Vengeance in Blood (Book 2): Tribulations

  VENGEANCE IN BLOOD

  TRIBULATIONS

  ..

  THOMAS A WATSON

  Copyright © January 27, 2016

  THOMAS A WATSON

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  ISBN-

  Credits

  EDITED BY AMANDA SHORE

  www.facebook.com/ByTheShoreEditing

  COVER ART BY CHRISTIAN BENTULAN

  www.coversbychristian.com

  This book is a work of fiction. People places, events, and situations are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or historical events, is purely coincidental.

  This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the written consent of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Thank you for acknowledging the hard work of this author. If you didn’t purchase this book or it wasn’t purchased for you, please go purchase your own copy now.

  https://twitter.com/1BluePlague

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  Dedication

  To our service men and women, and all veterans. Thank You for all you have done and continue to do.

  Acknowledgements

  To my wonderful followers, fans, friends and family you are amazing. Thank you for reading my work. And for following me no matter the genre. Post-apocalyptic, dystopian, fantasy, vampires.

  To Amanda and Christian, another outstanding job!

  And my beta readers, ARC readers, and proofreaders. Thank you once again for all your help. Cora Burke, Leslie Bryant, and Leora Kipimo, you ladies are such a great help. We appreciate all you do. Cora, you are an awesome blurb writer.

  I hope you all enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed writing it. Now that writing has become my full-time job, I’m loving it!

  Title Page

  Credits

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 1

  Seventeen hours after burning down the building in Baltimore, Besseta pulled up to the dock in the Jaguar, and Kenneth pulled up next to her in the Jeep. After almost jumping out, Besseta slammed the door. “I can’t believe you kept his cellphone,” she almost shouted.

  They drove home from Baltimore after attacking the site the Strong Hands had set up to study vampires. When Besseta had got back in the car after putting the man she took from the site in the trunk, Kenneth noticed her hands were burnt from the liquid oxygen tanks she had ruptured. Being Kenneth, he jumped out of the car to hurt someone. He really didn’t care who, but someone was going to pay for hurting his girl.

  Climbing out of the Jeep, Kenneth shook his head. “Besseta, you won’t believe what kind of information people keep on their cellphones. It’s off and in a metal box; it can’t be traced,” he tried to explain. Again.

  “I can get that information if you ask the question,” she snapped, opening the back door.

  “That’s what I mean; if we don’t ask the question, we can’t get the answer,” he told her.

  “Kenneth, it’s just a stupid car!” she shouted.

  Crossing his arms over his chest, he stood up straight and said, “Yes, that no one saw near the fire. We can use it again.”

  “AHHH!” she yelled, throwing her hands up and walking to the back of the Jaguar. She pushed the trunk button. Inside, the man was hog tied with a pillow case over his head. Grabbing him by the arm, Besseta lifted him out. The man screamed against the gag that was taped in his mouth.

  Kenneth winced as she carried the man by his arm as if he were no more than a suitcase. From the man’s muffled scream, Kenneth was certain it was very painful. When she was still some distance from the boat, Besseta lifted him above her head, still with one arm, and threw him into the boat. He crashed against the floor hard, temporarily falling silent.

  When she led the dogs on the boat, the man started screaming against the gag, startling them. Besseta walked over and kicked him in the gut, making him slide ten feet to the back of the boat. “You’re scaring the dogs, so shut it, or I’ll rip your tongue out and feed it to them,” she warned, turning to the steering wheel. She tapped her fingers on it as Kenneth slowly walked down carrying the stuff from the backseat.

  Dropping the luggage on the boat as Besseta started the engine, he walked over and put his arms around her. “Besseta, what’s wrong?” he asked, hugging her.

  “Nothing,” she said sharply.

  He tried to turn her around, but she wouldn’t budge. Giving up, he picked her up and turned her around. “Besseta,” he said in a low voice. She didn’t move and kept her gaze fixed on the floor.

  Suddenly, she lifted her head up, locking her eyes on his. “I can’t believe you stopped the car and got out with your gun, running back there to shoot someone,” she snapped.

  “I can’t believe you picked me up and stuffed me in the car like I was a little kid,” he shot back. “You got hurt, and I was going to kill something.”

  She put her hands on her small hips. “I told you I hurt myself when I broke the pipe on the oxygen tank.”

  Weaving his head back and forth, he popped off, “I don’t give a shit; my girl got hurt.”

  Throwing her hands out in front of his face, she screamed, “You can’t even tell!”

  “Well, I could then,” he shot back and narrowed his eyes at her. “You may be tough and hard to hurt, but you have a piece of me I never knew I had to give. I’m sorry if it upsets you when you get hurt doing something like that and I get pissed, but I want to take it out on someone,” he growled.

  She lunged at him, wrapping her arms around him, hugging him dangerously tight. “I almost died when you did that,” she moaned as tears ran out of her eyes.

  With all the air crushed from his lungs, Kenneth couldn’t say anything, and stars were flooding his vision as his brain demanded oxygen. Swearing he felt a rib crack as his legs started getting weak, he barely whispered, “Besseta,” with the last bit of air in his body.

