Vampire: A Dark Protectors/Rebels Novella by Rebecca Zanetti (love letters to the dead .txt) 📕

Okay. This guy was beyond delusional. The outside door opened, and two more men wearing masks walked inside. Like Jon, they had on plain black pants and shirts. They paused and flanked the doorway, gazes flicking to her. They also wore the black and red wigs and the too pale masks.

Was this some kind of a cult?

“What’s up with the masks?” she asked.

Jon crouched next to her, still taller than she. His contacts had some red mingling with the purple. “You’re enhanced and you’ve created a marking already. Surely you know about us.”

It was like he spoke another language. “I have no idea,” she whispered. The guy smelled like too sweet musk.

He frowned, and the mask wrinkled perfectly. “Interesting. You’ve never heard of us?”

She shook her head. So far, he’d seemed rather approachable.

“Have you heard of species other than humans? Surely you have.” He placed a large and bony hand on her knee.

She barely kept from jumping away from his touch. His hand felt cold through her jeans. Other species? “Like animals?”

“No.” He chuckled. “Like Kurjans, vampires, demons, and so on. Well, I guess shifters are animals, but we don’t intermingle with them much.”

She tried to swallow over her dry throat. Were they going to drain her blood? “You think you’re a vampire?”

“Of course not.” His smile slid away from his blood-red lips. “I’m a Kurjan.”

“Oh.” She could play along a little, but she needed information. Were the white roses part of their ritual? “How long have you been stalking me, Jon?”

“Stalking? I just got the orders to take you this morning. Our techs narrowed down your location, and we followed you from your home today. Thank you for making it so easy.” He patted her knee.

“I didn’t see you following me.” She pushed his hand away.

He nodded. “We’re good at the job.”

She shook her head as the fear rose in her until it was difficult to breathe. “You’re talking in riddles. Did you or did you not send me the white roses?”

“I don’t send roses.” He leaned in to examine her eyes and ignored the fact that she shrank back. “Did I give you too much chloroform? Sometimes I get it wrong.”

“Please stop playing games.” There had to be a way to reason with him. “It sounds like somebody else ordered you to kidnap me.” If so, who the hell was her stalker? “Was it Raine?”

“Never heard of Raine,” Jon said. “Our techs found you based on a report filed in Dallas that mentioned a probable stalker with a mating marking on his hand.”

“Mating marking?” The only person she knew with a tattoo on his hand was Raine.

“Yeah. I’m sure the nerds caught wind of a marking and traced it back to you.” He leaned in to sniff her. “It hasn’t been transferred yet, so you’re free game. We’ve been collecting enhanced females for a while.”

She didn’t like the idea of being collected. “Stop this. Now. Take off the mask.” Her voice trembled but she faced him directly.

He sighed and leaned toward her. “You take it off.”

Fine. She grabbed his neck and searched for the mask. Nope. Was it a whole body suit? Glaring at him, she pulled on his wig. The hair remained in place, and he winced. That was his real hair? She felt along his hairline for the mask. Nothing.

He smiled again. “See? It’s all me.” Then fangs slowly lowered from his mouth.

She screamed.

* * * *

Raine nearly lost his mind when he reached Mariana’s and discovered she was gone. A quick call to Tabi confirmed that she’d headed out and hadn’t told anybody where. He ran to his brother’s rented car and jumped in. “Let’s go.”

Only Cade would find a new Camaro to rent in the middle of Indiana. He gunned it. “Where are we going?”

Raine pulled his phone out of the bag supplied by the cops when he’d been released. “I put a tracker in her purse. Head to the Interstate and go north.”

Cade laughed and sped up. “Of course you did.”

Raine dug into the computer tracker he’d placed on her phone to see she’d made a reservation at a spa retreat three hours to the north. His shoulders slowly unbound. Okay. If she was at a spa, she was safe. “Just hurry up,” he muttered.

Cade shook his head. “Do you want to explain to me why we’re speeding after your wayward mate?” He took a corner on two wheels and sped up onto the Interstate. “This is like a lot of trouble for a female you have no intention of making yours.”

“She’s in danger,” Raine gritted out.

Cade passed three cars on the right. “It seems as if she has taken precautions to keep herself safe. If you’re not making her yours, perhaps you should leave her alone.”

“No.” Raine checked the app on his phone to see the route she’d taken. She’d stopped at what appeared to be a rest stop, and then she’d taken a detour in the wrong direction of the spa. Was she just being careful or had something gone wrong?

Everything in his gut told him she’d had no intention of going east. He quickly dialed Benny again, putting him on speaker this time.

“What, dude? I’m in the middle of trying to rescue my mate, who doesn’t know she’s my mate, and I need to get kidnapped and have the crap beat out of me each time in order to just find her fucking location. I don’t have the energy to deal with you,” Benny grumbled. “Make this quick.”

There was too much to unpack in that statement. “I’m sorry. Don’t you have a hacker in your merry band of misfits? Somebody who can break into traffic or surveillance cameras?” Raine asked.

“Of course, and she’s right here in the computer room trying to find my next place of being kidnapped. You can borrow her for three seconds. Raine, this is Mercy. She’s a Fae and is just as crazy-assed as rumored to be, so ask her for a