Born Into Flames
CONTENTS
Dedication
Legal
Social Links
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Epilogue
Author Notes - Justin Sloan
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
Series List
DEDICATION
From Justin
To Ugulay, Verona and Brendan Sloan
From Michael
To Family, Friends and
Those Who Love
To Read.
May We All Enjoy Grace
To Live The Life We Are
Called.
Born Into Flames
Reclaiming Honor Team
JIT Beta Readers
Trista Collins
Alex Wilson
Kelly ODonnell
Johua Ahles
Keith Veret
Melissa OHanlon
Paul Westman
Micky Cocker
Erika Daly
Keith Verret
Thomas Ogden
Kimberly Boyer
Beck Young
Mayra Preble Figueroa
Ginger Sparkman
If we missed anyone, please let us know!
Editors
Diane Newton and Candy Clark
Thank you to the following Special Consultants
Jeff Morris - US Army - Asst Professor Cyber-Warfare, Nuclear Munitions (Active)
W.W.D.E
Born Into Flames (this book) is a work of fiction.
All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Copyright © 2017 Justin Sloan and Michael T. Anderle
Cover by Mario Wibisono
https://www.artstation.com/artist/mario_wibisono
Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing
LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact info@kurtherianbooks.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
LMBPN Publishing
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First US edition, July, 2017
The Kurtherian Gambit (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are copyright © 2017 by Michael T. Anderle.
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CHAPTER ONE
The Eastern Coast, Former Canada
She was off her damned game.
Valerie dressed, almost failing to notice the pirate blimp passing in the distance as she glanced back at Robin stepping out of the river. Moonlight cast shadows across the younger woman’s bare skin, shimmering in the droplets of water as they trickled down her breasts and thighs.
Had the blimp gone unnoticed, would Robin have not seen Valerie staring? Valerie bit her lip and turned away, embarrassed to be caught staring, and then froze as a different type of excitement took hold—there, on the horizon and traveling northeast, a dark shape moved slowly along the coastline. There was no doubt it was a blimp, and if it was up here, for her there was very little doubt that it was operated by pirates.
“It’s the wrong way,” Robin said, stepping up beside Valerie and picking up her clothes. She scrunched her nose and glanced back at the water.
“We don’t have time to wash them, too,” Valerie said, staring after the blimp, but very aware of the pale form of Robin beside her.
Robin pulled her shirt on with some difficulty as the fabric clung to her wet skin, so Valerie turned to her and helped. “But we want to be heading inland,” her muffled voice said.
When the shirt moved down past Robin’s face, the two stood staring into each other’s eyes.
“You… looked like you needed help.” Valerie realized her hands were still holding the shirt, and that the insides of her hands were touching warm, smooth skin.
“My pants, please?” Robin’s expression was somewhere between annoyed and amused.
Valerie sighed, wondering what was coming over her, and turned to pick up the black pants. Kneeling, she turned to offer her friend the pants, only then realizing what an awkward position this was. She quickly stood and looked away. She thought it odd that a vampire should ever blush, but here she was, blushing like a ripe tomato about to burst.
“I’m just gonna be blunt here,” Robin started.
“When’s that not been the case?”
Robin laughed. “Someone takes your family away and forces you to become a vampire and assassin, you stop worrying about beating around the bush. And on the topic of bush…”
“My God, I was seriously just handing you your pants.” Valerie said with a hand over her mouth. “I didn’t mean to look.”
“Yes, you did.”
Hmmm. Maybe that was true. Shit, everything was so confusing. She pursed her lips and glanced over her shoulder at the young woman. “Is there a point to this, or can we get back to pursuing the damn pirates so we can tear their throats out?”
Robin shrugged. “I figure if there’s something here that might distract you, we need to be clear about it.”
“I’m not distracted.”
Fuck, she was distracted, she realized as the words left her mouth.
She looked back at the blimp disappearing over the horizon and frowned. When she turned back to Robin, the woman had turned away and was pulling her pants up, the contrast between the moonlight on her pale rear and the dark pants made Valerie stare again, and then shake her head to clear it.
“Okay, I’m totally distracted. I mean, but isn’t that good? We’ve been walking and walking, and if I don’t have something else to think about besides another day walking, or watching those fucking pebbles and the orange dirt, I’ll rip out my own damn throat.”
