Chapter 3 #2
Down in the caverns, the passage walls were rough to the touch and dripping with moisture from the humidity, and the ceiling was so low in places Kohl had to duck so he didn’t bump his head.
About fifty feet in, the tunnel widened into a small, natural cavern.
The path they were on hugged the wall, and to his left, he looked down over a reservoir filled with a few feet of emerald green water.
In the summer, when the rain stopped, it would dry up until it was barely a few inches deep.
If it was a bad year of drought, it dried up completely.
But vampires didn’t need water, other than to bathe, so it made no difference to them.
And they had a system rigged that tapped into the city’s water for that.
Columns of limestone cluttered the open space, formed from water dripping slowly along the stone over millions of years.
He passed by one of the largest stalactites in their home, running his fingertips over the smooth, cool surface as he passed.
It had the appearance of hot candle wax melting from the ceiling, and was as big around as a telephone pole—the perfect sentry to stand guard over a forest of smaller stalagmites and stalactites huddled together on the opposite side of the water.
A mound of stone pockmarked with crevices in the shapes of tiny doors decorating the front formed the base.
He thought of it as the fairy house. Every time he passed it, Kohl half expected to see tiny, magical fairies come fluttering out like butterflies, leaving trails of sparkling fairy dust in their wake.
Though not the first place one would expect vampires to live with all of the technology of the twentieth century, the caverns actually worked out well for them.
The temperature was a consistent seventy degrees, and just humid enough.
More importantly, this particular series of caves was as yet undiscovered by humans.
And the only way to access them was through the building above.
Water and electricity was brought down to them from above ground.
Cameras strategically mounted in and around the club would alert them to any trespassers who posed a threat, and that threat would be taken out immediately.
In a worst-case scenario, the club and the passageway just on the other side of the door would self-destruct.
If that happened, it would be up to Kohl to get them all out of the mass grave the coven would then find themselves in.
And hopefully, he wouldn’t kill anyone in the process.
They followed the path about a quarter mile, through a myriad of passageways and caverns, until it opened up into a room nearly the size of a football field.
The ceiling soared over a hundred feet above their heads, featuring a perfectly smooth circle etched into the greater part of the ceiling, the result of a long-gone colony of bats wearing away at the limestone every day as they hid from the sun. Much like the vampires.
And affixed directly in the middle of the cavern, was The Throne.
Like the entirety of the caves, it had been formed naturally from an underground stream that had once moved through the stone, forging it into the shape of a large throne-like structure, with armrests and everything.
Above it, a curtain of stalactites hung over the chair, melted together to form a curtain-like formation.
Below it, the stone formed natural steps.
In his darkest fantasies, Kohl imagined all of that stone crumbling down onto the head of the male who now sat there.
But the Master didn’t really deserve that.
He wasn’t a kind male, or real easy-going.
He was an ancient vampire, and set in his ways.
But, most of the time, he was fair. He’d also agreed to take in Kohl when he’d had nowhere else to go, even though he was a complete stranger to their coven.
Not wholly vampire, but something…other.
And for that, he would be forever grateful.
It was hard to survive in this world without a group.
The saying was true, there was safety in numbers.
The coven leader turned his head as he and Andrew walked in, his long, blond hair hanging to his waist. It was often spotted with dried blood from his last meal, giving him the look of a hyena.
His form was solid and stocky, without a soft spot on him.
Huge forearms used to wielding battle-axes rested on the cold stone, and thighs as big around as tree trunks tested the endurance of his worn leather pants.
Dark eyes narrowed on the two of them, and the Master held up a palm the size of a grizzly’s, quieting the others in the room. Some of them had been up in the club when the shooting happened, some had not.
Kohl spotted Jaz at the edge of the crowd, easy to pick out with his long, black hair and telltale jean vest he’d been “gifted” from a biker in California.
The vampire grinned, his broken fang in full view, and toasted Kohl with his cup.
Probably filled with the blood of one of the shooting victims. After a measuring glance, Kohl gave him a nod and looked away.
Though Jaz never spoke of how he’d lost his fang, Kohl knew it had to have been a traumatic experience, even for a vampire.
He knew this because Jaz’s state of mind was what was referred to in the vampire community as “fragile,” and he was often given some slack for his actions where others were not.
But, they were family, and they all watched his back, and kept him from getting into any serious trouble.
“Kohl. Come here, please.” Voices fell to hushed whispers as the Master’s deep timbre echoed through the cavern.
Andrew slapped him on the shoulder, and with a small bow to the Master, wandered off to his room—one of the smaller caverns down a passageway behind The Throne.
No one went anywhere without passing within sight or hearing of the Master.
He kept a close eye on his coven. Kohl couldn’t blame him.
It was mostly made up of a group of misfit vampires who, for one reason or another, had had to leave their original families.