  Looking up at Kenneth’s red and purple face with veins poking out, she let go, and he crumpled to the floor, gasping for air. She dropped down. “Oh Kenneth, I’m so sorry,” she cried out as tears poured from her eyes.

  Not in the mood to fight gravity, Kenneth just laid down on the floor of the boat as the stars slowly left his vision. “Damn, that was a hug,” he finally said, looking at Besseta and giving a weak smile.

  “Are you okay?” she whimpered.

  The weak smile turned into a grin. “It’s going to take more than that to keep me away from my girl,” he said. Gently this time, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.

  “I just can’t bear the thought of you getting hurt, Kenneth. I liked it when you did that, but you must remember that I’m tough. I promise if someone really hurts me, I’ll let you tear them apart,” she offered in sobs.

  Pulling her on top of him, he told her, “I can’t make promises. I didn’t know what I was doing till I got stuffed in the ba
ckseat and you pushed me back in with your foot.”

  “I’m sorry, but you weren’t listening,” she said, looking him in the eyes. He reached up and wiped the tears away.

  “How about we head home?” he said as Bonnie and Clyde bounced over, licking both in the face.

  They stood up, and Kenneth walked over to their bound guest. “What’s the passcode to your phone?” he asked and looked at Besseta.

  “Seven, two, seven, one,” she said, pulling the boat out.

  Staying behind Besseta, Kenneth rubbed his chest, confirming at least one broken rib. He took a deep breath, and pain shot through him. Pushing that out of his mind, Kenneth moved up and stood beside her.

  “Besseta, just how did you know who to grab?” he asked, ignoring the pain from what felt like another broken rib on the other side.

  “He came out thinking they needed better security and was telling people what to do,” she admitted.

  Kenneth fished out the man’s ID and opened it up. “Ted Grisham Homeland Security says he’s a G-9. That’s pretty high up the food chain,” Kenneth said, smiling, and hugged her.

  Besseta cut her eyes and noticed Kenneth rubbing the other side of his chest. Feeling lower than dirt, she pulled them up to the dock. When she turned the boat off, she walked over and grabbed his hand. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

  “Hey, you wear the new shirt, and I’ll call it even,” he grinned.

  Unable to help it, she chuckled, “You’re incorrigible.”

  “Well, you don’t see how you look,” he said, hugging her.

  She smiled as she walked over and picked Ted up, slinging him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes that didn’t weigh much. The dogs bounced around her, wanting to play with the toy, as she stepped off the boat. Kenneth grabbed the bags and followed her up to the house, dropped the stuff in front of the door, and followed her down to the dungeon. Walking into the first cell, Besseta unceremoniously dumped Ted on the floor. When his head hit the floor, it sounded like a melon. Pulling out a knife, she cut him loose and grabbed a chain on the wall with handcuffs attached to the other end.

  Putting the cuffs on him, she kicked a bucket over to the unconscious form, closed the door, and locked it. She looked up to see Kenneth come down the stairs with the metal box with Ted’s cellphone. “You’re going to start now?” she asked.

  “Well, this is the only place we can turn it on,” he said, taking out the phone. She watched him move over to the desk that held the console that controlled the dungeon. As Kenneth sat down, Besseta could tell he was trying to hide how much he hurt. The hurt she had caused.

  Walking over, she kissed his cheek. “I’m going to fix some food; don’t be long,” she told him as she left. Turning the phone on, Kenneth nodded and pulled out his small notepad then started going through the phone.

  ***

  In the kitchen, Besseta sat on the barstool, watching the dogs eat out of the wrong bowls and didn’t care. She looked up at the clock to see Kenneth had been down there for over two hours. Wiping tears off her cheek, she turned back to the dogs, not having the energy to say anything about eating from a bowl with the other dog’s name. Hearing the front door open, she wiped her face and climbed off the stool.

  She felt him enter the kitchen and looked over her shoulder as Kenneth picked the dogs up and put them at the correct bowl. A weak smile tried to come on her face but failed as tears ran down her cheeks. He’s hurt and still tries to make me happy, she thought as she turned back to the stove.

  “What’s for supper?” he asked, climbing up on the stool.

  Besseta dropped to the floor, bursting into tears. Kenneth jumped off the stool and ran over. “What’s wrong, baby?” he begged, kneeling beside her and pulling her to his chest.

  She turned in to his chest. “I hurt you,” she whimpered.

  “Hey, I thought we got over that?” he asked.

  Refusing to look up, she moaned, “You don’t even care and still just keep loving me. I could’ve really hurt you.”

  “Hey,” he said, lifting her face. “But you didn’t. We knew this was going to be a trial of errors of live and learn.” He stared at her for a moment. “Please let it go; I don’t like to see you cry.”

  Besseta scoffed and looked down. “I haven’t cried since my family died, and you come in my life, and I can’t quit,” she moaned.

  “Well, you were long overdue then,” Kenneth said, putting his arms under her and lifting Besseta off the floor.

  She snapped her gaze to him. “Put me down before you hurt yourself,” she demanded.

