SEDUCTIVE SUPERNATURALS: 12 Tales of Shapeshifters, Vampires & Sexy Spirits (234 page)

Kayla suspected it would probably be drugged. “No thanks.” Her stomach took the opportune moment to grumble loudly proving her a liar.

Rex raised one brow questioning her, and waved his hand. Two steaming cups of coffee appeared on the table along with some kind of apple strudel glistening with zig-zagged strands of white icing. He held out a hand indicating the food. “Please, partake. We will try to make you comfortable while you stay with us.”

Kayla’s stomach pinched uncomfortably. She really was starving. With no clock, no phone and no watch, it was impossible to tell how long she’d been there. With a shaking hand, she picked up the coffee cup to find it was already spiked with cream and sugar, just the way she liked it. Fragrant tendrils of steam drifted up, making her stomach growl again. She blew on the hot liquid, then took a tentative sip. It was delicious, flavored with a hint of hazelnut and vanilla. For bad guys, they made good coffee.

The stranger picked up the second cup and took a drink as well, as if they were just old friends sitting around, catching up.

“How long will I be staying here?”

“Only until we capture the soldier.”

“You mean Cole?”

Rex took another sip and held the coffee cup which almost completely disappeared between his broad hands. “I believe that’s what you call him.”

“So I’m bait.” It wasn’t a question.

He gave her an understanding smile. “Yes, and once we have him, we will have no further use of you, and you will be returned to your domicile.”

The coffee suddenly seemed sour and acidic in her stomach. She set the cup on the table.

“Are you the guys who broke into my house?”

Rex nodded. “We advised the solider to leave. He did not take our warning seriously.”

“He hasn’t done anything to you!”

Rex fixed his clear green gaze on her. “He alone has not, but Vector Force has captured several of our brothers and sisters and dissects and tortures them as we speak politely over coffee. We merely want our family members returned and to be left alone. Anything else is an act of aggression and will be met with equal force. We deserve the right to protect ourselves, do we not?”

Confusion clouded Kayla’s thoughts. Cole was a good guy. He didn’t have anything to do with the stuff this stranger was rambling about. She rubbed her arms, suddenly feeling cold in the little room all alone with this man she knew nothing about.

“Cole won’t be able to help you. He’s being used by Vector Force as an experiment too.”

Rex inclined his head in acknowledgement and gave her a patient smile, which was more like a light upturn to his mouth that promised nothing. “We know. Since Vector Force values their highly developed weapon, they will agree to an exchange.”

She stared at him. “And if they don’t?”

Sadness washed over Rex’s features, as though he’d seen so much and was worn down by it. “There is always collateral damage in any war, is there not?”

Welcome Home, Vampire: Chapter Eight

The first thing Cole felt was an incredible suck and pull right behind his navel as if his body were being turned inside out, then atomized into a million pieces. Next came the sensation of compression. The pressure had to be in excess of 4 Gs.

The moment his feet touched something solid again, rather than floating weightless, his eyes snapped open.

Gasping and wheezing, Cole braced his hands on his knees. Crawford stood beside him, cracked his neck to either side and glanced at him. “Not bad for your first time. You’ll get use to it.”

Cole wasn’t so sure.

Crawford glanced around, and pitched his voice low, “Where the hell are we, solider boy?”

They were in the shadow of the lab building at the edge of top secret base commandeered by Vector Force. Moonlight streamed in glowing white over the grounds and he could see the figures of the night watch moving silently on their rounds at the nearby perimeter fence. “This is where they take us for our transitional therapy.”

Crawford snorted. “Is that what they call it? Fucked up if you ask me. Test-tube vampires with damn heartbeats. Give me a good old-fashioned bite and drain any time. At least then you know who the hell your maker is.”

He glanced at Crawford. “You purebreds have sires?”

“Yeah. There’s a whole family lineage that goes along with who bites and transitions you. We even have mentors for our new fledglings who don’t know their makers, unlike you guys.”

Cole grimaced. “Oh, we have mentors, they just also happen to be drill sergeants.”

“Not even the same. Trust me. What your Vector Force eggheads know about being vampire could fit in a wad of gum on the bottom of my shoe. When we get through all this, I’ll be happy to give you a little insight into what you really should be taught if you’re going to be any use at all as a vampire.”

