The Vampire's Surprise - Stormy Glenn Page 0,42

a law. I would never kill someone simply for being a rogue."

Okay, now Quinn was confused.

"My neighbors across the street, the Jenkins family. The dad was a vampire. The mom was a human. They had three teenagers, all girls. Vampires came in black SUVs just like you have, and loaded the girls up, but before they left, they executed Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins right there on the front lawn. Their daughters had to watch the entire thing from inside the SUV. I never saw the girls again."

Marcus's jaw clenched. "It wasn't me and I can promise you, it wasn't Nikolas either."

"How do you know it wasn't him?" Quinn asked.

"He has more honor than that."

Quinn would believe that when he saw it.

"Can I ask a question?" Prince Marcus asked.

"Yes, but I retain the right not to answer."

"Is the Jenkins family the only one you know about or have there been others?"

"There have been others." Too many to count. It might be one of the reasons no one talked about being a vampire or being a rogue. It just wasn't safe.

"Are humans involved in every instance or just occasionally?"

"What do you mean?"

"You said that Mr. Jenkins was a vampire, but his mate was a human."

"Right."

"Is that always the case? Is there always a human involved or are there times when it's just vampires being executed?"

"Oh, uh?? Quinn frowned as he thought about the executions he knew about personally and the ones he'd heard about. "I'd say most of them had a human involved, but not all of them."

"What made you think it was me or Nikolas doing it? Why couldn't it be rogues executing these people?"

"Well, usually, rogues tend not to go after other rogues. We're all kind of in this mess together, but there are rogues out there that we know to steer clear of. They are bad news, kind of like the ones at restaurant that I warned Dmitri about. I knew they were up to no good."

"So, I repeat my question. What made you think it was me or Nikolas then? Why couldn't it be these rogues executing these people?"

"Everyone on the street knows to stay away from tribe vampires. It's just always been the way it is."

A rough coughing from the corner caught Quinn's attention before he could say anymore. He turned to see Nikolas trying to sit up. He hurried over and helped the man. "Move slowly until your head clears."

"What happened?"

Quinn glanced at Marcus, who had asked that same exact question.

Marcus rolled his eyes. "Short story? Drugged, kidnapped, tossed in some hell hole, whatever drug they gave us is interfering with our ability to connect to our rajaakas, and, after talking to Quinn, I suspect that there is a vigilante gang of vampires going around executing families of rogue vampires."

Nikolas's eyebrows snapped together. "A gang of vigilante vampires?"

Marcus crossed his arms over his chest. "Executing vampires with human mates. Sound familiar?"

Nikolas's lip curled back. "Chambers."

"Who's Chambers?" Quinn asked. "And what does he have to do with rogues being executed?"

"Not rogues, humans," Marcus said. "Chambers used to be one of our councilmen. He got some crazy idea in his head to take over the world and make humans our slaves. He almost wiped out the entire council in his bid for power. If we hadn't stopped him, it would have been devastating to humans and vampires."

"I don't think I want to meet this guy."

"You don't," Nikolas said. "He'd kill you on sight. His hatred of humans is worse than his desire for power. The man is insane, and unfortunately, he's on the loose. We've been looking for him ever since he killed the other council members, but we've been unable to find him."

"Rogues, the bad ones who break the law," Marcus added, "usually move in groups of less than three. Recently, we've been encountering groups of five or six, sometimes more. They've been attacking humans to draw us in to traps so they can kill us. We've suspected for some time that Chambers is bringing these rogues together to amass an army so he can try and take back the power he lost when he lost his seat on the council."

Quinn sucked in a breath. "You think he's the one out there killing people?"

"I do." Marcus nodded. "I think he's behind the ones killing those with human mates. I can't quite figure out why he'd go after the vampires though."

"Why does he do any of the things he does?" Nikolas asked as he slowly stood. He started