Dangerous Promise by Gwendolyn Cease (11 page)

“Blood cult?” Lucian prompted.

“There’s a group of vampires that are drinking human blood,” Kenshin said. “It’s not a random incident. They seem to be organized and have, somehow, gained inside information. They attempted to kidnap Joelle and Aislinn but obviously failed. We believe an Ancient is somehow involved.”

“Blood cults, unfortunately, aren’t anything new,” Feral said. “There are instances of them popping up throughout our history, but the number of vampires is small since it’s not a secret that regular vamps can’t handle human blood.”

“Yeah, but what did they do before the blood substitute came out?” Aislinn asked.

“Vampires can drink a minute amount of human blood,” he replied, “or at least, they used to. Most would partake perhaps twice to three times a month at most. Anything beyond that and they got sick. As with any group there are the ones who think they are immune so they try to drink more.”

“What about Tomas?” Joelle asked. “When I first met him, he’d sealed a wound on someone’s neck. He had to have had some blood.”

Talon answered her. “Depending on the age, some vamps can still drink, Tomas is one of them. If the vamp is young, or if he or she decided to drink the blood substitute, they can’t go back. It’ll kill them.”

“First, it drives them mad,” Quenton added, “though they rarely recognize the signs.”

“And also makes them smell like shit,” Grimm said. “Then they die.”

“Juan, Tomas’ brother, didn’t,” Joelle said.

“How?” Feral asked. “A vampire who gorges on human blood always dies, since it poisons the system.”

“He drank some of my blood,” Joelle said. “It made him well.”

Feral shook his head then turned his eyes on Talon. “This can never get out. No Liaison will be able to walk free if this information is discovered.”

“And this is why we’re meeting here in secret,” Kenshin said. “The only people who know are in this room. It goes no further. It’s not written down. It’s not spoken of to anyone.”

“You haven’t heard the freakiest shit yet,” Grimm said. “Styx and I ran into a vamp that could crawl a wall like a fucking spider.”

“Perhaps we should start from the beginning,” Quenton suggested. “We want to make sure they understand the entire sequence of events.”

They spent the next two hours going through everything that had happened. They started with Joelle meeting Tomas at a bar and ended with the blood-addicted vampire in the alley. Once they’d all finished speaking, silence fell over the room. Quenton thought Feral and Lucian looked a bit shell-shocked. He wondered if the two of them would stick or run away. If he were in their position, he just might say fuck it and get the hell out of town. He couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to walk into this mess if they didn’t have to.

As the conversation continued, Quenton began to have a difficult time following along. Reaper, who sat next to him, had reached over and placed his hand on Quenton’s thigh. The warmth from his palm ran up to Quenton’s cock, and it had instantly hardened. Quenton tried to ignore him, but Reaper slid his hand between his thighs. He squeezed his legs together in an attempt to stop his movements, but Reaper shoved his hand up until he could move his fingers slowly along Quenton’s length.

Quenton finally opened his legs because he wanted to feel Reaper’s hand on him again. It took everything he had in him to sit perfectly still while the other man stroked him through his pants. He was so damn thankful for his dark glasses because he didn’t want anyone to realize what was going on. He imagined sitting with his eyes rolled back into his head was certainly a dead giveaway.

A lull in conversation finally penetrated, and Quenton’s brain came back online. He looked around and hoped to hell they weren’t expecting him to say anything. Thankfully, everyone seemed to be regarding Feral. He took a moment to glance over at Reaper and found the man watching him. The Hunter gave him a slow wink and withdrew his hand. Quenton didn’t know whether to cry, cheer or punch him in the face.

“I don’t think, in all my years, have I heard of a vampire doing what you describe,” Feral spoke as he slowly stroked his mustache. “This blood cult is a danger not only to themselves, but the paranormal community.”

“All we need is some human to take a video, and we’re fucked,” Grimm said. “There’d be no way to make that disappear.”

“I will help you hunt,” Feral said. “I also know of Ancients we can call on. We must quit hiding in the shadows and step up. We’ve left it to you few for far too long.”

