Yes, Master Part 16 (FIRST HALF)

Hey everybody! It's been a minute, but I think you'll be excited to see a new Yes, Master chapter up.  So, about that. I have made the decision to suspend My Telija until later on in the fall.  My attention and my brain are really involved with the vampires right now, and as much as you all love the Fae, I would rather give them a good story then a rushed one. 

Some of you might be pissed off by this, and yes, that's okay, but it's something that i've been thinking about for a while now.  I WILL be coming back to them.  I don't leave stories unfinished, because that's bullshit that I'm not fond of. I just wanted to give you all fair warning though. So thank you for understanding if you're not too pissed off at me. :) Hopefully you're not, because I have a stellar chapter ready for you tonight...or part of it that is. (Don't worry, it's long.)

I've also included a few pics of Olly and Tate for your viewing pleasure.  A quick thanks to Pat for pointing out Joshua Day (model) to me.  With a lot more fur, he is definitely my Oliver. So thanks Pat. *hug*

**Quick Update**  Tomorrow I'll be posting a list of all my stories in order and linking them to a tab at the top of my blog. A lot of people have requested this, so I'm making magic happen folks.

Look out for the other half of Yes, Master later this week.

Last, but not least, the Manga & Romance Blog Hop begins this week (22-24), so don't forget to check that out! 

Okay, have a good night guys and lots of hugs!!!

XOXOXO NIGHTTEMPEST

 JOSHUA DAY as OLIVER

 SEAN O'PRY as TATE

 YES, MASTER PART 16 (FIRST HALF)

Rope chafed against my wrists.  The kind that feels like plastic—that pulls apart whenever I try to handle it, but when it’s wrapped around my wrists, it doesn’t budge.  Of course it doesn’t, I groaned softly with a yank of my hands.  Nope, not going anywhere, it was official.  My eyelids felt as if they were made of lead. They refused to budge the last three times I tried to open them, and my head throbbed like a beacon of pain to my body.  Finally I was able to open them.  A single, caged pendant lamp hung from the middle of the room, an industrial air vent blowing it back and forth. I could feel my eyes dilate.  The light was too much against the darkness. 

I could tell the space around me was large due to the echo the air vent gave off above me.  At least I wasn’t in a cargo crate on my way to Russia or something. That small relief was quickly stolen as I looked down.  Waking up to know you were bound to a chair was one thing.  Waking up bound to a chair with your shirt missing and your pants pulled down around your ankles was another.  Oh hell to the fuck no.  I flexed my arms and hissed—realizing my arms had been tied about every five inches.  I was not getting out of this chair.

“What’s wrong Oliver?  All tied up?” Alexander’s playful voice called out of the darkness. 

“Fuck you,” I spat.  Jiggling my body in the chair, all I accomplished was moving it a couple of inches, and tiring myself out.

He stepped out of the shadows that surrounded me.  His hair slicked to the side.  A burgundy pinstripe suit was immaculately tailored to his slim physique.  He looked like a straight up GQ villain.  Ah, shit. This was not good, not good at all. 

A knowing smile graced his lips.  “I see you finally have come to realize your mistake.  Underestimating me all these years and ignoring me like I was made of air. Not any more Oliver.”

He undid his jacket buttons with one hand while coming closer. “Because now?  You’re mine.  You were promised to me for a job well done.  You didn’t think I’d know it was you on the other end of that deal?  I knew it was you the whole time.  You were just a really, really good distraction for the queen’s guards.” His jacket fell to the ground as he began to unbutton his shirt. 

“Right now, my boss and his men are going for the real prize, those damn Guardians.  Thomas says that when they’re out of the way, we’ll own this city and all the humans in it.  Well, I’m not like him yet, but soon, I will be.  And when I turn?  You will be my mate.” Alexander straddled my lap.  His hands ran over my bare chest.  I spit in his face, but as crazy as he obviously was, he just wiped it away with a smile.

“So, you are working with one of them?  I knew it!  What are you planning, Rutovsky?  Who the fuck are these Guardians? And where the hell do you get off calling me your mate? I’d sooner cut my dick off than fuck you with it.” Okay, maybe that wasn’t true, but I had to let off some steam.  There wasn’t a flame in hell that could make me bounce on the idea of him being my lawfully wedded vampire mate.  It started as a chuckle at the thought then became a full-fledged bellow from the pit of my stomach. 

“Laugh all you want, Oliver.  I will make you mine.  Your little assistant was just for fun, just to fuck with your head.  What you won’t find so funny, is that the Guardians you seem to know nothing about, are people you know very well.” He grabbed my chin, making me watch as he slid his hand into my lap and grabbed my cock.  “Mmm, even soft you’re just as big as I thought.  If you care at all about Isaac and Melaina, you’ll give in to me.  If you want your little Tate to stay in one piece, then you’re going to be a good boy.  Do you get it now, Oliver?” His hand slowly worked down to my balls and lightly massaged them.  My cock betrayed me under his warm caresses—growing before his eyes.  “I guess you do.”

“What did you do, Alex?  Where is my boyfriend, you fucking lunatic?” I seethed as he slid off my lip with a slow grin.  He slipped to his knees and ran his palms up my thighs.

