Love Lost (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 3) Read online

  Ecaterina and Darryl walked arm in arm down the street and into the bar. Ecaterina brushed by Lance’s back. Lance’s friend noticed he had turned to give the person bumping him a piece of his mind, but smiled when Lance noticed it was an attractive woman. He even winked at Lance as he turned back around and told him he was a ‘lucky bastard’. They clicked their beers and Lance finished his and threw down a fifty to cover the tab for the both of them. Lance smiled, “You got my back this time, you prick?”

  His friend tipped his bottle in Lance’s direction. “It’s the last time you geezer, but you better bring the lube or I don’t promise anything.” Lance just smiled and allowed his friend to score the point. Paul was a good guy, and Paul had friends high enough that they would all know Lance just wanted a simple and quiet goodbye. Everyone had heard the rumors about his daughter and considered it a hell of a way to go down. They wouldn’t have thought anything could make the man die on the vine, but it’s said that a parent having a child die is the hardest tragedy a parent can face.

  Bethany Anne was hidden on the fourth floor fire escape in the alley. The guys couldn’t hide in the alley itself. Dan had brought in a sniper by the name of Killian who had been part of the Everglades operation. He was planted a couple of blocks away and eight stories up.

  Bethany Anne thought he was a funny guy. He was joking around with everyone back at the Mandarin when he arrived in town. She was walking into the room when he had asked the team if they got to check out that ‘fine assed vampire’ again after the last op. He stopped laughing when all of them suddenly looked uneasy and behind him. “She’s behind me, isn’t she?”

  Dan, John, Eric, Darryl and Scott all just shook their heads up and down. It’s a good thing Killian didn’t look too hard at Dan’s expression. He was having a hard time not laughing at the man.

  Good to know Dan wouldn’t be able to play poker worth a damn.

  Killian slowly turned around to face the music. He knew that his mouth was going to get him in trouble and he had been slapped by ladies twice this year alone. The problem was his head would leave his shoulders if this lady slapped him. He completed his turn. “Um, Hello.”

  “Did you have something to tell me, Mr. Killian?”

  He looked just above her head, as if she were his commanding officer. “I just want to admit in my defense it is a very guy thing to be boisterous when you’re trying to compensate for a small dick.”

  Bethany Anne was having the hardest time not cracking a smile. “You’re telling me your running the ‘small dick defense’, Mr. Killian?”

  “Ma’am. There would have to be enough length to pull anything. It’s so small and shriveled up right now that I would need a pair of tweezers to masturbate.”

  That cut it. The guys behind him started sniggering while Killian was sweating in the cool room. Finally Bethany Anne started to crack a small smile at the corner of her lips and Killian caught it, thinking he got off he started to relax. She completely vamped out and jumped for Killian. He fainted.

  When he woke up, he was lying on the bed and the team and ops leader Dan Bosse were lounging in the room, talking with everyone about the op later than night.

  “What’s going on, guys?” Killian raised his head up.

  Dan turned to Killian. “I told you your mouth would be the death of you one day, Killian.”

  “So, did she bleed me?”

  John snorted, “She said she didn’t like the taste of men with small dicks. No, that’s not true, she didn’t say that. But I will tell you if you ever make light of her again I will beat the ever loving shit out of you, do you understand me?”

  Killian looked into John’s eyes and saw the truth. When he went to get support from the rest for his antics, their faces all told him the same thing. His ass was grass if he ever popped off the mouth about the beautiful vampire again.

  Dan stood up and dropped a chain with a small pair of tweezers as ornamentation on his chest. “Bethany Anne had Ecaterina drop this off. She did say that if you didn’t wear this around your neck for the next year even your ‘small dick defense’ wouldn’t stop her from exacting painful retribution for your comments. Just for the record, you better not fuck-up one more time around me either.” Dan started for the door, “Be ready in fifteen, John. Killian, get over to your room and be ready within thirty.” He shut the door behind him.

  He noticed that all of the guys picked up a packet with fake fangs and a holder for contact lenses in it. He wondered why he didn’t get a set. He decided that maybe doing his job without being glib was the way to go right now.

  Hours later, Killian had sighted in on the alley. He had reviewed his life as he got accustomed to the new necklace he was wearing. At first he thought it funny and considered himself special. The more he thought about the experience and how it must have looked to the other ladies, he came to the conclusion he really was a douchebag. Now, the necklace felt the same as having the letter ‘L’ on his forehead.

  He spent more time with his sighting. If there was going to be any way to make it up, it was going to be from his skills as a sniper, not shooting off his mouth. Before, he had always supported his teammates because that is what you did. But a sniper was never the same as being on the tip. Everyone needed him, but he never felt he was part of the team in the same way as the other guys.

