Zeke returned with Eddie, Nick, Gabe, and Jazz behind him.
The air around our small group crackled with tension and rage. Some, if not all, of these vampires with Simon were responsible for blowing up our home in Portland. They were responsible for killing three-quarters of our nest. A nest of vampires who only wanted to live a better life and hadn’t deserved to be burned alive.
Fury built inside me as the ten of us moved across the yard, heading directly for where Simon stood.
He was still human, something that surprised me even if he hadn’t been able to follow through on getting me to Viktor. Regardless of that, Simon wasn’t there with hunters. There were eight bloodsuckers behind him, each one ready for a fight.
Simon’s beady eyes met mine, and he smirked. “Hello, Amersyn. Why don’t you come out here so we can have a proper chat?”
We weren’t outnumbered, but we hadn’t been prepared for a fight. I wasn’t sure how Maciah wanted to play this. It wasn’t something we had talked about, but we should have.
“What do you want, Simon?” I asked instead of addressing the invitation to fight him.
His eyes glowered at me. “You know what I want, and unless you want to be responsible for more deaths, then come out here and make this easy.”
I could smell the cigarette stench on his breath even from several feet away and nearly gagged as Maciah stepped forward. “She’s not going anywhere with you.”
Simon chuckled, looking around Maciah and back at me. “So, you let others speak for you now? Interesting to see how the mighty have fallen.”
I snarled at him, blurring right to the opaque shield to face him. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He smirked. “Don’t I, though? Viktor has told me all about you and who your father was and how your family was killed. I always wondered why you were such an uptight bitch, but everything clicked into place when Viktor told me how he squeezed the life out of your mother.”
An inferno of wrath erupted inside me, and I couldn’t stop my actions. Simon had no right to talk about my family, to act as if he knew anything about me. He was nothing more than a rat that I was going to squash beneath my boot.
My fingers wrapped around his very human neck and squeezed hard before shoving him against the SUV he’d arrived in. His body made an impression in the back door, and he crumpled to the ground.
Without thinking, I stalked forward, intent on killing him and having no care for the other vampires Simon had arrived with.
Except they had a big interest in me.
Clawed fingers raked down my spine, ruining my shirt and cutting through my hard skin. I whirled around and brought my leg up, kicking the nearest vampire in the gut. He sailed through the air, landing on Beatrix’s shield. His arms and legs were pinned against the shimmering barrier, and there was no amount of strength the vampire could use to get free.
He wasn’t going to die there, but as the air filled with the smell of burnt skin, I had no doubt he was going to wish he could.
Simon was passed out on the ground, and vampires from both sides were now fighting. I’d started something without asking the others, but we couldn’t hide behind the shield forever. Simon might have pissed me off, but he’d also done us a favor.
We needed to show Viktor we weren’t afraid of him or the vampires he wanted to send after us.
Another bloodsucker sped toward me. As he leapt from the ground, I ducked and let him fly over me before shoving my fist in the air, connecting with his throat. He tumbled to the gravel, choking and coughing as I stalked toward him.
I didn’t have any stakes on me, but that wasn’t an issue, not with my new strength and the original power dying to be set free from inside me.
As a second one came for me, I decided to take some aggression out and prolong the fight. I stepped onto the neck of the one I’d just punched, pressing the heel of my boot into his throat, then turned around just in time for the second vampire to catch me before I was ready.
He punched me in the jaw, bones cracked, and I knew if I tried to open my mouth, I’d probably screech in pain. Instead, I ducked, avoiding the second punch while putting more pressure on my foot over the first vampire.
I heard my heel cut through his skin as I let the energy inside me trickle out toward the other vampire. I commanded him to stop with my mind and he froze in place a half-second later. With a smirk, I bent down toward the first bloodsucker and grabbed a handful of his black hair.
“It’s a good day to die, don’t you think?” I taunted through gritted teeth just before I replaced my boot with my other hand and tore his head from his neck, throwing it toward the shield.
Gruesome, but cathartic.
The second vampire was still frozen behind me as I stood, so I called my power back, giving him a fair fight. I wasn’t a murderer. I only killed when it meant keeping myself and innocent people alive.
The one I had a hold of was the last remaining vampire and seemed to know it. He jumped toward me, landing on my back and aiming for my still-not-healed jaw with his fist.
My first thought was to roll forward, throwing him back onto the ground, but after seeing the effectiveness of the shield, I took three steps backward, pressing him into the barrier without hesitation.
His hands grabbed on to my hair as he tried to stay with me instead of being trapped by Beatrix’s magic, which was even biting at me while the vampire was still on my back.
I moved to break his hold on me, but Maciah stepped in and forced the vampire the rest of the way back into the shield before shoving me a few feet away.
“Was that fun?” he deadpanned.
I turned around to answer him and saw there were three more vampires on the shield that had joined the two I put there and a few piles of ash around us.
I shrugged, answering Maciah’s question. “A little.”
My eyes searched for Simon only to find him exactly where I’d last seen him. Blood was dripping from his ears and nose, and I couldn’t hear the beat of his heart any longer. I’d killed him with my first and only hit.
