Devi: Matefinder Book 2 Read online

  My hand flew to my mouth. “Oh my God. They’re draining them.”

  Kai nodded. “I think they kill humans all the time and hide the bodies. You setting the fire didn’t give them enough time. The firemen found them and the media got ahold of it.”

  I leaned my head back. “Whoa.” This was big. This wasn’t just about killing Layla so she wouldn’t be after my blood to make babies. This was about protecting the human race.

  “So, I did a search,” Kai continued as we reached the interstate. “I searched for any news story where the bodies were described as dying of blood loss.”

  Chills ran up my arms. Did I want to know?

  “How many?” I asked.

  “Ten thousand deaths in America this year. That’s just America. Most of the bodies were concentrated in one area of the country.”

  I wanted to tell him to stop.

  “Here. The Pacific Northwest. Layla’s hunting grounds. My territory! The vampires have gone too far.” His arms were rippling with patches of fur.

  I felt my eyes go yellow. I stared forward in shock. Again he dodged my question about details of his plan to eradicate the vampires, but I didn’t care. I was digesting the new information.

  The entire drive to Alek’s property was spent in silence. I wasn’t so sure this was a good idea. What if it was a trick? I had to trust that my vision wouldn’t lead me into a trap. Alek lived on five sprawling acres in the small college town of Forest Grove. We parked at the closed private property gate and got out of the car. There was no call box and no way of opening the gate.

  “How do we get in?” I asked Kai.

  Kai stood in front of me protectively. “He will have smelled us by now.”

  Sure enough, a figure zoomed into our vision from behind the gate. He wasn’t hiding his vampire powers. It was dark out. I couldn’t make out all of his features, but it looked like the guy from my vision.

  “Private property. Please leave. I want no trouble with the wolves.”

  Kai looked at me with surprise. This was not the typical vampire we were used to dealing with. His voice didn’t hiss, his eyes were calm. He seemed … nice?

  “I did a Native American vision quest and I had a vision of you kissing your human lover. You were kind to her and different from the vampires we know. We want to talk,” I blurted out. Kai grabbed his forehead.

  ‘What?’ I prodded.

  ‘You sound crazy.’

  ‘I am a little crazy, Kai.’

  The vampire looked surprised.

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  Kai looked at me and shook his head no.

  “I’m Aurora, the Matefinder. The one Layla wants.”

  ‘Jesus, Aurora! Why not give him our address?’ Kai roared.

  The second Layla’s name left my mouth Alek jumped up and over the gate and was in my face.

  “Shhh, don’t speak of her here,” he told me firmly. Kai’s arm came out quickly blocking him from coming closer to me.

  Alek looked at Kai’s arm. “I told you, I don’t have beef with your kind. Come inside. Mariam, my wife, is at work.”

  ‘His wife?’ Kai sounded interested. ‘What vampire takes a human wife? Not a lover, not a blood slave, a wife?’

  I shrugged. It was a short walk to the entrance of his home. It was a cute cottage style home with a lush rose garden, just like from my vision. He opened the door and asked us to be seated in the living room.

  “Are you two mates?” Alek asked.

  “Yes,” Kai told him.

  He smiled. His skin was pale and his hair was a dirty blonde cropped cut that extenuated his strong jaw. He was expertly dressed and had a tall, lean frame.

  “I have always been taken with the idea of werewolves’ mates. It sounds so romantic.”

  Kai and I shared a look. A hopeless romantic vampire? There was a first for everything.

  “You will have to excuse us, but we are not used to vampires talking about romance.” Kai stated bluntly.

  Alek spread his hands out. “Ah yes, well, we aren’t all blood junkies like the queen you spoke of earlier.”

  I frowned. “Blood junkie?”

  Alek took a moment to think before he spoke. “Well, yes you wouldn’t know, would you?”

  Kai put a protective arm around me.

  “Know what?” Kai urged him.

  “The queen and her vampires are all blood junkies. They inject their humans with heroin and then drink their blood. It’s the only way to get high because drugs don’t work on vampires directly. So they filter it through human blood.”

  Kai’s hand squeezed my shoulder hard. I felt dizzy with shock at this new information.

  “So that’s why they are draining them? Killing them?”

  Alek shrugged. “I don’t know what they do anymore, but that’s what they were up to when I was around them. They also get high off of human fear. All of these things make the blood sweeter, like dessert. They don’t drink for sustenance, they drink to get high. They don’t care about stopping. One vampire can drain five humans a night to get their fix.”

  I felt sick.

  “Who knew we were dealing with heroin junkies?” I said aloud.

  Kai looked livid. His eyes were yellow and his fingers had transformed into claws.