Robin pulled her pants up the rest of the way, zipped them, and then turned to Valerie with a smile. “Good. At least that’s out there. Now, I’m freezing and wet, and not in a special way right now, because we just saw a pirate blimp, right? So, let’s get on it.”
Valerie stared, dumbfounded, as Robin started walking. She was so used to being the one that called the shots, or used to Sandra making plays but in a way that still made her feel in control, that this was a completely new experience. Jackson had been a leader, but there had always been a hint of something in his eyes that reminded her he w
as an unaltered human while she was a vampire.
Here was a young woman calling the shots and telling it like it is, and Valerie found herself enjoying it.
She caught up with Robin and decided to join her in focusing on the pirates.
“And Toro?” Valerie asked.
“We have no idea where it really is, except somewhere north of the lakes.” Robin gestured to their left where, through the darkness, they could make out vast stretches of land that, even with their vampire eyesight, seemed to stretch on forever. “As you said when we took off, we wouldn’t have a clue where to start.”
“So, we take them down along the coast, get our answers, and then move inland.” Valerie waited for the younger woman to nod in agreement, then added, “Great. I’m glad you’re seeing the practical,” she smiled. “Also known as my way.”
Robin sighed. “I don’t like it, but it makes sense.”
Valerie nodded. She had an obligation to the people of Old Manhattan, and that didn’t include wandering the areas of what was once Canada, searching randomly. She needed to stop the pirates from interrupting trade between Europe and Old Manhattan and had sworn to help Robin track down the slavers that had taken her parents. If they were lucky, her parents would be there waiting…
But Valerie was doing her best not to get Robin’s hopes up.
***
Sandra rolled over in bed, the nausea of early pregnancy already making her want to punch Diego for making this her reality. Not that she’d trade it for a second—she wasn’t some vampire set on dealing out justice. She was just a woman trying to survive in this crazy world, and in approximately eight months, a mom trying to keep a family safe in it.
That meant she had less than eight months to do everything in her power to ensure her world, or at least the world that could touch them, was as safe as possible.
Holding her own hair back over the toilet didn’t exactly help her in that goal, but at the moment seemed a necessary evil. She dry heaved twice, then heard a pounding of footsteps behind her.
“Dear?” Diego said, kneeling beside her and holding back her hair. “Is this… normal?”
“Haven’t known many pregnant women, huh?” The words came out with more of a bite than she had meant, but what the hell, she was pregnant. It was late at night, and she was in pain.
He could deal with a little grouchiness.
Diego thought a moment, “Honestly, none that I can remember,” he replied.
She nodded, knowing that made sense. In times like these, people weren’t eager to bring new life into the world. It happened, but even when people tried, it wasn’t exactly easy anymore.
During talks with Diego at the small vineyard he had made for her, they had decided it likely had to do with the fallout of the collapse of civilization. Whatever had caused that had probably left lasting effects that meant childbirth either wasn’t for everyone, or just made it harder to conceive.
They had laughed about it, and that night laughed some more while they joked about how they could go at it like rabbits and not have to worry about repercussions. And damn, could he bring it. She wasn’t sure if that was the Were in him, or just him—not that it mattered, because him being a Were was part of who he was—but she couldn’t believe the levels of ecstasy he’d brought her to.
And now, as another shudder of pain and nausea swept over her, she just wanted to slap him back out the door, to hit the wall and then perhaps roll down the hallway for even considering touching her.
Did every woman think these things during this time of the pregnancy?
The way he held her hair back with one hand and caressed her back with the other was certainly helping alleviate that feeling, though. She sighed, closed her eyes, and then pulled herself together.
Diego helped her up and squinted, apparently unsure what he should do here.
“I’m not gonna bite,” she said, washing her hands, since they’d been on the bathroom floor and edge of the toilet. “That’s your job.”
He looked at her, wariness in his eyes. “Are you… coming back to bed?”
She turned off the water and dried her hands, then wrapped her arms around him and gave him a loving kiss. With a smile, she took his hand and walked with him to the main room and the window that looked out over Old Manhattan.
The city was mostly dark but for the glow of moonlight and, in the direction of Capital Square, yellow and blue from neon lights. The view from their new home even showed Enforcer HQ, towering over them, its blue strip along the side lit up like a beacon of law.
