Creatus (Creatus Series) (23 page)

Chapter Forty-
five

Kris felt her mother’s warm hand check her head for fever. She’d always loved when she’d come into the room in the middle of the night when she was sick and just check on her. Even if Kris wasn’t sleeping, sometimes she’d pretend to be asleep so she could just enjoy her hands as they caressed her head and hair. Though on occasion, she’d open her eyes and her mother would question why she was still awake, and then she would sing to her until she fell back asleep.

The knife flashed in front of Kris again, then everything in the room turned blood red, and she remembered that her mother was dead. The rogue had killed her mother. No
… the rogue had killed Kris, not her mother. She had stood on the tiny ledge, listening as Derrick and the rogue had fought, and then she’d heard the crack of the ledge below her feet and seconds later had felt the shelf beneath her fingertips bend as she’d tried to grab onto the wall, but she’d clawed nothing but air as she fell.

“Derrick!” she screamed.

“It’s okay, Kristina. You’re safe.” A woman’s voice.

Kris tried to open her eyes, but they were heavy, and an annoying beep filled her head, which throbbed. That voice. She recognized that voice. Victoria? Was she the rogue? No. The rogue had a male voice, she remembered.

“Where’s Derrick?” she tried to push out, but she wasn’t sure if she’d spoken audibly.
Had the rogue killed him
? No… Derrick had told her to hang on to him, and then she’d passed out again.

“I just rang for him when I heard you waking up,” the woman said. “But I’m sure he’s running after he heard you scream.”

Kris attempted to turn her head to the voice, but every muscle in her body ached. “Vic?” she tried.

“No, sweetheart. It’s Sabrina.” The woman touched her face again, and Kris forced her eyes to open, knowing she was safe. “Don’t cry,” her mother-in-law said, kissing her forehead. “Derrick will be here in a moment. You’re safe, honey.”

Kris hadn’t realized that a tear had escaped. She wasn’t sad, however, she was happy. Her mother-in-law was here, and she’d said that Derrick would be here soon, and that was all that mattered. Her body felt so sore though, and she was thirsty. She licked her lips, attempting to get moisture.

“Here, sweetheart.” Sabrina held up a spoon of ice chips for her, and Kris accepted gratefully. They tasted so good. Kris opened her mouth and she offered her another.

“Kristina,” Derrick said on an exhale, appearing in her line of sight. “Thank God.”

Kris attempted to smile, but even that hurt. Why did her body hurt so much? “What
… happened?”

Derrick ran his hands through her hair and kissed her forehead. “Honestly, woman. You’ve been through more stuff, and still, you greet me with a smile. We’ll talk later. You’re okay, and that’s all that matters. Just extremely dehydrated, and your body took quite a shock. Humans aren’t meant to drop
thirty stories.”

“No
… I guess we’re not.” She closed her eyes, just wanting to sleep, but she didn’t want Derrick to leave either. “Please don’t leave me.”

A soft chuckle escaped her husband’s throat. “Baby, I will never leave you. It’s you who needs to promise that.”

She released a labored breath. “I’ll never leave you, Derrick.” And the world faded to black again, but this time she knew everything would be okay.

Epilogue

He bolted down the stairs, watching that Derrick didn’t come through the building after him. But he was certain that Derrick had been too preoccupied with Kristina and had completely lost focus on him. Maybe he’d just go to another family. He didn’t need New England to make his plan work. He’d find another family who was tired of living the way they had for centuries. Together they would build an army and take on Derrick’s family. And when they were gone, they’d have control.

The familiar truck pulled to a stop in front of him. The window lowered and the driver stared out at him, as if he knew. “Hop in.”

The rogue—as he’d come quite comfortable thinking of himself—hopped in the cab. He turned to the driver. “You knew?”

“Yep.
I’ve always known.”

He nodded and then smiled. “Where to?”

“You’re the boss, brother. Just say the word.”

“What about Mom?
Won’t she be upset?”

