Blood Curse

Book 3 of the Vampire Mafia Kings series.

As leader of the rebel forces against the tyrannical government of New Atlanta, Willow knew better than to go to the vampire king for help. But when danger comes knocking on her door, she is left with no choice but to strike a bargain with the devil.

Cursed with the bloodlust and rage that possesses all vampire kings, Ryker has no business pursuing the lovely human female who dared point a gun at him point blank. But the heart wants what it wants.

Ryker will stop at nothing to possess his blood mate and make her his queen. Even if he has to destroy everything she holds dear. She will be his. Forever.

Excerpt

WILLOW

From the forest overlooking the road below, I crouched down low and waited in position. My crew of fighters followed my lead as they took cover behind the trees.

According to my source in New Boston, there would be a convoy traveling through soon, coming from New Boston and arriving in New Atlanta. Their journey spanned more than a day with no safe place in between to stop for rest.

As the only road connecting the northern region of the country with the south, this was the perfect choke point for our ambush.

The cargo being transported was supposed to contain weapons including UV guns, laser pistols, and stun bombs. New Boston was the only government-controlled city with access to a supply of these modern weapons from Europe. If we wanted to have any hope of seizing control of New Atlanta from the overseers, we had to stop this shipment from getting there.

In the distance, a truck kicked up a plume of dust that billowed into the air. As they approached, I saw that it wasn’t just one vehicle, but at least four. This was it. I held up my hand, signaling to my men to stay still and be on alert. We had to wait until the trucks were close enough for us to block them in.

Once the convoy was in position, my backup teams would blockade the road on both sides, leaving them trapped. Then we could loot the trucks of their cargo and vanish into the night. Unlike the government’s huge armored trucks which were restricted to roads and open fields, our crew moved nimbly on motorbikes powered by scavenged solar fuel cells. We could disperse and vanish into the woods surrounding the area before they could trace us.

The only advantage the government protectors had over us was the sophistication of their weaponry. Against their laser guns and sonic bombs, all we had were homemade firebombs and ancient pistols that fired bits of lead.

But we had the element of surprise. And if things went to plan tonight, we too will have the latest weapons. Victory would mean that our strategy to free the citizens of New Atlanta would change forever.

As soon as the final truck of the convoy moved into the targeted area, I brought my hand down in a signal for my men to attack. Logs and branches rolled down the hill, surrounding the trucks on all sides. Once there was a nice pile of kindling, I signaled to my team. Their firebombs rained down on the trucks and ignited the wood. With all the fuel in the firebombs, it wouldn’t be long until the entire convoy resembled a roaring bonfire.

Our bullets were useless against the armored vehicles, but we could turn the trucks into burning ovens and force the protectors out into the open. Despite the fear they instilled in drone citizens, they were still made of flesh and blood and easily taken down by a well-aimed bullet.

In the midst of the attack, I heard a series of booms in the distance as giant trees and boulders fell down the hill. The backup teams had detonated their explosives and blocked the road.

The trucks were trapped.

In response, the protectors aimed the laser guns mounted on top of their vehicles at us. Bright beams of death shot into the woods, but they may as well have been aiming at ghosts. With dense trees and thick overgrown brush surrounding us, it provided ample cover to shield us from the protectors. Bits of debris fell down on me as the laser rays sliced through leaves and branches.

As I predicted, the protectors stumbled out as the heat got to be unbearable. One thing I couldn’t have predicted were the screams that came from the direction of the trucks. The voices sounded too petrified to belong to the trained soldiers. There were women’s screams as well. With horror, I realized that those trucks weren’t loaded with weapons. It was people.

Shit.

Before I could finish the thought of what that meant, a piercing shriek ripped through the air. Powerful waves slammed into me, sending me flying to the ground. Next to me, Kai landed on his hands and knees with a heavy thud. Agony stabbed into my head. The earplugs we all wore were no use against the onslaught.

It was a sonic bomb. The protectors must have detonated one in our direction as a last resort.

All I could do was curl up and press my hands against my ears. The pain and pressure were so intense, throbbing with intensity until my head felt like it was going to explode.

I forced my eyes open and looked over at Kai. His face was twisted in a painful grimace as he clawed at his ears. Something warm trickled from my nose before dripping onto my lip. My tongue darted out to taste it. It was blood. The sonic bomb was going to melt our insides and turn it into mush.

Then, as suddenly as the pain began, it vanished. The pounding waves were gone, leaving only a deafening ringing in my ears.

