Brock (11 page)

“Why don’t you and I
find a meal and a place to flop until we get Emma? See if it’s really true we can’t feed. And we need to find out where these people live that McKinney was telling us about, too. Golden, didn’t he say?”

“Yeah.
He said something about Golden Towers. We should pay them a visit tomorrow night. I think it might be fun to scare the rich prick and feed on a building full of stupid humans.” Bert agreed. The voice was going to have to find himself someone who cared what he had to say. Bert and his sons were going to make their mark.

~~~

Brock got up to pace. What Keith was telling him couldn’t be true. He glanced over at Jules, who nodded. There was no way that he and Em both had real wild tigers as their beasts. He sat down, only to hop back up again.

“Sit down.
For Christ’s sake, I’ve never seen anyone move as much as you do.” Bronwyn lifted her brow at him when he didn’t sit. Honestly, he wasn’t sure if he cared if she hurt him or not. He needed to—

“What makes you think that this thing I call my beast is
n’t just…I don’t know, my own cat with more attitude?” He looked at his mom, who had been quiet since his family showed up an hour ago. Just as he and Em were about to go out into the woods and play. “You said yourself that you have nothing much to go on. What if what you’re saying is an old tale that someone thought was funny?”

“Because we’ve all felt
them stirring under your skins, and it comes from both of you.” Ryland handed him the copied sheets that he said he’d taken from their old books. “Mom said she remembered something, and she said she told you the story about the cub. We think when he bit you, he gave you something else, something that made it so you’d be different than all the others who came before you.”

Brock looked at Em
, who was watching Bronwyn. She’d said she would make sure that Em understood them and what was going on. He didn’t understand Ryland and was pretty sure she didn’t either by the look on her face. She looked at him and smiled. He could tell she was afraid, but he wasn’t sure how to comfort her. Not with his mind working overtime on the information they were putting before him.

“Enforcers can’t find their mates.
You did.” Brock nodded at Ryland without turning to look at him. “You said yourself that you have no control over him. Or at the very least, very little control. It’s because he’s not like you. He’s more.”

“And
because of this extra…whatever you called it, I’m something of a freak.” His mom stood up, and before he could tell her he was sorry, she slapped him.

The beast roared
, but he didn’t try to come forth. Instead, his beast lowered his head when she looked him in the eye. He wanted to do the same, but she held his chin up.

“What does he want to do to me?”
Brock tried to look away. “Tell me, Brock, what does he want to do to me for slapping you?”

“Nothing.
Nothing at all. He’s sort of like me when I disappoint you. Cowering and hoping you’ll find someone else to yell at before I become a puddle in the floor.” She nodded and smiled. “And you find this to be funny why?”

“Not funny
, but what I thought. I raised the little cub up, and he knows that. He would never harm me. I doubt very much that hers would either.” They both turned to Em, who shook her head.

“She was upset
, but she didn’t make me feel murderous like when Ryland hit you.”
She looked at his mom
. “She’s right. The cats, both of them, are afraid of disappointing her. She’s like their queen or something.”

There was no way he was telling his mom that
, but he had a feeling she knew already. He paced some more as Keith told him all he’d been able to find out about Em’s family. It wasn’t much, but it gave them a better picture of what she’d had to grow up with.

“They live in a house that belonged to
a Theodore James, the same Jimmy that knew Rayne all those years ago. They’ve been living there since Em’s mother was taken away. And as far as I can tell, the taxes are being paid on the house as well as any upkeep that needs to be taken care of.”

“That would be
because I had someone taking care of all the properties that I own. Jimmy’s was no different.” Peter bowed before them. “I do hate to show up uninvited, but I have news for you all. The brothers are now down to two, and the father…I thought I had convinced him that bringing Em back with them was a bad idea, but he has had a change of heart on the matter. I believe he wants to bring her to heel much more now. The second oldest has now killed another. I believe he was the baby of the family.”

Em told
Brock the name, and he relayed it to the room. “Erwin. Em said that he was younger than her by four years. She wants to know if Wilfred killed him as well.”

“Yes. I’m afraid that he has. I do believe if this trend keeps up
, you’ll only have to deal with him when he gets here. And that should be very soon. The three police that were injured last night…they have no memory as to what happened to them, and I have put him someplace safe for now.”

Brock
looked at the vampire. “You’re helping them kill each other off, aren’t you? You’re doing something to make them fight with each other and murder one another.”

“
In a way, I am. I’m simply telling them what is happening and giving them each enough information to blame another. I may have told a little lie to Wilfred when I spoke to him the first time, but since then….” He shrugged. “I have told them only what I know to be the truth. It will be easier on you if there is only one rather than the five, don’t you think?”

“You think there will be more killings from them?”
Brock looked at Jules as he asked, and nodded when Em and Peter did. “More humans, or will they kill more of them? Because I, for one, would like for there to be only one when they get here. I have enough to do without screwing around with a bunch of nut balls.” Everyone laughed, as he was sure Jules had wanted them to.

“Both
themselves and humans, I believe. They are getting hungry by now and will not stop until they get here. And before you ask, yes, I did take away their ability to feed on humans. Tonight when they rise, they will no longer be able to bite, if that urge has not been taken from them already. I should have thought of that sooner, but I didn’t think about them killing for no other reason than because they could.” He bowed again. “For that, I ask you for your forgiveness. The police officers would not have been so grievously hurt had I thought things through.”

“But you saved them. And that’s more of a chance than they had before