“Who do you think told me to call you?
We’ll pick her up on the way. After what Dad did, she hates humans more than you and I put together.”

He dropped his head, not sure how he felt about dragging his mother and brother into his plan. Of course, he had said start a new family. Well, they were family. “Okay, Ry,” Jonas said. “Let’s go get Mom and decide what we need to do next.”

Ry squealed out of the parking lot and headed north. From there, who knew? He’d have to come back to Boston of course. The one thing he wouldn’t leave behind was Victoria. She’d be his one way or another. He’d make certain of it. As soon as they were settled, he’d come back for her. Hopefully, she’d come willingly, but if not, he’d take her anyway.

And then,
he’d deal with the Ashtons and anyone who stood with them. Creatus were meant to rule this world, and he’d make certain his kind did just that, once and for all.

Sneak Peek

Rogue

Book 2 in the
Creatus
Series

Coming Christmas 2013

Chapter One

“You want me to do what?” Vic threw up her hands, turning her back on the man she’d once loved. Staring out the window that overlooked Boston Harbor, she tried to comprehend how he could as
k her to do such a thing. “You’re kidding, right? I said I was sorry. I told you I wouldn’t bother you or Kristina.” Knowing he wasn’t kidding, she walked back to his desk and plopped down in the chair.

A burst of air popped out of Derrick’s mouth as if she’d said or done something funny. There was nothing
humorous about this situation. “Vic…” He sighed. “We don’t have a choice.”

“What does Mike have to say about this?
” she asked. “I bet your brother wouldn’t agree.”

Derrick shook his head. “Of course
he doesn’t agree, but when has Michael ever agreed with me? He’d be happy to take care of this issue. The last thing he wants is for you to be anywhere near Reece Buckley.”

“And yet, you want me to
fall
for him, as if that’s even possible.”

“It’s possible. You seem to forget that my mother and wife are human. My mother reciprocated when my father fell, and Kristina fell for me with only a kiss. It’s clear we have more in common with humans than we thought.”

Vic jumped up from her seat again. Hearing about Derrick falling for a human wasn’t something she liked to think about. All the nights they’d spent in each other’s arms, all the deep discussions they’d had, and they’d never fallen for each other. If it couldn’t happen with Derrick, then it certainly wasn’t going to happen with a human man. “He’s human. How could I fall for a man who’s weaker than I am, a man who wouldn’t be able to protect me if the need arose?”

Derrick laughed
full and deep this time. “As if you need protecting. You beat the crap out of my brother and then went and took Reece out.”

“Yeah, well. Michael wasn’t fighting back; he’d only defended himself, and Reece was already on the ground.”

Derrick got up from behind his desk and crossed the room to stand in front of her. Her body heated as he got closer. Even though she knew they were over, that after he’d fallen for another woman he’d never fall for another one again, she still found it hard to move on with her life. She didn’t wish any danger to befall Kristina, but she couldn’t help but wonder what would occur if something did happen to her. If their histories were wrong about humans being able to fall for creatus, then maybe a creatus could fall more than once in a lifetime.

Kristina was still in danger. The rogue—she couldn’t bring herself to believe that Jonas was capable of all the things he’d been accused of, so she’d continued to refer to
the culprit as the rogue—was still after Kristina. She’d known Jonas almost her entire life. She’d even thought that maybe he was the
One
at one point. They certainly had made a good go at it. The night she’d spent with him had been powerful. Of course, she’d been trying to
fall
, trying to get Derrick out of her head.

Derrick rested his hand on her shoulder, and it almost burnt
her skin, even through her clothes. “He saw you. He saw Michael. And then you threw him across the room, again reinforcing your abilities.” Derrick shook his head. “Why did you do that? We might have been able to talk him out of believing that we’re different.”

“Why did I—you started this
, Derrick. The reason Reece even started this investigation was because you felt compelled to save a human. Michael had been trying to clean up your mess. We all were.” She stepped out from under his hand. “Now you want me to fall for a mere human?”