The bomb had been deactivated. But why?

I clawed at the ground, grasping twigs and leaves between my fingers as I tried to pull myself to my feet. It was impossible to see what was happening down at the road from behind the overgrown brush.

An inhuman roar filled the air, loud enough to make out even with my damaged hearing. Standing on shaky feet, I steadied myself against a heavy tree trunk. The blast of the sonic bomb had put out the fire, leaving a pile of smoldering coals around the trucks. A protector’s body flew through the air and slammed into the metal side of a vehicle with a bang. He slid down the side and crumpled to the ground in a heap. Another protector’s body landed on top of his brethren. Whatever was attacking them moved too fast to be seen as anything more than a dark blur with the naked eye. One by one, the protectors landed in a pile on top of each other in a mountain of dead bodies.

Finally, the figure stopped, revealing a man in a long dark leather jacket. He stood over the pile of bodies and examined his handy work.

From behind me, I heard the click of Kai’s pistol. I signaled for him to stay put. His sharp huff revealed his displeasure at what I was going to do, but I was still his leader.

As the man below had his back turned toward me, I crept silently down the hill until I was behind him and aimed my gun at the back of his head.

“Put that thing away unless you’re ready to use it,” he said without turning around.

“Who are you?”

He turned around slowly. My breath caught in my throat. The man was handsome by any standard, with a straight nose and a square jaw that framed plush lips. His skin had an unnatural pale glow despite his tawny coloring. But what made me pause was the ethereal beauty of his dark eyes. He seemed to bore into the depths of my soul with his gaze.

My arm wavered, but my finger remained over the trigger.

“Why did you do it?”

“I’m the one who just saved you and your ragtag bunch.” He took a step toward me until I could make out the flecks of silver in his eyes and the black tendrils that curled at his hairline. “Let’s just say that we have a common enemy and a common goal.”

Another step, until the barrel of my gun pressed into the hard muscle of his chest. We were standing close enough that I was sure he could feel my pulse jump in my veins. There was something about him that eroded away my normal composure.

Kai came down with the rest of the team, all of them with their weapons drawn. Instantly, I stepped back from the strange man, like I had been zapped by an electric shock. My temple twitched with irritation that he ignored my orders. Kai kept his eyes on the strange man.

“Are you okay, Willow?”

“I’m fine,” I said as I lowered my gun. “He’s a friendly.”

Kai shared a wary look with Sam, who was flanking his side. Their guns stayed pointed at him.

“I have this covered,” I said with more authority than I felt. “Go free the captives in the truck and tend to their injuries. That’s an order.”

As they went to do my bidding, I kept my eyes on the strange man. Kai searched dug through the pile of soldiers for the keys to the truck, and then the doors were unlocked with a metallic screech. The relieved cries of the prisoners filled the air as they spilled out of the vehicle.

And then, I smelled it. The rancid stench of spyce wafted off of their bodies. Bloodmeals. These people were bound to be sold off to some vampire gang. It was what the government did with spyce-addicted drones who became a burden and no longer served a purpose to the overseers.

Since I disrupted the transfer, these people were now my problem. I counted as they stumbled over to the side of the road. There were fifteen of them. Mostly women, but there were three men in the group.

“Not quite the cargo you were expecting, are they?” asked the stranger.

No, it wasn’t. Instead of the weapons I desperately needed, I now had fifteen more mouths to feed, clothe, and house. Fifteen people who couldn’t contribute to our rebel settlement until they went through withdrawal and were fully weaned off of spyce. It was too much for our struggling group of thirty to take on. Instantly, a pang of guilt hit me for my horrible thoughts.

These people would have been drained and killed before daybreak if my team hadn’t saved them.

“You can’t leave them out here. You would never forgive yourself.”

I glared at him. His cool expression revealed nothing. Who was he to presume to know what I was thinking? What pissed me off more than his presumption was that he was right.

They were sitting ducks out here, like a waiting meal delivery for any passing vampire gangs. If I abandoned them here, I would be signing their death warrants.

I had no choice but to take them in.

“Kai, lead them back to the settlement. Blindfold them and take them on a ride on the bikes for a while before you head back. I don’t want them to lead anybody back to our settlement until we know they can be trusted.”

Kai glanced at the ruined trucks and then at the strange man.

“I’ll take care of this. Your job is to make sure everybody gets home safe.”

