“We’ll get her taken care of,” he promised. “Don’t worry.”
He took himself back to the mansion just in time for his phone to ring. “What?” Even to him, he sounded irritated.
“Hey, I’m just calling to check in and update you on some things.”
Simon’s words brought a little bit of calm to the night.
Levi took a deep breath and went to his bedroom to change. He cringed as he pulled the vomit-soaked pants off. “Did you go to the house tonight? Did she handle it okay?” He wasn’t sure what kind of memories the visit would trigger. Abigail hadn’t been back there since the night he took her, though he’d been back several times.
“Yeah, she handled it well,” Simon answered without hesitation.
“Did you find anything that was helpful?” He had cleared out most of Tobias’ research, mostly because a lot of it could be dangerous, but he didn’t doubt that the warlock hid something from Levi. They never did see eye to eye completely.
“Yes, we did find some things.”
“Have her call me tonight. I’d like to know what she has found.”
“I’ll make sure she calls you tonight.” Once again no hesitation, like he was confident he could handle anything when it came to Abby, and the wolf probably could.
Levi paused for a moment. “How is she? She always insists on jumping back into things, but I’m not sure she was ready to leave the hospital.”
“She’s exhausted. She did the wards on the bar, and I saw it in her eyes. Let me know if anyone makes headway on that hex. She needs it gone.”
“Clarissa is doing everything she can on the hex. I haven’t heard if she’s made progress, but I’m sure she’ll tell me.”
Simon made a small grunt of agreement.
“Have you figured out what to do about the full moon if the hex hasn’t been removed by then?”
“Yeah, Clarissa promised to stay with her on the full moon while I run with the pack.”
He could only assume that the wolf texted or called the witch to make arrangements, at least Simon was thinking ahead. “Good, thank you.”
“Good night, Levi.”
The line went dead in his hand, and he put his phone on the bed. What he needed was a hot bath and to get the smell of vomit off him. Everything else could wait until sunset.
CHAPTER SIX
Levi walked around the park, waiting for any sense of vampire or anything that looked like a drug deal going down. He’d been over every corner and every path several times. Chances were that the drug dealer could sense him, or that he wasn’t out this early in the night.
Maybe he was a new vampire and hadn’t woken and fed for the day. He felt a shiver go down his spine and a familiar power that he hadn’t felt in years.
Ira. His brother, once his one and only friend. He spun around to see where the other vampire had appeared, but nothing was there. The power faded just as quickly as it had come. He shook his head. He had a drug dealer to find.
He walked down the street to an old motel. An offensive Native American neon sign sat above it with a fake waving arm. The walls and doors had chipping paint, and the vacancy sign hung crooked over the office door. Walking in he found an interesting face behind the counter. Devon Avarin. The Avarin family had been old friends of Elizabeth. It’d been years since he’d seen the family, but Devon simply looked like an older version his younger self.
“Hello, how can I help you?” Devon looked up, and Levi realized he had no recognition of who Levi was.
“Yes, someone told me that I could find Thrills nearby.”
Devon raised a brow. “If you want those, talk to the working girls. They seem to be all about it lately. But you’ll have to come back in a few hours. They don’t tend to start their shifts until well after sunset.”
Levi nodded. “I assume they hang around here?”
“None of my business, really, what the girls do here. I’m just covering a shift for a friend while he…gets lucky. If you know what I mean.”
Levi tried not to close his eyes in irritation. “I know exactly what you mean, but that’s not what I’m interested in.”
“Look, if you want a drug deal, go check out the park. That’s all I can say.”
Levi paused for a moment, feeling a familiar energy come off the warlock in front of him. A dangerous one that meant he was close to losing control. He held his hands up. “No harm meant.”
He walked out of the motel and shook his head. He hadn’t known the Avarins moved back here, as far as he knew they had moved far away. Levi went back to the park and looked around, still no sight or sense of the vampire who was supposedly selling this drug.
He took himself back to the mansion. The first thing he noticed was that someone had disarmed the security system. Abby was always bad about setting it. If she ever got one, she’d need one that set automatically for her. He hadn’t set that up because he rarely had to worry about people breaking in. Except for one person in particular.
He paused in the foyer and listened. Voices from Abby’s magical chamber floated up through the walls. Her and Simon. He smiled, the two seemed to be getting along better now.
“Here goes nothing,” Abby said, and a moment of panic hit him. What on earth was she doing performing magic with a hex on her. Stupid witch. Everything was silent for a moment. He waited for something, anything. She screamed.
Instinct said to rush to her, but he needed to wait. Simon was with her. This was the wolf’s chance to prove that he could handle Abby’s stupidity. Levi closed his eyes as the screaming faded.
After a few minutes of silence, he heard Abby speak. “Thank you. I’m sorry. Priority tonight is to find the words of this hex and start working on reversing it.”
The panic in his chest lessened. She was okay, and she could handle this hex.
