lori king rough ride romeo (25 page)

company he worked for was getting vampire and shifter blood from somewhere,

and they were trying to copy it and put it in humans. The man who owned the

company said that their blood would help cure diseases. But dad said that he got

curious and broke into their computer system; he said they had a lab somewhere

where vampires and shifters were being held as prisoners and having some type of

testing done on them.

“Then one night he came home and said we had to go; we left all our stuff,

got in the car and ran. He said they were after him, and we that we had to find

you—you would know what to do, and you’d help keep me and my mom safe.”

“Why didn’t you tell me, Gabriel? I would’ve helped you.” Marcus asked

with concern.

“I know; but my dad said that we couldn’t trust anyone right now except

Sindrid Abner, the king. I’m sorry, Marcus, but I promised my dad that I’d tell

him first,” Gabriel apologized, then looked over at Sindrid. “My dad said that we

couldn’t shake them. He told me about a cave I could hide in, and when we went

around the curve he slowed down and told me to jump in the ditch. Once their

car went by I was supposed to get to the cave and hide, and then he and mom

would find me later. But after the car went by me, I had to know that they were

okay, so I tailed them from the woods, and…” Lilly wrapped her arms around

him tighter as Gabriel shook with fear.

“It’s okay, Gabriel. You’re safe now,” Lilly assured him.

“No, I’m not. My dad said there were vampires and shifters among the ones

who were kidnapping people and sel ing them to this company. He gave me the

information and told me to give it to Sindrid; he left everything on a thumb

drive. They know my dad didn’t have it on him when they killed him and my

mom. I heard them say that if he didn’t have it then it had to be with me, so I

ran as fast as I could to the cave. I waited there for three days until Marcus found

me,” Gabriel finished with tears in his eyes. Her heart broke as she held him

close to her.

“You’re not alone now, Gabriel. I will protect you,” Sindrid announced.

She knew things were about to get ugly when Marcus rose up. Men could ruin

everything. Of course Marcus would act possessive of the boy, but Gabriel was a

vampire.

“Marcus, now isn’t the time. He’ll need all of our help, and this is what the

Unit was formed for. You know that, and you agreed to it. Gabriel can stay here

at the lodge. Please don’t argue about this; he’s been through enough. Look at

him.” Lilly held Gabriel as he cried. She hated to chastise the Alpha in front of

others, but now wasn’t the time to see who had the biggest. They had a problem

—a huge one, if vampires and shifters were being kidnapped and tortured.

“You may be king of the vampires, but you’re not the king of me or my

pack. Gabriel is in my pack right now, until I can find some kin he can go and

stay with. Don’t think for a minute you’re going to be cal ing the shots,” Marcus

growled.

Sindrid laughed. “I never said that I controlled you, but Gabriel is now my

responsibility. His father was my best friend, and he had no family. Nor did his

mate, Marie. He will stay with me here at the lodge where my guards and I can

look after him. That isn’t something that will be argued over; he’s under my

protection.”

Lil y rolled her eyes, as Marcus’s eyes started glowing. She could feel his

Alpha vibes shooting out, letting Sindrid know that he didn’t obey anyone.

Even though Marcus was a strong Alpha, he couldn’t compare to the king of

vampires. He’d be killed, and even though he’d pissed her off, she couldn’t al ow

that to happen. She needed to do something.

She stood up and put her hands on her hips. “Now you both listen to me. I

have had enough of this posturing. Gabriel will stay here at the lodge until we

find out more about who’s after him. It makes sense that he should stay here,

Marcus. Sindrid has a lot of guards. This isn’t a game; you’re dealing with a

young boy here. So you can either stop this, or you both can leave, you get me?”

Lilly’s voice rose over the music, angry at how they were acting.

Joseph, Larken, Larsen and the rest of the gang all ran over to her.

“What’s wrong, Lilly?” Larken demanded looking over at Marcus with

narrowed eyes.

“Tomorrow we need to meet.” Lilly lowered her voice and leaned over to

her brothers and Jonas when she saw people from surrounding tables glance over

at the raised voices. “Well, the Unit needs to meet. We have a problem that can’t

be discussed here.”

Lil y turned toward Gabriel and smiled. “Gabriel, how about you and I go

dance? Let these young girls see what a good-looking young man you are.”

Gabriel smiled and nodded, but he glanced back at Sindrid. She could tell

he thought the man was going to leave.

“I’l leave it to you guys to explain what’s going on, but you two better keep

it together and remember what Gabe said. Vampires and shifters are kidnapping

their own people and selling them for money, so loyalty doesn’t count with these

guys. Think about that for a minute and keep your voices down.” Lilly reached

out and took Gabriel’s hand, letting him escort her out to the dance foor. “He

isn’t going anywhere, Gabriel.”

He nodded, but continued to keep Sindrid in his sights. She looked back at

the two alpha males and wondered if all her hard work was going to come

crashing down. The looks those two were giving each other could cause a lot of

damage here, and ruin the whole dance for everyone.

Destiny of Blood
Coming Soon

www.bryceevans.webs.com

Desolation

By KD Jones

Chapter One

“That’s right, bitch, you want some of this, you’re gonna have to give

me a little something in return.”

Maggie stood stock still around the corner, listening to the exchange.

