Blood & Roses: Warriors of the Krieger Read online

  The Krieger have been around for thousands of years. Up until eight years ago, they were silent protectors. Now they are in the same ranks as human police and military, patrolling beside their mortal counterparts. Human authorities rely on the Krieger to keep our kind in check.

  I set the alarm on my beautiful baby and followed Lydia through the back door.

  Waitresses were milling around the storage room, preparing for tonight. It was Tuesday; our busiest night of the week. The bartenders carried cases of booze from the locker to stock the two bars we had. Vampires can drink alcohol, but of course cannot eat. Trust me; I tried a slice of apple pie once. Even though Lydia warned me, and as I said before, I was sick for days.

  My overhead costs are low and my profit high; no need for the health department to stop by and check the food either. Plus, not many of us can stand the smell of human food. So it’s a win-win situation.

  I take pride in my business; everyone knows and respects that. Fights and humans are not tolerated. Other clubs who allow humans are filthy, sex driven disasters waiting to happen. Horny vampires and intoxicated humans don’t mix. Violence, rape and drug use are the main attractions; when that happens, bars get shut down and the owners pay such hefty fines, they can no longer operate.

  Doors opened right on queue; exactly eight o’clock. The staff were in position and I plopped myself at the bar, Lydia on my right. Jackson, the bartender at the East bar, slid us over two Jack and Cokes. I glanced at Thomas, at the West bar, and he nodded.

  We had just swiveled around to watch the incoming patrons when Lydia sucked in a deep breath. I knew that sound like I knew the whisper of my own voice. She had spotted a good looking man. I lifted my eyes, searching for the reason for her infatuation and froze.

  “Bloody hell!” I gasped.

  “No kidding,” she sighed. “Would you look at that?”

  Dragus

  “Dragus,” Ashby paused as he walked into my office. “We have reports that Adam Castillo was seen in that vampire club called Nights, down by the river.”

  “Gather everyone up and we will go talk to the owner.” The vampire in question had been reported as a Lycanthrope attack victim. We’d been following his trail of victims over the past week, seven deaths, three humans and four vampires. All were drained of blood and most of their flesh had been eaten; typical of a vampire-werewolf hybrid attack.

  I grabbed my cell phone, keys to the Hummer and a picture of the suspect, placing it in my back pocket. Ashby gathered Rowland and the twins, Powle and Bastian; they were waiting for me in the front lobby.

  “While I talk to the owner, I want you to question the employees. Get anything you can from them. Afterward, we will patrol the area.” It was my job as Head Krieger for Port Royal, to command the troops.

  I had been commissioned to this job about two years ago. Before that I was Head Krieger in Valencia, Spain for twenty years. The queen had personally requested that I be transferred to Port Royal.

  The United States was starting to have a larger amount of our kind moving to the country. Their tax laws were a little more lenient than other countries. The government here even set up blood donor areas at their local Red Cross centers. Due to the amount of new vampire citizens, more Krieger were needed to police their cities.

  “Alright, let’s go,” Rowland laughed. “I’m completely bored.”

  They followed me out into the parking lot. The government issued Hummer sat in the first spot by the door. The night was eerily quiet and quite cold. Just a few days into the new year and we had our hands full.

  There were five of us, with more recruits in training. With all of this activity, I needed more men. At this point, we were stretched thin. There was almost no down time between calls about these damn Lycans.

  It has been about a hundred years or so since I dealt with Lycanthrope attacks. In Russia, I had organized a group to extinguish a small attack on the vampire community. It took only a few months to eradicate and destroy all of them. Now it looks like we may be dealing with another round. Our objective was to destroy anyone and anything related to them. They’re considered dangerous and unstable. This was something we needed to keep out of the public eye. If the humans saw how Lycans actually behaved, then God only knows how they would react. We could be looking at an all-out apocalypse. Trigger happy humans would kill anyone who looked even remotely like a vampire or a slathering hybrid. Hell, some humans could pass for the latter.