I sent them there to be hurt.” Em nodded at Brock and walked toward him as he continued. “The police, the ones you saved, Peter, were friends of mine with families. I had them watching the office so that the minute the alarm went off they could catch them in the act. I never dreamed they’d cut them down like that.”

“But as you said, they are safe now. And they were cut down
, but had I not intervened, then I’m afraid it would have been much worse. As it was, it was bad enough. How about we just say that both of us learned from our mistakes this night and be done with it for good?” Brock nodded.

“How long before you think they’ll show up?
I’m assuming that it will be soon since they attacked the lawyer’s house tonight.” Peter told Brock they would show when the sun set that night. “We’ll be ready. They’ll know to come here, so you all will go home and take Em with—”

“You finish that statement and I will take you to the wood shed.”
His mom punched her finger into his chest as she continued. “I should have taken you there more often than I did. Maybe you wouldn’t have been so stupid as to believe that any of us would leave here knowing that those monsters are on their way.”

“But
, Mom, they’re coming for—”

“I don’t
give a good fig what they think they’re coming for. And that young woman isn’t leaving your side, either.” She turned and winked at Em before she turned on him again. “Of all my children, I thought you would have a lick of sense to know that we are a streak of tigers, not a single one that takes on more than he can chew and thinks he’ll come out the other side. You listen to me, young man. It’s all of us, or so help me, I will paddle your bottom but good.”

Brock wasn’t sure what to say to her.
His mom could be a little intense, as Em had said about her when it suited her. Usually in board meetings and dealing with the public when she needed to, but she’d never been like that to him. When he opened his mouth to say he had this covered, Em spoke to him.

“If she doesn’t kick your ass
, I certainly will. What do you think you’re going to do against three vampires that are stupid as they come all alone? Nothing, I tell you, because you won’t be doing it alone if I have to beat you myself and make you let us help you
.”

He was outnumbered.
As soon as Bronwyn and Ryland started on him, the rest of them joined in as well. Jules told him in no uncertain terms that he would be there, as did the rest of them. He did get some help from Ryland when Bronwyn said she’d be going, but in the end neither of them stood a chance when it came to convincing her she should stay at home. Of course, when she and Rayne pinned them against the wall with nothing more than their minds, it was a moot point after that. They were by far a better weapon than an enemy had on them any day.

Chapter 1
1

Wilfred found the house his sister was staying at. He was glad now that he’d had the stupid solicitor give him the address before he’d left them the other day. It was later than he’d wanted to get a start on getting Emma’s ass home but now that he’d figured it out, he was ready to go. Going back to the house his dad had gotten for them before sunrise yesterday was perfect. He moved into the kitchen area to find his brother Shawn sitting in the kitchen with one of the people who had been in the house when he’d woken up this evening. Her throat had been cut open and his brother was watching the blood pour from her wound.

“I
can’t feed from her. I thought when I couldn’t bite her that I could simply feed this way, but I can’t. It’s as if she’s blocked from me.” Shawn looked up at him and Wilfred could see his hunger. “Have you been able to feed at all?”

Wilfred
nodded, but the truth was he’d not been able to either. And like Shawn had done, cutting the vein open hadn’t worked either. As soon as his brother burst into tears, Wilfred wanted to take back his lie, but he didn’t want to seem foolish in front of his little brother either.

“Thing
s will work out when we return home.” At least Wilfred hoped so. He kept thinking of what the other man had said to him about feeding and humans. He looked at his brother’s throat and wondered if he could feed from him instead. When he licked his lips, he felt his fangs drop, ready to bite. But before he could move to his brother, his dad walked in the room.

“Finally.
Christ, where have you been all night? We’re fucking hungry and we can’t figure out what the fuck is wrong. Do you think some of the blood we drank at that party was tainted?” Wilfred told him he didn’t know. “Look at all that blood. Christ, I feel like I could bite anything that moved right now just to fill the empty hole in my belly.”

Wilfred
backed away from him. Not because he was afraid, he told himself, but because his dad was looking at his throat like it was his last meal. He was also aware that he was looking at him in much the same manner as he had Shawn, but felt his was different. He was only thinking about it, and his dad looked ready to act on his hunger.

“Stay the fuck away from me or I’ll tear your
throat out.” His dad backed up as Wilfred glanced at Shawn. “Did you see that? He was going to bite me and drink from me. I’m betting that as soon as we go to rest, he’ll tear our throats out and kill us.”

“I was doing no such thing.” His dad looked at Shawn
, who had stood up now. “You can’t think I’d do something like that to my own sons, can you?”

“I think you killed
Steven too.” His dad took a step back as Wilfred continued. “You were the only ones there when I went to bed. What happened after I went to the attic?”

“
You killed him. You as much admitted it to me. If you didn’t, then why did you go up to the attic? You slept in the basement before that. Why were you in the attic, of all places?” Shawn didn’t say anything to their dad’s rant. “Besides, you killed him and you know it. You never liked him anyway, and less when you all changed. You killed him and we know it.”

He lunged at his dad.
What he was saying was entirely too close to the truth and he wanted to shut him up before Shawn started to ask questions. He pulled his dad to his chest and held him tightly against him.

“You think
you’re so clever trying to get us to fight against each other when all along you’ve wanted Emma to yourself.” Not true, because Wilfred wanted her all to his self. He exposed his dad’s throat and watched as Shawn licked his lips. “You think we can feed off him, brother? Bite in deep and drink until we’re full?”

“Stop this right now. I’m your father and you