“If an Ancient is involved, we’ll need the help,” Kenshin said before any of the Hunters could. “The information Maeve discovered means that the vampires are evolving into something we’ve never seen before. We also have no idea how many are out there.”

“We also don’t know if these things will live longer,” Styx put in. “Normally, they have an expiration date, but now, who the fuck knows?”

“There’s no way the changes are coming from just drinking Ancient blood,” Lucian said. “It’s been tried before, and the vampires lived a bit longer, but they still ended up dead.”

“They also didn’t turn into something else,” Charon said. “They did the normal stinking like shit, going crazy, and either dropped dead or we hunted and killed them.”

“Grimm suggested perhaps the Ancient has a Liaison and that’s causing the change,” Quenton said. “Maeve said that if someone, who wasn’t familiar with Ancient blood, looked at Talon and Charon’s under a microscope, they might not realize what they were. Also, Joelle and Aislinn’s blood now shows more like a vampire than a human.”

Lucian nodded. “You are changing.” He opened his mouth and in the place of regular canine teeth were two small fangs. “They will never be as pronounced as an Ancient’s, but you will get fangs.”

Aislinn leaned forward. “That is so fucking cool. I’m going to have fangs.” She and Joelle high-fived each other.

Quenton shook his head. Of course the two of them would be excited but imagined it was for the best. No matter what, they were changing, and there wasn’t anything they could do about it. So they might as well embrace the changes.

“I will contact Scythe,” Feral said. “He is completely trustworthy. I know he will come to help. Besides, he owes me.”

“While you do that, the rest of us need to see if we can contact the Ancients we know.” Talon looked around at the Hunters. “If an Ancient and his Liaison are the ones creating the blood-addicted, we’re going to need more eyes and ears on the street.”

* * * *

Kate drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as she waited for the girls. She tried to get to the school fairly early so she could be one of the first parents in line to pick them up. She didn’t like to sit in the car for too long, and she certainly didn’t want to get boxed in by other vehicles. If something happened, she wanted to be able to get away quickly.

The doors to the school opened, and children started to slowly trickle out. She was the second car in line, so when the car in front pulled out, she moved up. Quickly, she put the car in park and jumped out as Olivia and Abby ran up to her. She gave the girls hugs and kisses then quickly popped them into the booster seats and buckled them in. Within two minutes, they were pulling away from the school.

“Did you all have a good day?” Kate asked as she eased onto the expressway.

“It was really good,” Olivia announced. “We had an assembly, and the fifth-graders put on a play. It was really funny.”

“I don’t think it was supposed to be,” Abby chimed in. “One of the kids tripped and fell into another kid then they rolled off the stage.”

“Was anyone hurt?”

“No, the stage isn’t very high,” Abby said. “Besides, they fell on one of the teachers.”

Kate nodded, trying not to laugh through Abby’s pronouncement. The little girl was sensitive about people laughing at others so Kate forced herself to keep a straight face through the story.

“Where are we going?” Olivia asked.

“I thought we would go to the mall to get you two new outfits, since Friday is picture day.”

“Cool, can I get a Monster High shirt?”

“Let’s wait and see what they have,” Kate answered her youngest.

As the girls talked in the backseat, Kate drove and daydreamed of Grimm. The man had taken up permanent residence in her head. For the last week or so, he’d been coming over each evening to spend time with them. They played games, card and board, worked on homework and talked. Once the girls went to bed, though, it was adult game time. Damn, the man was lethal. He kissed and touched and licked until she came over and over. Just the thought of what he did to her made her nipples harden.

The crazy thing was, he was totally focused on her pleasure, unlike the other men of her acquaintance. Grimm gave her orgasm after orgasm, but didn’t let her give him any. He told her that giving her pleasure gave him pleasure. When she protested, he told her that if he took his clothes off, he wouldn’t leave and neither one of them would get to work that night. She truthfully didn’t think that sounded like a bad idea, but with the girls in the house, she also didn’t want to take the chance of them coming into the room.

