Dream Warrior: (Dark Warrior Alliance Book 1) (9 page)

“She is single, but not your type at all. She would eat you for breakfast, buddy. Besides, no boys are allowed. It’s girls only tonight.”

“You don’t know what you’re missing. Have fun, but be careful and don’t do anything stupid. I’d hate to arrest you,” he teased.

“I’m more than capable of taking care of myself. And, don’t forget that you are my get-out-of-jail-free-card. I’ll call you tomorrow.” She flipped the phone closed and tossed it on the passenger seat.

Her car sputtered and coughed out a cloud of black smoke as she sped through the next stop light. The wheel started shuddering under her palms. “Don’t you even think of dying on me right now,” she cursed the car. Saying a quick prayer she kept motoring along. The shimmies overtook the car next and it seemed as it the whole thing would fall apart. Slowing her speed didn’t help matters at all and when she tried to speed up the car jolted and a loud clanging noise sounded before the engine cut out.

“No, no, no. Not right now,” she pleaded. She tried to maneuver the vehicle across the lanes of traffic to pull over. After pissing off most of Seattle she made it to the side of the road and turned the key. The car didn’t make a noise. It was well and truly dead. She laid her head down on the steering wheel and looked out into traffic. What was she going to do now?

Mack was waiting for her at the park. Good thing she used to take the bus daily to and from work and school, she could catch a bus to Mack. As she climbed out of her car and glanced back she realized a piece of her engine was lying in the street. The hunk-of-junk was literally falling apart, but she’d worry about that later. Right now she had to get to Mack.

Forty-five minutes and three bus transfers later, Elsie climbed off the bus a few blocks from the park where Mack was waiting. She flipped up her collar agaist the chill wind and mist. The familiar sensation of a million, tiny ants crawling restlessly under her skin had her fingers flexing over her knife as she scanned the area. There was a vampire near, but she had no idea where he was. Her stomach suddenly lurched and her heart twisted in her chest. Vertigo struck and she swayed on her feet. It was a feeling she had learned to identify all too well. As she waited for the premonition to hit her she realized it wasn’t merely a vampire. Something was going to happen to someone she loved.

She waited, steadying herself on a nearby tree trunk. Nothing came to her aside from a deep sense of menace. Her sight had never given her exact details, but it always identified the person tragedy was about to strike. She considered texting Mack and calling her sister, but didn’t have her phone in her pocket. Any further thought was sidetracked when a rancid odor drifted on the breeze. The vampire was hiding in the bushes behind her.

Not wasting a minute, her feet carried her further into the park. She veered toward the trees to her left. Lowering her head, she snuck a peek back to see if the vamp was following her. Nothing yet. Unwilling to risk the confrontation endangering any innocent, helpless people, she continued on her path. Soon she heard the crunch of leaves beneath heavy tread.

Her heart began racing and her palms sweating with her anxiety. The threat was breathing down her neck, despite the fact that the vampire was still yards behind her. At the first Evergreen she chanced a full look at what she was facing and her heart kicked up at what she saw. Two vampires were strolling unhurriedly toward her, confidence in their stride. Their eyes had the same eerie charcoal circle, and she wasn’t surprised by the fangs that gleamed in the moonlight when they smiled.

She shuddered and headed into the wooded area. She stopped in a small clearing and rolled her shoulders trying to displace the tension as she waited. She didn’t have to wait long.

One of the vamps with greasy blonde hair lowered his head slightly and adopted a feral grin. “You shouldn’t have come in here little girl. Run if now you want. We love a good chase. But, if you do, don’t scream, or it will be worse. Screaming will only incite us.”

She cocked her head to the side and considered her options. “Nah, I don’t think I will, but you may want to consider it yourself,” she declared as she pulled her knife from her boot.

The other vamp had black hair and he appeared cleaner and a bit saner, laughed loudly. “You’re brave. It will be fun to break you.”

The greasy blonde vamp charged toward her before brown hair finished talking. She backed up toward some big boulders, wanting something safe at her back. The thing moved fast and its claws scrapped against her forearm as she turned and ducked. Her knife hand slashed out and caught it low in the side. Red bloomed across his side and she blanched. She had never seen one bleed and it made her pause. She didn’t want to harm anyone. Mack had told her vampires were mindless killing machines, seeing the blood made her wonder if that was true.