“I did what I had to.  You can’t be on top with others that are higher than you.  Once Isaac found out about my boss, then it was only a matter of time before he alerted their queen.  Oh, have you met her?  I haven’t, but I hear she is delectable.  Usually I prefer men, but for a queen?  I think I could make an exception.” He smiled before raking his nails into my thighs. His mouth covered the head of my cock and I yelled as loud as I could. If my dick was going to the dark side, my voice sure as hell wasn’t.

A door opened at the far side of the warehouse, letting in a trail of blue moonlight.  A large shadow appeared, dragging something along for the ride.  “Shit timing, Reggie! I said I’d call you.  I’m kind of busy right now.”

“Big boss just called.  You weren’t answering your phone. He said to tell you straight away.” A deep, slow voice called out of the dark.

Alex continued to stroke my cock slowly. “Well, what is so important?”

Reggie—aka Bubba—tossed Tate to the ground in front of us.  His arms and legs tied up—a gag in his mouth.  He looked at Alex, me, my naked cock being fondled. He growled like a tiny cat, starting to squirm against his ties. 

“First off, I work for my boss, not you.  Secondly, that thing bites.” He pointed to Tate. Looking away from my naked body, Reggie shook his head.  “You’s a sick motherfucker, you know that Alex?  Man, no wonder the boss gave you this palace of non-sense; fucking crazy ass whore house.”

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Alex let go of me to stand. “We’ve got buyers coming in twenty minutes.”

“Not anymore we don’t, we gotta move this shit.  The Chinese called a different location. They’re under the impression that the Cartel is out for blood tonight.  Which is smart, because seeing as how we’re about to sell their little princess for ten mill to the Jing, they probably are.  Trucks are here, and we let ‘Sir bites a lot’s’ vehicle go into the river, so that’s all set.  You can play with your ‘whatever you call him’ later.  I gotta prep for the boss’s meeting with the head of the Jing. Scope shit out and all that.”  Reggie smiled, fingering his jacket until it was straightened over his round belly.

Alexander rolled his eyes.  “Fine, at least check to make sure the girls are being loaded before you go.”

“Ah yes a master.” Reggie mocked and waved his hand. “Dumb ass, wanna be.  I ain’t yo bitch.  You gotta phone, use it. I’m out.”

“Talk to me like that, you stupid inbreed,” Alex muttered under his breath. 

“What you say, you Richey little Bitch?” Reggie ground his fist into his palm with narrowed eyes.

“Nothing. Now go.  We wouldn’t want Thomas to be kept waiting.”

Reggie raised a brow with a puckered lip as if deciding Alex’s fate for a later date.  “Whatever.  Clean this shit up or you ain’t gonna be on top of nothing.”

“We’ll see about that.” My sworn enemy paused.  “Was he alone?” Alex pointed to Tate who was trying to get to his knees while doing his angry squirrel routine. 

“Yeah, Bitey McGee over here thought he could drive the get-away car all by himself.  Dumb little shit.” Reggie let loose a deep giggle.  His stomach shook, his face was already shiny with sweat from over exerting himself, or moving, whatever he called it.

Alex pulled out his phone. Reggie flipped him the bird. “Later.”   He turned, starting back to the open entrance.  I looked at Tate in shock.  Where the fuck was J.J.? Oh hell no, he did not just leave us here! Tate looked at Alex then stopped writhing to wink at me. 

Alex turned back around still on his phone. “Where are you? Fine, get up here and babysit while I take care of the trucks. Good.”

Putting his phone away, Alex approached me with a smile. “Guess we’ll have to wait until later. I’m sure you’ll be a good boy until then, won’t you?” He reached down to stroke me again.  I couldn’t shake my erection off no matter how many times I thought of kicking puppies and my great aunt Agnes naked.  A bead of fluid seeped over his fingers and I groaned.  Tate watched like a man possessed.  I swear I could hear him growling. 

Bringing his finger to his mouth, Alex sucked the treat from his digit with a smile. “I can’t wait.  I hope you fuck as good as you taste.” He brought his lips to mine and I turned my head. 

“Okay, okay, you’re upset. I get it.  I’ll let you have a few minutes with this trash before we take him away. Then it’ll be just you and me.” He childishly bopped me on the tip of my nose with his finger and laughed.  He rubbed his hands together, looking up as footfalls began to near us from the dark.

“Sir?” Another ass wipe approached from behind.  “The trucks are set to load.  They want you to confirm on the cargo if you’re ready.”  His New York accent was thick, his jeans tight as sin as he walked around me.  Dark hair covered his arms along with his wavy ponytail.  A beautiful cross hung around his neck and over his hard chest.  Tate stopped his writhing act again to watch the new man too.  Fuck, this guy was sexy.

“Good. Watch them while I finish this up.  I’ll call the car around on my way over.  Don’t fuck this up.” Alex put a finger to the man’s chest.  The sexy lackey nodded with a gleam in his eye.  One that Alex managed to look over, but not me.  How could I?  He was staring right at me—his eyes shifting down to my lap with a questioning smirk.  “I’ll call you when I’m done. Later baby.” Rutovsky kissed my cheek before taking off into the dark.

The stranger stood there staring at the dark until we all heard the heavy click of the outside door—Alex’s shadow leaving for the docks.  I was about to start scooting towards Tate, when the stranger kneeled before my boyfriend. Producing a folding knife from his back pocket, he cut Tate’s bindings.  My boyfriend stared in shock for a few seconds, before pulling out his gag, and running to me. 