can’t kill me.” He reached out for Shawn. “Come on, son. Don’t let him talk you into killing me. You know as well as I do that you don’t want to do this. Not kill me when we know that Wilfred is the one causing all the problems around here. We need to think about what the other vampire told me and go back home and forget about Emma.”

He’d spoken to the vampire
, too? Wilfred tried to think if he’d mentioned this before and couldn’t recall it. Wilfred wanted him to shut up before he told Shawn anything like he’d told him, if he‘d told him that they could no longer feed because of the things that they’d done. He looked at Shawn and smiled.

He could see that Shawn was too hungry to care who he fed from so long as he got a meal.
As Shawn moved closer, Wilfred could see his fangs had dropped and he was going to join him in killing their father. As soon as he was close enough to take his wrist, Wilfred bit down into his dad’s throat and felt the hot blood fill his mouth.

There was a bitter taste to it
, but after a few swallows all he could think about was how good it tasted and how hungry he’d been. He heard his brother suckle at Dad’s wrist and knew they were having the same feelings. Fuck him being their dad, they were hungry. It was sort of his duty as their father to make sure they were well fed, he thought with humor. When their dad started to get weaker and his struggles subsided so he was less trouble to hold onto, Wilfred lifted his head and let him drop. Shawn was still drinking from his wrist when Wilfred walked to the dying woman and snapped her neck. He still couldn’t feed from her, but he didn’t care right now. They were full, and he wondered if he’d be able to feed from his sister tomorrow night. When Shawn stood up, he wiped the blood off his mouth and moaned.

“I need to fuck something.”
Wilfred nodded. “Let’s go see if we can find someone and bring her back here. We’ll share.”

Like fuck they would
, but Wilfred didn’t say anything. But as it turned out they couldn’t leave to go anywhere. The sun was just cresting the sky, and they had to stay indoors. Wilfred looked at Shawn.

“We’ll get Emma
tonight when the sun sets and go back to the mansion with her. We’ll be back to normal by then and things will be perfect. She’ll be our day watcher and also bring us our meals like Jimmy said a watcher does.” Shawn nodded. “Then we’ll be safe again, and it’ll be much better because it’ll just be the two of us.”

Shawn smiled and nodded.
Wilfred could only think that it wouldn’t be the two of them, unless you counted Emma and him. There was no way that Shawn was going back with them unless it was to feed him along the way. He went to the basement to rest as the sun was making him exhausted, and wondered what their dear sister would say when she found out she was going to be his. Smiling, he knew she’d fight him and he didn’t care. She would soon submit or she’d be as dead as the rest of them. Wilfred was as happy as he’d been since he’d been changed all those years ago. Things were starting to finally fall into place.

As he went to the darkest part of the
basement, he thought of his sister again. He’d wanted her changed when he had been, but Jimmy couldn’t do it when she’d hurt him. She’d nearly torn his throat out when he’d tired.

Wilfred
had held her down while they stripped her naked. At first he’d not understood, as none of them had been naked. Then he watched Jimmy. He never raped Emma, but he had hurt her all over her body. He thought maybe he was trying to weaken her, but it didn’t seem to be working. She’d fought them both all the way until Jimmy had lain over her, ready to bite. But she’d jerked from his grasp so quickly that he’d been startled and had left his throat open, and her hand was loose as well. When she’d clawed at Jimmy’s throat and torn a part of it away, Wilfred had been so shocked that she’d been able to slip off the table they’d had her on and out the door before either of them could go after her. Not that Jimmy could. He was dying, and had grabbed him and bit him deep in his throat to drink.

“
You belong to me now.”
Jimmy had said that over and over in his mind as he drank deeper and deeper from him. When he became weak and dizzy, Jimmy finally let him go, and he lay there knowing that the end was near, and with him only being a vampire for less than a day. When Jimmy had offered him his wrist, Wilfred had drank from it greedily, and had felt the power of his blood as it filled him. Jimmy’s own wounds healed as he watched.

“
You belong to me now. More than the others, you belong to me forever and a day.” He hadn’t been sure what that had meant then or now. And before he could remember to ask him about it, he’d left them to go to his own home. Then later they’d felt Jimmy’s death and he still had no answers. But now he thought it meant that he and Jimmy had connected on a higher level than the rest of them had, and that’s what made him superior to them. He laid his head on the pillow he’d brought down and closed his eyes. Tomorrow he’d exact his revenge for his maker on his sister, and change her for him. He was so excited that he didn’t think he’d sleep, but the sun was more powerful than his excitement. But something stirred in his mind, and he opened his eyes as a curl of fear settled around him.

“You are going to pay for this.”
He sat up and looked around the empty area.
“Did you really think that killing your own kind would go unnoticed? You had to know that you’d not be able to kill and kill without facing the consequences. You are not that stupid, are you? But then again, you probably are.”

“Who are you? What the hell do you want?”
He saw a shadow and stared at it as he solidified into a man. “You’re the vampire from the other day. What the fuck do you want with me? I’ve done nothing to you. What are you?

“
Your maker’s maker. I’m the one that gave you life when there was none before.” The man moved so close that Wilfred could almost feel the breath on his face; see the color of his eyes as they filled with the ruby redness of blood. “You’re going to pay, Wilfred Robin Cole, pay like none have paid before.”

Then he was alone.
Wilfred lay back on his bed and tried to think what the hell had just happened. He tried to convince himself that he’d just killed his dad and it was playing tricks on his mind. That he’d drank from another vampire, and the bitter taste it had given him was just that, tainted blood. He lay back down and nearly convinced himself that what had just happened hadn’t and he was just tired. Then something touched his face and he screamed.

