over one little fight,” she laughed.

“Well, I think I undermined him. He’s a
warrior and expects people do as he says. I basically told him I
was going to do what I wanted to do.”

“Good for you, Charity. Can you tell me what
happened?” she asked.

Lydia forced the whole story out of me, even
some of the good parts. Hey, it’s what girls do. She was a little
miffed that he was going all ‘warrior’ on me, and put the blame
solely on Dragus. She finally gave in and agreed that I should do
what I can to help Adam. I don’t know if she was doing this for me,
or because she wanted to get back at Dragus.

“I’ll help with the potion. Remember when I
studied with Genevieve in Paris? Well, I remember her talking about
there had been something similar going on before we got there. They
had made a potion and given it to the vampires who had recently
been bit. It worked on them, but not the ones that were more like
Adam. The ones who had been tainted for more than a few days,” she
sat back in her seat trying to remember what she had learned.

I, on the other hand was completely clueless
when it came to these potions. “Kai said that she needed to find
some Wolfsbane and that it’s a little scarce. You need to call her
and let her know that you are willing to help.”

“Yeah, over the past few decades, it’s been
harder and harder to find. I’ll call her at sunset tomorrow.” Lydia
reached over, grabbed the bottle of wine and poured herself another
goblet full; add a little blood and she was set.

I have to admit the blood wine mixture was
very addictive. By the time we emptied the bottle of Merlot, we
were a little more than tipsy. Our serious conversation had turned
into playful bantering. Lydia attempted to stand and almost fell
flat on her face. I tried using my vamp speed to catch her, but my
vision was so blurry, I zoomed right past her and slammed my
shoulder into the refrigerator.

“Ow, bloody hell that hurt!” I laughed. We
both ended up on the floor flat on our backsides with the empty
wine bottle between us. We laid there laughing so hard that we
didn’t even notice Ashby and Dragus standing in the door way.

“Oops,” Lydia’s lips made a little popping
sound and she lost it. She rolled over on the floor and held her
sides as she laughed. “Arrest me officers, I’m drunk.” She looked
up at Ashby who what trying his hardest to maintain his tough
Krieger
exterior.

“Lydia,” I hiccupped. “I think I have an
intruder. Should we scream?” I noticed Dragus was staring back and
forth between me and the bottle. Yeah, granted we were drunk, but
he couldn’t say anything. At least we were at home and not out
driving on the roads like this. He was concerned; I know he was,
because I felt it. Dragus was worried that our fight had caused me
to get drunk. “Don’t flatter yourself
Krieger
. This is so
not about you. I’ve had a rough few weeks and I
needed
this!” For added emphasis, I gestured toward the empty bottle of
Merlot on the floor.

His jaw tightened, then he took a deep
breath, “We just came in to keep you up to date on our progress,
but this will have to wait till tomorrow, when you are
more…yourself, Charity.” Dragus turned on one heal and headed for
the door. Like a child, I stuck my tongue out at him, behind his
back. “I saw that.” Good, I’m glad he did. Damn mind reading
Krieger
! I did it again. I heard him laugh as he closed the
front door.

I turned to Lydia and she was beet red, “Go
ahead and laugh.” We both ended up rolling on the floor for a few
minutes, until Lydia could catch her breath.

“You…are…in…so…much…trouble,” she said
through her hysterical laughter. Before I could protest, she pulled
another bottle of Merlot out from the cabinet and scooped up our
two goblets before sitting them in the floor. I had to carefully
get myself off the floor, but I managed to open the refrigerator
and pull out another pint of blood.

“I know, he’s not happy with me right now,” I
shrugged. “How dare him to come in here and judge me!” Oh, now I
was getting mad because, damn it, I deserved this time with
Lydia.

“I bet he has never even gotten drunk. He’s
always so…warrior. Have you noticed that?” she asked. All I could
think was that he wasn’t anything near warrior on the inside. That
thought had me tearing up again, but I gave myself a quick ass
kicking and sucked it up.

“Yep, he is,” I laughed. “I call it his
‘me-warrior-you-woman’ attitude. I hate it!” I made sure my mind
was wide open, so he could pick up my tone. I hope he heard every
bit of our conversation.