“Tate, this is a trap.  I bet he’s just testing us.” I narrowed my eyes.  Small hands worked at the series of knots that held me in place.  Yet, still the new guy stayed on his side of the light.

“Not a trap, bro.” Stranger Danger pulled something from the inside of his waistband.  Glinting in the light was a shiny badge that he held up to my face. “Detective King Valjana, NYPD, and this is your lucky day.” He laughed. “I’ve always wanted to say that.”

“Whoa. Are you undercover?” Tate peered around me with wonder. “That’s so cool.”

“Tate!” I hissed.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

Detective Valjana looked about ready to crawl out of his skin.  Paranoid was more like it.  This was either going to be good or very bad. “We have about ten minutes before someone else shows up.  I checked all the monitors. Everyone is below or at the loading dock.  Tonight is going to be the final wrap up.  Our guys will be moving in when I give the call.  But I can’t just leave you guys here to fend for yourselves. Tied or untied, you won’t make it out of here by yourselves period.”

“We aren’t alone,” Tate chimed in.  The rope fell to the floor.  Finally, I could feel my arms and the attached hands.  I could flex them, move them, I wanted to dance.  Tate moved around to the front of the chair and quickly started to button my pants back up.  “Fucking whore bag, Rutovsky.”

“What do you mean you aren’t alone?” King stood and looked around in the dark.  Cartel vs. NYPD vs. Vampires vs. the Chinatown Jing was bad news bears all the way around.

“Well, we didn’t drive ourselves here.  That would be a dumb move.  Alex is such a fucktard for even believing that.” Tate rolled his eyes. The rope around my feet gave way.

“Then who did?” King pulled a Smith and Wesson forty-five from the small of his back.  He walked a circle around the darkness, his gun at the ready.

“Wow.  You must be in deep to be this antsy.” I stood and rubbed my wrists.

“If you’d seen half the shit I have during my stay here, you would be too.  So, don’t fuck with me you polo playing, son-of-a-bitch.  Who the fuck drove you here?  Who are you working for?”  King kept his gun lowered, but the tension was in the rigid extension of his arms, the twitch in his jaw.  His sexy eyes flicked between me and Tate.

Out of the darkness, behind Detective Valjana, came a large figure.  Bald with a thick black tribal skull tat, dark eyes the color of pitch.  Fangs descended with a vicious snarl rippling his bottom lip.  “If you point that gun at them like you want to so badly, I’ll rip your spine out piece by piece,” Yuri greeted King, his accent thick from behind his fangs.

“Russians?” King faltered.  “They aren’t a part of this.” He stepped closer to us. Swinging himself around with his hands tightened on his gun, King faced our newest arrival. Thinking his move gained him adequate distance from his target, the look on King’s face when he realized Yuri was faster, was priceless. Disbelief set in, shock bloomed in King’s eyes. It was almost funny, but I had other things that took precedence over laughing at cops.  Yuri growled in King’s face, only inches separating them.  Damn, I thought, as I saw Yuri’s fangs were gone again.  He’s good.

“You won’t go inside, he says.  There won’t be a reason to, he says.  Alex won’t suspect a thing, he says.  Bullshit, Yuri.  We have to get to Isaac and Melaina. Fucker planned this whole thing!” I grabbed his arm, only to be shaken off.

“Is that your way of saying ‘I told you so’?  Is it, you ungrateful human? That you are so much better at my job than I am?” Yuri growled in my face, fisting King’s necklace around his fingers to keep him from doing something stupid.

“Oh my God, would you all just calm the fuck down?” Tate hissed trying to keep his voice quiet.  “Keep screaming and you’ll blow this.  Yuri, no one said I told you so.  Don’t you dare blame us for any of this.  You! Detective whatever your name was, where are they taking the girls from here?”

I stared at Tate in awe for a second.  His fluffy center melted away into someone that I had only seen a few times, but every time I did, it made me hard.  It was different from his angry squirrel or irritated snappy Tate.  This was what I was now coming to coin his ‘little general facet’. 

My boyfriend snapped his fingers with a scowl. “Hello? Anyone home in there? Earth to King. Where are the girls going?”

“Chinatown, the Jing,” King murmured.                        

“Awesome.  Just great, let’s add another country to our list of enemies. Whatever, J.J. said that once the…you guys.” Tate pointed at Yuri, who let go of King.  “That once you and the others got here we were to meet him at the south gate.  The whole Cartel is about to bring it down, so a driver will meet us there.  J.J. couldn’t get a hold of Ghost, so he went after Joss on his own. Let’s just say he believes us now.” 

I hissed with a wince when Tate reached up and touched the damage from Reggie’s gun.  “We need to get this looked at.  You could have a concussion or whatever, I don’t want to think about it.”

“Baby?” I lifted his chin.  “I’m okay.  Let’s just get the fuck out of here, away from all this, and then you can look at me all you want.”

Tate rolled his blue greens with a small smirk. “Cute.”

“I thought so.”

“Are you two fucking done?” King aimed his gun at the direction of the outside door.  An engine roared up from the other side of the wall. Lights flashed momentarily from the above windows, then died.

