Protector (20 page)

Protector training has taught Alessandro well through the years, silence is immensely vital for their survival.  He doesn’t mind the silence.  It leaves him to his thoughts, which of course inevitably leads to the beautiful
Anna-Marie. 

Such a creature isn’t supposed to exist for Alessandro.  He is a warrior, a Protector.  He lives a dangerous life that gives no guarantees.  But the very thought of her angelic face makes those thoughts disappear.  Her deep green eyes pierce his very soul and the smile on her full luscious lips have the power to rip his heart out of his chest.  She has given his life purpose in a new way
, a way he’s never known.  She said he saved her.  But the truth is, she is the one that has saved him.

The hours pass in a daze.  He is watching the world around him and fantasizes about this woman
who is now his.  It’s multitasking at its best.

“Alessandro, over there,
” Marquis says in the lowest of voices, pointing to the closer of the two buildings straight ahead.

Alessandro didn’t see what his father saw, so he puts his thoughts on hold and stares at the building, waiting to see any signs of movement. 

Within seconds Alessandro sees it, too.  Vampires can move in a blink of an eye.  It takes one to see one when it is in action.  A mere human would be blind to these fast movements.  His trained eyes are watching the speeding Rogues go into the building.  From what they can see, there are five so far.  Five Rogues in one spot is big.  They usually don’t travel in a pack except when there is a nest close by and then they become an even more deadly force.

“Alessandro, we have to get back to the manor.  It is what I have feared.  This is a nest Michael stumbled onto.  There is most likely even more than we see now.”

“Dammit!”

“Stay close to the ground and move fast
, Alessandro.”

Mixed vampires don’t run as fast as full bloods but they are still faster than a normal human.  Marquis has to keep reminding himself to keep pace with his son.

A few minutes later they are back at the car and speeding down the coastal highway heading back to the manor. 

When they pull up to the manor Marquis gets out first and quickly runs over to Alessandro’s door before he has a chance to get out.  “No
, son, go to Anna-Marie.  Tell her it is too dangerous out here and she needs to come back to the manor with you right away for her safety.”

“But father
-”

“No
, Alessandro, go quickly.  We will have to take that nest down and it will have to happen very soon.  You know how those animals are.  Do not give them any leverage over you.  Do whatever it is you have to do to convince her.  There isn’t anything you can do here now anyway, not until the others come back.  We can recon then.”

“Okay, I’ll be back as quick
ly as I can.”

Alessandro speeds off once again, except this time in the direction he’s wanted to go all night. 

He looks at the clock on the dash board for the first time.  “Damn, it’s after two already,” he says to himself.

He is certain she is home, probably asleep though. 

“Hmm . . . I wonder if she is a light sleeper,” he asks himself, hoping to be able to wake her.

The miles go by quickly at this hour, although it feels much longer to him.  He comes to a halt in front of her building and quickly races out of the car and up the stairs into her bu
ilding.  She lives on the third floor so he skips the elevator and takes the stairs two at a time.

Once in front of her door h
e takes a deep breath then knocks on her door, praying she will hear him.

All is silent on the other side of the door so he knocks again a little harder this time, “
Anna-Marie,” he says in a soft audible voice as to not alert her neighbors.

This time he hears footsteps
from inside.

“
Anna-Marie, it’s Alessandro.  I need to speak to you.”

“Alessandro?”  He hears her ask as she begins to unlock the door and cracks it open.

“What are you doing here this late?”

“There’s trouble
.  I need to speak with you.”

Instantly she remembers the phone call he got earlier from Michael and opens the door wide to let him by.

“What’s wrong?”

“
Anna-Marie, what Michael found today was a nest and from what we have seen it’s a big one.  We don’t know how many there are all together.  My father and I staked the place out tonight and saw five so far.”

“Oh
, my goodness, Alessandro!  What does that mean?”

“In my experience
, they usually only group for one thing, and that’s to fight.”

Her eyes get wide and she covers her mouth and whispers as if someone could hear her, “What do you think they want?”

“We aren’t sure yet, but it can’t be good.  They are well aware we are in the area by now.  Anna-Marie, I need you to listen to me very carefully.  I need you to get some things and come with me now.”

“Where?” 
Please God, don’t say back to the house of horrors,
she silently prays to herself.

“Back to the manor.”

Dammit!
she curses to herself then sits down on the couch trying to wrap her mind around it. “Alessandro, I don’t know if I can.”

“Please
, Anna-Marie, you have to trust me.  I promise you will be completely safe.  If I have to stand guard in front of you the whole time you are there to make you feel at ease, I will.  I promise I won’t let anything happen to you there.”

Anna
-Marie begins to pace back and forth in the small space of the living room, then sits down on the couch as she tries to figure out what to do.

“I can’t believe this is happening to me.  My life was so normal a year ago.”

She looks up at Alessandro and studies his ever so dark almond eyes.  She has come to care very deeply for him.  She doesn’t know how or when it happened.  She sure as hell never expected it, but there is no denying it.  This beautiful angel has come into her life when she needed him the most.  She knows she can trust him.  She feels it in her deepest core.

“Okay
, Alessandro, I will come with you.”

“Thank you
, goddess.” he says, the relief pouring off of him.  He pulls Anna-Marie off the couch into a monstrous hug. 

“On one condition.”