  He had watched through the scope when Bethany Anne came down the far side of the Alley and he lost her for a second when she just moved. She was so fast he couldn’t find her in the scope again. He looked around and found her on the fourth floor fire escape. She was making her own hide with a large blanket and hood. She stopped what she was doing and turned her head to look right at him. Shit! She could obviously see him and wasn’t just faking it. He could easily see her raise an eyebrow. He pulled the gun off to the side and used his right hand to pull the necklace out. When he reacquired her she nodded in his direction and then hid herself.

  He didn’t doubt she might have decided to get rid of Killian right then if he didn’t have the necklace on. Killian got his game face on. He had embarrassed himself once already with the team and had been a disrespectful ass. He wouldn’t screw up his part of the plan. This, he decided, had just become the shot that would change his life.

  —

  Adrian was pretty pleased with himself. After two hundred years in South America, he had finally been given permission to attack in the United States. He had successfully taken out that annoying Bill, but had used all of his special Nosferatu to accomplish the act. Better to use them all and assure destruction than miss the opportunity and forewarn Bill. He had hidden for a couple of months to let things blow over.

  He got information that Michael had woken up and that was one individual he didn’t want to meet. He had heard enough stories to know that cocky or not, even he was going to die if Michael got a hold of him. When things seemed clear enough, he was as far away from the East coast as he could get, so he started on the West Coast and started towards the East.

  Adrian hated the cold, so he started going towards the South so he wouldn’t get caught in an early snowstorm. He didn’t know the weather of the United States, but he completely hated the idea of even getting caught in a snap freeze.

  His parent had given him specific commands to head towards Florida. Apparently, he was supposed to help create a diversion for the security forces in Miami while his parent had another group handled a separate task. That was fine with Adrian; he enjoyed creating the fear and lived to kill. He was a personal believer that humans were food. If his meal cried it only made dinner all the more memorable.

  His operation in Florida ended as a complete failure. Another vampire was involved and somehow took out his Nosferatu that had taken him almost two months to prepare. It was an affront. He was nursing his professional pride the next night when he woke up. He had missed two calls just minutes before. The voice mail informed him that the attacks during the day had also been unsuccessful and that they had intelligence i
t might have been done by the same team. They tracked a name to an agent in Washington D.C. as a potential lead. Apparently, this woman’s name was a sore point with their political contacts in this country. She had been part of two sting operations which had hurt their organization. When they heard the rumors that she was going to die, the operations to assassinate her were shelved.

  They must have planted that information so she could remain underground. If they had, it certainly worked. He stopped any research on her a year ago himself.

  Unexpectedly, Adrian was told he needed to gather information from her previous manager in Washington D.C. Adrian had two men who had been with him for three years on this operation. They lived for the same reasons he did. However; these two humans inflicted atrocities on their own kind. Adrian never considered himself human. That person had died in 1737 and good riddance to him.

  They had cornered Martin Brennan. His guys enjoyed it as he tortured Martin Brennan. After only one false call, they had been able to catch him alone.

  During the interrogation, the man had tried to tell an ‘almost’ truth. Unfortunately for Martin, Adrian was very adept at telling the difference between truth and lies. He had started with Bethany Anne being dead to him. Maybe he was using the undercover work as a cloak to the truth. He had been telling the truth that he hadn’t spoken to her for a year.

  It was just a pity that failing to speak with her was insufficient to stop his pending death.

  Adrian wanted to take more time to enjoy the delicious pain Martin felt. He could sense his men’s enjoyment as he toyed with his prey. Adrian learned that the woman’s father was a General in the Army based in a state called Colorado.

  Adrian told Martin to call this Bethany Anne back from her operation or he would be killed. Martin had told Adrian to go fuck himself. That was when his anger got the best of him and he tore the man’s throat out.

  He had dropped the body in disgust. Both with himself for not controlling his anger and the human for being able to goad him so easily. The night wasn’t a complete bust; they had another name to use to get more information on this woman. It took almost 36 hours for their government contacts to find out that the General was scheduled to come to Washington D.C. for a military meeting.

  Adrian loved it when dinner came to him.

  Now, he was waiting a few blocks from the Generals hotel in a windowless van. It was well after sundown, he was at no risk from the sun. However; he didn’t want any video cameras to potentially capture what he looked like as they drove around at night. These cameras were a problem.

  He received a message on his cell phone that the General looked drunk and was heading for the alley shortcut back to his hotel.

  Excellent! Things couldn’t be going more right for him unless this Bethany Anne dropped into his lap. He stepped out of the van and started moving quickly to the alley, arriving before the General walked even a quarter of the way from the other side.

  Dinner was served.

  He got within twenty feet of the General before the man stopped and looked up, seeming a little surprised to find another in the alley with him. Bethany Anne’s father asked him, “How’s it going?”

  Adrian smiled, a polite meal - how delightful. “Oh, very good my friend, very good. Out for a stroll this evening?”

  “Well, actually I needed to pee. Seems the beer went through me a little too fast. You just surprised me. Forgive an old man for his impractical ways.”

