Surrendering: A Regent Vampire Lords Novel, Book #1 (36 page)

He growled through gritted teeth, “Hear me and hear me well, Esmeralda. If he so much as harms one delicate hair on her precious head, I will personally take it out of your hide. Tenfold. So you’d better pray that she’s unharmed, untouched and healthy, or you’re in for a world of hurt, witch.”

He released her, uncaring as she dropped in a puddle to the floor, legs buckling beneath her.

“I’m sor—”

“Shut the fuck up! You will keep your goddamned mouth shut and
I
will do the talking!”

He sat down behind his desk, calming himself before he spoke again. The next time he spoke, his voice was even, in control, but menacing.

“You will use your magic to find Kate and you will do it now. I have her hair and blood right here. I have her clothing if you need it.” He glared at her, still slumped on the floor.

“And if you don’t, I’ll kill you.”

Esmeralda stared, witnessing a side of Dev she’d never seen before. A side he didn’t show many people. Those who did see it rarely lived. But he hadn’t decided Esmeralda’s fate. Yet.

“Now get the fuck off my floor and get to work, witch.” His harsh command had Esmeralda scrambling in fear for her life to do his bidding.

___________

The phone call he’d been expecting all morning finally came. Xavier. He was making him sweat it out, making every minute he was parted from Kate feel like a thousand centuries.

“Yes.”

“Hello, brother. It’s been a long time.”

“Get on with it, Xavier.” At the moment, he wished his unique power included reaching through the phone line to gut the son-of-a-bitch and hang his intestines from the ceiling fan.

“Now, now, Devon. Is that any way to talk to family?” he chuckled.

“We are not family. But you have mine and I want them back.” He was having a very hard time not letting Xavier under his skin, but he knew if he did, it could be worse for his Kate. And Giselle…provided she still lived.

“Direct, as always. Color me blue when I found out the dreamwalker was your bonded mate. I mean…I couldn’t have scripted our little reunion tete-a-tete any better if I’d tried.” Xavier’s glee oozed through the phone.

“If you’ve harmed either one of them, I’ll slowly rip you apart.”

“Ah, Devon. Such strong words when I’m in the omnipotent position.”

Dev’s jaw ticked back and forth, his teeth grinding so hard, he worried he’d break them.

“I take your silence as agreement. Good. Now, I’ll take you in exchange for your lovely mate. You will come alone, because while I’d love to pay you back for my many losses this evening, at the moment, I’m far more savoring the thought of getting my hands on you. If you don’t come alone, she dies. If you try to double cross me, she dies.” He paused before adding, “I assume you’ll take the deal?”

“Of course. But I want Giselle too. The meeting point?”

“Giselle? That would be the female vampire?” It was a rhetorical question, so he remained silent.

“Very well, you can have her. If she’s still alive by then. She’s hanging on by a very thin thread. She’s been an enjoyable plaything for my men. Needs blood to heal her near-mortal injuries. Shame, really. So…we’ll meet at the lighthouse at Rock Island State Park. Half an hour.”

“Fine.”

Too bad Xavier would be the only one there. He would have his mate back by then.

“I’m looking forward to getting re-acquainted, brother.”

Dev hung up and turned to Ren and Sulley. “You two are with me. We go now before they move her.”

They were already at the old park ranger’s station at Rock Island State Park. Esmeralda had located Kate fifteen minutes ago and he would not wait another second to free her from Xavier’s clutches. They wanted the element of surprise and had already scoped out the area, finding the secret passageway to the lower compound. Dev silently wondered how many of these compounds Xavier had around the country and how they would find them all.

Ren had already identified one human and fifteen vampires, one with a very week aura. They were hoping that was Giselle. She wouldn’t answer when he called her and he would not leave one of his own behind.

