Blood & Roses: Warriors of the Krieger (26 page)

“Good evening,” I purred. His breathtaking
smile had my body aching for his touch.

“You’re still in bed?” he asked.

“Too comfortable to get up, that’s all.” I
stretched showing off a little cleavage to get him going, but I
sensed he was in no mood. “Are you not interested?” I
whispered.

“Oh, I am
very
interested,” he sighed.
The knot forming against the towel told me he was speaking nothing
but the truth. “I have to meet the others shortly. I only have time
for our feeding then I must be going.”

Knowing it would be a losing battle to argue
with him, I reluctantly got out of bed. After I brushed my teeth,
Dragus pulled me onto his lap. It was hard, but I managed to feed
without groping some part of his body. Dragus wasn’t as gentle when
he tossed me on my back and took my vein.

“Oh, Charity,” he growled. “Do you know how
hard it is to leave you here alone in our bed? It’s just unnatural.
A beautiful woman should never be left alone in their lover’s bed.”
I beamed at hearing him say ‘our bed’. Everything seemed too
perfect. I was feeling more and more like a princess.

“That’s okay, my love,” I sighed. “I
understand.” I spoke truthfully. It was not safe for anyone. The
Lycan’s needed to be stopped. Now was not the time to be thinking
of my own needs.

I stayed in the bed watching him get dressed.
I loved the way his black
Krieger
shirt hugged the muscles
in his arms. His tight button-fly jeans accented his assets
perfectly. He reached up to the top shelf of the closet and
retrieved a gun holster that held two handguns. Lastly, he pulled
on his leather coat.

Dragus left with the other
Krieger
and
I was then alone. Soon after he left there was a light knock on the
door. I opened it to find a very petite dark haired girl standing
there with big yellow eyes. Soft pouty lips turned up at the
corners when she saw my face. “Lady Charity,” she curtsied. “My
name is Lady Elise, Powle’s wife.” Her voice had the same accent as
Dragus and I wondered if she was from Romania.

In turn, I returned the curtsy and smiled,
“Please, come in.”

Elise looked to be no older than nineteen
when she was changed. She wore a baby pink gown that cinched tight
around her breasts and the pleated fabric flowed down to her
ankles.

She took a seat on the couch and patted the
spot next to her, “Come, sit my lady.” Once seated, she leaned in
and looked me over like she was almost star struck. “Do you own
that club by the river?”

The question threw me for a second. She
seemed more interested in what I did more than who I was. “Yes, my
lady. I’ve owned Nights for a while now.”

“I’m sorry to be so nosy. It’s just that
Powle and I have been together for a long time and I’ve lived on a
Krieger
Estate for most of my existence. I don’t get out
very often,” she shrugged.

“Why not?” I asked, confused. Was she not
allowed? The thought depressed me terribly. There was no way in
hell that I would be held a prisoner here. How could she stand
it?

“Well, Powle doesn’t like for me to be away
from the estate. Plus, I enjoy my time here. I don’t know if I
would fair very well outside with others.” It really made me mad
that she acted like a kept woman; my biggest pet peeve.

“Why wouldn’t you fair well?” Oh, Elsie and I
were going to have a nice long girl to girl talk, if Powle is
holding her here against her will. Damn warriors!

“You see, I am a
Born Blood
,” she
paused to take in my reaction. “I hope you understand what that
is?” My new golden eyes must have bugged right out of my head,
because Elise winched and then leaned away from me.

“Yeah, um…you were
born
a vampire?” I
asked, stunned. There hasn’t been a Born Blood vampire in like,
forever.

“It’s very important that I stay hidden. The
estate is the safest place for me,” she shrugged and casually
tossed her hair back over her shoulder. The ring she wore on her
left hand was a red ruby encased in diamonds. It was rather large
and a little too gawky for my taste.

“No offense, my lady, but I thought there
were no
Born Bloods
left. The hunters eradicated them a few
hundred years ago.”

She tucked her chin as if she was
embarrassed. “I was born in 1702, in Romania. My
Seasoning
was complete around time I turned eighteen. About a year later, I
met Powle and fell in love. We have been together ever since. I
have stayed hidden from the hunters for a very long time.”