  Adrian sniffed. What horrible manners this American had. Oh well, he would have to reprimand him for that before he killed him. Another reason to break more bones only increased his happiness.

  Adrian walked up to the General, “Oh, my good sir. I’m afraid your time to be forgiven is long past.”

  Killian got the click in his ear. He had sighted in on the Vampire as soon as he registered in his scope. He was a good looking guy and well dressed. Not in your typical vampire style, more New European from France. It didn’t matter, when he got the click in his ear he waited for the time between his heartbeat and stroked the trigger like he was petting a tiny animal.

  The Beretta slammed against his arm.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Adrian smiled at the alarm on the Generals face. He did seem to be burning off his alcohol haze quickly. Good, he hated when his food was drugged.

  The next second, his right arm was blown completely off and he was laying on the ground, blood pooling as it left him. His eyes turned red, his teeth slid out. He needed blood and he knew the closest source. He would grab the general, drink and then grab his arm and hold it there so his body could slowly re-attach it.

  When he turned around and stood up, there was a woman in front of the General. Where did she come from? He sniffed; it was a similar smell as the man. Ah! This was Bethany Anne. A feral smile showed on his face. She had figured out the trouble and had used her old man as bait. Very cagey for a human. Tough luck she wasn’t playing against a human.

  He looked at her straight in the eyes. She locked her eyes to his. “You will step aside while I feed from your father, I’ll deal with you next.” She didn’t move away.

  Bethany Anne looked at Adrian like he was a bug to step on. “Motherfucking cock-sucking ass-kissing bitch, I’ll do no such thing.” She let her robe drop. She was dressed like a military spec-operative. She had twin pistols and a sword on her back.

  Adrian stood for a second. No human had ever resisted his mental command. He ground out again, “You will…”

  That’s when she planted the sword from her back into his left pectoral and he felt himself get slammed into the concrete. It happened so fast that even his supernatural vampiric senses were having trouble keeping up. This blood loss must really be messing him up. He looked up and hissed through his teeth.

  She hissed back and her eyes were glowing red. Her teeth were longer than his. She had the sword stuck in the ground enough he couldn’t move without cutting a huge chunk of his arm off.

  Adrian knew fear for the first time in decades. Now he realized he had been played the whole time. Michael wasn’t dead, he had created another vampire himself and she was massively stronger than he was.

  She pulled a pistol out of a holster, the general spoke from behind her.

  “You know that will bring the police a little sooner, right?

  The pistol dropped back into the holster, Adrian felt a little relief. She yanked the sword out of his arm and stabbed him in both legs and cut his abdomen open. The sword slammed back into this shoulder again. He screamed in pain but her hand was over his mouth.

  “Don’t be a whiny bitch, you retarded cock stain. What is your name?”

  He gasped out, “Adrian.”

  Adrian would have tried to get away, but she had broken both of his legs when she stabbed him. He was weak from blood loss and there wasn’t a chance he could overpower this vampire. It looks like he had outplayed his hand. He really hated to be told he was whining. It kept him quiet for a minute. He heard multiple people coming down the alley. He could smell his guys, so she had even more help. She continued to look at him as she talked to the others, “Report.”

  A voice came from behind her, “Dan says Killian is clear. The Generals room is clean and we have the keys and the description of their van, it should be a couple of blocks away. We can use that for the bodies.” One of the other guys whimpered at that comment. Three humans came into view. A woman, a huge white man and a werewolf? What was the werewolf doing with them?

  The woman asked Bethany Anne, “This is the one that killed your friend?” Bethany Anne nodded her head yes. Of course, she could smell him back at the place he killed Martin. The human female kneeled down next to his chest. “This must hurt like a bitch, yes?” She had an Eastern European accent. He was getting angry. He could handle his treatment from Bethany Anne, but this cattle was beneath him.

  “You fucking cunt, if this sword wasn’t in me I would drain you dry.” He watched as she put a hand up and the large white ma
n pulled a huge knife off of his chest and handed it to her. She quickly stabbed one of his eyes and he screamed in pain, trying to move his head away from this crazy fucking European.

  “Bah! This is no challenge, even Petre’ didn’t scream like this one when I took care of him. You will be respectful, little whiny bitch, my mistress does not appreciate foul language.”

  Adrian was shocked. Not only was his eye still in excruciating pain, but she admitted to capturing the vampire over in Romania. She stood up and looked down at him, “What? You thought my mistress kept me around because I look nice. No, I earned my way into this group by outsmarting vampires,” she looked at the other guy, “and werewolves. Who do you think came up with the plan to shoot off your arm?” She wiped the liquid on his clothes and handed the knife back to the big man with a ‘thank you.’

  John looked over at Bethany Anne, “I could do this all night, but we should probably clear out. What do you want to do with these two?” He pointed a thumb back at the two henchmen.