Free Force of Knight Magic by Kathi S. Barton Page A

Theresa had been so caught up in all the blood she’d nearly been caught down there with the body. She was out the door and into the night before the first person could grab her. Theresa had been running since.
    ~~~
    “They didn’t know how the woman had managed to kill so many without being caught. If they did, neither of them said it while I was there. And the older man, Hooper, he left the area soon after. I’m checking into where he’d been from.” Phil looked around the room at the people assembled there. “I really wish you would have kept this as quiet as possible.”
    “Peeshaw,” his mother said. “You need family when you do this sort of work and we’re going to stand beside you whether you like it or not.” She looked around at her husband and sighed. “Is that woman Sabalz still in charge of the Trustees? Or have they maybe staked her out in the sun for us…I mean , for humanity ? ”
    Phil glared at his mom. She hated Anye and she’d never made any kind of bones about it. When his mom smiled at him he turned to his dad who only shrugged. It was as if he were saying, “Y ou know how she is .”
    “She’s still in charge. She’s the one who called me in.” He sat down next to Holly on the couch. “You really should try and get along with her some. She is the person who decides the laws.” His mother snorted and Phil knew she’d do what she wanted, as she normally did anyway.
    “So this council, the High Trustees of Vampires, you work for them?” Austin looked at Phil’s dad when he didn’t answer. “And what is it he does for them ? I mean , besides go when they tell him to so they can scrap e and bow at his feet.”
    Holly giggled and he turned to her when she spoke up. “It’s not my fault they figured that out. All I said was the woman looked ready to have your baby when you took off your jacket.”
    “You told them about my title. I thought we agreed to keep that just between the two of us.” They hadn’t , but he thought it was implied since he didn’t want to talk about it. “I was trying to keep this in perspective , not have everyone wanting to make fun of me because I’m a flipping Knight of the Vampire G uard.” He knew as soon as the words slipped out he’d said more than he should have. He looked over at his father , who had paled , and his mother looked ready to burst. “That happened a long time ago. I told you she had rewarded me for my services.”
    “She knighted you as the Vampire Guard? Why that flipping bitch. I swear to you , the next time I see her I’m going to take her head from her shou— ”
    “Enough,” roared Austin. Phil had heard him do that once before and the entire pack had been quiet around him for a week. “This is not what we’re here to discuss. There is a murderer out on the loose and this bickering isn’t going to help. Now, if the knighthood or whatever doesn’t help right now can we please table it for later?”
    Phil looked at his parents , who looked both shocked and impressed at Austin. The man was a hell of an alpha to shut up his parents too. Phil shook his head before answering Austin.
    “Yes and no. The why doesn’t play into this , but my being a knight does. When they asked me to do this I regained several of my abilities that I’d asked to be taken from me when I stepped down. I can now track as well if not better than you and I can…”
    Phil looked over at Holly. “You can now what? Tell me. What can you do that you’re so terrified to tell me about?”
    “Not terrified , but I am a little nervous about it . It’s this.” He shifted , or whatever it was that he did to become what set him apart from other vampires. “I could do this since I’d been a child. And it only got better as I grew older.”
    His entire body was encased in armor. Not just armor but silver armor. Normally the silver was deadly to his kind , but something about him being able to pull it over him like a cloak made him able to wear it