They had been staying there before their journey with Valerie to Chicago, but since their return, they figured it was best to be out of the target area. Since dealing with the outside forces, the unruly of Old Manhattan had one main target, and that was Enforcer HQ. Not exactly the type of place you want to be when you’re dealing with pregnancy and figuring out how to raise a family.
“Where do you think they are?” she asked, breaking the silence.
He wrapped his arms around her, creating the perfect picture of a soon-to-be family in the reflection of the window. “You worry about Valerie so much. Will it ever stop?”
“Yeah, yeah. I know, she’s the most powerful woman around.” Sandra leaned her head back so it rested against Diego’s. He was on the shorter side, otherwise she would have been resting her head on his chest. Not that it mattered—he had certainly proven himself over and over, and shown that height had nothing to do with being a man or being able to protect your loved ones.
“The most powerful woman?” Diego laughed. “She’s a day-walking vampire who doesn’t need blood anymore to rejuvenate. That should scare you, not worry you.”
“People with power tend to put themselves in dangerous positions.” She paused, her voice whispering, “She’s not invincible.”
“But she has that assassin chika with her,” Diego protested. “From what I saw, that girl could hold her own nearly as well as Valerie.”
“You were watching?” Sandra bit her lip and rolled her eyes at herself. “Sorry, pregnancy brain. I promise, I’m not jealous or anything like that.”
Diego rubbed her belly and kissed her cheek. “You’d never have any reason to be.”
She pulled back, looking from him to their reflection. “Are we really as sappy as everyone says we are?”
“Tell me who said that,” Diego replied. “I’ll tear out their eyes so they don’t ever have to watch us again.”
“Or ears so they don’t have to listen?” Sandra shook her head with a chuckle. “No, I don’t think that’s necessary. Let them talk if that’s what they need to do to get over the fact that they don’t have someone to love.”
Diego squinted, looking her up and down. “Speaking of loving…”
“Are you serious, you just held my hair back, while I nearly puked my guts out.”
“But nothing came up…”
“Yuck, man.” She laughed, squeezed his hand, and then moved to the bathroom while he lay back in bed. She turned on the shower. As she undressed and steam fogged the mirror, she assessed her belly, wishing she could see more of a bump. She couldn’t wait for it to stick way out, or for the days when she would be able to see the baby moving and kicking in there.
“Diego?” she said.
“Yeah?” he called from the other room.
She hesitated a moment before asking the question her fear drove her to ask. “If our baby is a Were, he won’t like… try to claw his way out of me or something?”
His reply was quick. “Dear, I promise that’s not something to worry about.”
“But if it was, you wouldn’t tell me anyway, would you?” She responded.
Silence. That’s what she thought.
It didn’t do any good to stand here thinking about it, though, so she slid back the shower door and stepped in. When she first felt the warm water cleanse her skin, all sickness and dreariness was washed away.
“Diego?” she called out.
&nbs
p; “Yes, dear?”
“Don’t go to sleep just yet,” she said with a playful sing-song voice.
“Yes, dear!”
***
Royland crouched as he walked along a crudely-made roof of mostly two-by-fours and plywood. It seemed to be a lookout station. Too bad that hadn’t worked out so well for the previous occupant, but now it made for a perfect viewpoint for Cammie and him.
The night was dark.
They had been observing the pirate outpost for several hours now, mostly to ensure it was actually pirates, but also to see if there were any vampires or Weres among them. So far, it seemed the answer was no.
This wasn’t the first group of pirates they had come across, which kind of surprised him. When they set off from Old Manhattan, they had expected to come across one main pirate base where everything was being conducted.
Turns out, at least along the coast, a lot of pirates had gathered.
They weren’t all Canadians, either, but groups from overseas—Spanish, Algerian, Laotian, and, most of all it seemed, Norse. Apparently, someone had been hard at work organizing the pirates around a cause.
Something, or someone?
Unfortunately for that someone, said cause conflicted with Old Manhattan’s path toward becoming a conflict-free hub of the new world, or at least a new America. They couldn’t allow interruptions in trade, and the idea of allowing a massing of criminals just north, on the same continent no less, was certainly unacceptable.