Disappointment slapped me in the face. I’d wanted more. I’d wanted to torture him for everything he’d done. For the choices he’d made when he decided to turn on his own kind.
Except I’d forgotten that even though Simon acted like a monster, he wasn’t one. He’d still been human. Fragile and weak. Easy to kill.
I’d thought I’d feel at least a small amount of regret if I was ever forced to kill a human, but as I gave Simon’s body one more glance, I couldn’t be happier for his death.
CHAPTER 16
Maciah tugged me closer to him, stroking my jaw where I’d been punched. I leaned into his gentle touch, wincing at the pain the small gesture caused.
“Are you okay?” Maciah asked.
I nodded, not wanting to speak again so soon. The bones were stitching themselves back together, and I’d be back to normal in no time. Hopefully.
The others joined us, none of them looking hurt or even fazed by the fight.
“That was too quick,” Zeke said as he wrapped an arm around Rachel’s waist.
Bennett nodded. “I agree. Viktor’s men wouldn’t have been that easy to defeat.”
“If this wasn’t Viktor’s men, then who were they?” Eddie asked.
“Throwaway vampires. Viktor is the king of using them. It’s not a secret, but vampires think if they can manage to survive the situations Viktor convinces them to go into, then that will earn them an honorary spot within his nest. This rarely happens, yet more keep showing up at his doorstep,” Maciah answered.
“Still one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard,” Nikki said, and I nodded in agreement, still not speaking.
“We’ll do a perimeter check and make sure this wasn’t a distraction,” Eddie said, gesturing for Gabe, Jazz, and Nick to join him.
The four of them disappeared, splitting off into groups of two as they circled the property line in a blur.
“What about these ones?” Rachel asked, nodding to the vampires stuck to the barrier.
“We could leave them there as trophies. Might prevent others from trying to get in,” Zeke answered with a grin I wanted to match. It was a great idea, and I was absolutely voting for it.
I reached out to offer him a high five, but Maciah pushed my arm back down. “We’re not monsters like them. We will kill them. Mostly because if we don’t, then they’ll only keep trying to kill us, and secondly, we can’t leave them here to suffer. They’re still people.”
Damn him for making sense.
“But the idea was good,” Zeke added, and Rachel elbowed him.
I rubbed my fingers over my jawline and sighed when the action didn’t hurt. “So, if these were throwaway vampires, does that mean the real ones will be showing up soon?” I asked, because we needed to be more prepared if so.
“It’s possible. I need to get a hold of some people and call in some favors before that happens, but we should meet first to discuss a few things,” Maciah said.
I hoped his mention of favors meant he was finally going to accept the wolves’ offer of help. They’d seemed willing enough when we’d been at Nyx, and I didn’t peg them as the kind of people who would renege on something like that.
“I can make some calls, too,” Bennett said, and all eyes went to him.
“Where have you been all this time, bro?” Zeke asked.
Bennett grimaced. “I’ve been around, but I’ve made some acquaintances. Ones that enjoy death.”
“I’m not sure we need that kind of help,” Maciah said, and I agreed. That description didn’t fit with someone I would consider trustworthy of having our back.
“Just think about it. They’re not bad people. Just dangerous,” Bennett said.
Hmm, I wasn’t sure there was a difference, but then again, I used to think all vampires were the scum of the Earth and I’d been proven wrong, so I’d let Maciah decide how he handled Bennett’s offer.
“What about the vehicles and, more importantly, Simon’s body?” I asked. He wasn’t going to disappear into ash like the rest of them, but I had no desire to bury him, either.
“We’ll pull the vehicles inside the garage. We might need them. And I’ll ask Eddie to dig a hole that we can throw Simon in at the back of the property never to be seen again,” Maciah replied.
That worked well enough.
“I’ll go grab some stakes,” Zeke said before disappearing. At least he was going to take care of the vampires that were being electrocuted on the barrier. It was one thing to kill the bloodsucker while they were trying to do the same to me, but now that the adrenaline had worn off and Maciah’s speech about not being monsters sunk in, I wasn’t sure how I’d do with stabbing them when they were helplessly locked against a magical shield.
Yeah, my conscience was weird like that.
Maciah led me back through the yard and toward the house with Nikki and Bennett right behind us. Rachel must have gone with Zeke, because I didn’t see her anywhere.
I almost didn’t like all of us having men at our sides. The dynamics had changed, and I wasn’t a fan of that type of change, but I knew the mess with Viktor wasn’t helping, either.
Even with Silas after us, we’d still had moments of normalcy, but ever since the nest blew up, nothing had been normal.
I wanted that back more than anything. Not just for me, but for all of us. I could feel the layer of stress smothering each of us, even when we were smiling.
We entered the house as Zeke was coming out with four stakes.
“Where’s Rachel?” I asked him.
“She stayed inside, getting ready for us to meet,” he said, then nodded at Maciah. “I’ll move the cars in after I’m done and then be right in.”
“Have Eddie take care of that. They should be done with the perimeter check,” Maciah answered, then we continued toward the small conference area that I assumed used to be a dining room.
Rachel was already in there. She had glasses of blood at every chair and was moving around the room, straightening things that didn’t need straightening.
