Dawn's First Light

*****

Carter blended in with the crowd of disturbed on lookers as the first body, a grimy human male reeking of death and cheap wine, was rolled into the back of the coroner's van. The death could have been explained away, if not for the complete absence of blood and the clumsy puncture wounds on the victim's neck. Stupid. Fool.

He hedged closer to the flimsy line of yellow tape and rubber necked around the corner of the alley. He could smell the vampires on the roof above and the bittersweet reek of decay from the one rotting on the ground behind the dumpster. He bristled in annoyance. Wasn't anyway to hide that from the humans. One simple post-mortem blood test would confirm what vampires had been hiding from humans since the beginning of their race. Their very existence.

Where were the legendary Sons and why weren't they cleaning this up? What kind of a fool unleashed an infant on the streets? He raised a brow at the knife an investigator held in his gloved hand. Wasn't that interesting? It was possible. Unlikely, but it had been done before. A human had lured the vampire into the alley, offered her blood, judging by the soft lingering undertones of a female's perfume, and slit his throat, drinking his down in the process as she dribbled what was left of her blood onto the pavement. Curiouser and curiouser.

Where was the infant, so intent on cutting her baby fangs, hiding? Probably, someplace close. Judging by the scent off the corpses, daylight wasn't too far behind her when she made her second kill of the night. She would have sought shelter the minute the sun broke through the horizon. As a concerned citizen, he should do his part and take her out before she caused an even bigger problem. The issue was, he wasn't a concerned, dutiful citizen and he wasn't a part of anyone's world. He considered this his city. But, one insane infantile female was not his problem.

He had much larger problems to worry about. Primarily, a narcissistic, sadistic, prick of a megalomaniac, Rogue Master, hell bent on destroying the entire city. The corpse in the alley was one of his minions. He'd recognize Roark's stench anywhere. And Carter had no doubt Roark was somehow responsible for the baby vampire sucking the undesirables of his fair city dry. Let him clean up his own mess. And if he didn't, there were bigger fish than Roark in the pond who would. And they'd take Roark out with the rest of the garbage.

The only problem he had with that was he didn't want O'Sullivan in his city any more than he wanted Roark. One tyrant was just as bad as another. And O'Sullivan made Roark look as gentle as a newborn kitten.

Carter held to a policy of strict non-involvement. He was a stray, for lack of a better term. And he served no master except for himself. He almost chuckled as the city's finest scraped the decaying vampire up off the pavement and stuffed him into a thick black body bag. Yeah, he wanted to know how Roark planned to clean that mess up without the Sons popping by to pay him a nice, friendly visit. He had his ideas of how he would do it. But, then again, nobody asked him.

Ducking out of the crowd, Carter moved through the city. He had rooms on the upper floors of one of downtown's most exclusive hotels. Call him a snob. But, he liked the finer things in life and he had plenty of money to pay for them. He never stayed put in one place too long. He had his reasons. And his footloose and fancy-free lifestyle was just one of them. For now, he'd sit back and watch the show. Wait it out and see if Roark could manage to keep one step ahead of O'Sullivan or if the Sons would finally pay him a visit and earn their reputation.



Chapter 27

Trying to find her way to the kitchen, Kayla wound through the vast maze of hallways. Being underground had thrown her sense of direction off kilter and she'd taken a wrong turn. The air was frantic with the buzz of anticipation. Brothers rushed past her, surprisingly pausing for a brief second to give her a friendly nod, as if they accepted her presence and she belonged among them.

Kayla shimmied to the far wall and raised a curious brow as a group of brothers marched down the hallway in tight formation. Bare chested and wearing nothing but skimpy loincloths low on their hips, and ornamental, onyx handled daggers, the brothers moving as a gracefully as a unit toward her put the Chippendale dancers to shame. She had never seen such a display of chiseled muscle and smooth, masculine beauty. Words like dangerous, lethal, and breathtakingly beautiful came to mind. But, mere words could never do the brothers justice or define the men adequately. Vaguely, Kayla wondered if she really had fallen down a rabbit hole like Alice in Wonderland.