“Tate, you hold on to Oliver. Whatever you do, don’t let go of him.” Yuri’s eyes narrowed. He pulled two lethal pieces from his side holsters.  “Oliver, follow my voice.  You, you’re playing caboose.” King nodded back.

We stepped into the dark, leaving us humans relatively blind to our surroundings.  I could have closed my eyes, but it wouldn’t have made a difference.  Straining to focus my hearing on Yuri’s voice, and the movements of his body in front of me, I jumped when the door on the other side of the main room swung open.  “Yo, Johnny! Boss just called, said to pick up his new friend.  Where you at?” 

The voice sounded young.  If I had to guess with the smooth high pitch, he was in his twenties.  The door squeaked closed.  Yuri’s arm reached out and pulled Tate and I close. His heartbeat was calm, his large palms smoothed over our chests. I could barely make out King, but from what I could tell, his arms were raised—his gun aimed at our uninvited guest.

“Johnny?” The question suspicious, the new thug’s head looking around quickly as he found the cut rope, and the empty chair.  “Johnny…” This was more of a growling taunt.  The thug’s gaze swiveled directly to us in the corner, his nose inhaling something, a smile on his lips. “There you are.”

“What the fuck…” King whispered.  Oh we were so screwed.  The bad vampires had arrived.

“Three more approach from the left,” Yuri warned quietly and disappeared from our backs, a breeze shivering up our spines in his place.  I felt helpless to protect Tate, like a child really, relying on Yuri and this oblivious undercover cop to keep us alive.   It fucking sucked. 

“Leo, Arthur, we got company,” Tate murmured.  It was then that I remembered our microphones.  At least it was a small comfort.

“Johnny, who are your friends?  I don’t believe we’ve met.”  The vampire crept closer.

“Yeah, well I’m not really a people person,” Yuri replied for King.  He stepped into the light with his guns level.  “Sorry.” It was the last thing he said before he unloaded his weapons into the vamp. 

The guy’s body shook with the swarm of lead that pelted his body.  Tate turned in to my chest with a whimper as blood rained on the concrete.  Something fell to the floor, then something else.  A double click, then Yuri walked back over. “Clean up on aisle nine,” Yuri said to the room, but I knew he was talking to the two techs from earlier. 

“What the hell was that thing?” King’s voice whispered in the dark.

“Well Johnny, I believe that was a friend of yours, but not anymore.  Got three more friends of yours about to walk through that…” He paused. “Get behind me!” Yuri roared as the door was kicked open and gun fire lit up the darkness.

“Leo! Arthur! Don’t let those trucks out of your sight and I want Alex alive.  Alive damn it!” Yuri screamed into his hidden ear piece as he pushed King into us.  “Go, get them out of here.  Our guys are coming in.  Find that fucking ass wipe J.J. and get the hell out of here!”

King grabbed us by the collars and pushed his way to the glowing exit sign.  We burst through the door into a rounded bend of brick hallway.  Small caged lights gave off enough light to see, but not enough for my comfort.  Hissing sounded from the network of pipes above and beside us, valves dotted the walls.  The smell of mildew and stale air made me cough.

“Come on, this way.” He shot us a look with a shake of his head. “The fuck was that thing,” he mumbled, before taking off to the right.  Tate’s hand locked around mine.  We followed.  “The loading dock is this way.  They’d have to bring the girls up the back stairs from underground and the cages take time to unlock.”

“Cages?” Tate gasped, gripping my hand tighter.

King slowed down at the next turn.  Bending his arms, he held his gun up. “They’re selling virgins to the highest bidder.  They aren’t exactly nice people.” Slowly, he looked around the corner, and lowered his gun—aiming it at the floor. “Clear.  Stay tight on me. This is where shit gets real. Belly of the beast is just down the hall.”

“Why are we going through there?” I stopped in my tracks. Something wasn’t right.

“We can’t go out the front obviously.  The stairs that way lead back to the service entrance, and it’s always manned. If we go this way, there are at least five ways to get outside, and get us to that car without being seen.  Look, you’re going to have to trust me, because you’re out of options.” King was like a hunting dog, his eyes roaming back and forth, his body on the defense. He really was a cop.

“Fine, get us out of here.” Rapid gunfire along with the strangest screams I had ever heard came from the main room.  Echoes of what sounded comparable to a hundred pairs of boots were coming from all different directions. 

“Fuck. We gotta find a good hiding place.” A shot rang out from down the hall. The snarls and yelling were coming closer—not from the other room anymore.

“There!” A tall blonde man with glowing eyes hissed.  His fangs descended.  King’s jaw dropped, but we didn’t have time for him to get wigged out.

A sign for the boiler room was right next to us, a small hallway on the other side of it. Tate followed my line of sight and took off before me. The vamp smiled, six others joining him from behind. The large door swung open in front of us as Tate gave us an escape. I ran inside, King followed with a few shots of his gun, slamming the door shut behind us. I heard the locks click, but knew it wasn’t going to be enough for those vampires. King must have thought the same thing because he threaded an iron stake through the older, unused locks as well.

“We need to barricade the door, give us time.  They’ll get through in another minute,” I rambled.

“Trust me they aren’t going to get in here.” King panted with a look to me.

“Trust me, they will.  They’re just fucking with us right now.  Trying to squirm us out of here like a game.  Wait.  I have an idea.” I felt for the gel sticker behind my ear, sighing with relief when my fingers found it still intact. If it wasn’t gone by now, it wasn’t going anywhere. “Leo? Arthur? Someone? We’re locked in the boiler room. Some help please?”