The
Seasoning
, for a
Born
Blood
, is similar to human puberty. Once the transition period
is over, they are a full vampire. Until then, they can survive on a
diet of human food and blood. They need both to survive. From the
age of twelve until the conclusion of the
Seasoning
, the
cravings for human food will diminish. The last process is the
completion of growing the fangs. An adolescent
Born Blood
will have tiny sharp fangs to help them learn to take blood,
usually from small animals or their own mother’s wrist. As they
mature, so will the fangs.
Turned Bloods
, like me, will
awake from their changing with a full set of sharp, pointy fangs.
The only difference between the two of us now, Elise can bear
children and I cannot. The jury was still out on how I felt about
that bit of information.

“I understand, Elsie. Your secret is safe
with me.” I promised. If word got out to the hunters, they would
stop at nothing to kill her. They’ve hunted born vampires to what I
thought was extinction. This is why she is not allowed to leave the
estate. Although I felt bad for her, I understand the need for her
to remain hidden.

“I just wanted to come by and introduce
myself and welcome you to your new home,” she smiled. “Anything you
need, don’t be afraid to ask us or one of the servants.”

“Thank you, my lady, same to you. If you need
anything, please come see me.” I felt sorry for her. The only other
lady in the compound was Michelle. How could she stand to be hidden
for three hundred years?

“Thank you, my lady. I must be going,” she
paused when she approached the door and turned around. “You know,
Dragus loves you very much. Go easy on him. He can be a bit of a
horse’s arse sometimes…and welcome to the family.” After a petite
curtsy, she vanished out the door.

Lydia showed up with Ashby a little later
than expected. When I invited them inside the room, Ashby stood
outside the door with a slight shocked look on his face.

“Ashby, you can come in,” Lydia urged.

“No thank you, my lady. It is custom to not
enter another
Krieger’s
chamber when his mate is
unaccompanied. Now, if you ladies will excuse me,” he gave each of
us a hand over heart bow and retreated down the hall. I turned to
Lydia and she looked puzzled.

“That was weird,” she shrugged.

“Ah, don’t worry about it. It’s that whole
ancient warrior crap they all abide by. It’s their possessive
nature. Trust me when I tell you, it’s a strange feeling to be like
that.” Lydia looked at me like I had lost my damn mind.

“Do you feel that way about Dragus?” she
asked, a little stunned.

“Yes, I think it is part of the bonding.
Possessiveness and protectiveness all wrapped up in a nice tight
emotion. Remember the boots,” I asked and she nodded. “Well
multiply that times a thousand.”

“That’s just weird,” she sighed. “Anyway, you
need to call Mistress Kai. I worked with her, over the phone, early
this morning. We think she has finished the potion.”

The news couldn’t have come at a better time.
Kai may be ready to treat the infected vampires at the hospital. If
this worked, I would demand that Dragus take me to my house. Adam
would only listen to me, because he did not trust the
Krieger
. And if he refused, I would go by myself.

Kai’s number was on speed dial. She answered
on the third ring. “Lady Charity,” she whispered.

“Mistress Kai,” two can play at that game. We
both chuckled before I continued, “I hear you may have a potion to
try.”

“Yes, we’re just preparing the patients now.
Do you want to come here and observe? I don’t think Dr. Mason will
mind.” Kai sounded so sure of what they had accomplished; I
actually felt a little hope.

Dragus was busy patrolling the city
preventing any more attacks. I should probably tell him where I
will be. For a minute, I weighed the good and bad about telling
him. By no means was I going to
ask
his permission, but I
felt obligated to at least tell him where I was going.

After a few minutes of coming up with a plan,
I texted Brilliam.

Need escort to hospital. Tell Dragus = Your
death!

Lydia and I laughed at the tone of my text
and within seconds there was a knock on the door. When I opened it,
I found Brilliam standing their huffing like they wanted to yell,
but knew better of it because of my new found status.

