The Lion's Den (17 page)

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hapter
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“
Adan, do you honestly think this vampire can save us?” Stephanie asked, brushing the kinks from her long reddish hair.

“
He’s the only vampire I know of that’s powerful, Steph. I know we need help. I can’t defeat this coven on my own; I’ve tried and almost died. Darian has managed to hang on to prime territory for over one hundred years. All of Illinois belongs to him, not just Chicago … that takes power and strength. This is our best chance if we want to survive.” Adan, King of his lion Pride searched through the telephone book.

“
What are you doing?” Stephanie asked, sitting down beside him.

“
Last night, I went out and searched for him. As it turns out, he owns several businesses in the city, one of the most popular is a dance club called
Desires Unleashed
. I’m looking for the number.” Flipping through the pages in the “Night Clubs/Entertainment” section, he finally found what he was looking for. “Here it is.”

“
Can he move around in the daytime hours like this vampire?”

“
I don’t know, but we need to get to him, now stop pestering me.” Adan tossed her a look that showed his agitation with her.

“
I’ll join the others,” she said, getting the point. She rose and left the little room.

Adan opted for a hotel room, hoping the pricey public location might throw the vampire coven off his trail, if only for a day. He hoped the vampires would think he’d stay lying low, as he had been doing. Somehow, that coven had always found them, no matter where they were. For a little more than a week now, he and his Pride had been moving from country to country, city to city during the day only when he knew that coven was resting, even if it’s Master wasn’t. The constant hiding and running … it had bought them time, hours only. The very night they arrived in Chicago, more deaths began to happen. He knew they were there. The same things happened in every city they ran to. Never in his life, had he experienced a group of supernaturals this bloodthirsty, this sadistic.

It angered and hurt him to know that his Pride was doubting him. His inability to destroy their enemy had left many of them wondering if he was the leader they needed. In a heated argument, Tyler had called him a coward and gone against his wishes. He told the younger shifter to stay within the group, but frightened beyond all reasoning, he fled, hoping to find protection and solace within a cheetah Pride they had stayed with in Ireland. Adan was willing to bet the first body the Chicago S.U.I.T. had found skinned alive had been Tyler’s. It was a message to him. Obviously, Adan felt guilty, more importantly, he felt helpless. Out of all the feline Prides, the lions were the only ones who depended on the male dominant to find them safe havens and be able to protect them. With his Pride being hunted and killed off one by one, he looked to be a weak King. He would be challenged; if not from within his Pride, then from other males looking to mate with his females. If he was to regain their confidence, he would have to save them and not allow anymore of his to die while he remained unable to prevent it. Needless to say, he was a bit stressed. His Matron walked into the room, climbing on the bed behind him. She began to massage his shoulders, relieving the tension.

“
Breathe. Stephanie told me you almost bit her head off in here,” Danielle said, her voice was calm and soothing.

Adan leaned against her, resting his head on her bosom. “She was pestering me. I’ve got enough people within our Pride doubting me silently, I didn’t need to hear it out loud.”

“
No one is doubting you. No one is fool enough to think you didn’t do everything within your power. Even a five-hundred year old shifter cannot defend against the likes of this coven. No one blames you.” She hoped she was helping ease his uncertainty.

He half turned, looking up at her. “Don’t they? Tyler didn’t ieve in me, and now he’s dead.”

“
We don’t know that for certain.”

Adan frowned. “Do you honestly believe the body they found outside of that nightclub wasn’t his? A message to us that they were still on our trail?”

“
Logically thinking, I agree with you. Wishfully thinking, I hope not.”

“
Let’s stick with logic right now,” Adan said.

“
Very well. If he
is
dead, it’s because he was so confrontational. Sometimes testosterone is a man’s worst enemy. You were wise to tell us to stay together. We’re all alive because we did. He wanted to challenge you by defying your command. He failed. Do what your heart and mind tells you is right. Do not worry about what cannot be changed. Call this Darian Alexander if you think he will help us.” She leaned forward, kissing him gently before climbing off the bed

“
Thank you, Danielle.”

“
You’re welcome, Darling.”

“
Can you send Stephanie back in here.”

“
All right.” With that, Danielle left the room.

Adan was happy she had talked to him; he was beginning to feel better already. He pulled his disposable cell phone from his back pocket, dialing
Desires Unleashed
. When the operator answered, he asked if or when the owner was coming in. The operator didn’t know, but said she’d take a message. He gave her his cell phone number and told her to have Mr. Alexander call him as soon as possible. The operator took the message and they ended the call. He leaned back against the pillow, concentrating on his next move. He knew that the vampire coven that hunted his Pride was an old and dangerous one; he only hoped that Darian would be able and willing to help them.

Stephanie poked her head into the room slowly; hoping Adan’s “little talk” with Danielle had cooled some of his temper. “Danny said you wanted to talk to me?”

He looked up. “Yes, I’m going out to get something for us to eat, I would like for you to come with me.” He rose, stretching his muscles.

“
Sure, let me just put on my shoes.” Stephanie went to do just that, returning wearing pair of brown leather sandals to match her khaki capri pants and shirt.

“
What do you want to eat?” he asked as they made their way to one of their rental cars he paid for under an alias.