“They heard you, but I don’t know that we have that much time.” Tate paced a few times, fanning his face. “King?” He stopped over a metal grate. The sounds of clawing hands and growls came from the door. “What’s down here?”

King approached Tate, a cautious yet thoughtful look on his face. “The basement.  It’s where they keep the girls.  I think that leads to the air system though. It goes by the high pressure fans, not to mention it’s really fucking dangerous.”

“Oh and being eaten isn’t?” I threw my hands up.

King turned around. “Being eaten?” The sound of tearing metal punctuated my point. “Okay, someone tell me what the fuck is going on!”

“What’s going on is that I don’t have time to play Nancy Drew with you. Point your gun at the door while I open this grate.  If anything comes through it, shoot to kill. Between the eyes, the heart, I don’t fucking know. Make it bleed,” I huffed, joining Tate on my knees next to the grate. The thing weighed half as much as Tate, but at least it had bars to pull it up.  The small things, I told myself.

“What is it exactly?” The cop trained his gun on the rattling door.  A fist pounded against the reinforced glass.

“You don’t want to know.” I grunted as we dropped the giant grate with a clink.  “Okay, we have to pull this back in place once we get down there.” Gun shots started to plaster the lock from the other side. “C’mon baby, down you go.”

“But I can’t see, Oliver.” Tate rubbed his eyes, dangling his legs over the foot and a half hole in the ground. 

“Here, use my phone.”  King tossed the device to us. Something kicked on around us, the room suddenly hotter than it was thirty seconds ago.  “Go, Tate. Get the fuck down there.”

“Oh, okay.” Tate waved the phone down into the dark.  Once satisfied with his brief inspection, he jumped.

I heard him land on the ground, a small groan echoing up. “Tate?”

The backlit screen waved around for a second. “I’m okay. It’s not far at all.  It’s a tunnel, not a vent,” he called up.

“Go, Oliver.” King’s voice was very serious. The door rattled in a dangerous way.  That thing was coming off in a few seconds. I slid down into the darkness, my feet hit solid ground, but I moved out of the way quickly.

Holding Tate’s hand still, I directed the light up for the cop.  He made an appearance two seconds later. “Shit, the grate.” We all stopped dead as the door above was slammed open—King finally settled on his feet next to us. The vampires burst into the room.  More gunfire joined our already cramped party.  Fuck yeah, the cavalry had arrived. That thought was followed by an arm being kicked down the open hole, an arm as in a limb, a detached, fucking limb.

“Oh God,” Tate whimpered.

“Yeah, we need to go,” King muttered while wiping blood off his face from the offending arm.

“They’re down there. I smell them!” A voice cried from above, but was silenced. Someone was bringing down the house for us upstairs.

“He smells us? What the…” King trailed off as a head bounced off the floor with a splat from above. “Ah fuck that, come on.”

“Was that a head?” Tate squeaked.  His body pressed into mine like we were one.

“No, baby, of course not.” I kissed his cheek.

“I didn’t think so.  People do not throw heads down manholes. They just don’t.” He shook his head.

“No, they don’t.  Let’s go this way, baby.” Actually they did, according to the gooey cranium that was now resting in the corner.  For Tate’s sanity though, I was willing to play dumb.

Ten minutes later and I felt like I was in the basement version of Myst. Yeah, I admit it. I played some PC games back in the day, so sue me. All the twists and turns, combined with the locked doors, and I was starting to wonder if there was a sequence of ancient discs that I had to line up for a magic door to open in the ground.  King held up his hand and stopped—his lips formed into an excited aha and we were off.

“That tunnel led us to the back storage units.  That’s why I was so confused. We’d never go out that way.  All the action is up there.  This is the main drag, down there are the cages. But, we need to keep low.  Especially if those things can smell us…” King looked at me and I shook my head.

“Not gonna happen,” I replied without even being asked. I wasn’t about to give up the identity of vampires and have King go ape-shit or worse, the vampires kill us for telling.

“Whatever.  You still have that thing on you?” He reached up to touch my mic.

“Yeah, go ahead, they can hear you.” That much was obvious after our little act of protection back there.

King ran a hand through his hair as much as he could with the ponytail. “I’m about to call in my guys and I figured your people would want to know about it.”

“You’re gonna call the cops?  Why would you bring them into this? You’ve got two different mobs going at each other and our guys on top of that?  What are you, crazy?” Tate looked from side to side before approaching King. “You’re just asking for them to get killed. Do you want that?”

“Baby, it’s okay.  Let him call it in.  If the cops show up, the trucks can’t go anywhere right?” I rubbed his back.  “That’s a good thing.”

“I guess so, but I don’t feel good about this.” He sighed into my chest.

“You don’t feel good about this?  Uh, hate to burst your bubble, but have you looked around you buddy?  There’s not a whole lot to feel good about in general.” King rolled his eyes, pulling out his phone.  He held it up to his ear with a silencing finger to his lips.

“Detective King Valjana, badge number…” He turned away and walked into the small alcove to finish his conversation. 

Wrapping his arms around me, Tate rose up and kissed me. “I bet that warm beach sounds good right about now, huh?”