  Lycanthrope venom was what changed a human into a werewolf, but to a vampire it was something different. One bite changed our kind into a weird hybrid; half vampire, half werewolf. Since not much was known about them, our objective was to destroy them.

  We pulled into the parking lot of Nights a few minutes after they opened. Just a couple of blocks from the river, this restored warehouse held one of the most exclusive night clubs in town. The owner was said to be a woman named Charity Harwood. She and her friend Lydia Duncan opened the club about six years ago. From the information I have, the club has never had any problems, which is a welcome sight. It gets old trying to keep these places in line, so they don’t end up vampire whore houses.

  I noticed the parking lot was well lit and there were two security guards patrolling the area. For that I had to give this woman credit. She was prepared.

  The other Krieger followed me to the entrance. I flashed my badge to the attendant at the door. He pulled back a red velvet rope and ushered us inside. I heard music coming from the main floor of the club. It was something upbeat and modern, nothing like the music of my youth. There were only about twenty patrons inside when we stepped out of the hallway.

  I stopped a passing waitress. The name badge she was wearing said her name was Abby.

  “Excuse me, miss. I’m looking for Ms. Charity Harwood. Do you know where I could find her?” The poor girl looked at me like I was a giant. I didn’t mean to scare the child. Obviously she had never seen a Krieger up close. I sensed she wasn’t too far out of her transition, maybe just a few years. Her big green eyes lit up as she smiled.

  Her hand was a little shaky as she held it up to point toward her boss, “She is the blonde woman sitting at the bar. Right over there, sir.”

  I turned my head following her directions and saw the woman in question. And I froze. Quickly I gave myself a mental shake and marched forward. I felt a weird sizzle to the air as our eyes met.

  I knew this woman.

  Charity

  They came in like royalty. Five Krieger drifted through the main entrance and slowed, looking around for someone. At the head of the group stood a vampire warrior, he was freaking huge. Six foot six of shear ass kicking brute force, shoulders as wide as a dump truck and the face of a Greek God. He had a strong chiseled jaw and perfectly high cheek bones. Long black hair pulled neatly into a pony tail showing off his warrior tattoo – a black dragon – on his pale neck, brilliant blue eyes, leather pants and an issued black t-shirt, showing his affiliation as a Krieger. His name was stitched across the left breast pocket. It read, Dragus.

  And I knew him.

  My hands began to tremble. Our eyes locked and I felt a weird tingling in my hands, as if I had to reach out for him. I gasped a few times when I realized who he was. Not that I had met him before, but I knew him from a dream. A few months before I had been attacked, I would have the same dream night after night.

  In my dream, the town rumored that a warrior was trying to find me. In the beginning, I was scared, not knowing what I had done to have the warrior after me. It confused me that he would only search for me in the night, when everyone would be asleep. I would hide behind the old farmer’s barn, but in every dream he would find me. Just before I would wake up, the warrior would say, “I’ve been searching for you for a very long time.” And that was it. I would wake up confused, but after a while I was no longer scared. The dreams became such a part of my life, I felt like the warrior was mine. He was never mean to me; he just seemed relieved that he had found
me.

  I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt the Krieger that just entered the room was the warrior from my dreams so long ago. I watched him move just as he did in my dream, soft and graceful, but still with authority and pride. There was an aura of strength and power around him.

  I gave myself a little internal shake because I couldn’t think of him right now. Only Lydia and I knew about this dream. I had to look away before someone caught me gawking at him. My eyes moved from his to the other warriors who followed him.

