ULRICH 1
“Ulrich, fuck get your ass out of bed.” Cracking one eye open I see Garth standing in the open doorway, “Tor is waiting downstairs, and he’s in a foul mood today.” Shit, I forgot we were riding out. Turning, I am attacked with a mop of brown hair. Argh, I forgot they were here. Sitting up, I first look to one side seeing Tracy and then to the other to see Monica both fast asleep.
“One of these days you going to wear that pecker of yours to the bone.” At Garth’s sarcastic comment I grin as I climb over Tracy to pick up my Jeans on the ground, kicking a pair of panties out of the way with my foot.
“That might have just happened last night, I swear I heard the word bone quite a lot.”
“Fucker, just get a move on or Tor is going to have both our heads.” The last thing I feel like now is to deal with Tor’s thunder as we call it. He is one mean son of a bitch when things don’t go his way. “I swear one of these days he’s going to place you on guard duty, then your bone will rot,” Garth mutters as he turns to walk out of the room. I finish lacing up my boots and then pulling a t-shirt out of my drawer I follow Garth, picking my Kutte off the chair that is next to the door, I slip the t-shirt on as we make our way downstairs.
We have been trying to combat the skin trade here in Cape Town for a couple of years, but every time we bring down a gang another fucking gang pops up. We know that there are still some of the Keres that we haven’t been able to find and bring in, we are sure they are the ones that are behind this whole organization, but every time we think we have found their leader he disappears.
As elemental’s we each have the power of a specific element, before we found a way of calming our fury so as not to turn into Keres. Keres were the elemental’s that turned into darkness, evil, they still had powers but muted. Since finding the cure that we have been able to bring some of the Keres back, but some are crafty and manage to get away from us as they know what we can and cannot do.
“Did you not hear me when I said eight,” Tor says in a quiet voice as we walk into the bar area, there are still people lying around from last night’s party, at his raised voice some mumble and open their eyes. His arms are tense as he crosses them, his eyes flashing in anger. Tor is a scary son of a bitch when he’s angry, but he will also lay down his life for anyone of us, which we in turn would do for each other and him too.
Throughout my very long three hundred and forty-six years of life, the best years have been the ones since I have been with the Elemental’s MC and that is all thanks to Tor, he thought I deserved a chance and gave it to me. He didn’t make it easy; I had to work for my spot at his side, but I have never regretted it.
“Sorry man, I only got to sleep a couple of hours ago,” I mutter remembering Tracy and Monica that are still upstairs in my bed.
“Well, seeing as you can’t be responsible after going to a party, you are banned from the next one,” I grunt, but don’t complain as it could have been much worse. I will just make sure to keep out of his radar for the rest of the day and I should be fine. At least he didn’t ban me from women for a month like he did once before. “Let’s fucking leave, we have wasted enough time here already,” he mutters as he turns and stalks out of the club.
“You got it easy Bro,” Colborn says as he walks past me, “I would have torched your ass,” he quips
“You would have tried,” I reply with a grin as I follow them outside. Walking towards my bike, I smile; Garth must have picked up the panties when I kicked them away from my Jeans because there they are hanging from my handlebars like a flag. “Very funny,” I say as I look at him to see a wide grin on his face before he slides the helmet on.
Tucking the panties into my jeans pocket I Pull my kutte on over my t-shirt, leaning forward I pick up my helmet from my seat. Riding a bike is part of who I am, there is nothing like feeling the wind on your face or the thrill that I get when I speed down a road. As I start my bike I groan, shit I forgot my weapons in the room because of being late. Hopefully, I’m not going to need them because Tor will have my head for sure if that happens.
Being an Elemental I am privileged to be the element of fire, if need be I will fight using my element but when we are out in the open we try not to, as humans don’t know about us and we want to maintain it like that. Dag, Eirik and Tal must have stayed behind, making sure that everyone that came to the party leaves as I don’t see them riding ahead. Opening the throttle to my bike, I let everything melt away as I ride around the twisty bends on the roads, sea breeze blowing around me as I follow the others to our destination.
We received information that one of the gangs might have picked up two women yesterday and they will be transporting them soon, therefore we need to act quickly before they ship them. We know that they are shipping the women in containers out of the country, but we haven’t been able to find the source, we have stopped quite a lot of women from being trafficked but as soon as they are on those ships or ship they are gone.
We have two gangs that we have persuaded in working with us, but we had to agree on supplying them with weapons. We know that we can’t trust them fully, but they are aware that if we find out that they are still kidnapping women and trafficking them, then we won’t be merciful. Where we are going today was a tip from one of those gangs, We have agreed to split up when we get there just in case this is an ambush, for their own health I sure hope it isn’t because we will go after each one in that gang and make sure they never cross us again.
When we are a couple of blocks away Tor pulls over indicating with his hand for the others to continue. Garth, Colborn, Haldor and I continue while the others pull up and park their bikes. They will be following us on foot. When we are but a block away, we park our bikes when we see the leader of the gang that we are here to meet leaning against his yellow pimped-up car.
He raises his hand in greeting as he approaches, “they are still in there, I have two of my boys keeping an eye on them,” he says, “It looks like there might be about five men inside or close by.”
“Thanks, you can pull your men back and leave, we will take it from here,” Haldor says as he gets off his bike.
“You will let Tor know that I was here?” Basil asks, last time Tor went to visit Basil he filled him with enough fear to make him think twice about crossing us.