“I think that’s probably a good idea. And no more spells that take that much energy,” Simon answered, and Levi found himself nodding in approval. The wolf may not have known much about magic, but he seemed to be a quick study. Abby wouldn’t be able to get away with stunts like this again with him watching. Assuming Simon could convince her otherwise.
Levi walked down the stairs and opened the door to see the two of them together on the floor. He raised a brow, looking between the two. “Did I miss something?”
Both of them had a moment of looking like naughty teenagers caught by their parents.
Abigail looked up at him. “No. I just did a spell and collapsed. No big deal. It’s the hex taking a toll on me. Simon was making sure I was okay. I found a notebook that had the runes in it. Tonight I’m going to figure out the words to the hex and see if I can fix it. Or maybe if Clarissa can.”
He gave her a look that questioned why she was telling him this, and she sighed and continued. “The pentagram keeps most of it at bay, but every time I work a spell the pain hits me again. The stronger the spell, the worse it is.”
Levi nodded. “Go back to Simon’s for the night. I want someone with you at all times. No magic until you figure it out.” He pegged the wolf with a glare that told him exactly what would happen if Simon failed in this. They’d already had the conversation once. Audible words were not needed.
Abby didn’t look happy about it. Her brows furrowed just a little bit. “I’ll do my best. Trust me. I don’t like this any more than you do.”
Simon stood and helped her up. Levi gave her one last look before he left the room. If he stood there any longer, she’d become suspicious of what else he might want. What he wanted to do was demand that she stay there, because he was paranoid.
“I don’t think he likes me very much.”
Levi didn’t miss the joke in her voice, but some nights he did regret how far away and cold he forced himself to be with her.
Simon snorted. “He threatened to cut off my balls and feed them to me if I let you get hurt.”
“Oh well isn’t that charming…” Abby’s voice faded as Levi went back to his office. It
was already proving to be a long night, and it wasn’t near dawn yet.
He sat down at the desk and looked back at his list of what he knew about the drug dealer. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. He could send some scouts out to see if they could get eyes on him. That was probably his best bet at this moment. He’d need some human scouts or wolves so that the vampire didn’t sense him coming up.
Reaching for his phone, he hesitated for a moment before calling Greg. The local pack master was never pleased when Levi called to borrow wolves. He was trying to start an alliance, but Greg was resisting. Had Simon gotten his tail out of a knot and taken Greg out, he could have assured an alliance.
But right now Levi needed scouts, and the full moon was close.
Humans it was.
He called the one human that he considered a good friend and a trusted ally.
“Cornelius, I need some human scouts.”
The man chuckled on the other line. “You’re just going to demand some?”
“I could ask nicely, but you and I both know that you’ll help me out either way.”
There was a pause on the other line. “Yeah, you’re right. How many do you need?”
“Two or three. I need them to scope out Acacia Park. There are rumors of a vampire there. Don’t have them approach, just observe.”
He could hear clicking in the background. “And just what are they observing, Levi?”
“A drug dealer trying to move into my territory. I need confirmation and a description. Then I can put one of my people on it. No need to risk yours.”
“Just having them out there is putting them at risk, but they can handle themselves. I’ll have the information back to you soon.”
The line disconnected, and Levi found himself sitting in a strange silence.
He had to attend to things. King things to see and go through, council members to follow up with, but for a moment he wanted just to be.
His moment of silence ended when his phone rang. He looked down to see Catalina’s number on his phone. It was rare for the council members to call him when they had meetings scheduled every month. He answered it, fearing the worst. “Hello?”
“The next state over is requesting that the King of Vampires help with a PIB Case.”
That never boded well, certain cases automatically required help from the King or the council. “Who are the agents on the case?”
“Two PIB agents, Agent Tomes and his partner Agent Grace.”
The names didn’t sound familiar. “What do we know about the case?”
“Vampire victims that have been drained with multiple bites, nothing in common. The local vampire requests that either the council or a King’s Guard comes in to help. He seems to think that PIB is in over their head.”
“Do we have a council member there who can go?”
“I can have Yorkingson go as a PIB consultant, but that takes him away from this area.”
He leaned back for a moment. “I think that might be the best choice we have. Then if we need to, I can go in and clean things up.”
“Okay, that might be needed, but we’ll see if Grayson can handle it first.” She disconnected the call, and he leaned back in his chair. His mind turned to leaving the territory. If he left, Ira could get in without him noticing, especially with Mario being with Hannah right now. He needed to make a point to bring in stronger vampires in his area to help
Levi raised a brow as Simon’s name flashed over his phone screen with a text.
‘Abby translated note, death hex from cult of ra? On phone with Clarissa now and making some sort of plans.’
Death hex. His world spun for a moment. They had been lucky that it didn’t kill her right away. The Cult of Ra had come after Elizabeth and Tobias once, but he was sure they wouldn’t come after Abigail. He didn’t have her continuing their work. The notes on the tablet were sealed away as well as the tablet itself.
He took a moment to focus and get his emotions under control so he wouldn’t crush the phone.
‘Abigail does nothing until Clarissa gets the hex off her. No negotiations.’ He hit send. He wasn’t going to risk her dying.