  The four other Krieger were standing at attention behind him; I knew this because they all sported the same dragon tattoo on the right side of their necks. The tattoos were all identical, each one starting just behind the earlobe; the dragon’s nose peaked out underneath. The dragon’s body curled into an S, ending with the pointed tail resting on top of their collar bone. They were not as large, but still built like brick shit houses. The warrior behind Dragus was just as tall, but with very short blonde hair, his shirt said his name was Ashby. The two beside Ashby were identical twins. They both had disheveled brown hair and golden eyes, which meant they were mated. The twins stood just a few inches shorter than Dragus. Their shirts read Bastian and Powle. Last but not least, Rowland. He was absolutely scary looking. There was a scar that ran from just under his right ear, to the underside of his chin and through his lips and that’s where it ended. Obviously this was a human scar; vampires heal too quickly to get them. His hair was long, almost even with his chin and his eyes were the color of coal. The part of his face that wasn’t ruined by the scar was soft and inviting. Like you just couldn’t help walking up to him and stroking his cheek, but the rest of him screamed Viking, from his set jaw to his muscular chest, all the way down to his boots. Rowland smiled at Lydia and she shivered. His bright red hair and crystal blue eyes with dark rims, never left her face. As he scanned the area, his eyes darkened; the blue no longer visible. His eyes now jet black. It was my turn to shiver.

  Dragus stopped one of the waitresses, Abby, and spoke quietly to her. She smiled and very slowly raised her scrawny little hand and pointed directly at me. I gasped, wondering what the hell they wanted with me.

  Dragus’ face lit up like a child’s for a split second. His beautiful blue eyes seemed to momentarily bulge before settling back into the hard chiseled stone faced warrior he was known to be.

  Did he recognize me? No, that was my dream. Dragus had to be years, if not centuries older than me. How would he have known about me? There was no way I was going to mention this to him; he may think I’m crazy.

  They marched in a precise military formation toward the bar. I risked a glanced over at Lydia. She had removed the clip and was primping her already too straight auburn hair, shifting nervously in her seat. Just like her to think of her own hormones first, instead of doing a little freak out like me; wondering what was going on. I stepped off the stool just as they approached.

  “Are you this establishment’s owner?” Dragus purred in a sultry, raspy kind of way. His voice reminded me of a deep, sexy roll of thunder on the horizon. His accent was hard to place, maybe Romanian. Yeah, something like that; it didn’t matter to me. It was sexy as hell; just as I remembered from my dream. I noticed how his eyes wandered from the top of my head to my breasts to my feet and back up slowly. It was all I could do to keep from chuckling at his assessment. Dragus’ lip turned up slightly, just the corner of his mouth raised in a half sided smile.

  “Um, yes,” I whispered. “I’m Charity Harwood.” He held his hand out for mine. Once I reached up, he immediately sank to one knee, placed his right fist over his heart, and kissed the back of my hand. If my heart still worked right, it would have exploded. The feel of his velvet lips against the back of my hand was like a shock to my body. Every nerve from the top of my head, to my toes and all the ones in between tingled and I know damn well I shivered.

  “My lady, I am Dragus, head Krieger for Port Royal,” he smiled again, and what a smile it was. “May I speak to you in private?” The way he said ‘my lady’ seemed a little too formal to me, like I was royalty. I blew it off as just his way of greeting a female of his kind, even though I have never met a Krieger who did that. Bonded females of the Krieger were to be address as ‘my lady’ or something formal like that, since the Krieger were considered royalty.

  “Yes, sir, please come to my office.” I suggested and turned for the hallway. The room I use is fairly average size for an office. I had a standard wooden desk with my computer on top. Pictures in various stages of the construction of Nights plastered the wall. The wall itself was painted red just like the rest of the place.

  Dragus left instructions for the other Krieger and followed me to the door behind the bar. I looked back and Lydia was leaning against the bar, sizing up one of the warriors, Ashby. I’m sure she will fill me in later. She was such a tramp.

  Dragus took one of the two chairs in front of the desk as I walked around planting myself into my plush leather one. My senses picked up that he was watching me move behind my back. I suppressed a smile before turning toward him. I looked up nervously when he pulled a picture from his back pocket. Hell, his pants were so tight; I don’t know how the damn picture even fit into the pocket. His legs were obviously corded with muscles. Each one of them was as big as two of mine.

