Bloody Broken (A Bloody Series Book #2) (12 page)

    “What’s all this, dear?” She asked flopping in Chris’s arms to stare up at the ceiling, one hand reaching up like she was trying to grab the lights. The Beta quirked an eyebrow at her antics.

    “I’m sorry, Sir. I accidently shot her with the truth serum instead of the tranquilizer. But it still worked. She’s pretty much out of it.” He lifted her up and down a few times to show how loose her muscles were.

    “That’s actually very convenient, Totopolos. I need her conscious. How did you manage to find her?” He asked in that God awful smooth voice of his.

    “The Were we caught last night managed to reveal her address, and after staking it out all night she was caught going back for supplies. Pretty stupid if you ask me.” She cuffed his head, just because she could. The Beta laughed.

    “This is better than I planned. She would never have complied without my having killed the female here.”

    “She still isn’t going to comply!” She yelled, just because he would probably get suspicious if she went along quietly.

    “Let’s skip the theatrics, Elizabeth, shall we? I hear you’re going by Victoria these days?” He smiled condescendingly.

    “That’s Vic to you. I’m not attending your little party either. You’re a very bad man.” She was getting tired of this game. It was about time to kick it up a notch.

    “I might be a bad man Elizabeth; that may be true. But I still have the Masters ear. And you never did. How does that make you feel?” He asked, knowing damn well how it made her feel. “You’ve been a thorn in my side for half a century now. It’s about time we got this over with.” He motioned Chris forward.

    “Get what over with?” She asked just to keep him talking.

    “Our wedding dear. You cheated me out of the last one. You’ve been gone more than fifty years now. I think it's time you came out of hiding. We'll announce tomorrow that you were miraculously found alive and all will rejoice. Legally you’re considered dead, and since your husband gets your estate and all your holding in the event of your death, it’s in my best interest to finally prove our marriage is legitimate.” He answered in his best James Bond Villain impression. Not that he realized that’s what he was doing. If he thought this was going to happen he really was insane. She decided to call in reinforcements.

    “I’m giving them a virus, Mr. President. A computer virus.” She said loudly, pulling the pins on the two smoke grenades in her pocket, and waited for help to arrive.

    “What the hell does that mean?” Colin looked up from the phone.

    “Shields are down…” Adam whispered.
Independence Day.
She was calling for back up. “Let’s go!” He leapt up and from his crouched position to scale the side of the building. Luckily it was an old court building and not a contemporary skyscraper like their building in New York. He was easily able to grasp the carvings and climb. He looked down and only Dom, Claude, Gloria and the two Vamps from Devin’s group had followed.

    “We’re going through the side door. Meet you inside.” Devin yelled up. He’s realized the Were’s wouldn’t be able to follow this way. Didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting to Victoria. That bastard Orleans was trying to marry his woman. He had a score to settle.

    “Spread out. Look in all the windows on this side. Find her,” he yelled to the others. They knew she was on the fourth floor, facing south. As they reached it all he saw were empty offices. He climbed to the left towards Claude.

    “Over here!” Gloria yelled. She wasted no time kicking in the window. They followed. The room was filling up with smoke and visibility was low but he could still hear and just make out the dark shapes rolling around on the floor. He could hear growls and it sounded like Orleans had called for reinforcements. They dropped down into fray.

    “Vic!” Adam yelled looking around frantically. He couldn't see or smell anything. She had leveled the playing field though, the Weres wouldn't be able too either.

    “Here…Uh!” He heard her grunt. Then there was a thud as she was knocked down. He ran towards her voice but before he could reach her he was knocked sideways by a wolf. He had to use his inhuman speed to keep the snapping teeth away from his throat. A wolf could kill a Vamp, given a good bite to the neck, snapping the spinal cord. If he was paralyzed the wolf could sit quietly eating him while he waited for his spine to heal. Not a pleasant way to go. He managed to get an arm in between the wolf’s throat and his head. Dom ran by and kicked the wolf square in the chest, sending it flying with a yelp.