  “Hey, you quit crying,” he said, carrying her to the stairs. Suddenly, she was out of his arms, and Kenneth felt his body lifted off the floor. Then he looked around and found Besseta carrying him to bed. “Now this is a bit much,” he said, looking around, and the dogs had frozen, watching the spectacle. He looked at her. “You do know this is going against everything?”

  “You said that went out the window a long time ago,” she told him, fighting not to smile.

  “Just the cooking part, not the part of carrying your husband to bed,” Kenneth said, looking at her, then looked down to see she was wearing the dress shirt with her bra and panties. “I’m ashamed to say I’m getting aroused in ways I’ve never thought possible,” he said, looking at her chest as she laughed out, and the sparkle came back to her eyes.

  “You are incredible,” she laughed.

  “I’ve been a bad boy; take me to my room,” he told her, hugging her neck. A roaring whoosh filled his ears, and they were suddenly over the bed. “This has possibilities,” he said as she put him on the bed and dove on him, laughing.

  They embraced in a passionate kiss, rolling around the bed, then felt the bed tremble twice. Besseta lifted her head and saw the pugs looking at her with panting smiles. “Oh no you’re not,” she said, getting up and picking up the dogs.

  “They just love us,” Kenneth told her, pulling his clothes off.

  Putting the dogs outside the door, she admitted, “That is fine, but they can wait. I don’t know how I would act seeing beady eyes looking at me from the end of the bed.”

  “Yeah, like they would stay at the end of the bed,” Kenneth said, throwing his boots on the floor.

  “My point exactly,” Besseta said and flashed over to the bed. “You are here for lovin’.”

  “Well, when you put it that way, I would’ve thrown them out too,” Kenneth told her.

  Letting out a gasp, she said, “I didn’t throw them out.” Kenneth smiled and grabbed her, pulling her into the bed.

  Chapter 2

  The next morning, Kenneth walked down to the basement carrying a sandwich he had made. When he had started fixing a plate of food for their prisoner, Besseta informed him the man could starve but wasn’t eating anything she cooked. Knowing the Homeland prisoner would be ravished, Kenneth prepared a baloney sandwich.

  Hearing Besseta as she played with the dogs, he stopped and just listened to the joy in her pearly laugh. Letting out a long sigh, Kenneth unlocked the door and walked inside to hear the man yelling. “Hey, you really need to shut the hell up!” Kenneth shouted.

  “Who do you think you are? Do you know who I am and who I work for?” the Homeland officer shouted.

  Laughing, Kenneth grabbed a chair and pulled it down the hall then opened the door to the cell. The agent looked like hell. There was no bed in the cell, and the only thing there besides him was a five-gallon bucket. The chain attached to the wall only let him get halfway across the room. “I see you are a complete idiot. Obviously, we know the answers to all your questions, and so do you,” Kenneth said as he sat down.

  “It’s you,” he gasped, looking at Kenneth like he had seen a ghost.

  “I see my reputation precedes me.” Kenneth tilted his head.

  Quickly getting back under control, the agent growled, “They will find you and kill you.”

  “They might, but that doesn’t concern you. What does concer
n you are the questions I’m about to ask and if you get to eat or drink,” Kenneth said, lifting up the plate with the sandwich.

  “I won’t tell you a thing,” the Homeland agent promised.

  Kenneth shook his head. “There you’re wrong. Your cellphone has already given me a world of information. If you don’t talk to me, she comes down, and it goes downhill for you real fast,” Kenneth explained.

  Becoming nervous, the agent started fidgeting. “You’re just going to kill me anyway,” he said, glancing at the door.

  “That all depends on you, and if you have information we can use and how long it takes to get it out,” Kenneth told him with a shrug. “The flip side is she comes in and makes you talk. I can guarantee you won’t last long, but to you, it will seem like years. The vampires she caught lasted almost a month. I don’t see you making it a week.”

  Dejected and slumping his shoulders, the agent asked, “What guarantee do I have that you will let me go?”

  “None whatsoever,” Kenneth said nonchalantly.

  “No deal. Do your worst,” he sneered.

  Kenneth picked up the plate as he stood. “Bad choice.” Grabbing the sandwich, Kenneth started eating with a smile.

  Giving Kenneth a hateful stare, the agent replied, “You’ll have to feed me to keep me alive.”

  “No we won’t,” Kenneth told him with a mouthful of sandwich. “If you do this the difficult way, the pain will start soon.”

  The agent stared at the sandwich as Kenneth shoved the rest in his mouth then went and got a glass of water. Coming back to the open door, Kenneth slowly drank it. “Nice and cold,” he said, smacking his lips. “Let me go and get her,” Kenneth said, turning to leave.

  “Okay, what do you want to know?” he shouted before Kenneth took a step.

  “Everything you do.”

  “I want some food and water first,” the agent demanded, and Kenneth just walked away.

  “Nope, you must earn that. We’ll be back in a minute,” Kenneth told him, walking away down the hallway in front of the cell. As fear of the unknown of what was coming crept upon the prisoner, the agent started screaming and pulling on the chains as Kenneth opened and closed the door to the dungeon but stayed inside. When the prisoner dropped to his knees and started crying, Besseta opened the door and walked in to see Kenneth leaning against the wall grinning.