To provide shrouding protection, Esmeralda had come with him, Ren, Manny, Thane, and two of Rom’s best fighters. He had to leave the rest of his men back to protect the girls and other humans they’d rescued earlier, so he was working with a smaller crew, but they’d be fine. He didn’t trust leaving Esmeralda behind, so she was going in with them. If she died, oh well. It would be a quicker death than she deserved.

“Manny, the witch is with you. You will guard the outside and, so help me, witch, if I so much as get a tingle that you are sabotaging us, I will gut you faster than you can take your next breath. Thane and Henry, bring Giselle home.”

They headed into action.

Now that he was close enough, he could communicate with Kate. Kate had done a good job at describing her surroundings. The fact that she was kept like some animal in a dog crate nearly made him nuclear. He breathed a little easier when she said she was okay, but until she was safe in his arms, he wouldn’t believe it.

“Kate, my love, I’m on my way.”

No response. Fuck. His heart beat faster with fear. Why wouldn’t she answer him?

As they entered the structure, Dev used his powers to hide them from view. He knew this wouldn’t work against high-powered vampires, like Xavier, but it would work against low level vamps. He had a whole litany of surprises in store for the others. Sulley, one of Rom’s men, was not only a skilled fighter, he had the power to sense a being’s deepest fear, so his skill would be particularly useful, along with Dev’s. This way they could personalize the illusion to each rogue to maximize its benefit. They’d just have to make this quick because making those types of illusions drained him of power quickly and that would make him vulnerable.

He continually tried calling out to Kate, but she wouldn’t respond. He knew something was terribly wrong. “
Hang on my love. I’m on my way.”

They quickly made their way down the steel staircase in complete blackness. Kate was a level down, but Giselle was straight ahead at the end of the hallway. Thane and Henry had their orders. They would flash Elle home and Henry would return to help them while Thane stayed with her if necessary. If not, he’d return also. Big D was at their new location, ready to tend to her.

In short order they had made it to the lower level without incident. His only thought was getting to his mate. The second was eliminating Xavier, but only after Kate was safe. The fact they had run into no rogues at all was disconcerting. Something definitely didn’t feel right. They were feet away from the room that held Kate when all hell broke loose behind them.

Ren was pinned to the ground by an unknown force and Sulley was in hand-to-hand combat with a rogue the size of a lord. There were three more gigantic rogues tearing down the hallway toward them and Dev had a sudden fear for Ren’s safety, stepping protectively in front of him.

“Save your mate, my lord.”

“Looks like I need to save your ass first.”

“I’ve got it covered, my lord.”

“Yes, I can see that.”

Sulley and Dev made quick work of the rogues in the hallway, freeing Ren, only for more rogues to rush them from either side. A feeling of vertigo assaulted him and he had to fight to remain upright.

“Go, my lord. We can take care of this.”

His men could handle this, so Dev didn’t waste another second. “
Kate, I’m coming.”

Dev swiftly closed the gap between him and where his mate was being held, kicking the door open.

What he saw inside was completely unexpected, freezing him in place with terror.

Kate stood before him in the middle of the room, clothes torn to the point of barely covering her. She was covered in bruises, her right eye completely swollen shut. Tears streamed in rivers down her red face. If all of that wasn’t bad enough, what paralyzed him with fear was the fact that Xavier had her completely pinned to him, one arm around her neck and another around her midsection. The arm around her neck forced her head to turn at a grotesque left angle.

Dev had been completely unprepared for this. Ren hadn’t sensed any vampires with Kate.

“You broke our deal, brother,” Xavier sneered.

Dev focused solely on Kate.
“Are you okay, love?”
She wouldn’t answer. “
Kate, answer me, please.”

“If you’re trying to talk to your luscious mate, I’m afraid Katherine can’t really communicate at the moment. You see, I have some tricks up my sleeve too,
brother
.”

“Kate, blink twice if you can hear me.”

Two blinks.
Thank God.

“I’m going to figure a way out of this. Hang on, love.”

How could he rescue her without causing paralysis? One wrong move and her head would be severed from her spinal column. Snapping a vamps neck didn’t cause death, but it did cause permanent paralysis. And throwing an illusion wouldn’t work when Xavier literally held Dev’s entire life in filthy hands.