    “Thanks,” he said and then was off looking for Victoria again. She wasn’t where he had last heard her. There was so much noise and chaos he was barely able to separate it all. Gun shots and snarling and grunts. It didn’t help his calm that he was so frantic to find Victoria and she was nowhere to be found. He tore through the smoke, searching with his preternatural abilities. The wolves would be the Betas, he avoided those. He just had to separate her from the Vamps. As he was running the length of the ballroom, Claude was running high along the wall, kicking more windows in, letting the smoke clear out.

    “Good idea,” he yelled up at him. He could hear more Weres running up the stairwells. In a minute they would be outnumbered. “Vic! Where the fuck are you?” He yelled out.

    “Don’t worry about me! Help me kill these bastards!” He heard her yell from the far left wall. He took that to mean she was okay. He wasted no time acting on her command. The first wolf he came upon he punched on the top of the head, knocking it out just in case one of the wolves on their side had shifted in self defense.  Too bad he couldn’t control them when they were in their wolf form. They could barely be controlled in their human form anyway. He had downed four when he caught a glimpse of Gloria fighting off a wolf. She wasn’t doing too well, the wolf latched onto her arm, digging its claws into her stomach.  He ran forward and snatched the wolf by the scruff. Assuming a Were on their side wouldn’t be tearing one of their own to shreds; he clutched the wolf under the throat and tore its trachea apart. Gloria huffed, glaring at the dead wolf.

    “I would have had him in a minute.” She looked up, but not quite meeting his eyes.

    “Excuse me. I’ll let you get the next one.” He bowed and left her to tying the make shift bandage made from her shirt bottom around her arm. The tide was turning, the room clearing of smoke and most of the wolves downed. He scanned for Victoria.

    “Adam!” Claude called out. He spun around to see what Claude needed. He had a wolf in a bear hug around the middle, its feet kicking, trying to get a perch to turn and bite him. But he had it under control, so it took a second for Adam to figure out what the problem was. “Vic.” He nodded to the right. Adam glanced around, and then spotted her. She was being backed into the corner by a huge gray wolf. She still hadn’t shifted, but had taken Matt's jacket off. There was the strangest look on her face. It was a mix between concentration and glee. She might actually be on the verge of hysteria. He watched as the gray wolf crouched lower as it advanced. She stopped, planting a foot behind her for balance. They both knew the wolf was going to pounce.

    “Bring it on, mother fucker,” she whispered just before the wolf leapt. Adam didn’t even have time to run after her. A hit from behind had him sliding face first onto the floor.

    Dante hit Vic just under her rib cage, knocking the wind out of her for a precious second. She managed to keep his snapping jaws away from her face, but only just. He had shifted in just under ten seconds, shredding his Armani suit. She knew he was quick, but the sight of him was still frightful to behold. There was a reason he was Orleans Beta. When Chris had dropped her he had managed to toss her one of his guns before reaching for his own. She wasted the whole clip, only hitting him once in the shoulder before he shifted. She had spent the last six minutes trying to outrun him. Somehow she had gotten herself cornered. Now they weren’t playing around anymore. He was digging his hind feet into her thighs, gorging flesh. She could just make out the fray behind his massive shoulders. No help was coming. Adam was rolling on the floor with a wolf the size of a Geo Metro.
Must be the jerk-off from the elevator.
Her concentration flitted back to Dante and his snapping jaws when he got a graze off her cheek. When he licked a path from her neck to her temple, she was reminded of why this must end here and now. If he incapacitated her, it wouldn’t be death she would have to worry about. Something much worse than that. She shoved with all her strength, trying to get some distance. He shifted his weight, trying to get a perch from the side. She hissed when he got his jaw clamped onto her left shoulder. The vest shielded her from most of his teeth, but she couldn't move. If he was going to bite her, he better be going for the kill. This was only ending two ways. With her dead or him. Preferably him. He neither dug in nor tore at her, just clamped on. She decided to risk losing her whole arm, turning just enough to get under her waist band. While he was distracted with keeping a hold of her she lifted up, snatching her stiletto from her jeans and flicking the blade out. His ears pined to the side at the sound but it was too late. She plunged the blade into his side, twisting to tear open the wound. He let go of her shoulder immediately, howling his pain. But he didn’t back off. Instead, she watched, almost in slow motion, as his eyes blazed pure fury and his teeth descended towards her throat. She closed her eyes, turning away from certain death. Her cowardice was over shadowed by her regret. She hoped Adam finished Dante off. As her thoughts strayed to Adam, she realized she should be dead by now. She glanced up with one eye open to see two giant hands grasping Dante’s jaws, keeping them from her neck. One solitary drop of saliva fell onto her chest before Dante’s weight slowly lifted off her chest. She watched in delightful glee as Dante’s eyes registered his plight. She watched in complete satisfaction as the desperate light in his eyes flared. And then she watched as the light was snuffed when the hands wrapped around his head to snap his neck with a satisfying crunch. Her relief was short lived however when she pushed Dante off to see her savior.