“Oh, Char, you need to let him sweep you off
your feet. He’s a
Krieger
. I would actually love it if I had
a warrior wanting me to stay home and be at his beckon call.” Lydia
shrugged.

“Oh, no you wouldn’t,” I shivered. “You’re
just old fashioned. I, on the other hand, have embraced the ways of
the world. The only time I want to be dominated is in the bedroom.”
I looked over at Lydia and she was smiling at something.
“What?”

“Oh nothing,” she shied away and I had to
know what she was thinking.

“Come on, spill! I told you something. You
need to give me some gossip.” I poured her another round and one
for myself.

“You know my rule about no vampire lovers?
Besides Walter?” she asked and I nodded. “Well, that Ashby makes me
have second thoughts.” Lydia actually pretended to swoon and that
brought out a whole new round of laughter from the both of us.

Chapter 9

Dragus

I walked out of her house absolutely enraged.
Ashby walked beside me hiding a smile. He thought the whole
situation was funny. I did not.

“C’mon Dragus, you have to laugh at that,” he
chuckled.

“No, I don’t,” I growled. “Charity is acting
like a child!” My anger had him hesitate a bit before he walked
around the truck. I could tell he wanted to argue with me on her
behalf, but I was in no mood to listen to him.

Once inside the vehicle, I turned the radio
on and changed the station to something with a lot of noise. We had
a good twenty minute drive ahead of us back into town. I needed a
few minutes to think.

I don’t understand why Charity was to be my
mate. We are nothing alike. She is absolutely frustrating to be
around. When I envisioned her, I expected her to be at my side and
under my protection. Charity prides herself on her independence.
Why doesn’t she let me handle this for her? I am the strongest of
our breed and she openly defies my wishes.

My hands clinched so hard around the steering
wheel, I thought it may snap. With a heavy sigh, I loosened my grip
and reached over to turn the music down so I could talk to Ashby.
“Why does she go against everything I tell her to do?”

“She’s a strong minded woman, brother. You
can’t expect her to drop everything and become a June Cleaver
type.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him shrug. “You two are
just alike.”

“How so?” I asked because, to me we were
nothing alike.

“You’re both independent and stubborn,” he
laughed. I turned to pierce him with my eyes that were a little red
to show my disgust. He held his hands up in surrender. “You asked,
so I told you what I think.”

“Why does she irritate me?” I growled.

“Because you love her,” he paused. “I can see
it when you look at her. She
is
your mate after all, Dragus.
Don’t push her away, it will only cause heartache. Try to
compromise with her on a few things.

“Now you see why I would
never
do that
dream walking thing. I want to find her on my own.”

“Yeah, you’re the hopeless romantic,” I
laughed.

As much as I wanted to deny his reasoning, I
could plainly see that he was right. I couldn’t control her life.
That was something I didn’t want to do to her. With my duties, the
last thing I needed was someone who was weak and needed to be
watched around the clock.

In fact, Charity did need to be protected at
all times. She could be a Lady of the
Krieger
in the next
few months, and she would be a target of our enemies. The hunters,
the Lycans and any number of people who want to see our kind
destroyed.

My thoughts were interrupted when my cell
phone rang. It was Bastian.

“We’ve found an abandon vehicle about three
miles west of Ms. Harwood’s home. There’s been another Lycan
attack. You need to come take a look at this.”

“We’re on the way. Is there a victim?” Any
chance we can get the victim to the hospital for monitoring is
good. That way we can observe the changing process they experience.
Unlike the last time, a century ago, we can’t dispatch them without
cause. And with the progress with medicine, they can be studied
better.

“The car’s registration comes back to a
civilian vampire, Samuel Jones. No sign of him, but there is
massive amounts of blood and claw marks on the car. We think that
he was carried off into the forest.” I hung up the phone and turned
around to head off to his location.

When we arrived, Bastian was standing there
with two human officers. He handed a clipboard over to the oldest
policeman. They were back in their patrol car and off the scene
before Ashby and I had a chance to get out of ours.