“Yeah, it does.  When we get out of here, I promise you white sand and prissy little drinks until you can’t see straight.” I pressed a small kiss to his lips.

“It’s going to take a lot more than that to make me go blind,” he countered.

“I’m sure I can think of something.” My hands drifted down to his ass with a squeeze. I just needed to feel him. Danger Will Robinson and all that jazz could wait a second.  I’d take any touch I could get right now, because frankly?  Who the fuck knew what was about to go down ten minutes from now, or less than that if I was being realistic. Every second with Tate counted.  I needed him now.

“Are you two fucking serious?  Again? You’re really getting all grabby when we have those things coming after us and two dozen caged women a hall over?  That must be some great ass if that’s the case.” King snorted.

“Oh, it is.  He takes care of my ass just fine,” Tate replied with a hand on his hip and I couldn’t help but laugh quietly.  The stunned look on the cop’s face was just too good not to.

Clearing his throat, King edged back towards the main hallway with his gun ready.  “S.W.A.T. along with the entire NYPD is on the way from the sounds of it.  Now we just have to get confirmation on the girls.”

“Confirmation?” I asked.

He spared me a look over his shoulder, his eyes twinkling in the soft light. “Alive or dead? How many are there? Where are they exactly? Confirmation.  They’re gonna want an update from the inside.  How many busses we need? How many bodies we have, if any? Our proximity to the nearest exit for SWAT…”

“I thought you said you knew all that.” I pushed Tate behind me as we neared the edge of our safety.

King pointed his gun at the ground and lined his shoulder up with the corner of the brick. “They don’t let me near the girls too often.  Tonight was an exception, because of all the work involved setting up the trucks to the back doors, but that was why tonight. I had to make this happen before those trucks left. Once those girls leave this warehouse? They’re all as good as dead. I can’t offer them anything anymore.”

King nodded and we ran to the other side of the main hallway into another smaller hallway. “Fuck. Okay, how long until your boys show up?”

“Ten minutes tops. They’ll surround the place, then text me. I told them we had friendly company, but not to engage unless they were forced to.  It’s not like they’re wearing nametags. Hi! I’m from the mob, pleased to meet you.” King sighed. “We’ll do our best, but those girls are priority right now.  A lot of them have families that are looking for them, some missing for months.  They need their families.”

“I got it.  You don’t have to convince me, King.” I palmed the wall, leaning forward to listen. The cop pushed me back, footsteps coming from the end of the hall we had come from.

Pressed to the wall in the darkened sub-hallway, we watched two men with small machine guns waltz by. They were big, they were bad, and I found it hard to breath.  Those men made me feel small, which I wasn’t, but they made me feel as much.  It hurt my ego to know that I had no way to defend my boyfriend against those guys, or even a gun to get real with if shit went down.  This led to a frantic search around me for something to keep in my hands, something that would stab, or hit, or at least bruise the enemy. Something that would make me feel that I done all I could to keep Tate safe.

“What are you doing?” Tate barely whispered in my ear. That’s when I spotted it. Against the far wall, a red box with no lock.  It was old school, and there was a chance there was nothing in it, but I hoped to all that was holy, what I sought was at the bottom of that box.

“Hey, what are you…” King whispered urgently.  I kept going with a slow creep toward the box, while King turned his face back to the hall with his gun—keeping watch while I went on my tiny quest.

Trying to open the box without a squeak was equivalent to that tension you felt from trying to keep the door quiet when you snuck back in the house. Your whole body is filled with this foreboding feeling that at any minute your mom or dad is going to flick the light on, and you’ll spend the next two weeks grounded.  Only this time the stakes were higher.  My life and the life of the man I loved were on the line.  It wasn’t my parents coming around. It was two men with enough firepower to blow us to bits.

Carefully, I lifted the thin latch, and opened the lid.  My fingers reached in.  My hand locked around a thick wooden handle.  My eyes narrowed with an evil delight.  Slipping my new found weapon out of the ancient ‘in case of emergency’ box, I brought the axe into the light.

“Oliver,” Tate breathed.  He wasn’t sure what to think, it was in his eyes.

“You better know how to use that thing, because if they get a hold of that, you’re dead.” It was all King said before he jerked his hand for us to follow.  Like mice scampering through the dirt, we crossed the danger zone once again.  This time we managed to get a ways up without being spotted.

“I know how to use it.” I thought back to those summers at the cabin with the Hightower’s and my father. Cade and I would take turns trying to show each other up with the axe.  Who could chop the most wood, or who had the most muscle, and who was the bigger bad ass. Turns out I was. “Besides, those jerks were human.  Had they been anything else, they would’ve immediately smelled or heard us.”

“So those things aren’t human, are they? What are they, OIiver?” King’s hair was beginning to slip loose from his tie—long, sweaty locks starting to frame his rugged face.

Tate shook his head.  Nope, we weren’t going to budge on this. “King, for the last time, it is better that you have don’t know.  End of conversation,” I quietly relayed with an edge.  I was done talking about this.

“That’s too bad.  I wanted to hear the rest.” A voice startled all three of us—the end of a gun pointed at us.  Fuck me, this thug was huge.  His biceps were about the size of Tate, and fangs filled his smiling mouth. I gripped my axe for all that I was worth, stepping in front of my boy.  Nobody was getting to him without going through me.