He walked up to the Master, and went down on one knee. An old-school way to show respect, but one that was still insisted upon. “Master.” He realized at that moment he didn’t even know the vampire’s born name.
“Get up. And tell me what happened upstairs.”
He did as ordered, a tingle of apprehension lifting the hair on the back of his neck. “You haven’t gotten the full report, yet?”
“I saw the shooters on the cameras. I also saw you move faster than any bullet to dive across the dance floor to save a woman. A human woman.” The word was spit out of his mouth like a mouthful of moldy broccoli.
Kohl rubbed the slight ache in his hip unconsciously. He’d nearly forgotten getting hit. There was a tear in his pants, one in front and one in back, where the bullet had gone through, and the material was stiff with dried blood. The wound had healed quickly. Still… “I wouldn’t say I was faster.”
The Master dropped his eyes to the tear and huffed, something between a laugh and a reprimand. “Stop fucking around, and explain to me why you put us all in jeopardy.”
“I honestly don’t know.” Kohl scratched the back of his neck before shoving his hands in his front pockets. “I didn’t think about it. I just did it.” He paused. “I fucked up,” he added.
“You’d better believe you fucked up. I don’t like leaving witnesses, Kohl.”
That now familiar heat scalded the back of Kohl’s neck. “She doesn’t remember what happened. Andrew made sure of it.” He fought and failed to keep a level tone as the beast raised its head, and he wondered how far he would go to protect this woman.
Pretty damn far, he decided, if the fact that he was about to breathe fire on the coven Master was any indication.
His leader cocked his head, then leaned forward in his chair, his leather pants creaking in protest. “Kohl—”
“I know. I can’t see her again.”
The Master’s eyes flashed, and Kohl checked himself, removing the bite from his tone, but unable to do anything about the unhappiness of the beast within.
“I know. I won’t do anything to risk exposing the club.
Or us.” Even as he attempted to defuse the situation, his gums itched and then burned as his fangs broke through the surface.
His skin tingled, the hair on his body standing straight up as heat zig-zagged across the surface.
After a moment, the Master sighed, a great heaving of his massive chest, and the beast settled back down again. “Good. You know I don’t like being a hardass—”
Kohl bit down on both lips to keep from laughing out loud.
“But this isn’t something I’m willing to give way on. Humans cannot find out about us.”
Crossing his arms over his chest, Kohl begged to differ.
“Some already know about us, and they haven’t caused us any harm.
And she happens to be one of them. Actually, she’s known about us for years.
She doesn’t pose a threat.” He could’ve bitten his own tongue off the moment the words were out of his mouth.
The Master became very still. “What do you mean ‘she knows about us’? I thought you told me Andrew wiped her memory?”
There was no way out now but to tell the truth. “He did. The ones of last night, and me.”
“Then how does she know of us?”
Dammit. Why the fuck did he open his mouth? “Andrew wiped her memory of the shooting, but she already knew about our kind before she came here. She used to work for Parasupe, Inc.”
The Master sat back in his throne. Kohl watched as the blood rose in his cheeks until his face was a deep, ruddy, red. Their leader didn’t like being caught unaware, but there’d be less of a chance of that if the old vampire would embrace modern technology.
They all knew the company. Parasupe—a ridiculously obvious combination of “paranormal” and “supernatural”—posed as some sort of environmental protection company.
It was the activists who had made Devon’s life hell.
But what the company really did was keep an eye on all of the vampires, shifters, and other supernatural creatures who resided in the fine state of Texas.
And they were quickly expanding across the country.
The thing was, though, the humans who ran the company didn’t know the supernatural community was aware of them.
However, when your friends with fangs started disappearing with no explanation, you damn well better believe it won’t take long for others of their kind to find out who was removing them from the equation.
“You said she used to work there. She no longer does?”
“No. Something happened a while back. I don’t know all the details, no one does except the humans who were in the courtroom when it all went down, but I think she was a whistleblower of some sort or another.”
“What is that, exactly?”
“A whistleblower is someone who sees something wrong happening within the company they work for. Something serious enough to report. Something that could potentially get another person fired or the company shut down.”
“So, she did this to them?”
“Yes.”
“And she is still alive?”
“Thanks to what I did tonight, yes.”
Kohl was glad to see the color recede as the Master rubbed his jaw with one hand. He really didn’t want to deal with one of his temper tantrums right now. But his next words were not something he ever would’ve expected.
“I want you to find out what happened between her and her company.” He nodded to himself. “Yes, find her. She will trust you instinctively, even if she doesn’t remember you or what you did. You played the hero tonight. Her blood will recognize you.”
Her blood will recognize you. Kohl inhaled sharply, a rush of exhilaration making him lightheaded. The beast, sensing his excitement, stirred, and he silently cursed the reminder of why he could never act on these feelings.
“Kohl.”
His name brought him back to the present. “Yeah?”
“Find her. Tonight.”
The beast stretched its wings as Kohl clenched his jaw and nodded.