  “That VIP bouncer at the club. He must have been no more than twenty-two years old. His entire future is gone. They’ve made him a drug addict and will drain him when they please. Why didn’t I know about this?” Kai stood up. The skin on his arms was growing patches of fur.

  Alek looked on calmly. “Well, your kind have been so preoccupied with finding mates and procreating that they don’t really care what we do.”

  I placed a reassuring hand on Kai’s shoulder. “I think we should focus on the fact that not all vampires are junkies.” I gestured to Alek.

  Alek nodded. “When you are turned into a vampire, you are bled dry by your master and then filled with their blood. Most times the vampires are too high and greedy to fill their victims back up with blood and so they just perish, but my master wasn’t. I was born of the queen herself, and I was born an addict.”

  I tried to contain my shock. Kai and I shared a look. He clearly didn’t like using her first name.

  “I opened my eyes to my new immortal life and there was only one thing I craved more than blood,” Alek said with a sinister look in his eye.

  “Heroin,” Kai finished.

  Alek nodded.

  “So every vampire that is from Lay–the queen’s clan, is a heroin addict? And every vampire that they turn becomes one too?”

  Alek nodded. “And every human that is a user, was led to be so by a vampire with compulsion. They run the entire North American drug trade.”

  Oh my God. Holy hell. I just sat there with my mouth open. Kai recovered before me.

  “How did you escape that life?” Kai asked him sincerely.

  Alek smiled and went over to the desk, returning with a picture frame. He handed it to us.

  “Mariam.”

  In the picture, he was sitting on a park bench with her head in his lap. She smiled at the camera while he stroked her hair.

  “I was trying to escape that lifestyle and leave the queen’s clan. I didn’t like constantly being strung out and giving drugs to helpless humans at clubs in order to get high. But I was addicted. So I ran. I found myself here, in Forest Grove. I saw Mariam coming out of a class that she teaches at the college here. I imagined a life with her. A human life, like the one that was robbed from me.”

  I smiled. “So she helped you get clean?”

  He chuckled. “Well, sort of.” He paused. “After I attacked her.”

  “Oh.” I didn’t know what to say.

  “It’s a long story, we’re past that now. I take little bits of blood from her to tide me over until I can get down to my friend’s blood bank in Eugene.”

  “Your vampire friend? Are there more like you? How many?” Kai pressed him.

 
Alek looked uncomfortable. “I have answered a lot of your questions. Now I have some questions of my own, if you please?”

  Kai nodded. “Fair enough.” I could tell Kai respected Alek. He was wary of him, but they had a mutual trust building.

  Alek looked at me. “How did you find my home?”

  I looked at Kai and sighed.

  “I have a Shaman friend. He took me into the mountains and gave me some hallucinogenic tea and I saw you kissing your wife and arguing about going to the movies or staying in. She likes the movies, but you wanted to stay home.”

  His hand flew to his mouth in shock. “That’s true. Incredible.” He inhaled. “You’re a witch? Or a werewolf?” He looked confused.

  I returned his smile. “I’m both. Long story. ”

  His face took on a serious look. “Why are you here? What do you want from me?”

  It was Kai’s turn to talk. “The queen wants my mate captured. I will not allow that to happen. If I have to kill every last vampire in her coven to get to her, I will. The witches have sided with us. I guess we’re here to find out whose side you are on and how many of you there are.”

  Alek stood and paced the carpet. “The last time I checked, the werewolves didn’t exactly have enough numbers to take on the vampires, even with some witches’ help.”

  Kai nodded. “I have a plan.” He stood and indicated I do so as well. “How many are there like you?”

  I stood.

  Alek turned to us. “Not enough. We make up maybe five percent of all vampires.”

  Kai chewed his lip. “Do you want to help us or stay out of it?”

  Alek bowed deeply. “If you are taking on the queen, I personally will help you in any way I can, if only to make sure that no human has to suffer the fate I did. But I cannot speak for the rest of my kind. We live in rural places. We stay out of the limelight.”

  Kai nodded. “Well, if my plan goes well, your people might be a little uncomfortable in the near future. It would be nice if we could tell good from bad. If you can get them on board, let me know.”

  Alek nodded. “All of my people use the same blood bank. It has locations all across America. I can spread the word through there and let you know.”

  Kai pulled a card out of his pocket. After taking it, Alek shook his hand.

  “Times are changing, aren’t they?” Alek asked him.

  Kai nodded. “Yes, they are.”

  I looked at my mate. Why did I have the feeling his plan involved total chaos and destruction?

  The drive back home was a silent one. I reached over and held Kai’s hand.

  “You okay? You’ve been quiet,” I asked.

  He nodded. “To be honest I’m a little shocked. He was so normal. If he didn’t smell like a vampire, you wouldn’t have known.”

  I agreed. “Yeah, and the drugs. Wow. Who knew?”