“Hey there, Otis.” King held up a hand, stepping away from the wall.

Otis grinned, shaking his head. “Nice try Johnny, but you just made the shit list.  Put your gun down and step away from them.”

“No can do, Otis.  I…” King jumped back as one side of the thug’s head exploded—brain matter flying through the air, a gaping hole left smoking where Otis’s ear had been.

“Oh no. Oh no!” Tate shrieked. “His head, oh my God!” The mighty giant fell to the side, his body dead weight on the ground.  “What the fuck!” Tate scrambled further back into the tiny space that was our sub-hallway, trying to hide himself from whatever made that giant hole in Otis.

King raised his gun, unfazed by Otis—obviously having seen something worse while working here. “Who’s there?”  Seconds ticked by before a black boot gave way to a leather clad body.  Ghost made a noise of irritation then lowered his gun.

“Put your hands up, NYPD.” King pointed his gun at Ghost. “Put the gun down and your hands up!”

Ghost flicked his eyes to us with humor. “You picked up a cop, how cute.”

“King, he’s with us. Don’t shoot him.” I lowered the axe, Tate clinging to my back with every move.

“You sure about that?” King eyed the assault rifle in Ghost’s arms. “Because that is not exactly friendly equipment there, Oliver.”

“Sorry, they were fresh out of butter knives at assassin one oh one. Forgive me.” Ghost smiled.

“Wise guy huh? You sure you roll with him, Oliver?” King and Ghost moved into the open hallway, circling each other.

“As much I want to prove that my balls are bigger than yours, I have orders.  You’re in my way, so move it or join us, because either way, I’m taking them with me.  You’re just a cop.  I don’t give two shits about you.”

Moving closer to the open hall, I looked between the two men. “Ghost, we have to bring him with us. The cops are on the way, he’ll help us smooth over the rough edges with them.”

“You called the cops! Are you out of your mind?  Half the Cartel is in this building right now. Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Ghost swore and pulled out his phone. “J.J. it’s me. We got cops on the way. We’re headed toward the trucks.” He ended the call. “From here on out, watch me and don’t say a thing.  Unless you are bleeding out, I don’t want a peep.”

Trembling against my back, I maneuvered Tate around Otis’s dead body.  “Yeah, we hear you. King?”

“You fuck me over and you’re behind bars for life,” the Italian instructed to the assassin.