“
Pizza is quick and filling.” Stephanie looked out of the window as they sped by hundreds of people and buildings. “Adan, I’ve been trying not to think about it, but I’m really scared.”

Adan winced. Her feelings of fright stung like a gunshot wound. He had never wanted his Pride to feel fear. He’d promised to always protect them, and now it was looking like he wasn’t going to be able to. He knew he had to do something quick, he hoped Darian would help him not only save his Pride, but save face as well. “Don’t worry, Stephanie. I’lldie before I let anything happen to any of you. You know this.” He maneuvered the car between two towering SUVs in the parking lot of a well-known pizzeria restaurant.

“
I know. I trust you. I just hate that we’re in this situation, fucking asshole coven,” she snarled.

Adan chuckled softly, agreeing with her sentiments. “Let’s go get something for us to eat.” They exited the car and entered the restaurant.

***

“
God, that taste horrible, Jeez, who do you have to arrest to get a decent cup of coffee around here?” Colin groaned after swallowing a mouthful of lukewarm coffee, which lacked the preferred amount of sugar and cream he desired.

“
Hey, you want gourmet, you’re going to end up paying at least three dollars more,” Warren commented. He peered out of the window at the children finally happy to see the end of the school day, eagerly climbing into their parent’s automobiles. Each child’s face featured smiles and all were unaware of the danger that may be lurking nearby. They wanted to catch this killer before any more lives would be put into jeopardy.

“
When this coven ran amok in California, it was really fucked up. The entire city was scarred shitless and no one knew when the killings would end. The thing is, you don’t want them to end just because the killers got bored; you want them to end because the killers got caught, know what I mean?” Colin asked. He made certain to keep his eyes on all of the children and their comings and goings.

“
Did you ever think you guys were close to catching them before they left?” Warren asked, curious to know if they had a chance.

Colin was silent for a few seconds; ashamed of the answer he was going to have to give him. “No.”

“
No? Why not?”

“
They can kill every hour on the hour, if they wanted to. Shit, they damn near did.”

“
So, in other words, it was a blessing when they got bored with California and moved on?” Warren wasn’t sure how he felt about the sentiment. He didn’t want them to be able to “move on”. He wanted them
dead as hell!

Colin continued. “I’m not happy about it either, but for lack of a better explanation, yes, you can say that I was somewhat relieved when they moved on. I had hoped someone would be able to take them out if they slipped up. I’ve never seen anything like the carnage they caused, and the S.U.I.T. for all intent and purposes was powerless against them, just like we are now.”

“
You don’t have any faith in us?” Warren was shocked to hear that from a S.U.I.T. officer. Most officers he knew believed they were the end-all to all supernatural criminals. Needless to say, most S.U.I.T. officers had God complexes.

“
I’m not stupid, or idealistic. I know when I’m fighting a battle Ian’t win. From all of the knowledge we’ve manage to gather about vampires and shape-shifters, at no point did we ever discover a vampire who can kill during the daylight hours, am I right?”

Warren nodded. The human world did only know so much and the supernatural
Council
was hard-pressed to expose anything else.

“
What about human servants?” Warren asked, fishing to see if he would agree with another scenario.

“
What about them?”

“
Could it have been possible for a human servant to keep a victim alive long enough to dispose of the body during the day?” Warren asked.

“
I guess anything is possible. We never found any trace of human involvement, but that’s not to say there isn’t any.”

“
I just don’t want to rule it out.”

“
No, I wouldn’t either, but some of the victims we found would suggest otherwise. Now, I’m no expert dealing with vampires, but I’m willing to bet my hairy left nut that one would have to be pretty fucking old to kill under the shining rays of the sun.”

Okay, human or not human, Warren was impressed by his deduction. “I would have to agree with you, based on what I’m seeing so far.”

“
Exactly. I don’t know what your hardest arrest or take down was, but Brian and I almost died taking out one vampire who we caught feeding on prostitutes. I honestly don’t know how we survived. Brian was amazing and quick on the draw; he was the one who killed him. But that vampire only killed during the night and was pretty terrified when he realized he was caught; that tells me he was young probably just turned. People who think they are above the law don’t get panic attacks. I’m willing to bet an older vampire would fit into that category.”

“
How come none of this was reported?” Warren asked, wondering why that bit of information had been omitted.

“
A lot of that was kept secret during their reign. We were instructed to keep a lid on that so as not to cause public panic. Not to mention, the government’s invested a lot of time and money into the S.U.I.T. We’re supposed to be the final word in supernatural justice. If the public knew just how useless we were made to look, that would really hurt the bottom line, know what I mean?” Colin looked at Warren.

“
That would explain why the media is being heavily monitored right now.” Warren thought about the light media coverage in spite of the extremely public crime scenes. It was all starting to make some sense now.

“
Yeah, seems like a repeat of L.A.” Colin pulled out his cell phone, “I’m going to contact Brian, see how things are looking on their end.”

Warren was shocked at how much Colin suspected. He also wondered how much the government knew to be a fact about supernaturals, even though the
Council
only confirmed so much of the information that was previously gathered six years ago. He listened to the conversation between Colin and his partner. Apparently, things were looking quiet their end as well. He hoped that, with the help of their leaders and respective covens, Prides and Packs, they would have success where the others failed.