Her eyes immediately went to Bryce. As he walked in step with the brothers, his eyes flashed wickedly to her and then snapped sternly forward. Kayla grinned and did that girlie shivering thing, waggling her fingertips to wave back at him. She trailed behind the stern faced brothers, following the group. Bryce was at the rear of the formation sandwiched between a shorter sandy haired, smaller in stature, but no less lethal than any of the brothers in the group. To the left of Bryce a slightly taller broad shouldered brother with hair and skin as pale as cream, flashed her a smile and then focused his eyes ahead.

Practically drooling in spite of her self, she wondered if there was such a thing as an ugly vampire. Even Roark was devastatingly handsome. She quickened her steps to keep up with Bryce. Jogging on her tiptoes she leaned over his bare shoulder whispering a quick hello.

"Hi, I can't talk right now," he gritted over his shoulder at Kayla. He was barely dressed. The ceremonial loincloth didn't hide nearly enough. And as usual, catching the slightest whiff of her scent did all sorts of wicked things to his groin. "Kind of busy." Great, Bryce thought, rolling his eyes. He'd hoped Kayla would stay locked in her room until the trials were over. Of course, that wasn't the case. Things never went the way they were supposed to. She didn't understand his world. And it was better for everyone if she didn't find out Keene was fighting today. Ducking out of formation, he gently steered her back the way she'd come, toward her room.

"Yeah, I gathered that. What's going on anyway?" she asked. There was no point in bothering to whisper around the vampires. Her softest voice would sound like a shout thanks to their acute sense of hearing. The shorter one walking so intently beside Bryce shot a glare at her over his shoulder. "Um, I didn't mean to interrupt anything."

Kayla wrenched her arm out of Bryce's grip. He wasn't manhandling her. But, she resented being led back to her room like some wayward child that had accidentally wandered someplace she shouldn't be. Planting her feet on the floor, she crossed her arms over her chest and stubbornly refused to move. Noticing the tension in his jaw, she instinctively sensed he was hiding something from her. And maybe, whatever it was really wasn't any of her business. The brothers were clandestine and very secretive and she definitely wasn't part of the 'in crowd' around here.

The raw physicality of Bryce was overwhelming. His bare chest heaved, heavily rising and falling in time with her breaths. He was dangerously close, crowding her personal space. His silvery eyes snapped in cautious contemplation. His teeth fretted with his lower lip as he considered what to say to her. And as much as Kayla hated the girly part of herself, she couldn't help responding to him. Running the tip of her index finger down his sternum, smiling at the flush that spread over his cheeks, and the unmistakable swell in his groin. She pursed her lips and purred, "Nice, very nice." She teasingly wrapped her hand along the sheathed dagger strapped to his waist. "What a big..." She cast him a flirtatious grin and blushed. "Oh, sorry, I guess I shouldn't fondle the merchandise."

The woman gave him a serious case of whiplash. He couldn't quite keep up with her constantly changing moods. She advanced and retreated with equally breakneck speed. She'd let him get so close only to run for shelter. For the moment, she was flirty Kayla. And he had never been one to shy away form any feminine attention he could get. Bryce struggled to force the grin off his face. The trials were serious business, a matter of life and death. And he needed to be focusing on the brotherhood. But, he couldn't help himself. He liked to play. He leaned closer whispering into her ear. "It is a mighty fine weapon. Big isn't it."

Kayla shrugged, almost laughing at Bryce's need for affirmation. Vampire, human, no matter what the species, men in general were always worried about the size of their swords. "I've seen bigger," she answered, snickering at the flair of masculine challenge in his eyes.

"Bigger isn't always better," Bryce huffed. Inching Kayla back he pinned her shoulders against the wall between his splayed hands. He could get used to this playful, shamelessly flirtatious version of her. More daring than he'd ever been, encouraged by her smile, he brushed the hilt of his dagger across the swell of her hip.

"Pure male conjecture," she snorted. Her cheeks reddened beneath the smoldering expression of heated male desire in his eyes. He was too close. Inches separated their lips. He pinned her between his big hands and leaned forward, invading her space. The hardness probing the softest part of her wasn't from the hilt of his big dagger. The ripe tip of his erection brushed against her. And he was big.

Bryce's hand slid gracefully along the wall and he reached out, capturing a lock of her hair with his fingers. He tickled the curve of her cheek with the ends of the strands and closed the distance between them. His chest rose with a sharp intake of his breaths, gently pressing his bare skin against her breasts. Too much. Too close. Too soon. Suddenly panicked, she swiveled her hips and ducked under his arm, stepping out of reach.