“That
mere
human put up a fight against Michael. Michael is one of the strongest creatus on the planet. We both are. No one denies that. No one understands why being half-human makes Michael and me stronger than the average creatus, but we are. So how do you explain that a mere human put up a fight?”

Vic shrugged. She really didn’t care. No way was she going to get romantic with a human. No matter how good he looked. No matter what he did to her insides every time she stepped within ten feet of him. She hated humans, and she was starting to hate half-humans like Derrick, Michael, and Jonas too. For that matter, she was starting to hate all men. “Mike probably wasn’t trying to hurt him,” she said. “He just wanted the evidence in Reece’s briefcase. Again, evidence you provided the government of our existence. For four thousand years
we’ve managed to stay hidden, but you go and do a swan dive off the Tobin Bridge and bring some division of the National Security Council down on us.”

“My saving Kristina isn’t what made the Feds aware of us. They’ve been tracking supernatural events since 1947. You can blame that on our parents and grandparents for trying to be superheroes and save the world.”

Vic laughed without humor. “Yeah, well… You’re still at fault more than I am. Why don’t you see if you can get him to fall for you?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Or, you kill him.”

“Is that what you want, Victoria? You want me to
approve the assassination of an innocent human?” Derrick asked.

She sighed and dropped her head into her hands. “No.”

Derrick sat down beside her. “Vic, Michael would take him out without a second thought. I love my brother, but even though we have a human mother, he treats humans as if they are a subspecies. As though their lives mean nothing. And some of Reece’s comments haven’t helped the matter. I know my brother can be cold hearted, but as you said, he hadn’t hurt him in that alley. Now all of the sudden he’s willing to kill him.”

Vic whipped her head up. “What do you mean? What comments?”

“Reece keeps asking about you. Every time Michael or I take a security watch, he asks questions about
you
.”

“Me? What
type of questions.”

Derrick sighed again. “Victoria, honestly, are you trying to tell me you don’t see the man is enamored with you?”

She shook her head, even though she had noticed. Never had a man gazed at her the way Reece had. It didn’t matter. She didn’t want anything to do with him. Him or any man for that matter, human or creatus.

“I asked him,” Derrick continued, “When I realized we couldn’t change his mind on what he saw, what he believes we are, I asked him why he didn’t fight you.”
Derrick smiled as he nudged her chin up. “You know what he said?”

Vic gulped, shaking her head again, unable to find her voice for some reason. She didn’t want to know what he said.

“He said you were the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. He admitted that he did throw a chair in your direction, but he knew he wouldn’t hit you. And there was no way he could ever hit a goddess.”

Vic couldn’t help but laugh. “I bet you rolled with laughter at that comment, huh, Derrick?”

“Victoria, why do you do that to yourself? You know my falling for Kristina had nothing to do with you. You know you are one of the best-looking women on this planet. Reece even made a comment that you looked like a modern-day Wonder Woman.”

“What the hell? Are you guys best friends now?” she asked.

Derrick shrugged. “He’s a nice guy. What else is there to do when I have to take four hours out of my day to sit with him? We play cards and talk.”

“I just don’t understand why we can’t leave him handcuffed to the bed,” she said.

“Because it’s inhumane, and even if we aren’t human, we are not mindless cold-blooded beings, as some would believe.”

“We have him locked up in the psyche ward. The lock was probably broken when he escaped the first time.”

“The lock wasn’t broken, and Michael admitted that Reece put up a decent fight. Something he hadn’t been prepared for. If being half-human makes Michael and me twice as strong as most creatus, think about what having any creatus blood, even hundreds of years ago, would mean to humans.”

Vic narrowed her eyes. “What are you saying, Derrick?”

“I think there’s a reason some humans are ridiculously stronger than other humans. Why some can deadlift more weight than other humans, why some are Olympians. I think there were more interracial relationships than we knew of in the past. I think Reece Buckley has creatus blood running through his veins.”