“I’ve spent the last five hundred years fantasizing about the day I would end your life, brother. The same way you effectively ended mine when you ratted me out like the slimy traitor you are.”

Dev remained silent, never taking his eyes from Kate.

“We could have ruled the world together, Devon. We are among the strongest, oldest and most powerful vampires alive. We could have had it all. We could have been kings. But you had to have a fucking conscience. How can you stomach living side by side with humans? They are animals! They are our food!”

Dev continued to ignore Xavier’s rant. He had to figure out how to get out of this mess. “It’s going to be okay, love.”

“Hmmm, I’m not so sure it
is
going to be okay, my sweet,” Xavier whispered in her ear. He licked her cheek, studying Dev the entire time.

Dev saw red. How
dare
Xavier touch his mate in such a manner. Dev made a slight move toward Kate and Xavier jerked her back toward him more firmly, making her wince.

“You’ll never make it in time before I snap her neck. And I’m not sure how much fun I would have fucking a vegetable. Never tried it before, but it could definitely be worthwhile. But I really do like my bitches to put up a fight.”

Kate looked terrified and she started sobbing softly.

“I won’t let him hurt you, love.”

“You are one sick motherfucker.” Dev was trying to keep his cool, but he felt himself falter slightly. It was clear Xavier had the upper hand at the moment.

“I thought we’d already established that, Devon.”

“Me for her. That was the deal.” At this point, he just needed to get Kate away from Xavier. The fight outside of the room continued to escalate and Dev had the first twinge of real concern. He wasn’t sure either of them would make it out alive of this FUBAR situation.

“Me for her, Xavier.” He had to keep him talking…distract him.

“Yes,” Xavier sighed. “That was the original deal. Until you broke it by trying to sabotage me. Now I’m afraid there is a new deal on the table. Well…the
only
deal, really.”

“And what might that be?”

“I have been forced to spend the last five hundred years living underground like a lowly sewer rat. All thanks to you. My body has been ravaged beyond any repair, also thanks to you. I have spent the last half a millennia waiting, plotting, anticipating my revenge. And I couldn’t have written a better ending to our rivalry if I’d tried. I am going to relish watching you suffer as I fuck and bleed your mate right in front of your eyes. I will let my men line up and use her over and over again. You will watch the life slowly leave her body, unable to save her. And when her body finally gives out and you watch her die, I will enjoy torturing you to the brink of death, only to bring you back again so you can suffer her loss in perpetuity. I will show you no mercy.”

He had to get Kate away from this psychopath. He just needed to get him to release her. If he could get her out of his grip, he had a chance at saving them with a powerful illusion, but he couldn’t risk it while Xavier held her life so precariously in his hands. He obviously had no idea Kate was his daughter and that was definitely a secret they needed to keep.

Dev felt the power Xavier unleashed. This had been his worst fear—that he would be immobilized, unable to help his mate. So while he could feel Xavier’s power—
nothing happened
. He still had the ability to move. And, he realized, so did Kate. She’d been struggling in Xavier’s arms from the moment he walked in.

He could see the confusion could Xavier’s eyes, but Xavier quickly recovered. Dev was confused as well, but wasn’t about to reveal that little fact to him. The upper hand may just have shifted to him slightly.

No sooner had that thought crossed his mind when the unthinkable happened. He watched helplessly as Xavier sunk his fangs into his mate’s neck, but just as Dev was charging to free her, Xavier wailed and threw Kate across the room, where she landed in a still heap on the floor.

Dev only had seconds to react, as Xavier stood clawing at his throat. He threw the illusion that he’d turned his back on Xavier to tend to Kate, who still lay in a crumpled pile bleeding on the ground, when instead he already had her safely in his arms, and unable to flash inside for some reason, ran outdoors where he flashed them the hell out of there and back to the safety of their new home.