Bryce leaned dangerously close, staring at the slightly parted pink lips mere inches from his. He could steal a quick kiss before she came to her senses and stopped him. She wanted him to. He could smell the musky tinge of desire on the air. Her hair was soft against the pads of his fingers. Her body was a lush haven, brushing against his chest and hip, reaping havoc with his common sense. He dipped his head to steal a taste of honey from her lips when the heady scent of feminine desire was tainted by the acrid scent of panic. She ducked under his arm and retreated out of his reach. Standing in the center of the hallway with her arms wrapped protectively around her chest, she watched him with wide, wary eyes.

He'd pushed her too hard, too fast, too soon, too far. And she responded the only way she could. She ran from him. "I'm sorry, Kayla. I didn't mean... I... shit," he cursed, dragging his hand through his hair. "Please, go back to your room. I promise, we'll talk later." Was he stupid or what? It was like some kind of a curse. He always wanted what he couldn't have. And chased after the wrong women. Kayla was wrong for him on so many levels. One of these days he'd learn. Before he could make this FUBAR'd situation any worse, he spun on his heel and walked away leaving her in the hall.

"Bryce wait!" Kayla called after him. Other than Keene, Bryce was the only friend she had at the compound. And she needed friends desperately. She hadn't meant to hurt his feelings. He took things so personally. It wasn't meant to be personal. She just wasn't ready for anything with anybody yet. Somehow, she had to make him understand that it wasn't him. This was all on her. He stopped and turned, staring at her through a disheveled lock of dark hair that had fallen over his brow. Conflicted with her body's responses to the beauty of the man and her mind's refusal to accept the surge of attraction between them, she balled her hands into fists at her side. "You never told me what's going on today."

Bryce ground his teeth. The urgency in her sweet voice had him stopping in his tracks and turning to face her. He decided that the woman was definitely trying to kill him. Drawn into tight, twin points, her nipples teased him beneath the thin cotton of her t-shirt. But, her mouth was drawn into a hard line that bordered on a frown. Her body definitely responded to him. But, her mind wanted no part of it. And he was tied up in a rigid knot of frustration. As usual, he wanted what he shouldn't want and scrambled like hell to figure out a way to get it. Life wasn't fair. Ever.

What the hell was he going to tell her about Keene? He was just now starting to earn her trust. Lying to her wouldn't gain him any points. Her trust was a fragile thing and one lie would completely shatter it. He settled for the truth. She would find out about it anyway. "Today is Keene's final trial. He's fighting today."

"Fighting?" Kayla's eyes widened with fear for Keene. The rogues feared the brothers with good reason. In battle, the Sons were absolutely lethal and ruthless in their punishments. They killed first and asked questions later. And Keene was fighting them? "Who? When?"

"I knew I should have kept my mouth shut," Bryce grumbled, cursing under his breath. "You don't understand. Keene knows what he's doing. If he wants to be a warrior, this is how it's done. He fights today at noon. Three against one in hand to hand combat. Kayla, he has to earn his place in the brotherhood."

"That's hardly fair!" Kayla squeaked out in horror. She'd seen plenty of fights amongst the rogues. They were bloody, brutal, and far too often lethal. Her breath caught in her throat and her body trembled. Keene had killed with his bare hands. And she was terrified that karma was coming for him today. "Three against one!"

Bryce squared his shoulders and nodded. Her expression of horror at the brutality of his world stabbed him in the gut. She didn't understand and how could he expect her to? He stepped closer, within arms reach, and lifted his hand to cup her chin, quickly dropping it as she twisted away. "Kayla, you better than anybody should know by now life isn't fair. This isn't about fairness. This is about survival. Keene has to prove he can hold his own."

"He can! I've seen him! Why does he have to prove anything to anybody?" Kayla pushed against Bryce's chest, jockeying to move around him to search for Keene. She had to stop him. Fighting the brothers was suicide. Bryce was as immovable as a brick wall. And he out maneuvered her every attempt to slide around him. "I can't believe you'd just stand there and watch him get killed. The Sons are supposed to be so noble and dedicated to their cause. They can call themselves whatever they want. But, to me, they're nothing but a bunch of murders."