“I’ll remember that boy scout,” he laughed back. “Let’s go.”

~~~~~~~~~~                      

When King had first mentioned cages, I thought maybe a room with a gate or something along those lines.  What I hadn’t planned on were actual cages. About four by four, the metal bars enclosed actual human beings who were bound and gagged. Frightened looks on their faces, dirt and blood on their bodies, it was too much to look at.

Of course we didn’t have much time to inspect any of them. Finding cover was more of a priority than anything.  The minute we had silently entered the far door that had been unmanned, the vampires had scented us.  It was a simple mistake on my part, but what was done, was done. Huddled behind a stack of crates in a never ending maze of cubes, the four of us avoided the shower of lead coming from every direction.  

Tate had folded in on himself a long time ago—useless and scared in the farthest corner of the crates.  Tears streamed down his face, but I didn’t have time to comfort him right now, I had vampires to attempt to kill. The Cartel had arrived on the loading dock and were playing cowboys and Indians with Alex’s crew of half this and half that. Our vampires were slowly making their way to the show, but we had yet to see Yuri or J.J. for that matter. I was just about to grab King’s phone that was lighting up, when the box behind my head was pulled out like we were playing Jenga.

Tate’s scream was so loud, that it set my protection mode to a new level. Adrenaline zipped through my body, the vampire’s eyes red as the blood that painted his mouth. He jumped up onto the crate and pounced—right into the blade of my axe. My arms pulled back with the impact of his head on my weapon, and I screamed a warning.

Ghost and King jumped out of the way, one manning the new hole in our crate fort, and the other blowing holes in the guys would dared to come close. I slid across the open small opening and into the next aisle of crates. The vampire moaned weakly, his skull currently split in two, and as soon as I regained my senses, I stood over him.  Putting my foot to his chest, I yanked over and over until the axe came out. His wound started to dry up, the cut apparently not deep enough.

“The fuck you do, asshole,” I hissed and brought the axe down to his neck.  Blood spurted from either side of the blade, and out of his mouth. This time his eyes glazed over, his limbs slowly relaxed, and he died. As in the vampire was finally dead. Not getting up anymore. Bit that shit.

Breathing harder than I ever had before, I swung around to check on my boyfriend.  He was sandwiched between two of the hardest gun slingers I had ever witnessed. On the floor, Tate covered his head with his arms, and fought to make himself even smaller than he was. 

“Oliver! Behind you!” Ghost yelled, spending another round to my left. Whirling around, I brought my axe into the shoulder of a very angry vampire. Apparently I had killed his BFF, and he wasn’t happy about it.  He howled in pain, looking at me as if I was in for it.

“Ghost!” I yelled.  This fucker was bigger than the last one. I needed a bullet in his head to get my axe back. Teamwork, the golden fundamental of life, and here I was using that to my advantage.  Not something you hear from an only child every day.

“Duck,” Ghost called back.

A bullet whizzed right over my head. I felt the heat as I ducked to the vamp’s waist, letting him take one in the face, then another.  Falling onto his friend, the vampire hissed, grabbing at his face only to come back with hamburger meat. Or what looked like ground beef anyway.

Before he could start to heal, I yanked the axe from his shoulder.  His hand simultaneously went around my ankle with a strangled roar, pulling me to the ground. To my advantage though, the fucker couldn’t see yet.  So, I just cut his hand off—the feeling of my blade slicing through previously human flesh becoming less of a big deal the more I did it.

Loud engines roared to life, females screamed, the cages began to rattle. Fuck, they were trying to take the girls. Which one was Joss? How would we know?  Where the fuck was SWAT? These thoughts and more coming up on the never ending Oliver crazy train, I exhaled with a shake of my head. Bringing my axe down one more time, I lost the last conservative bone I had in my body.  Blood covered my slacks, but I didn’t stop at his head.

“Gonna fuck with me?” I screamed at the lifeless body. “Gonna try and shoot up my boyfriend? I don’t think so!” People always say ‘getting on their last nerve’. Well, mine had jumped ship about thirty seconds ago. And so, like a madman, I continued to hack at the already decapitated vampire.

“Oliver!  We gotta go. Oliver? Ah dude, cut it out.” King clapped his hands in my face.  My eyes met his and I looked back down.  It was a mess that a dozen veteran merry maids and a shop vac couldn’t even stomach. Before the weight of my new killing streak set in, King pushed me back across the line of fire.  I landed next to Tate, who pointed up with a tremble.

There on a mountain of crates, like the King of the warehouse, was J.J; a machine gun in each hand, a bullet proof vest over his bare chest, and a wicked look on his face that left no question to what his motives were.  He was joined by a dozen scary looking mothers covering him around the base of his new kingdom of boxes. With the new cover provided for us, Ghost indicated we were on the move. 

“Head for that door,” Ghost pointed across the room.  A red exit sign was being guarded by our guys.  They saw Ghost and they were cool with it. That was my only indication that they were good with us. “Bana is waiting at the gate with the cars.  We need to get Joss and get out of here.”

“What about the others?” I shouted—pulling Tate close to me as a body went flying overhead.

Ghost cranked his gun to give King the all clear. The cop took point, sweeping past us to secure the next section.  His Smith and Wesson had been traded out with a dead vamp’s big boy semi-automatic. King looked more in his element than he probably ever had been before. His moves under pressure looked practiced, routine even.  Was he possibly ex-military? 

Ghost jumped across the walkway, planting his back next to me. “Yo, Oliver, snap the hell out of it.” His gun went off at an incoming enemy.  Tate was starting to hyperventilate at my back.  “Meet up with King down there. I’m covering you.”

There was no reply to that except to get moving, which we did. I kept Tate behind me while we edged along the wall of crates with speed. People jumped from crate to crate above us, twelve feet of boxes stacked to create a ditch of sorts for us to wander through. Every once in a while, there was a weak spot in our defense, like the one we were approaching.  The path between the crates was wider, allowing more room for the vamps to get at us—possibly they had been larger for the use of forklifts, but right now, they were used to kill us.

King met us on the other side of the walkway, his gun ready for the slightest attack. “Clear, go!”

Running for our lives, we managed to cross the walkway until the last foot.  I heard the shot, I felt Tate jerk against me, then his keening scream of pain. Yanking Tate out of the war path, King stepped in and took his shot. A few roars from the other end turned to silence while I moved Tate to face me.

“Baby?” Frantically, I looked over his body until I saw right behind his shoulder. My hand came away with blood, his eyes were crazed, what the fuck did I do now?  Now that he was openly bleeding, vampires would be on us like white on rice.  We had to move it or lose it for real now. No more dallying around, the love of my life was bleeding profusely, and that was not okay with me.

Tate reached for me. “Olly.”

Ghost jumped the walkway, taking over for King as our cover. “What happened?” King ducked down to meet us.

“He’s been shot. Left shoulder from the back,” I managed, keeping my hand locked around Tate’s.

“Fuck, how bad is the bleeding?” King started to peel his shirt off.

I held my hand up to show him. His face said it all, but that didn’t stop King’s mouth from agreeing. “Ghost, it’s bad.”

“Got it.” The Cartel assassin turned towards the exit with his gun held out to his sides.

Rapid gunfire competed with Ghost’s thunderous yell in Spanish. The Cartel boys by the door got the message loud and clear. They fanned out, creating a wider safety net for us. Over the top of a pile of boxes, the girls were being led into the trucks. Everything was falling down around us all at once.

Leaning down over Tate, I kissed his forehead. “Hang on baby. I’m getting you out of here.”

He whispered something, but it was lost in the cacophony of noise.  I stood with Tate in my arms. Ghost’s eyes narrowed, another command was directed from his mouth, but this time it was to J.J. still somewhere above us. All guns were pointed to the man leading a beautiful young girl onto the truck. Her hair like a waterfall of chocolate down her thin back, her eyes dark, but hopeful—I believe we had just found our missing Joss.

Confusion between the three parties was now at its peak, but fate had another doozy to add into the mix. More gunfire came from outside. A voice sounded from a megaphone.  SWAT filled every entrance of the warehouse loading dock. That was when I looked at King and he nodded. I clutched Tate to me and ran for both our lives.

TO BE CONTINUED…..