Blood & Roses: Warriors of the Krieger (20 page)

Powle cleared his throat, “You feel this
magnetic pull to her when she is far away.” It wasn’t a question,
but more of a statement. “Anytime you are with her, you feel
complete; almost like you found a missing part of your soul. Her
safety is your main concern, even over your job as a
Krieger
. The thought of another male coming within a foot of
her makes you want to destroy everything in your path to reach her.
Am I getting this right?”

He was hitting it dead center. Of course,
Powle and Bastian knew what I was going through. They have been
bonded for years. Their wives are tucked away safely at the estate.
That’s why they can do their job without worrying about their
mate’s safety.

The
Krieger
Estate has top of the line
security all over the grounds. No one can get in without a security
clearance equal to that of the Pentagon. There are tunnels under
the mansion and the family homes that lead to a safe house
underground, in case of a breech. Their wives are safe, and it
saddened me that Charity was not there within my home.

“Yes,” I whispered. “It gets worse every day.
The pull on my chest, it doesn’t hurt, but it’s a little
uncomfortable. I find myself worrying over everything.”

Powle patted my shoulder. “That’s part of the
bonding. Well, it’s part of being in love. The feeling never goes
away; you just need to learn how to ignore it.”

“Ignore it,” I laughed. “How the hell can I
ignore it?”

“Eventually you will learn to put it in the
back of your mind. Until you reach that goal, just try your best to
set the feeling aside.”

“How many times a day do you check on Lady
Elise?”

He smiled briefly and then hung his head in
shame, “Only about a hundred times.”

A moment of disgust - at myself - paralyzed
my body. I only check on Charity about half of that. She doesn’t
always know when I do it, but I do. Hearing Powle’s confession
bothered me. I looked at him and he was smiling.

“She’s going to be fine, brother. Brock and
William will not let anything happen to her.”

“They better not,” I growled. The thought of
them allowing her to get hurt, caused a million punishments to run
through my head.

“They know better, Dragus. Now check in on
her and let’s get to work.” Powle walked off the give me a
moment.

I closed my eyes and used my powers to sense
Charity. She was home already. Brock was outside checking the
perimeter of her yard, while William was doing another walkthrough
of her house. Charity was curled up in her recliner reading a book.
She was bundled up in a blanket and her feelings were content. I
sighed and released my connection to her mind.

A black
Krieger
Hummer pulled up next
to my own and parked. A crew from Campeche Beach had arrived a few
hours ago and Palo picked them up at the station. Palo stepped out
along with four new faces. I headed over to introduce myself.

“Master Dragus,” Palo greeted me with a firm
handshake. “These are the
Krieger
of Campeche Beach.”

I nodded as I took in each of them. The
largest of the group, a dark haired Italian, was the first one to
shake my hand. His issued
Krieger
shirt said his name was
Ermanno. The second was named Luka. He wore his hair cut extremely
short, military style. His dark green eyes were menacing and from
his Russian accent, I could tell he hasn’t been in the States very
long. But his English was spoken to perfection. The third was an
Irishman by the name of Keon. His deep auburn hair fell around his
face, hiding his features. He seemed shy, but highly trained to his
job. I sensed he had led a traumatic life during his time as a
human. The last one was Nikolas and he was the only blonde one in
the group. His large deep set eyes told me he was not afraid of
anything. He was a true warrior through and through.

“Thank you all for coming,” I nodded
respectfully to the group. “Our goal tonight is to find any hybrids
we can find and have them transported to Sacred Heart hospital. We
only have just over two hours till sunrise. We will need to meet
back here at four-thirty.”

After I gave the new
Krieger
my cell
phone number, we broke off into groups and headed out into the
forest. Nikolas was my partner and we walked due south off the main
trail through the park. The night was clear, but the cover of the
trees made it rather dark in the thickest part of the forest.

Nikolas kept a watch to our east and north, I
watched to the west and south. We trudged through overgrown weeds
and vines, for about a mile. Several trees were over on their sides
and decaying alone in the forest. Occasionally, we would come
across a small animal carcass or two. They were hidden underneath a
blanket of fallen limbs. This was typical behavior of the
Lycanthropes. They protected their kill by feeding in a hidden
area.