“Thanks.”

Crawford gave one curt nod in acknowledgment. “Now, where do we go from here?”

“Inside the lab. It’s the most likely place they’ve got subjects if they are trying to extract DNA or formulate anything new to try on us. But it’s impossible to get inside if you don’t have an authorized key card and fingerprint scan to match. Only people with level red clearance have that.”

Crawford chuckled. “Never say impossible to a vampire, kid.” He put his hand on Cole’s shoulder, gripping tight. “Ever phased before?”

“What?”

“Never mind. This’ll feel weird, but it’ll get us inside.” Crawford used the grip on Cole’s shoulder to propel him forward, walking him right toward the solid wall of the building.

Cole tensed, his body resisting the idea of being slammed face first into something solid.

“Relax,” Crawford ordered.

Cole didn’t know how, but the moment his body touched the wall, it didn’t feel solid. It didn’t feel like anything at all. The sensation that surrounded him was not unlike cool, thick-set gelatin that hadn’t completely hardened. He could move, but there was no air, no sense that he was anything except a mass of atoms intermixed with the atoms of the wall. He stepped through the other side, the forced air circulating inside the building brushing his face, and sucked in a breath.

Crawford grinned and patted him on the shoulder. “And that’s how real vamps do it.”

“Add it to the list of things I want to learn when we get back.” Cole lifted his head and took a deep inhale, searching for the tell-tale scent of Enochian. The lightest hint of angel-food cake came from further down hall on the left. Cole pointed. “That way.”

They passed several labs, the lights of the machines the only glow in the rooms. Two hallways and several turns later they came to a handleless, locked door blocking the hallway. Entrance was gained by a key card reader and scan pad. “The Enochians are behind this door.”

“One more phase, coming up,” Crawford said without warning, grabbing Cole's arm and again walking him through the solid barrier.

On the other side the odor of Enochian was much stronger. Doors with small square windows lined each side of the hallway. “Recovery rooms,” Cole murmured.

“Yeah, recovery my ass, I smell blood.”

Cole glanced at him. “It’s what’s for dinner. They are making vampires here you know.”

“Yeah, but this isn’t human blood.” Crawford stopped in front of door 212. “Let’s try this one.”

* * *

Locked. Cole broke the handle free then opened the door. Inside, strapped to the hospital bed was a large man, over six foot, his hair fair, his eyes a pale blue-green the color of polar ice. There were a dozen tubes and wires running out of him so that he looked more like a circuit board than a living being.

“Help me,” he said, his voice raspy.

For a second cold revulsion trickled through Cole’s system. Memories assaulted him. He remembered this. He remembered being treated like a fucking guinea pig. He shook his head to clear it. Now was not the time for tripping down memory lane.

“You’re Enochian, aren’t you?” Cole asked.

The man shook his head. “Enochian is the name you’ve given us, but we are Nephilium, the first of God’s creation.”

Crawford snorted. “Nephilium. You mean angels? What the hell are
you
doin’ down here, man?”

“We are not angels in full, but their children from the daughters of man. No creation is perfect, vampire. We are the Fallen, those who would not bow to God’s lesser creations.” His gaze locked on Cole. “And we do not bow to man’s creations, either.”

“Wait, you’re gonna believe this guy’s part fallen angel?” Cole shook his head. “What bullshit.”

But when Cole glanced at Crawford, the vampire wasn’t laughing. Shit. This was a real, honest to God, possibility? Cole frowned. Until two years ago he though all the articles in the paper claiming there were vampires created by viruses that were going to overrun the city were crap too. And look how wrong he’d been about that.

“No wonder Vector Force wants you,” Crawford said with deadly calm. “You’ve probably got powers they haven’t even dreamed up, yet. Look, you help us, and then, perhaps, we can help you.”

“They’ve taken my powers. I am hardly able to breathe, let alone help, if I am tied down to this bed,” the Enochian replied.

Crawford muttered a few curses beneath his breath and gave a quick, measured glance to Cole. “Untie him.” Together they worked at the buckles holding the straps in place until the Enochian was loose.