“They may have found a cure, we must go,” I
stated. Without another word, I walked passed them and into the
hallway. Lydia laughing behind me, like a hyena. I could have sworn
I heard one of them say, “We’re so fucking dead.” I smiled as I got
into the awaiting Hummer.

Kai was relieved we made it. She introduced
us to Dr. Mason. He was young for his immortal age. The doctor held
an old world charm that made me feel comfortable. He reminded me of
a nerdy chemist on television, with his short, pudgy stature and
bright white lab coat that didn’t quite fit around his belly. I
sensed he was somewhere around thirty at the time he was changed
and he was less than sixty years old, since his actual birth.

Dr. Mason bowed, fist over heart, “Lady
Charity, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Once I
curtsied, he stood upright and got right to business. “Follow me to
the I.C.U., we will start with the two worse cases first.”

Kai pushed open the glass door exiting the
lab and turned right for the elevator. We all piled in and made our
way to the sixth floor. Dr. Mason carried a box with about twenty
vials of the potion against his chest. I noticed how he held on to
them like rare china and for that I was glad. To me, the value of
the liquid in those tiny breakable tubes was unimaginable.

Kai swiped her card allowing us access into
the nurse’s station of the unit. There were rooms on every wall.
Sliding glass doors opened into each patient’s room. Curtains were
drawn on the more serious patients, allowing them as much privacy
as could be allowed in that situation. The powder blue tiles on the
floor and the white walls made the area almost too bright. The
smell of cleaning chemicals burned my sensitive nose.

Dr. Mason sat the box of vials next to the
tray of patient charts. He flipped through the stack and came up
with what I assumed was the most critical patient’s file.

Lydia and I waited patiently while the doctor
and Kai examined the patient. He was a young looking vampire, maybe
twenty when he was turned. He reminded me of Adam the second time I
had seen him. Little patches of fur adorned the tops of his
shoulders and on one side of his neck. His eyes had started taking
on that glow of the Lycanthropes. The skin on his face was sunk in,
probably from not being able to feed off of human flesh. The
thought gave me goose bumps.

Lydia and I were told to stay outside the
room while the potion was administered. I noticed the name tag on
the wall, next to his room, said his name was Greg Hickman. The
patient watched them prepare; his stare was centered on Kai as she
checked the bands around his wrist and ankles, testing their
strength. Obviously he had to be restrained while being
treated.

Dr. Mason raised the head of the bed with a
remote and spoke a few quiet words to the patient before beginning.
Once he nodded, Kai removed the cork top on the vial. She leaned
over and poured the potion into the patient’s mouth.

At first, he seemed to gag from the taste of
the liquid. We all waited patiently looking for some sign the
medicine might be working, but there was nothing. Kai patted the
patient’s shoulder and made her way out to see us.

The automatic door slide open quietly and Kai
slipped out looking sad. “I’m not sure how long it will take before
the potion will take effect. Mother says it could take anywhere
from a few minutes to a few hours. All we can do now is to
wait.”

“We can watch this one while you and Dr.
Mason administer the potion to the other patient,” I offered.

“That would be fine, but do not go in there.
Stay behind the glass window and watch him. If there is a problem,
one of you come and find us,” Kai demanded.

I watched Dr. Mason and Kai enter the room
three doors down. Lydia watched the patient through the window; her
brows pushed down in thought. I noticed she had a faraway look to
her and I assumed her thoughts were on something else.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Just thinking about Ashby,” she shrugged.
“He’s so quiet, but mysterious. I just don’t understand him.”

“I do understand. Remember me telling you
about how cryptic Dragus was in the beginning?” I chuckled. Lydia
nodded and smiled. “It’s just the warrior in them. Give him time,
he’ll come around.”

“I don’t know. He hasn’t asked me out or
anything. Maybe I’m reading too much into it.”

“Have you talked to him?” I asked.

“No,” she shivered. “I don’t know if I’m
ready to set myself up for failure.”

“Failure? Why would you think that?”

“He’s polite and very sweet, but I don’t
think he likes me all that much. Maybe I should just give up the
whole idea of being with him.” She turned away from me and walked
down the corridor with her held hung low. I didn’t go after her,
she was having a moment and I knew better than to hound her over
the issue.