Nikolas stopped to probe at one of the half
eaten animals and turned to speak. Before he spoke one word, a
branch snapped behind us. We spun around to find a full blooded
Lycan trying to creep up behind us.

The animal looked small compared to the
others we have seen lately. I assumed it to be a female. Her yellow
eyes glowed under what little bit of moon light that was breaking
through the treetops. She growled low and menacing as we took a
step closer to her. Nikolas and I unsheathed our knives that were
strapped at our hips.

The werewolf scratched the ground like a bull
ready to attack. Nikolas lunged for her throat and missed, rolling
on the ground just behind her. She turned around to stalk him, like
a wounded animal. I used this advantage to run at her from behind.
Before I made it a few feet, she turned and leaped for me. I
shifted to my left and with my knife I was able to slice into her
shoulder when she flew past me.

Nikolas was back on his feet and tried to
rush her while she attempted to turn around for another attack. In
one swift move, the Lycan lunged for Nikolas’ throat and bit deep.
His blood curdling scream echoed through the woods. She dropped him
at her feet and made a run for me.

Her teeth and muzzle were covered in the
Russian’s blood as she lunged. I caught her around the neck and
buried my knife deep into her throat. She yelped out and fell to my
feet. I removed my silver dagger and used it to remove her head
with one slice of the knife.

I flipped open my cell phone and called the
hospital. The operator answered immediately.

“Sacred Heart, how may I direct your
call?”

“This is Krieger Dragus. I will be there with
a Lycan victim in a few minutes. Have the doctors ready!” I snapped
the phone shut and slipped it into my pocket as I reached down for
Nikolas.

“Hey brother, how are you holding up?” I
asked, breathless. He nodded, but couldn’t speak. The Lycan had bit
into the spot where his neck and shoulder meet. The flesh was torn
away and he was bleeding badly. I grabbed him by the shoulders and
held him as close as possible. “I’m going to get you to the
hospital. Hold on.”

Nikolas took a deep breath just a second
before I zapped us out of the forest and into the Hummer.

Dr. Combs was waiting for us with a gurney
and three nurses.

“We will take it from here, Master Dragus,”
Dr. Combs patted my arm, but looked at me with concern. “Have you
been hurt or is this his blood?”

“I’m fine. Just take care of him,” I
insisted.

After the doctor followed Nikolas into the
trauma center, I walked back to the parking lot. I dialed Palo’s
cell and told him to have everyone meet back at the vehicles. It
was too dangerous to continue on this close to sunrise.

They took the Campeche Beach
Krieger
back to the estate and had them set up in the trainee dorms.

I left instructions for the hospital to call
me immediately on any news and left for the mansion. I walked in
and found a maid walking through the main hallway. She stopped when
she saw the condition of my clothes. “Master Dragus,” she curtsied.
“What happened?”

“I’m fine Lucy,” I smiled to make her less
uncomfortable. “I’m just going up to my room to retire for the
day.” Lucy curtsied again and rushed out of the room, back to the
servant’s quarters.

I trudged my way upstairs and immediately got
into the shower. A few minutes later I heard the shutters rolling
down over the windows and I knew it was getting close to dawn.

The shower helped the aching in my muscles,
but it could not take away the pain in my chest. I checked on her
one more time before death took me for the day. She had already
retired and although I knew she wouldn’t know it, I still reached
for her. Using my mind, I brushed a stray hair away from her face.
It must have fallen over her cheek when she fell into her death
sleep. I made a silent promise to see her as soon as I could get to
there after nightfall.

After a silent kiss to my sleeping beauty, I
felt death pulling against me. The next thing I heard was my last
breath of the day leaving my body.

I arose about an hour before sunset the next
evening. My first priority for the evening was to visit Charity. I
called over to the dorms and spoke with Keon. He would meet me at
the vehicle the moment the shutters lifted. Brock and William had
stayed at Charity’s guest house for the day, since they had not
left in time to make it back to the dorms before sunrise.