He clenched his jaw, then shook his head. “As you wish. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

They headed back into the woods. Each of my men had a stumbling bloodmeal clinging to them as they walked on unsteady feet.

We were alone, with only the deserted vehicles and dead protectors lying at our feet.

“Who are you?” I asked again.

“The name’s Ryker.” With supernatural quickness, his arm tightened around my back, a solid steel chain of muscle that reeled me into him until our chests were pressed together. He kissed me with a softness that I would have described as tender if we had been lovers. As our lips broke apart, he licked at the trail of dried blood on my upper lip.

Everything suddenly made sense. His agility, the ethereal glow he cast, the pale coolness of his body. Ryker was a vampire. Not only that, but the notorious Vampire King of the South.

Despite the fluttering in my belly calling for more of his touch, I brought my hands up to his chest and pushed him away. No way. I couldn’t be attracted to a bloodsucker. Everything I had ever been taught in my life told me to stay away from his kind.

Ryker let out a low chuckle. His thumb swiped at his lip, before he licked it, as if savoring the remaining aftertaste of our kiss.

“Until next time, Willow.”

In a flash and whirl of black leather, he disappeared into the dark woods, leaving me alone and my legs shaking from the intensity of our short encounter.

Kai was waiting up for me when I finally pulled into our settlement and entered the shack I shared with him, Sam, and Emilia. He was sitting at a rickety wooden table with one leg supported on top of a rock.

“I was going to go back for you if you didn’t come back soon.”

I shook off my own holster and armor. It clanked heavily as it landed on the table. “I’m fine. Stop hovering, Kai.”

He sighed. “I worry about you, that’s all. You spend all your time taking care of everybody here in the settlement. Somebody needs to look after you, too.”

There it was, another hit of guilt. Kai had been the only constant in my life after the death of my family. “The guy has his own grudge against the overseers. He left soon after you did.” I stretched the aching muscles in my back. “It’s late. We can talk more about what we’re going to do with the new arrivals in the morning.”

It felt like I had barely closed my eyes when a great deal of hubbub and noise from outside my shack woke me up. I rubbed at my tired eyes and kicked off the covers. The soft light that leaked into the room from my bedroom window showed that it was still early morning. It was far too early for whatever was going on out there.

With a huff, I shoved my feet into my well-worn boots and stomped toward the door.

I wrenched the door open and came to a halt. The scene in front of me was unbelievable, like something out of a Christmas story. Sam and Kai as well as some of our other settlement members were already rummaging through the pile that showed up magically outside my house in the short time I had been asleep. The women were gathered around the dozen or so wooden crates full of clothing, toiletries, and medical supplies. Next to the crates, stood burlap sacks as big as a child containing dried beans, rice, and oats. Kai, Sam, and two other fighters were hunched over a large box.

Kai pulled out a large silver rifle. It was a MNS-37.

“Holy smokes,” I whispered.

He grinned at me as he held up the weapon like it was a precious baby. “I’ve only ever seen one of these carried by the protectors.”

Kai handed it to me. The eerily smooth metal of the laser gun’s body and the heft of it felt foreign in my hands compared to the ancient firearms I was used to handling.

“Looks like Santa Claus came for an early visit last night,” Sam remarked. He leaned over the edge of the box and emerged with a pair of fancy goggles on his head. Night and heat vision goggles.

I handed the laser gun back to Kai and rummaged through the box myself. There were other weapons in there, as well as anti-plasma body armor and noise-blocking helmets.

It was Ryker. It had to be.

At the bottom of the weapons box, I found a handwritten note that confirmed my suspicions.

“Did the sentries see anyone drop this stuff off?” I asked Sam.

He shook his head. “They were posted at the gates all night. Nobody noticed this was here until sunrise.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood stiff. Vampires had managed to sneak in here without triggering any of our booby traps or being spotted by our guards.

One of the women gave a joyous laugh as she helped her little sister into a down jacket. As much as I was spooked by Ryker’s ability to get past all of our defenses, I was thankful for all the supplies. We needed it now more than ever with the new arrivals and the upcoming winter weather.

I nodded at Sam and Kai. “Let’s get this stuff inside before it rains, and the ground turns into a mud pit.”

Silently, I counted the boxes of food and clothing as the settlement members moved them into our large dining hall for storage. There was enough to keep everybody fed and clothed until the bloodmeals had time to detox and train for their new lives in our settlement.

My hand crumpled the note into a ball. If Ryker thought he could buy my trust with these gifts, then he had another thing coming.