~~~

Viktor showed up just after the hottest part of the day had started to cool. Em had seen him on the porch and had gone to see what he wanted. He touched her mind, and she felt comfort from him but didn’t trust him.

“I am
Viktor Ravengric, fifth son of Viktor Ravengric and Katja Ravengric.” He bowed before her.
“You are the child which I have come to protect, I believe. The one I have heard a great many things about. All good, I assure you.”

She
stepped back for him, and he shook his head. Then she remembered that he couldn’t enter unless someone invited him. And she suddenly decided that she liked that idea. She wondered if her brothers could enter hers and Brock’s home without her permission.

“No
, they cannot, my child. Someone would have to invite them verbally, and then only the persons who reside in the house permanently.”
He bowed again.
“I am sorry, my lady, but if you could summon Peter, I would be most appreciative. He is aware of me coming here.”

Summon Peter. She had no idea how to do that. But she did know how to summon the others.
She reached for Brock and all the rest and asked them to come to the house. She told them who was there and what he wanted her to do. Bronwyn was the first to answer her.

“He’s telling you the truth
, but don’t invite him in until I get there. Gabby and I were just on our way back home and I can be there in less than two minutes.”
She felt her laughter.
“You’re a smart cookie. Anyone ever tell you that before?”

“No. Not that I can ever remember.
And I’m…I’m afraid, Bronwyn. What if they come here, somehow get someone to invite them in, and they kill us in our sleep?”
Her laughter again pissed Em off.
“Why is this funny?”

“Because, my dear sister, you are one bad
-assed bitch, and once they get a load of those cats of yours, they are going to shit themselves.”
Bronwyn had a way with words that still amazed her.
“We’re in the driveway now. And I think Peter is on his way as well. He can get into your house, so he might—”

A
movement in her peripheral vision startled her, and she turned to see Peter standing there. She told Bronwyn, and she laughed again. By the time her heart began to slow, Em could see her big SUV pulling up to the garage. Things were about to get a whole lot scarier if the man standing at the door wasn’t who he said he was.

“
Master
.” Peter let her hear what he was saying, and she was grateful for it. When he nodded to her, she turned to let him and Bronwyn in, but Viktor hesitated before stepping over the threshold.

“You’re much stronger than we first thought, aren’t you
, my dear?” Em looked at Peter, who was still standing next to her. She looked back at the man who smiled. She had a feeling that Peter and Viktor were talking about her, and it made her a little mad. When Gabby was put into her arms suddenly, she looked at Bronwyn.