“Yeah, he will know” Colborn says as the four of us start making our way on foot down the road. We are nearly at the house when we see the two men Basil mentioned making their way to where Basil was. It is clear that they don’t like us but that is fine as we are not here to make friends, the only thing we want is to stop the trafficking as most of the women that are being kidnapped are women that have specific gifts, women that are usually a match with one of the elemental’s.
As Elemental’s we only have one true mate, the one that calms the fury in our souls that enhances our element and that brings us happiness and peace. Most of us go through centuries without meeting our mate, that is why so many turned Keres and joined the Keres MC before Draco and his men started by bringing down their MC and helping the Keres back into their Elemental state and find their mates.
To be honest, I’m not in a rush to find my mate, I’m enjoying life way too much, I know what some brothers have said about how different it is once we find that one woman and how she changes our life, but that’s what I don’t want, I don’t want a woman to come into my life and start telling me what to do and not to do. It was different before, when our fury took the best of us and we turned, but ever since finding a cure I don’t see a need to find that one woman.
I smile to myself when I think of the two women back at the club in my bed, yip, not in a hurry to be shackled. When we are but a couple of houses away Garth and I walk through one of the houses driveways to the back garden and then over the wall into the other house. We walk through that garden until we reach the wall, taking a breath I jump, holding the top with my hands I swing over it and land on the other side on top of a fucking sprinkler that immediately starts to shoot out water.
“Fuck,” I mutter, hurrying away from the spray. I see Garth grinning as he shakes his head in amusement. We make our way towards the housekeeping to the shadows, stopping when we see a shadow by one of the windows. Garth leans down placing his hands flat on the grass, his head slightly tilted as he feels the vibration on the ground, Garth bends the element earth which in this case is handy as he can sense how many people might be inside the house.
He lifts his hand, showing me five. If what Basil said is to be believed then two of those vibrations are the women and the other three must be the men holding them. I nod and make my way towards the side of one of the windows. I can hear someone talking, must be on the phone as there is no reply. There is a TV that is on, a kettle that I can hear which tells me that at least one of them is in the kitchen. I look over at Garth standing at the other window and nod; he walks towards the back sliding door, tugging he opens it back and quickly enters I follow to find Garth already by the guy that was on his phone, his arm around his neck from behind as he subdues him.
I make my way towards the kitchen; I don’t know what it is with this house, but my senses are all over the fucking place. Just before I reach the kitchen a big son of a bitch comes around the corner. When he sees me, he throws the mug that he is holding at me and then charges. I feel the hot liquid touching my skin, but I don’t flinch as I prepare for his attack. I see Colborn and Haldor have come in through the front door, one is hurrying downstairs while the other disappears into a room further down the corridor.
I squat down just as the guy throws a punch, my fist flying up and hitting him in the gut, which has him trying to catch his breath. Standing up straight I throw another punch, this one hitting him on the cheek which has his head snapping to the left as he stumbles back and finally falls. I walk up to him, tapping him with the toe of my boot, but he doesn’t move. Grunting I make my way towards where I see Colborn now going downstairs, these humans are no fun you punch them once and they are out like a light. I can hear fighting from outside which tells me that Tor and the others must have found the men outside and are subduing them.
“It’s okay sweetheart we are here to help you.” I hear Haldor saying as I come around the curve in the stairs to encounter a basement littered with soiled matts on the floor, at least six of them, which tells me that at some time or another there have been other women here. I don’t know what it is about this house, but it has my skin crawling as if all the blood is rushing just under it. “Colborn see to the other one,” Haldor says just as I reach the bottom. The lighting in here is dim, and the smell is putrid, but we will soon have these poor women out of here and into fresh air.
“Get away from me,” I hear a hoarse voice say, which has me stopping dead. What the fuck is that, it feels like I just got punched in the gut, my breath is choppy, my heart has started to race and my vision has sharpened as if I’m about to go into battle. Is this some kind of gift that this woman has, maybe her gift is to get men into battle readiness, but when I look at Colborn and Haldor they seem unaffected.
“We are going to get you out of here, we are the good guys,” Haldor consoles, I try to see the woman from where I’m standing but Haldor is in the way. Colborn has picked up the other woman that is unconscious and is carrying her upstairs. I approach Haldor and the woman. The closer I get the more my senses seem to calm. I wonder what her gift is because it's playing haywire with me, I thought Draco had said that these women’s gifts didn’t work on us, well I don’t think he encountered this one before.
And then Haldor moves slightly and everything around me seems to still, “Fuck no,” I mutter which has Haldor glance behind him a frown on his face as he looks at me. I don’t think she hears me but at Haldor’s move she looks up at me and then I see her eyes widen slightly. She has the lightest sky-blue eyes that I have ever seen, her pale complexion contrasting to her pitch-black hair. I can see freckles speckled across the bridge of her nose, her features are delicate, feminine and so beautiful. The bruise on her forehead evident with her light complexion, there are also bruises on her arms and throat as if someone tried to strangle her. Oh, fuck no. Maybe if I turn around and leave, everything will go back to normal.
“I will go with him,” she says, lifting her hand and pointing at me. No, no, no, I close my eyes trying to dispel this feeling of protection, of possessiveness that is overtaking my senses, my system. This can’t be happening. Just an hour ago I was thinking of how perfect my life was and now fate threw me with this curve ball. I feel every single fibre in my body coming to life, racing through my body.
“No problem, sweetheart, Ulrich will help you upstairs,” Haldor says as he turns and heads towards me, a frown on his face as he looks at me. His longish blond hair falling forward over his eye, which has him lifting his hand to stroke his fingers through it, pulling it back. “What’s up?” he asks with a raised brow when he’s standing before me.
“I’m fucked.”