I went to her and forced her to stop moving. “Hey.”
She met my stare with her bright eyes. “Hi.”
“Are you good?” I asked.
She nodded. “That was just unexpected. I like to be mentally prepared for fights like that.”
“I’m sorry,” I said since I was the one who crossed the barrier without talking to any of them first.
She scoffed. “I would have done the same. That hunter had no right to talk to you like that.”
I gave her hand a squeeze as my thanks before urging her to sit down. I was afraid she would start dusting things or something.
Nikki took the seat next to Rachel with Bennett right beside Nikki. I moved one down, so Zeke could be close to Rachel, then Maciah sat as well.
I reached for the blood and grinned. It was peppermint flavored. Normally, that wasn’t something I liked, but I knew Rachel had needed the distraction of doing a little extra, so I took a long drink and thanked her for getting everyone sustenance.
“It was nothing,” she said with a wave of her hand.
“Even though the calls I need to make are important, there are some things we’ve been ignoring that can’t wait any longer,” Maciah said, getting right to the point.
I glanced at the door that was still cracked open. I thought to close it, but there were only ten of us around the property. Privacy probably wasn’t necessary.
“Are there any objections to having help from the wolves?” Maciah asked first.
My eyes went to Rachel, wondering if the Sam chick mentioned before would be included in that help and if that would cause Rachel any added stress.
She smiled at me, almost as if she’d read my mind, and I nodded at her before responding to Maciah’s question.
“What does it mean to have their help? Will the pack just show up here ready to fight?” I didn’t know what to expect since I’d never worked with wolf shifters.
“I’ll give Roman a call and see what he can offer. We won’t ask for anything other than what they’re comfortable with. I trust they’ll do whatever they can to assist us, but only if everyone is good working with them again. And yes, I think they’d merely show up ready to fight as we did for them.”
“No issues for me to have them here,” Nikki said.
“Agreed,” Rachel added.
“You know I don’t have a problem with it,” Zeke said as he waltzed into the room, taking the seat next to Rachel.
Maciah stared at Bennett, and I was a little surprised he was waiting on the vampire’s confirmation.
“Is this going to be a problem for you?” Maciah asked him.
Bennett’s jaw tensed, telling me there was a story there I probably needed to know, just in case things didn’t go as planned.
“I’ll be fine.”
Maciah nodded. “Good. Now, something we’ve avoided for too long is the vampire who let Dmitri into our nest when Amersyn was taken.”
My chest twisted as I recalled that day. The guards had their faces covered, and I hadn’t thought anything of it then. I also hadn’t been a vampire at that time, so deciphering someone just by their scent wasn’t something I’d been capable of.
“Maybe they died in the explosion,” Nikki suggested.
“Maybe, but what if they didn’t?” Maciah replied, asking a question none of us wanted to think about.
“Are you implying that you have a rat in your nest of only ten vampires?” Bennett’s voice became rough as his hands fisted on the tabletop.
“I’m saying it’s a possibility we need to consider,” Maciah said evenly. He was acting awfully calm for someone who might have a traitor on his hands. I wouldn’t be acting the same, but he’d had decades of leading experience, so I trusted his instincts.
“Then, we need to question everyone here, including those of us in this room,” I said.
&nb
sp; Rachel gasped at my suggestion. I knew it was hard to fathom, but none of us were immune to persuasion. We all had something to lose, and one well-given threat was all it took to make someone do something they normally wouldn’t even dream of.
“We’ll do that tomorrow. Let’s not tell the others until then,” Maciah said casually, and I was getting the feeling he was putting on a show the rest of us didn’t have advanced tickets to.
“So, what else? The wolves, a potential traitor? What about Viktor?” Zeke asked.
Maciah leaned back in his seat and snarled. “He’s a problem. More of one than I’d like to admit. I think we’re safest staying here. We can’t win against him in a fight unless we have plenty of help. We can reevaluate once we know who we can count on.”
Rage wanted to unleash from me, but I met Maciah’s dark eyes, and he nodded at me. He was trying to tell me something, and I didn’t know what exactly. He was lucky I trusted him. Otherwise, I’d be beating some sense back into him in front of everyone without a second thought.
“You don’t think we can beat him, even with my abilities?” I asked, getting that information out there because it seemed to be the direction Maciah was headed if I was reading things at least partially correctly.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Amersyn, but you’re not ready. We don’t know how to train you with your original powers. They’re useless until you can understand how to wield them properly,” he answered, and I glanced around the table to find everyone else was in agreement with him.
That alone made me realize Maciah was putting on a show, because there was no way Rachel and Nikki would have agreed with Maciah otherwise.
Except if those of us in this room had figured out Maciah’s scheming, then what was to say whoever this show was for didn’t as well. We needed to be more convincing.
CHAPTER 17
I shoved back from the table and slammed my fist down. “You know what? Screw you, Maciah. You always act like you know me so well and what’s best for everyone else. You started this meeting appearing to give us a voice, but you’re still trying to control us. I’m not weak. I can handle my abilities.”
Vampire Vow (Scorned by Blood Book 3) Page 11