Her inattention was a mistake as blondie managed to wrap his arms around her waist. Terror sank claws into her gut. She yanked against his hold, but she couldn’t escape his tight grip. If she didn’t get free, she wasn’t coming out of this mini-forest. She fought harder, yanking and thrashing wildly. Black hair stalked toward her and the large trees looming overhead intensified her fear and caused her fight-or-flight instinct to hit overdrive.

She began kicking out at his legs and tugging with her arm. “Oh, hell no, this is not happening to me! Stop it. No, I won’t let you do this.” There was no doubt in her mind what he meant to do to her. And, she wasn’t going down easily. She clawed at the young man’s hand, to pry it from her arm. The guy’s grip was like a vice. Trying to unbalance him, she threw her body forward and kicked. She aimed for his groin, but missed.

“Ah, ah, ah,” he crooned.

“Ugh!” Nothing was working, so she screamed for all she was worth. It may seem like she was in the middle of nowhere, but she knew all too well that there were homes and businesses close by. Surely, someone would hear her.

A hand clamped over her mouth with more strength than she would have thought. Without thinking, she bit into the flesh covering her face until she tasted foul, rotten blood. Her mouth watered and she knew her weak stomach would hurl any minute.

Her head snapped back when black hair back-handed her. She shook her head to clear the stars. The side of her face was on fire with pain. She could feel the swelling and could have sworn a baseball had hit her cheek and was now lodged under her skin. Ugh, that hurt.

“This is much better,” grease ball murmured in her ear.

S
he was in major trouble and struggled in earnest. The tearing of her shirt echoed loudly as she thrashed in his hold. She twisted hard and felt her bones bend and heard a pop in her shoulder. She screamed out in pain, but wasn’t giving up that easy. Trying to ignore the pain she picked up her legs, unbalancing his hold. She crawled away fast and looked back over her shoulder. The two vamps stood side by side staring at her.

“Damn, you’re fine. Good thing we’re in no hurry,” black hair leered at her exposed bra, giving her a smile that made her skin crawl and raised the hairs on the back of her neck. “I’m going to take my time and sample all of you,” he promised, evil leaking from his words.

“Leave some for me,” blondie said looking his fill.

The vampires eyed her throat and flashed their teeth at her. Black hair lunged toward her this time and instinctively, she raised her arm to protect her neck. Razors cut into her flesh as his fangs sank into her left forearm. His face was so close to hers, she smelled his stench and saw the peculiar ring around his eyes clearly. There was no life behind those evil eyes.

Using every ounce of strength she had, she brought her knee up and connected with his balls, yanking her arm free from his jaws. She went flying out of his grasp and threw out her hands before she hit the ground. The sound of a twig snapping underfoot echoed, followed immediately by intense pain radiating from her right wrist up her arm. That arm could no longer hold her weight up and she fell in a heap.

She refused to meet the same fate as Dalton. “You aren’t going to kill me, asshole. I’ve been killing slime like you for the past eighteen months!” This would end no differently.

Pushing up to stand on shaky legs, adrenaline flooded her system and drowned out some of the pain. She assumed a fighting stance with her body bladed, knees bent, and her good fist awkwardly poised in front of her, ready to strike out. Blood dripped to the dirt from her forearm. She cried out and ran toward her attacker.

*****

“I’m verra concerned about Zander,” Bhric divulged as they picked their way through the park where Mack had been waiting for Elsie.

Kyran listened to his brother, his worry for Elsie escalating. Zander had called Kyran and said that Elsie was heading their way, but he and Orlando had lost her. That boded ill given her proclivities to go searching for skirm.

“He has been worse since meeting his Fated. He hasna been feeding properly and now he is withering before our eyes.” Bhric looked to Kyran, worry on his face. “He might be the most powerful vampire in the realm, but even he canna go withoot blood that long. I havena ever seen him like this. I doona remember what he was like when mamai and da were killed, but this is bad.”

Kyran remembered all too well everything about the time their parents had been massacred. It was something that haunted him daily. They left the open area behind and headed into the trees.

“I do remember what he was like then, and I can say he is far worse now. The worst part is, we canna do anything aboot it. This situation is shite. And, Elsie seems to be doing far worse than him right now. From what Zander and Orlando have shared, I’m worried about her, too. She is mortal—” A muffled scream cut off Kyran’s reply. He snapped to attention, opened his preternatural senses and flared his nostrils. Blood. And, skirm.