All Simon sent back was ‘okay.’
Levi put the phone back on the desk. If Abby was free of the hex, he could bring her in to help with the drug problem, but the human scouts were going to have to do for now.
He looked down at the calendar. There was a territory ball coming up. A celebration for the anniversary of when he took over the territory. He’d need to keep Abby away from the mansion, and hopefully Mario would be back from Hannah’s by then.
He clenched his jaw. He could negotiate more with Hannah, but he had nothing else to give, no information, no territory. Nothing that would interest the psychotic bitch. He’d spread his people too thin. He’d gotten cocky with Ira gone for a decade.
Ten years was nothing to a vampire. Ira and Levi lived together side by side for centuries. Until Elizabeth.
That’s when his life truly began. Elizabeth had shown him what it meant to live again. In a way, this territory was hers, not his. He hated the celebration because it meant nothing without her by his side.
He flipped the calendar off the desk with a growl. He’d never managed to find the witch hunters that took Elizabeth and Tobias. Mario had recently started trying to connect the lost pieces, but it was taking time.
He looked at the clock. Dawn was closing in. He’d need to call Abigail the next night to see how removing the hex went. He needed to find something to keep himself busy until then.
Ira sat back and looked at his little drug dealer of a vampire. He’d originally put the drugs in the young vampire’s hands to draw out Abigail. He’d studied his niece. She had morals that wouldn’t allow her to kill unless it was for protection.
He swirled his wine glass of blood and watched as the thick liquid clung to the glass. Levi would sense his presence as soon as he entered the territory. Currently, Ira had his own setup in another territory, but it was only a matter of time until it caught the attention of the king.
“Did you see him at the park tonight?” Ira finally asked, setting his wine glass down.
The vampire shook his head. “No, but one of my clients said he was sniffing around.” He shrugged. “What’s he going to do? Send his little killer after me?”
“That’s the hope. Rumors say that she’s his killer, but that’s a facade. You kill her, take her out, and make her suffer.” Ira licked the traces of blood off his fangs. “If you fail, then you’re dead. Either by her hand or mine.”
He smirked. “I’m not worried about that.”
Cocky little bastard. Ira smiled. “No, of course not. What’s a little witch to a vampire?”
“Exactly.”
Oh if only he knew Abigail. He looked up at the high priest of the Cult. “What?”
“We have a member that has gone AWOL. I need to go handle things.”
“Isn’t your son acting in your place right now?”
The man nodded. “He is. But he prefers a much kinder way of dealing with situations. There’s a PIB agent assigned to the case. We need to take care of her and neutralize the issue.”
PIB, always causing problems. “Fine, go. I expect you to return to my aid as soon as you’re done.”
“Of course.” The man disappeared in a swirl of magic.
Ira chuckled. “Go back to the park, push the drug more, make sure that it gets back to Levi that you’re there without his consent.”
“As you wish.” The younger vampire bowed and then disappeared.
Ira sipped his blood as he heard a scream echo from the rooms further back. He chuckled. “Your move, Levi. I have you in my sights brother. Your time as king is coming to an end.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Levi woke to a few messages on his phone. The first couple had been left just before he woke for the night. The first one, from Erik, telling him Ivy had been released and was expected to make a full recovery. And one from Simon saying
that Abby would be spending the full moon with the coven. The last one was from Clarissa telling him that the plan was to cleanse Abigail with the help of the coven.
Levi could only imagine what kind of trouble that was going to lead to. She, like her mother, fought anything that had to do with the coven. Simon would be out of commission for the night because he’d be running with his pack. Where he belonged.
A familiar pain started through Levi. Just a slight burning that told him it was time to feed, and if he didn’t soon, he risked the early stages of bloodlust. He picked up the phone to text one of his favorite donors. A no-nonsense woman who never tried to seduce him or Mario, probably because she was very happy with the mate she had.
He set his phone down and walked off to the shower. Abigail would have the hex off her tonight, despite her hate for the coven, Clarissa would take good care of her and make sure she got home safe. He’d call her later to check in on her.
Other things called for his attention right now. Ira being spotted in the next territory over didn’t bode well.
After his shower, he returned to his desk. He opened his laptop and pulled up a search engine. It was similar to the one Abigail used for PIB but had more information from across the globe. Each leader had access to it without restrictions, and he’d use it to see any reports that Ira might be involved in crimes popping up elsewhere.
His mind flashed to the experiments. The blood-starved vampires that they had managed to create, and he swallowed. He thought he’d put an end to this ten years ago when he found Ira in his territory, but it was a starting point for his search.
Blood Starved Vampires
The results came back faster than he’d imaged, an increase in attacks across the United States. First one or two, then a larger group would appear. Then, they’d disappear.
Either PIB killed them, or they weren’t caught.
He scrolled through the articles. Currently, the state over had a few sightings. He wasn’t sure if that was the case that Catalina had said the local vampire wanted the king in on, but he would need to go check it out sooner than he planned and without Abigail noticing that he was gone. Without anyone noticing he was gone.
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