Surrendering(94)
“Good work, Ren.”
Shit. Those were more rogues than he’d expected. Guess Xavier had been busy. They made quick work of finding the hidden latch, revealing another downward stairwell. This stairwell was made of stainless steel and he could clearly see a hallway at the bottom that went only left to right. They likely only had seconds before rogues were on them, since they no doubt tripped some sort of silent alarm when they opened the secret door. But they had the element of surprise, as they knew exactly where to find what they were looking for.
They put their plan into quick action, splitting up their duties to rescue the girls, detain any other humans and kill as many rogues as possible, most importantly Xavier. Too bad Ren’s power couldn’t pinpoint exactly where that bastard was.
Chaos erupted the minute they split. The rogues on this floor attacked, but were quickly wiped out, with minimal injuries inflicted on his team. It was clear these were young, low-level, disposable vamps and were no match for him or his men.
They made it quickly to the downstairs stairwell and waited. Adrenaline scorched his veins like wildfire. This was a high like no other, except when he made love to his mate. Dev focused, used his powers to project the images of a fire on the lower level, complete with smoke and heat to round out the realness of it. There was almost nothing a vampire feared more than fire.
Within minutes, rogues stampeded up the stairs. Those that could would likely flash outside, but his men stationed there would take care of them. He wanted a couple alive for questioning and those would be the older, more powerful, more useful rogues.
It was a bloodbath. Rogues were everywhere, like fireflies. While their powers were weaker than his and his men’s, his team sustained several injuries in the battle, a couple of them fairly severe. He had several shards of razor like ice stuck in his arm, thanks to a rogue with ice making ability. He took immense pleasure in removing the rogue’s head for that little stunt. He also narrowly missed an arrow aimed straight at his heart, barely nicking his underarm instead. By the time they’d slaughtered all the rogues, body parts littered the narrow hallways. Dark blood ran in rivulets down the walls, pooling at their feet. He was covered in it.
He’d kept in touch with his men outside all the while, and about a dozen rogues had flashed out there, but Xavier had yet to make an appearance.
“Ren, do you sense anyone else on the premises?”
“No, my Lord.”
They exchanged a knowing look. Xavier wasn’t here. Fear coursed through Dev.
Kate.
Something was terribly wrong. He couldn’t communicate with her at this distance, but he knew he’d felt her fear in his gut.
Along with Ren and Manny, he flashed back to his estate and the scene in front of him left his blood running cold. It was déjà vu.
The front door stood wide open, the house completely destroyed on the inside.
“Kate!” he bellowed. He frantically turned to Ren, who sadly shook his head. They weren’t here. Or they were, just not alive.
A frantic search of the house turned up no sign of Kate or Elle, but he did find Leo in the kitchen. Or what was left of him. Fuck, Leo had been with him for decades. He was like a brother to him. He wanted to grieve, but he couldn’t. The only thing that mattered at this moment was finding his mate. Alive and unharmed.
“What the fuck happened here!” Dev roared.
“I don’t know, my lord, but we’ll find out.” He reached out, putting a hand on Dev’s shoulder. “We’ll find her, Dev. We’ll find her.”
“But will we find her in time?”
The noise Dev let out was so loud and long, he feared the entire house would crumble around him. It didn’t matter. If anything happened to Kate, he wouldn’t make it until sunrise. He would follow her anywhere…even in death.
Chapter 60
Kate
Jesus, she was sore. She couldn’t seem to think of anything else except how much her body ached, everywhere. And she couldn’t quite remember why, but it nagged at the very edge of her memory. Something wasn’t right, she felt so very weak, but she couldn’t place her finger on why. She couldn’t quite shake the fog from her brain enough to put all the puzzle pieces together.
She blinked, trying to focus her eyes on her surroundings, but everything was pitch black. She tried for several minutes, but nothing came clear. She tried to move, but her body wouldn’t respond. After several more minutes, her hand finally obeyed her command, reaching in front of her and what she encountered made her nearly paralyzed with fear.
Bars. Cold iron bars.
She felt everywhere her hand could reach and encountered more of the same. She was in a cage. Her vision slowly returned and she noticed she was in what appeared to be a very large dog kennel. She couldn’t sit up quite straight, as the top was too low.