THE LAST SECRET KEEPER Secret Keeper series books 1-4

CHAPTER 16

Dark curtains shifted a moment before Dieter rang the doorbell.

"Can I help you?" A nasal voice called through the crack in the door, a chain still stretched across.

Dieter glanced down at the receipt in his hand, one with a star on the top right-hand corner, a floral-wrapped package with a sprig of dried flowers clutched in his other hand. 

"Your wife, I assume, purchased this from my daughter-in-law yesterday. Mrs. Elizabeth Abrams?"

"Yes, that's my wife. I completely forgot she'd mentioned the delivery..." The shorter, balding man unlatched the door, opening it just enough to reach for the baby blanket, but he wasn't quite fast enough.

Storm reached past Dieter as he stepped away from the side of the house, his fingers constricting around the man's throat until he fell limp like a ragdoll. Dieter, although still very virile, was older than Storm, and therefore was left to take care of Mrs. Abrams.

"I thought I heard the doorbell," the woman in question entered the room, shattering her teacup of barely-cooled blood when the towering blond cut off her air supply, leaving her body unceremoniously exactly where it had fallen.

Storm had already returned, the men taking the stairs two at a time after he'd deposited the woman Deiter had left on the living room floor. Without saying a word, the men worked as one, a deadly force as Storm took out the younger man who stood in front of his very pregnant wife, but it was in vain. He was no match, protecting his woman from the avenging warriors who swore to rid their town of the pestilence one vampire at a time. Storm licked his lips, his fingers itching to reach for his blade as his eyes rested on the bump beneath the vampire's zipper - nothing worth mentioning. It was better not to make a mess, the warriors just beginning the list of deliveries.

"I believe this is for you," Dieter's eyes turned icy blue as he held out the wrapped baby blanket, the vampire's fingers trembling as she held it in front of her protruding stomach like a soft, squishy shield. 

Laughable.

Tossing the woman over his shoulder, Dieter held her by her cold legs as her belly bounced against his back, the German jogging down the stairs behind Storm, the unfortunate, unconscious husband draped over his shoulders.

Their prey wouldn't be waking up any time soon, but Storm bound them with rope, just to be safe, their bonds nice and tight while Deiter gagged them. The Vampiress was hogtied before a ball gag was shoved in her mouth. She didn't deserve care, after all, the creature within her womb was just as wicked as its parents. It ran in their blood, passed down from generation to generation. The Great War was never truly over - their descendants fighting against the invaders yet another day.

Dieter ran his fingers through his greying blonde hair, looking back over his shoulder at their spoils of war before punching the next address into the GPS as Storm drove the feed delivery truck to their next destination.

"Wilhelm inherited the farm," Dieter announced randomly as he broke the silence. "It frees me up more and I quite enjoy making deliveries. You get to meet the most interesting people..."

Storm laughed. He had always liked the farmer, the two men now having even more in common than they had all those years ago.

"Are we bringing these to Wilhelm then, before they are transferred?" 

"No...the barn is full. There's been a backlog, I'm afraid. Do you remember the Japanese butcher? The one we recruited at the fair in Toronto? They found his body just this week. It was written off as a suicide, but there is no way that Sana would have offed himself. Especially not now. I have my suspicions that foul play was involved. He was too valuable."