Blood Wars by D. Richardson (best affordable ebook reader txt) 📕

“Come on, we can talk at my apartment.” I said resigned. I left the alley with them close on my heels. I think they were worried that I would run off again, because I could constantly feel one of them touching me.

We made it to my apartment not long after and I unlocked the door. The place was empty and I found a note stuck to the refrigerator. Belle and Kathy had decided to go to the movies and would be back around midnight or so. That at least gave me some time. Belle was more than capable of taking care of herself and Kathy.

I turned to see all of them surveying my apartment. It wasn’t exactly impressive, but it was mine. They each decided to take a seat then all of their stares turned to me. I decided to take it one at a time, and I started with Nikolai.

“I see you got away alright.” He nodded.

“Yeah, they’re looking for me, but we managed.”

“We?” He nodded again.

“Some of the men left with me.”

“Where are they?”

“A couple miles outside of town, camping in some woods. We thought it would be best if only the people you knew came in to look for you.”

“A lot has happened since you left.” Jess said staring at me. She was sitting with her fingers intertwined with Matt’s. I was happy to see that they were still together. He made her happy and she deserved happiness after everything that has happened to her.

“Jaide your hair!” Lexi gasped, she had been staring as well. “It’s so cute!” I smiled at her, she hadn’t changed a bit.

Our little session was interrupted when Belle slammed through the door with a confused and slightly worried Kathy behind her. She took us all in. Me leaning against the wall opposite the others who were scattered around the floor and couch. They all tensed and stood at her sudden appearance but I waved them down. She walked next to me and put her hands on her hips. This was her ‘I’m serious’ posture.

“Will somebody tell me why there are werewolves all over my town?” She snapped and I raised my eyebrows at the others. My suspicions grew as all of them looked here or there sheepishly. Sam cleared his throat.

“Um, that would be my fault.” My eyebrows climbed higher. I always thought that his scent was off, and I knew that werewolves existed, I just hadn’t put two and two together before. He met my eyes and shrugged a little. “I was going to tell you, but you left before I got the chance. I’m the alpha of my pack, when I decided to come help find you, they wouldn’t take no for an answer. They were just supposed to roam the town and look for your scent then report back to me. They were never to approach you.”

“So deserted members of the hunters and a pack of werewolves. You brought a small army to come find me?” I asked incredulously.

“Well, it was more like they just followed along. We just kind of followed Devon to you.” Scotty supplied, and had there been room I would have plopped down on the couch. I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose, then sighed as I looked back up at them. The truth was that about a quarter of the worlds population were supernatural. They were all just different species, and kept to themselves. I scanned them all then asked the question that I didn’t want the answer too.

“Where is he?” I asked and again their eyes scattered here and there.

“Well, we don’t actually know.”

“How could you not know?” My voice lowered an octave and they all tensed.

“He called us to tell us that he had spotted you, but before we could get to him, he just disappeared. We thought he was with you, but when we tried to call him he never answered.”

“The vampires have been active tonight.” Belle said in a hushed tone. I looked to her and worry riddled her face.

“What?” She nodded in answer.

“That’s how I noticed the wolves. I heard a couple of them say something. They think someone is attacking the town, trying to take their territory.” She sighed. “They think it’s the new resident vampire trying to over throw them.” I sighed again, this time in frustration.

As much as I hated it, I knew I had to go save Devon. I knew they had him and I knew why. Even though I did all I could to ignore the bond, it was still there. And since it was that meant my scent would still be all over him, despite the distance and time. And they had had plenty of time to learn my scent.

If they were trying to get back at me, then they would take what they considered to be my human. It would be my only weak spot and in truth it actually was. I took a deep breath and broke down my walls around the bond. There he was in all his glory.

To my surprise he wasn’t scared, but angry. So very angry. I couldn’t feel any physical pain from him and in an odd way it made sense. They wanted to get rid of me, but nothing was more dangerous than a born vampire with an injured bonded. And they knew that they only had a weak sense of how much power I had. My guess is that they were going to try to use him to negotiate with me. But they wouldn’t dare hurt him. I could easily follow the bond to him, but it would take time, and I wanted to get this over with as soon as possible, so I turned to Belle.

“Where are they based?” She nodded slowly, she knew what I was planning. It was what made us so compatible.