  Kai shook his head. “That’s the thing. I should have known! I should have been watching the vampires all these years.”

  “Kai, you can’t blame yourself.”

  “Aurora, I’m an old wolf. I’ve been around a long time. What have I been doing? Roaming packs looking to be Alpha for my own selfish gain, while vampires are drugging up humans against their will! Our job is to protect humans. We’ve grown soft!” The steering wheel creaked under his grasp.

  I tried to interject, but he continued.

  “It’s sick! It’s got to stop. This was about you before but now it’s about everyone. Layla and her human drugging clan are going to be wiped off the face of this earth.” He clenched the steering wheel, his knuckles white.

  Part of me agreed. The Devi? But part of me felt like if Alek could be helped maybe some of them could too. I kept my mouth shut. My mate needed support. I squeezed his hand.

  “I’m with you Kai. I’m with you.”

  Hot Springs

  I had fallen asleep in the car. I awoke to Kai unbuckling my seat belt and picking me up. It was dark out and we had reached home.

  “You know what I think is so cute?” Kai whispered in my ear as I clung to him.

  “Hmm?” I was awake but still sleepy.

  “That even though you’re a werewolf who’s very hard to kill, you still wear a seatbelt.”

  I laughed deeply.

  “I love you, Kai. I can’t wait to be your wife.”

  Kai’s eyes rested on my lips. “I wish you weren’t so sleepy, I wanted to take you for a run and show you someplace special.”

  I kissed him deeply and gave him a smoldering look. “I’m awake now.”

  He smirked. “There is a place I have been meaning to take you. Are you up for a half hour run to get there?”

  I leapt off of him and began undressing in response. He watched me fully undress and shift before he shifted and followed me into the forest.

  As we were running, I let him take the lead. He was taking me down a path I didn’t recognize. After about a half hour, he slowed and we came upon a series of wooden sheds.

  ‘What is this place?’ I asked him. As we padded closer, I saw large wooden tubs. Some of them were huge and others were just hollowed out tree trunks. They were filled with steaming hot water.

  ‘Welcome to Bagby Hot Springs.’ He walked inside one of the wooden sheds. Two walls were missing, making it open to the lush, green forest. The air was crisp and cold and steam rose up out of the large hot tub. I shifted into my human form, as did Kai. He leapt into the tub and I followed.

  “Whoa! It’s hot,” I exclaimed.

  Kai laughed and pulled me next to him.

  “Mother Nature’s bubble bath.”

  “This is one of your last nights as an unmarried man. Don’t you want to be at a bar or a strip club with Max and the boys?” I teased.

  He pulled me up onto his lap. “I want to be right where I am.” He kissed me.

  I knew that marrying Kai was the best decision of my life.

  ***

  The next morning, I came out to the kitchen to find Kai and Sylvia talking in hushed voices.

  “Give it to me straight. I know witches have knowledge on the vampires. How many of them are there?” Kai was questioning her.

  Sylvia wrung her hands nervously.

  “Are you asking me how many vampires in their entire species or just in America?” Sylvia questioned.

  “Both.” Kai growled.

  Sylvia shrugged. “We don’t exactly keep track, but a ball park estimate, I would say two billion worldwide and about 100 million in America, most of them belonging to Layla’s clan.”

  “Shit. But there are more humans than all of the races combined?” Kai pondered aloud. I shuffled my feet quietly trying to get closer. Kai looked up. I quickly walked toward him.

  “Morning.” I gave him a soft kiss.

  He looked at me skeptically. “Eavesdropping?”

  “Is it possible to eavesdrop in your own home?” I countered.

  Kai grumbled and Sylvia smirked.

  “What are you going to do about the vampires?” I questioned him.

  Kai’s eyes glowed yellow. “Revenge.”

  Sylvia cleared her throat. “Well, I think I’ll be going now.” She paused and looked at Kai. “Good luck.”

  He nodded.

  I eyed him skeptically. “Good luck with what?”

  He sighed and put his arms around my waist resting them at the small of my back. I tucked myself into his big strong body. “I couldn’t sleep at all last night. Knowing the vampires were getting young humans hooked on drugs so they could suck them dry like a straw infuriates me.” He told me.

  He fingered my long platinum blonde hair.

  “Me too. So what’s the plan?” I prompted him. Kai was the Alpha with a plan for everything. I was hoping it wasn’t too crazy this time.

  ‘We’re going to do something to cripple the vampires’ drug supply. Ever been to Mexico?’ He told me inside my head to keep the conversation private.

  My mouth dropped open in shock. “You’re totally crazy,
aren’t you? Been alive too long? Have a death wish?” I prompted him.

  He laughed. “That’s fine. If you’re scared, you can stay here with Emma and Diya and do make-up and decorating.”