He pushes her to arm length and looks into her eyes.  “Anything, just name it.”

“I want you to train me.”

He lets go of her and turns away.  “Anna-Marie, you can’t fight these creatures.”

“I may not be able to beat them, but I would like to have some kind of a chance if another one comes after me.  What if you’re not there to save me next time?  I need this Alessandro.  Please.”

“If I say yes, will you come?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then fine, I’ll train you.  Now come on, we need to get back.”

Anna
-Marie throws her arms around his neck and gives him a quick deep kiss before running into her room to get dressed and throws some clothes and other necessities into a bag.  Within minutes she is breezing back into the living room ready to go.

Alessandro smiles immediately as soon as she walks into the room.  He could love this beautiful creature forever.  Caught up in a vision of all the things he would love to do to her at this very moment, he almost misses the smell. 

Instantly, he runs to the cracked living room window that faces the street and looks around wildly.

“Alessandro, what is it?”

Ignoring her, he continues to search.  He sees a blur jumping from the fire escape across the road.  The same spot where he himself had watched over her on many nights. 

“
Dammit!  He must have followed me here!” he growls.

“Who? 
Dammit, Alessandro!  Stop pacing and please tell me what’s going on.”

“Rogue!  We have to go, now!
”

“Oh
, my God!”

He grabs her hand and they begin running as fast as they can down the steps and into the
quiet street where Alessandro’s car is waiting. 

Without looking back Alessandro peels out of the spot and back onto Market Street.  There still isn’t any traffic out now, which is odd for a town like this on a Saturday night.

“Alessandro, why did a Rogue follow you?”

“I told you, my father and I were patrolling the area Michael told us about.  We saw a couple of them walking around.  We had no clue we were seen.  That is the only way he could know where I was.”

“And it followed you to my apartment?  What does that mean?  Could it all be a coincidence?”

“Don’t worry
.  I’m going to take care of you, okay?”

Anna
-Marie looks away from him and out the window at the passing night.  She remembers what he had said earlier that day about why most of them don’t take partners and get married.  It makes them too vulnerable.  Love is a weakness they can’t afford.  Now she understands what he was talking about.

Out of nowhere the car comes to a complete halt in the middle of the deserted road as Alessandro slams on the brakes, which makes her head slam forward toward the dashboard then back against the seat.

“Shit!”

“Alessandro, what’s wrong?”  She looks around to see what could be happening
.  That’s when she sees him. 

A tower of a man is standing in the street
a few yards in front of them and he doesn’t look like he is going to move.  Instead he is staring straight at them with cold calculating eyes and a condescending smile.

Alessandro turns around to look through the back glass to start in reverse when he sees another Rogue a few yards behind them.

“Dammit!”

Anna
-Marie turns around, too, to see what is wrong.

“They have us surrounded.”

“Oh, my God, Alessandro!  What can we do?”

“Hold on tight.  There’s only one way through and that’s over him
,” he says, staring straight ahead at the Rogue in front of them.

Alessandro revs up the engine and bolts forward, jerking her head back again.  The Rogue just continues to stand there with pure amusement on his face, flashing his sharp yellow teeth.  Alessandro smiles back hoping he doesn’t move so he can run the son of a bitch over.

No such luck.  The Rogue moves out of the way at the last minute almost causing the car to lose control. 

“
Anna-Marie, grab my phone out of the console and call Michael for me, will you?  We’re going to need back up and fast.”

Anna
-Marie searches around in the center console until she finds the phone.  The tiny little silver contraption is beautiful and sleek, unlike anything she has ever seen before.  She looks at it for a minute, lost in awe. 

“
Anna-Marie, now!”  He looks in the rear view mirror and sees both Rogues running behind them.  It’s a good thing he brought his car.  The little Porsche isn’t a total match for the fast pace of a vampire, but she can hold her own for a little while.

“Hey
, Ales, what’s up?”

“No
, Michael, umm . . . it’s Anna-Marie.”

“Where’s Alessandro?”
Michael asks.  His senses are on high alert now.

“He’s driving but umm
. . . he’s busy right now.  He told me to call you because we need help.”

Anna
-Marie can’t fight it any longer.  She starts crying, which leads to near hyperventilation with pure fear running through her.  Her voice cracks and she can no longer speak due to the ache in her throat from the pent up tears.

“
Anna-Marie, I need you to put Alessandro on the phone, now!”

Anna
-Marie holds out the shaky phone to him.

“Man, I can’t talk much,” Alessandro says into the phone.

“Ales, what’s going on?”

“A couple of Rogues followed me to
Anna-Marie’s apartment.  They had us surrounded and now they are chasing us.”

“
Dammit!  Where are you?”

“I’m on Market Street.  I just crossed Lexington, going south.  Man, I can’t take a chance at leading them back to the manor
.  My little car is holding her own, but I don’t know for how much longer.”

“We are on our way.  Hey
, Ales, try not to get your ass killed, will ya?”

“I’m trying.”

Alessandro lets the phone fall to the seat, not even worrying about closing it.  A few seconds later he feels something smash into the car.

“What the hell!”

“Oh no! Alessandro, watch out!” Anna-Marie screams when she sees the dark form of a Rogue’s face peering into his side window. 

With a loud crash an arm smashes through the driver side window and tries desperately to grab
and claw at Alessandro.