  “Don’t be nervous, you’re not in trouble,” he guessed. I laughed, remembering that Krieger could sense the emotions of other vampires, along with their other special mystical powers. Little did he know I wasn’t nervous about possibly being in trouble; I was nervous about him in general.

  “We’ve been searching for a vampire in the area. He’s been accused of murder against humans…and vampires.” The Krieger handed me the photo and waited. I gave myself a mental mind shake; putting the dream and his yummy looking legs behind me. I had to answer his question.

  Usually criminal vampires were not known for killing others of our kind. It’s usually the rebels that make trouble for us. They can’t afford the Red Cross’ prices and still hunt in the night and because they wait too long to feed, they drain the human and mistakenly kill them.

  My eyes flashed wide when I looked at the picture. This guy was familiar, very familiar.

  “He was here three nights ago. That jerk was manhandling my waitresses and tried to start a fight in the back of the club. I had him escorted from the building. Who is he?” The man in the picture was very handsome. He had sandy blonde hair and beautiful green eyes, almost like emeralds. I have never seen that deep of green in someone’s eyes before.

  “Adam Castillo,” Dragus reached for the picture. I surrendered it to him and then he continued. “His family reported that he was attacked by a Lycan about two weeks ago. We know that he has murdered three humans and four vampires since…and they were all women.” His voice trailed off at the end. I assumed he was saddened to talk about that last bit of information, which confused me a little. Krieger were known for their caveman like qualities. They’ve been trained to military precision, and were called ‘warriors’ for a reason.

  Lycanthropes are werewolves who were born human. Once a human is bitten and the transformation is complete, there is no changing back. They are stuck like that for eternity. They lose all of their human memories and turn into beast of the night. They also scared me beyond death. Their patchy fur and wrinkled skin makes them look like zombie dogs. Yuck!

  Vampires turn feral when bitten by Lycanthropes. The Lycan’s saliva is poisonous and will eventually turn them into a type of hybrid. From what I know of them, once their transformation is complete, they remain on two legs, but look like a mix of human and werewolf. They lose all humanity and when they feed, they kill. Well, more like eat their prey. The thought made me shiver.

  “What does this have to do with me?” I asked, confused. Dragus’ eyes flashed a little as he shifted in his chair. His shirt pulled tight across his chest and I wondered how his muscles would feel underneath my hand.

  “We have already had reports
of him being seen in this area and we need you to be extra careful. Have your employees only leave the club in groups. Remind them to call 111 if he is seen.”

  The human police had 911, we have 111. That was something that the Krieger and the human’s government established for calls concerning direct problems within the vampire community. Human police do not have the strength or the fire power to detain a feral vampire. When a vampire is enraged, there is no way a human can handle that type of strength.

  “Yes sir, I will meet with all of my employees before they leave and activate our security protocol,” I said, absently playing with a paperclip on the desk. This little bit of information gave me some worry. I don’t want my employees hurt or scared. I made a mental note to revise my security measures.

  “You have a security protocol?” he asked, surprised. I smiled at his confusion. Most of these older vampires still live in the past where women were helpless and couldn’t cross a road without help. Idiots!

  “Yes,” Duh! “It’s something I wrote in to the employee manuals when I opened this place,” I announced proudly; point for me for thinking ahead.

  “Very well,” he nodded and stood up to leave, but not before giving me the once over again with those sexy blue eyes. Damn, it makes my girl parts quiver when he does that. “Please make your Nachtmann aware of the problem as well.”

  “Oh, I don’t have a Nachtmann,” I admitted. Annnndddd…..It took less than three seconds to get a reaction out of him. That’s a record for when someone hears that I don’t have daytime protection.

  His eyes flickered then narrowed, “You don’t have one?” I could have sworn I saw the blood start to fill his eyes and then just as quickly, drain away. Oh, he’s mad.