The man sat up and groaned, rubbing the places where the restraints had cut into him. His cool blue-green eyes first met Crawford’s gaze, then Cole’s. “My name is Bale.”

Cole was on edge. Time was ticking away. “You think I give a fuck what your name is? Where's Kayla? Tell me where your headquarters are, or I punch a hole right through you.”

The Enochian didn’t even flinch. He just stared, calm and unblinking, at Cole, as if he were resigned to his fate. “You may think you’re invincible, vampire, but you are not. Neither are we.”

“See, that’s the difference between you and me, asshole. I know I’m not invincible, I just don’t care. Now where have they taken her?”

Bale gave a slight lift of his shoulder, which may or may not have been a shrug. “I did not take her.”

“I know
you
didn’t. But somebody from your unit did. So where the fuck is your headquarters?”

Bale’s eyes narrowed. “You are awfully angry for a part human. You haven’t the control full vampires, like this one does,” his gaze flicked to Crawford, then back to Cole, and stared, as if he were assessing him. “That’s why you and your kind must cease to exist. You do not follow the rules of nature. You should not be here.”

Cole’s hands clamped into tight fists. “You’re about two breaths away from not being here either. Last time. Where. Did. They. Take. Her.”

The man stared at him for a moment, as if weighing his worth and deciding he was not as disreputable as the rest of Vector Force. “I can tell you, but it won’t do any good. Once you get there, they’ll never let you leave alive. They will destroy you.”

Cole got right in the Enochian’s face. “You weren’t listening. I don’t care. Where the fuck is my woman?”

The Enochian rattled off a street address and Cole burned it into his memory. He had Bale sketch out a brief layout of the building and the most likely place they were holding Kayla. He turned to Crawford. “I know exactly where that is. Ready to hit it?”

Crawford put a hand on Cole’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”

“What about me? Aren’t you going to help me?”

“We got your ass out of those restraints. The rest is up to you,” Crawford said.

This time the suck and pull, then squeeze of the transport was easier to bear. At least he knew what to expect. Cole opened his eyes and took a deep breath looking at the veritable fortress up on the hill. By all accounts it just looked like a swanky house some high-tech billionaire might have bought, a big place with several thousand square feet. But on closer inspection with his telescopic vampire vision, Cole noticed the high-level security features, like the cameras well-hidden within the architecture itself and dense foliage on the trees.

"There. There. There." Cole pointed to the cameras in case Crawford missed them.

“With this kind of system, they'll have laser grids on the bigger openings and sensor pads beneath all the ground floor windows and doors,” Crawford muttered. “You sure know how to pick ‘em, kid. You don’t mess with the bullies. You go for the gang leader in the neighborhood.”

He glanced at Crawford. “I didn’t start this, Vector Force did. All I know is if Kayla is in there, I’m getting her out.”

Crawford frowned in thought. “They want you, not her. Right?”

“Yeah.”

“So she’s bait. As long as they get what they want, which is you, she should go free.”

Cole shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Great, so your plan is just sacrifice myself and hope they let her go? Fucking brilliant, Crawford.”

“Nah. That’s not my plan. That’s just what I want them to think is the plan. Here’s what’s really going to go down: You’re going to walk into this booby trap, surrender and make sure they let her go.”

“Still not seeing how it varies from the original stupid plan.”

“Shut up and let me finish. I’m going to go in with you, only I’ll flux first.”

“Flux? That sounds disgusting.”

“Turn invisible. Jesus, they really haven’t taught you anything other than how to drink blood and crush things with your bare hands, have they?”

Now was not the time to debate it. “So you are going in with me. . . invisible.”

“Yeah, and once they let your girl go free, then I can help you escape. As long as no one knows I’m there, we’ve got a surprise advantage on our side.”

It sounded plausible. “There’s only one major glitch in this plan. We don’t know how many of them are in there and how heavily they are armed. Shit, for that matter we don’t even know if they can see invisible vampires.”

Crawford frowned. “Yeah, that’s a hell of an if, isn’t it?”

“If you want out, I understand, but either way I'm getting her out of there.”

Crawford put a hand on his shoulder. “Ready to go in without knocking on the door?”