    “Thanks, Daddy.” She watched as Master Orleans looked down at her, nothing showing in his sea green eyes. He glanced at Dante’s limp body, then back to her.

    “I Absolve you.” He backed away slowly. Nothing showing, no emotion whatsoever. This was the same man who told her bedtime stories about living in the Scottish Highlands as a child, laughed with her over his antics in the Royal Victorian court. He thought her dead for the last fifty years, and not so much as a “How do you do?” She shoved Dante the rest of the way off and did her best to stand and follow him. She barely made it a step when the pain shooting up her legs buckled her. Adam swooped in to catch her, but she only had eyes for her father.

“Daddy…”  He stopped at the door. “I’m sorry.” He didn’t say a word. She glanced at Adam, whose mouth was hanging open. She lifted a finger to close it.

    “You mean you hadn’t figured it out? I made her the minute I saw her back at the Hotel.” Gloria announced to everyone. All the Vamps turned to stare. “What? You guys don’t follow Were Royalty? She was famous for crying out loud.” Her father turned his head slightly to glance at Gloria. She averted her gaze when he made eye contact but Vic noticed she watched him walk away. He continued his way through the double doors and turned to stride down the hallway. She didn’t realize she was crying until Adam was whipping the tears away. Fifty years worth of the sorrow and agony she had kept at bay leaked silently down her face.

    “I’m taking Vic back to the Hotel. Weres help with the cleanup please. Vampires head downstairs to maintain the parameter. Wipe the police and all witnesses.” He strode out the doors with her grasped tightly in his arms. Her father was nowhere to be found. They got into the elevator and Adam waited for the door to close before he said anything.

    “You’re Elizabeth of Orleans,” he said, not looking at her.

    “Yes. Or I was once.” Her voice came out small. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

    “Alright.” He agreed. “For now.” They left the building, walking past police and bystanders alike, no one stopping to ask questions or stop them. Adam must be shielding them. He placed her softly in the back seat of the van when they got there. She lay back, trying to calm her racing thoughts. As the adrenaline wore off she realized how painful her injuries were. She glanced down to see how serious they were, noting that another set of clothes were ruined. Her legs were the worst. The bite on her shoulder throbbed but her legs were bleeding profusely.

    “I hope you got insurance on this rental,” she said as blood ran down her leg onto the carpet. Adam glanced back at her.

    “Fuck the van. Are you alright? You can shift when we get back to the room, right?”

    “Yes. I’ll be fine.” She tried not to think about anything that had happened today. Just focusing on the now and the near future. She would need new clothes and she would need to talk to Devin and Colin. And Adam.

    “I’ll run back to the shop and pick up some new clothes for you while you’re healing,” Adam said, his thoughts on the same wave length as hers.

    “Thank you.” She closed her eyes. When she opened them, Adam was lifting her from the van and carrying her to the stairwell. He raced up the stairs to the room. When the door opened he carried her to the couch and placed her carefully down flat. Without a word he slowly peeled her bloody clothes and vest off. There was nothing sexual in the deed, only necessity, but still she felt her heart swell at his thoughtfulness. She stilled his hand when he finished, catching his eye.