Page 1 of The Wentworth Vampire

PROLOGUE

Mateo Wentworth stood firm, defending his younger brother Teo and the people of his Coven. His older brother Michell had already been killed in the course of this disgusting mess, and he refused to be a party to whatever his father was instigating. He was calling out the depraved cruelty of his father, Master Rodrick Wentworth, and his second in command, Claud Thierry.

His father had demanded that Mateo join him in his disgusting descent into magic and madness, but Mateo refused. When it became clear that he would never bend to their will, Master Rodrick conjured an elimination spell and cast Mateo into the unknown.

"Where did you send him?" Claud asked, not recognizing the spell he'd used.

“To hell.” Master Rodrick snickered, and Claud laughed hard; he was so pleased by the fact that the father killed the second son just as he had the first.

“He thought he was something special and capable of stopping us.” Claud continued to laugh.

“He wasn’t even capable of saving his own life.” Master Rodrick spat on the ground in disgust.

Teo Wentworth was saved from death by Thayer, the Cyprian Knight, and it was discovered that Thayer was his beloved. Rodrick and Claud were blinded by power and deep within the mire of dark, blood magic. They had sacrificed family and friends to further their despicable power grab. In the end, Hadden Coven put an end to Master Rodrick Wentworth and Claud Thierry and halted the degradation and destruction of the Wentworth Coven of Baltimore.

Thayer and Marek, the Cyprian Knights, made a pledge to Teo that night to find his brother Mateo. They swore to never give up until they brought him home. In the meantime, the Baltimore Coven was being overseen by Master Nikolas Hadden, with Commander Killian Fray and his team residing onsite. They would remain until Mateo Wentworth, the rightful ruler of Wentworth Coven, returned and took over the reins of power.

CHAPTER ONE

Detective Rowen Dalhousie found himself assigned once again to the lowlands. Homicides in the lowlands were becoming too common. Master Hadden had increased the patrols in the area, but still death came often to the residents of the land known to spawn sadness and desperation in those who lingered too long.

There was a report that five men had been found bound and gagged in cages in the basement of one of the old, broken-down, and abandoned commercial buildings. When he arrived, he was told that three had survived, but two were deceased. By the looks of the level of decay, they had died a while ago. The three that survived were being stabilized and transported to the local hospital. They were all human.

“They were being held captive in here.” The officer shook his head in disgust and led him into a small room on the ground floor of the large brick building. It was tragic and sickening and should never have happened. They were not bled dry but were drained of their energy forces like the others had been. These men were experimented on in an attempt to make them functional and obedient slaves.

“What was the purpose? I don’t understand why anyone would do this.” The officer was definitely being affected by the scene.

“As you know, there are evil people in the world who do terrible things. The why doesn't matter; it probably wouldn't make sense to us anyway. It is our job to find them and stop them, and that is where we keep our focus.” Rowen understood where the young officer was coming from and the upset that he felt, but it was not productive. The officer nodded and stepped back to let Dalhousie complete his walk-through.

Magic had been involved, but he couldn’t share that piece with the officer since he was human. The police force was a mix of humans and paranormal, which sometimes made things difficult, and such cases needed to be handled with special delicacy. As he walked through the scene, it became very apparent that they were dealing with a slaver.

Slavers were magics that kidnapped and broke individuals and put them for sale to other magics and mystics, either as staff, servers, or subjects. It was an ugly profession, and not all those they broke survived, as evidenced by the two dead captives. As he approached the cage in the back corner, he noticed something out of the ordinary.

He crouched down and ran his fingers over the door frame. He took a deep breath, taking in the scents and auras around him. This captive had not been human; this captive was a vampire. Rowen took another deep breath and leaned into the cage. The thin cushion on the floor of the cage shifted under his hand, and he saw something. He brushed the dust and grime away and saw something scratched into the metal floor.

“Mateo.” He said and then repeated the name. He remembered that name his mate Dumas had mentioned it. Theman had gone missing prior to the fall of the Baltimore Coven. He was the brother of Teo Wentworth, the mate to one of the Cyprian Knights. It was bits and pieces that he recalled, but he remembered the name, Mateo.

Rowen excused himself, stepped outside, and walked off to a private area of the yard. He put in a call to his mate Dumas, a highly regarded security specialist of the Hadden Coven. He quickly explained what he’d found.

“Could you tell how long since he has occupied that cage?” Dumas was very interested. He knew that Thayer and Marek had been searching for Mateo Wentworth for a very long time, and this could very likely be him.

“His scent is still clearly discernible, so he can’t have been gone for more than a day or two at most.”

“Why would they move him but not the rest?” Dumas questioned casually.

“The others were all human.” Rowen offered.

“Slavers, I thought that practice went out ages ago.”

“Apparently not, but the authorities are looking at this as basic human trafficking; they are not aware of the magic element."

“Do you have a lead on the magics involved?”

“Not yet.”

"I'll speak with Thayer and also Master Hadden, and a magic expert will be over to do a walk-through," Dumas told him, clearly excited by his discovery.

“Be sure to tell him to keep it casual; the officers on site are all human."

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