Once I was dressed I made my way to the
dining room to find my morning packet from the human police telling
me about the events of the day. There had been only one
disappearance reported and they believed it to be a Lycan attack. A
human female had been reported missing just after dawn this
morning. She was last seen leaving her home and her car was found
bloodied and abandoned on the side of the road around noon.

Simon, my butler, quietly slipped in and
handed me a goblet of AB negative. He slipped out before I could
say ‘Thank You’.

While I quickly reviewed the reports, I
considered meeting with the Chief of Police and talking to him
about a possible curfew for the town. Just for a few days, so we
could concentrate on the Lycans. This way we would hopefully be
able to keep our forces on patrol instead of splitting our time
between the hospital and the forest.

The shutters rattled just a second before the
motors kicked in. I stuffed the paperwork back into the manila
envelope and made my way outside.

Keon and the other
Krieger
met me at
the Hummer. Once inside, we headed off toward Charity’s house. I
explained to them that there was a high concentration of
Lycanthropes around her land. My instructions for them tonight were
to patrol the area while I checked on Charity.

As I got closer to her house the pull on my
chest seemed to lessen. I breathed a sigh of relief.

My cell phone rang and I noticed it was
William. I quickly checked on Charity and she was still under her
death sleep, so I knew she was okay. I answered the phone, curious
as to why he was calling. “William, what’s going on?”

“The Lycan’s are here,” he yelled. “You need
to get here as soon as possible. I don’t know how long we can hold
them.”

“Protect the house,” I growled. “I’m about
three minutes out.”

I snapped the phone shut and pressed down on
the accelerator. Less than a minute later, I felt Charity’s panic
pierce through me. With a growl, I pushed the Hummer as fast as it
could go. I had to get to her immediately.

Charity

When I came alive the next evening, I
wondered where Dragus was and if he would make it over here before
I had to leave. I decided to shower while I waited on him. As per
ritual, I let my senses range out to check the security around the
house.

Panic swept through my body as I sensed
tension and realized there was a fight raging in my backyard. Three
Nachtmann
and Brilliam were going hand to hand with about
ten werewolves. I rolled out of bed, snatched up my phone and
called Dragus. I found myself sitting in the corner of my room in
the fetal position. He answered on the first ring.

“We’re coming!” he yelled into the phone.
“Stay in your room until I get there. Do not open the door for
anyone but me. Do you understand?” His voice cracked with stress as
he shouted orders at me. There was
no
way I was going out
there, because I could hear growls and shouting outside my back
door. I was too terrified to move.

“I…I promise. Hurry Dragus, I’m…scared,” my
voice was more of a whisper. Yeah, I may be an old bad ass vampire
but those werewolves scared the living daylights out of me. I knew
when to call for help, because I hadn’t survived this long without
having some smarts about me.

“I’m almost there,
mi amor
. I will
come to you as soon as it’s over. Don’t worry,” he pleaded. He
never said ‘Don’t be scared’ and that made me even more terrified.
I felt the brush of lips against mine and I sighed from the little
bit of strength he offered.

I hung up the phone and moved to the middle
of the bed, like a child who just woke up from a nightmare. My
nightmare was too close for comfort right now. Growls continued
outside my home.

This may be the dumbest things I have ever
done and I know Dragus will be mad, but I just had to connect to
Adam. So, I sat up straight on my bed and closed my eyes. I took a
deep breath in and out to help center myself and I raised my arms
in the air. Searching for Adam was harder than I thought. The
Lycan’s minds caused my head to hurt, but I continued.

“Adam,” I called out loud. There was no
answer, just a lot of fuzzy thoughts that I couldn’t decipher.
“Adam, if you can hear me, ask them to stop! Talk to the Lycans;
see if you can control them. We’re trying to find a way to help!”
The attempt at a connection with Adam had my head throbbing from
the fuzz eliminating from the werewolves. After dropping my arms, I
heard vehicles arriving and shots being fired.