“Feel that?” Bhric whispered. His brother reached under his black, leather jacket and his hand came back shinning. Kyran slipped his own titanium
sgian dubh
free and held it at the ready. “That had better no’ be
brathair’s
Fated they are attacking. If our Queen is harmed they will rue the day they were born,” Bhric promised as they followed the magical aura and located two skirm, struggling with their victim.

Kyran winced as the female went flying and a distinct, cracking sound echoed through the clearing. The sound of female cries, along with the echo of her bones breaking, sucked Kyran back in time seven hundred fifteen years.

Thud,

Thud,

Thud.

A menacing laugh followed by a wet, tearing sound, thick and obscene, something out of a nightmare.

“Please doona hurt me,” a whispered gurgling plea. He glanced up to find his mother’s throat torn out.

Another scream jolted him out of his haunted past. An innocent female needed their protection. “You help the female, I’ll take care of them,” Kyran instructed, before he used his ability to sift. Between one blink and the next, he was crouched behind one of the attackers and had plunged his blade into the skirm’s chest. The guy flashed then turned to ash.

In the next heartbeat he was wrapping his arms around the skirm who had her pinned down and yanking him off her. He hated that the human female needed to have a mind-wipe on top of her other injuries. A red haze filled his vision as he thought of what the skirm had clearly planned to do to the female.

“Prepare to meet your maker, in hell,” he threatened in his ear.

*****

Elsie’s head swam. Black spots danced in her vision and nausea rose in her throat. That last lunge had been a mistake. She realized that she didn’t know enough about fighting, but she refused to back down. The black-haired vampire side-stepped her at the last second and wrapped his arm around her throat, throwing her to the ground. Her head smacked hard on the ground. She swallowed back the bile as he ripped her shirt open.

“No,” she pleaded.

“Oh, yes,” he hissed as he grabbed her breast and squeezed. She pushed against his chest to no avail, eliciting a smile from the creep. Crap that hurt, it felt like he was going to squeeze her breast off her body. She squeezed her eyes shut. She remembered the damage his fangs could inflict and hated that he planned to violate her before killing her. His fetid breath washed across her aching cheek. A flash of fire caught the corner of her vision. She turned to try and see what had happened.

She knew that flash. The greasy-haired vampire had been killed. Mack must be there to save her. Relief washed over her.

Suddenly, the weight left her and she opened her eyes to see a large man dressed in black leather behind her attacker with his arms wrapped around his chest and throat. She rubbed her eyes. It wasn’t Mack and her fear resurfaced as she realized she wasn’t necessarily being saved.

Another similarly dressed man, only much bigger, approached her with his hands out in an I-come-in-peace gesture. “’Tis okay, lass, we’re here to help. We willna hurt you.” Elsie heard the man’s words and was speechless. He sounded like Zander. The large man crouched in front of her, repeating his assurances, but she struggled to respond.

Her head throbbed, her cheek pulsed with pain and she was laying there with her shirt wide open, exposing her. She tried to cover up, but was unable to move. She looked into his intense, amber eyes and knew she was safe. There was no question, these men would protect her.

“Bugger, ‘tis you…holy shite,” the large man breathed. “Are you okay, Elsie? We mean you no harm.”

How did this man know who she was? She prayed he was related to Zander like she suspected and wasn’t some nutcase stalking her. She tried again to speak to him, but all she managed was a groan of agony.

She stared at the hand he extended to her. “I’m Bhric and the other one over there is my
brathair
, Kyran. You’re injured and need a hospital.”

He helped her sit up and braced her back as her head swam dizzily and throbbed painfully, causing her to swallow back bile. She wondered if she would pass out from the pain. She cradled her right arm to her chest, as adrenaline had flooded her system, keeping her upright.

“Unh…I think…you’re right…something is wrong,” she gasped out between breaths, “I hurt…everywhere.” She held up her left arm and winced from the pain of the movement.

She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. Finally, she opened her eyes and was able to talk more clearly. “How do you know…who I am?” She watched him expectantly as another fire flashed in the periphery of her vision. This time she didn’t bother to turn and see what had happened. Kyran had killed the black-haired vampire.

“We know you because we are Zander’s
brathairs
and a close friend of Orlando. They talk aboot you often,” Bhric said.