Her friend Lily was trying get food rations from Harry the Tribe

distributor, or as they called him, the
shopkeeper
. Harry was supposed to be

in charge of making sure all the rations were distributed equally to all

members of the tribe. Unfortunately, Harry was a complete ass, and

definitely not interested in fairness. She had no idea why their previous

Tribe Leader, Ben, had put this man in charge, or why her current Tribe

Leader, Jerry, let him remain.

“I’m not going to sleep with you,” Lily told him, shaking her head.

Maggie moved closer so she could see them better. Lily had her little

six-year-old son Thomas standing behind her. She crossed her arms over

her chest and glared at Harry. Harry was a balding older man with missing

teeth and was badly in need of a bath.

Harry looked at the little boy and smiled with an evil glint in his eyes.

“Who said it had to be you that sleeps with me?”

“You sick bastard!” Lily pulled Thomas up in her arms. Harry

stepped towards them, but suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Maggie warned him. She was

standing directly behind him and now moved just a little to the side. She

directed Harry’s attention downward to the huge knife she had wedged up

between his thighs.

“I didn’t do anything,” Harry said, sweat beading on his forehead.

“Give Lily her rations.”

“Fine! Just move the damn knife.”

Maggie nudged said knife up a bit further, pressing it firmly into his

ballsack. “If you ever talk to, look at, touch, or hurt any child in the Tribe,

I will cut this all off and make you scream for hours. Then I’ll slit your

throat. Do you understand me?”

“You’re fucking crazy!”

“I might be, but you’re a sick degenerate that needs to be put out with

the dogs.” Maggie removed the knife and tucked it into the side of her

boot. Harry scrambled to get the rations, and practically threw the bag at

Lily.

They walked away, Harry grumbling and cursing after them. Maggie

checked the bag to make sure that the right number of cans were in there.

She was relieved to see there was a new bottle of vitamins. The tribe had

lucked out a couple of years ago when they found a storage area full of

medical supplies and bottles of vitamins and other supplements. People

had been starting to feel the effects of lack of vitamin D.

Lily looked at Maggie. “Thank you.”

Maggie nodded. “You would have done the same for me. We have to

look out for each other.”

“True.” Lily agreed.

“We’re family!” little Thomas said happily.

“That’s right, little rug rat.” Maggie ruffed his curly hair. “So why

didn’t you wait for me to get back before you went for rations?”

“Ben and his tribe came through, trading. I waited until they left. I

thought this would be the perfect time to come down.” Lily shot her a

look.

Tribes were what the subway-dwelling people called themselves,

having organized themselves into many small groups of survivors living

together. As far as Maggie knew, there were thousands and thousands of

Tribes throughout the world, living underground.

They were the rejects of Earth. When several countries had

“accidentally” fired their nuclear weapons five years before, they had set

off automatic launches worldwide. Some of the missiles were successfully

diverted, but others hit their marks perfectly, devastating whole cities and

towns. Others went off in the atmosphere.

The world’s governments had been preparing for an event like this for

years. Each country had invested in building underground bunkers,

colloquially referred to as “domes.” Most of the major cities had one.

Though the domes were supposed to be able to hold the majority of each

city’s citizens, when the bombs finally did hit, not everyone was able to

make it to a dome in time or, in some cases, even allowed inside when they

did make it.

That was where her father had been taking them that day five years

ago. When the government issued the thirty-minute evacuation alarm, he

packed them up and had them headed to the city’s dome, just outside city

limits. When Maggie got separated from them, she would have died if it

hadn’t been for the old man, Walter Marks.

Maggie could still recall that terrifying journey through the sewers

with Walter after he picked her up off the streets that day. She had

followed him down into the sewers. Even though they had been deep

below the surface when the bombs hit, they had still felt the impact. Walter

had not only brought her down from the surface before the bomb hit, but

he taught her how to survive in the subway stations. She remembered how

it had been the day after the bomb hit.

***

“Honey, with the right supplies and tools, we can survive indefinitely. I worked for

the subway transit system for near on thirty years before I retired. I learned a lot of stuff

during my time with the transit. Did you know that most of the major cities with

subway systems keeps miles and miles of subway tunnels closed and unused on purpose?

They’ve been doing this for years.”

“Why would they do that?” she asked him.

“Storage,” Walter said simply.

“I don’t understand.”

“From what I understand, each major city has domes built in case of a nuclear

fallout one day. They stocked up their domes, but the world’s population has been

growing so fast, they weren’t sure it would be enough. They shut off parts of the

subway system to use for storing more supplies. All we have to do is get to a subway

tunnel that was recently active, then follow the tunnel until we find a section closed off.”

“How long will that take?”

“A couple of days.”

“We’ll die before that!” Maggie said in concern.

“No, we won’t. We will get thirsty, though. The sooner we can get to an active

tunnel the better. An active tunnel system should have power. It’s all run on solar energy,

after all. The city’s been trying to go green. There’ll also be water fountains that are

supplied from well water half a mile below us.” He put his hand on her shoulder

reassuringly. “We’ll survive this. I promise.”

***

the truth about the sections being used for storage. They weren’t the only

ones to find the storage tunnels. People fought one another over the

supplies. Many people died. Some gangs formed that stole, terrorized, and

killed people.

Walter told her that there was safety in numbers. He insisted that they

find a group to join. As different groups came together and broke off, they

became known as the Tribes.

Walter was valuable to their tribe because he knew the subways

system better than anyone. He knew that there were even more storage