She drove into the mall and parked near one of the large anchor stores. Kate always made sure she either pulled through or backed into a spot since she wanted to be able to immediately leave. She scanned the parking lot to make sure everything looked okay then climbed out to get the girls. It has been two years and nothing had happened, but she didn’t want to let her guard down.

They went in the store and up to the girls department. Kate figured they’d start there and work their way out. Each of the girls had very distinctive tastes, and Kate usually let them pick their own clothes. Olivia, being the youngest, had to be guided a bit, but Abby very much knew what she liked. For an eight year old, Kate thought, she made really good clothing choices.

When they walked into the area, Olivia made an immediate bee-line to the Monster High clothing. Kate let her browse then steered her to other selections, too. Abby, in the meantime, was carefully studying all the skirts. She didn’t flip through the rack as fast as possible, but took her time judging each selection.

Two hours and four stores later, each of the girls had their picture-day outfits. In the end, Olivia had gotten her Monster High outfit that consisted of leggings and a shirt that declared she should be unique and fabulous. Abby, on the other hand, had meticulously created an outfit that consisted of a black skirt with ruffles and a top and cardigan in different shades of purple. The tights she had chosen were also black with tiny purple bows on them.

They celebrated the new outfits by eating in the food court. Kate knew by the time they left and fought traffic, it would be going on nearly six-thirty by the time they made it home. She didn’t want the girls eating that late since they still had homework to do. She figured they’d eat and let the traffic clear out and still make it home around the same time.

It was close to six when they finally left the mall and headed to the car. The sun was going down, but it was still light so Kate wasn’t worried. The apprehension came when she got to the car and realized it was tilting oddly to one side. As she moved closer, she realized that the two tires on the passenger side of the car were both flat.

“What’s wrong with the car?” Abby asked. “It looks funny.”

“The tires are flat,” Kate said as she pulled out her phone. But who to call? If she called emergency road service, she only had one spare tire.

“You all need some help?”

Kate quickly turned at the male voice behind her and stepped in front of the girls. The man, wearing faded jeans and a flannel shirt, smiled at her. His hair was cut military short, but his face was hidden behind a large beard and mustache. There was nothing about him that should have sent up alarm bells, but for some reason, Kate wanted him gone.

“No, we’re fine, thank you,” she said firmly.

“It doesn’t look like it,” he said, still smiling. “You have two flats. I can change one, but that’s not going to do you much good.”

“And that’s why I called someone to pick us up,” Kate replied.

“I’m more than happy to give you fine ladies a ride. I’d hate to leave you stranded out here all alone.”

“We’re fine.” Kate backed up and began to shepherd the girls toward the mall doors.

“My car’s just right there, so why don’t you come with me? It’ll be easier.”

Kate could feel the menace in his tone though he continued to smile. They needed to get away. “Run to the mall, girls,” she told them as the man lunged forward.

A security guard moved out from between the cars and shouted, “What’s going on?”

The man immediately turned away and ran. Kate spun and hurried after her daughters. The three of them practically fell in the doors as Kate dropped to her knees and hugged the girls.

The security guard came in after them. “What happened?”

“I really don’t know,” Kate said, trying to steady her voice. “Our car has two flat tires, and he just showed up and wanted us to go with him.”

“I saw the van he got in so I’m going to call it in. Why don’t we go inside the store?”

As he called on his radio, Kate pulled her phone out and instantly dialed Grimm. Her hand shook as she waited for the call to connect. They’d known each other such a short time, but she couldn’t think of anyone she wanted to talk to more.

“Kate?” His deep voice calmed her.

“Hi, I hate to bother you.”

“What’s wrong?”

“We need a ride. The car has flat tires, and we’re stuck at the mall.”

“Why are the girls crying? Why are you scared? Fuck it, never mind. I’ll be there. Where are you?”

She told him exactly where they were. He told her not to move, and he’d be there since he was really close. She ended the call and hugged the girls tight.

“Momma, I’m scared,” Olivia said.

“It’s okay, baby, I called Grimm, and he’s coming.” Kate kissed her tear-stained face as she hugged Abby tighter.

Olivia glanced outside. “He’s coming here?”

“Yes.”

She nodded and gave a watery smile. “I’m glad.”