Bryce wouldn't deceive Kayla with pretty words or promises there was no way to keep. If things got bad or went from bad to worse, Keene could be killed. Deeply resentful and wounded at being called a murderer, he clamped his molars tightly shut before he said something hurtful in retaliation. "Kayla, Keene understands the risk."

"I don't care! I have to see him!" Frustrated and desperate to save the only friend she had who understood everything about her, she pounded her fists against Bryce's chest with every bit of strength she had. He stood, not even flinching as she delivered her worst.

"You can't."

"Why!"

"Keene is in meditation, preparing for the fight. You can't distract him. If he's not prepared mentally, he will lose." Bryce captured Kayla's tiny wrists in his grip and held her immobilized against his chest. The panic and worry in her eyes broke his heart. But, he wouldn't take the chance of anything disrupting Keene before his final trial. Keene's focus was essential to his survival. Subdued and exhausted from the effort of trying to fight her way free, she finally stilled and stopped struggling. Gently, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and steered her toward the bedroom. "Please, just keep out of the way until after the trial."

"No, I want to see Keene!" Tears of frustration welled in her eyes. Her only friend could die in less than an hour and she'd never even get the chance to tell him goodbye. Who was Bryce or anybody else to keep her from going to him? She should be able to offer her support. Or, at least, try her best to talk him out of fighting. Kayla dragged her feet in protest. Bryce's grip on her was gentle but firm and he determinedly prodded her down the hall.

She supposed, she should be grateful that he didn't pick her up and simply carry her to the bedroom like a rebellious child. He easily could. And maybe it was his treatment of her. The gentle, almost benevolent, way in which he handled her that completely pushed her over the edge. She was not a child in need of protection. She'd seen worse things and survived them, than Bryce could even imagine. Anger unlike anything she'd ever felt bubbled within her. Before he could react, or she even realized she was going to do it. She slapped him across the face and bolted down the hall.

Bryce blinked in shock and easily caught up with Kayla, snatching her around the waist and lifting her feet off the ground. It was the wrong move. She fought with a fury he'd never seen in a human. Terrified and screaming in outrage, she landed her petite foot into his groin, dropping him like a stone.

Horrified at what she'd done, Kayla inched away from Bryce and pressed her back against the wall. She didn't move. She didn't dare breathe for fear of his wrath. Her bottom lip trembled as she watched Bryce cup his damaged groin and struggle to inhale a ragged breath. She was certain he would kill her for what she'd done.

Kayla didn't completely understand what had come over her. She was so worried about Keene and she only wanted to see him one last time. It was just that when Bryce grabbed her from behind and lifted her off her feet, pinning her against his body, something inside of her broke and she panicked. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Patrick shook his head and rolled his eyes. He'd come back through the halls to drag 'Romeo' off his latest conquest and into the gym with the rest of the brothers. He paused, trying to make sense of why Kayla was huddled against the far wall and Bryce was in a heap on the floor cradling his family jewels. Despite himself, he burst out laughing. The little spitfire had kneed Bryce in the balls. "Nice, I've been wanting to do that myself for a long time. Thanks. I owe you one," he said, casually putting himself between Kayla and Bryce. Usually, the brothers had pretty good control. But, it wasn't wise to provoke a predator, especially one that could suck you dry in less than five seconds.

He'd heard the two of them bickering in the hallway before he came up on them. Although he was a newlywed and happily married he had to admit that women were such an emotional pain in the ass. All of them, except for his Janine, of course, and even she had her moments. He scrubbed his hand through his short sand colored hair and frowned at Bryce. Offering a hand to the poor bastard to help him onto his feet, Patrick winked at Kayla. "He'll be alright."

Begrudgingly, Bryce took Patrick's hand and allowed him to pull him onto his feet. Mortified, he winced at the embarrassment of having the one person who would never let him live it down witness the humiliation of him getting his ass kicked by a female half his size. His balls would recover. His ego, however, might not. "Glad you think its funny," he grumbled.

Patrick shrugged. "It is. Take a word of advice from me. Let Keene decide for himself if he wants to see her or if he doesn't. If he hears her crying and carrying on like this, it might make things worse. And, by the way, you might want to get an ice pack for that," he said, pointing to Bryce's groin. "Report to the gym pronto or you'll wish it was just your balls getting kicked by the time Dane gets through with you."