“They live in the abandoned warehouse just off sixteenth.” It was my turn to nod and I turned to the others.

“Stay here, it won’t take long.” I grabbed my keys and Sam stood fully prepared to argue.

“Back off pup. She knows what she’s doing and I highly doubt you fully understand the vampire hierarchy.” Belle said waving him off. I half expected him to explode. Werewolves did not take kindly to being talked down to. But instead he thought for a moment then nodded, taking his seat. I leveled my gaze with Belle’s.

“This won’t take longer than an hour.” She knew what I was saying. If I didn’t make contact in an hour then something had gone wrong. If that was the case then she knew to send the cavalry.

I walked out the door and used my enhanced speed to get there in seconds. I was not in the mood to uphold appearances. I didn’t even want to see the man, but here I was going to save his ass.

The warehouse was large. Perfect to hold a number of vampires and humans. There were only windows on the second and third floor, so the vampires would be on the ground floor. Or the basement, where, judging from the bond, Devon was being held.

There were two large men guarding the double doors, and I knew instantly that they were bitten vampires. I couldn’t sense a single born vampire from where I was. That didn’t mean that there wasn’t one in the building though.

I walked calmly towards the men and I didn’t need enhanced vision to see their sneer. They still weren’t expecting a female, and I was in the mood for some violence. A small deep down part of me relished the opportunity to cause a little blood shed. It was a part of myself that I rarely acknowledged, let alone expressed.

When one of them reached for me I decided to get it over with quickly. I grabbed Dumb’s outstretched arm and turned throwing him as hard as I could into the building across the street. Judging from the loud thwack I heard upon his impact, he would be out for a while. Which only left Dumber to be dealt with.

“You little bitch!” He snapped and tried to lunge for me. Instead he met my foot, my strength plus his momentum sent him sailing backwards into the double doors that opened to the building inside. The impact was too much for the run down doors and instead of bouncing off them he instead went through them. Both doors gave and he landed about a dozen feet inside the building.

I walked calmly after him to see several gang members scattered around the room. Some of them were vampire but most were human. At the sight of their comrade out cold on the floor several came towards me. I held a hand up and to my surprise it worked. They all hesitated and stopped where they stood.

“Now, I believe you have something that belongs to me. Who do I speak to, to get it back?”

“That would be me.” A strong male voice to my right answered. I turned my head slightly to take him in. He stood tall and strong, with blonde hair and blue eyes. I supposed he would be considered really attractive, but I found his looks to be slightly generic. The amused grin he wore only added to my aversion to him.

“Cal, why don’t you fetch some chairs so our guest would be more comfortable.” he said to a large man to his left. The man left immediately and within second was back with two large puffy chairs, one in each hand. They were placed in the middle of the room one on each side of a table that I hadn’t noticed before.

Blondie made his way to one of the chairs and took a seat indicating that I should do the same. I walked over and stood next to the chair but folded my arms instead looking at him expectantly.

“Come now, there is no need to be rude. We simply wished to gain your attention, there is no need for blood shed.” The threat was veiled well, but it was still a threat. One I didn’t appreciate. He basically just told me to do what I was told or me or Devon would get hurt, his smirk told me he knew that I knew what he meant, and I let a little more of my power show. His eyes widened slightly in surprise. Like I said, they weren’t expecting a female. And as history has told many, females were always considered the weaker gender. This pompous ass thought he had the upper hand.

“Bring him to me, then we’ll see just how much blood will be shed.” I let just a fraction more power show in my voice and had I not been so focused on him, I wouldn’t have seen his hard swallow. He snapped his fingers and two human left immediately. I let my senses roam for a moment while keeping my eyes on him. All of the vampires in this building were bitten, all but him. He was born.

I stood in silence until the humans came back. They each had a restraining arm on Devon, but his hands were still bound behind his back. His eyes roamed the room and I saw the fury in them. He wanted to shed some blood of his own. His eyes finally found mine and the fury was replaced by shock and guilt. They brought him to my side and I stood still while I took him in.

He had a bruise on his forehead, but other than that he seemed fine. I sensed no pain from him, but I blocked all of his other emotions. If I didn’t it would be likely that I would vomit from his constantly swirling emotions, and I could not afford to show any weakness.

I took in his bonds and smiled slightly. They had a large plastic zip tie