by Brewer, Rye
I shuddered in pleasure and relief as I finished, raising my head and meeting Cari’s concerned gaze.
“My love,” she sighed, pink tears still flowing. It was all she needed to say. The look on her face told me the rest.
“It’s not enough, I’m afraid,” I whispered, my voice already stronger.
“I’m sure, but I could only carry one at a time,” she replied, apologetic.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll find another.” I stood, slowly, leaning on the wall for support. My legs seemed strong enough to support me. The pain was already fading to nothing but a memory.
A memory I wanted to never relive. Not for anything.
“How did you find me?”
“It’s a long story. I think we should get out of here, first.” Cari looked around as though she was waiting for someone to discover us.
“Where is he?” I asked, thinking I recognized her apprehension for what it was.
“He won’t be bothering us anymore. At least, I don’t think so. But I’m not thrilled with the idea of being here any longer than we need to. You don’t ever have to see this terrible place again.”
“Where is he?” I demanded, though my voice was still soft.
I wasn’t about to take a step from that cell without knowing exactly who or what I was going to face outside.
She grimaced. “I don’t know. In the city. Dead, most likely, or dying. It was Naomi who helped me. He’s done this before. To someone she loved. She finally betrayed him and made it possible for me to get away. She even stole his key to the cell.”
“And him?” I didn’t want to speak his name, not ever again.
“They’re dealing with him the way someone who's done what he did should be dealt with. I didn’t want to stay around to watch. Though nothing would’ve given me more pleasure than seeing his worthless life end, I had more important things to worry about.” She took my hand. “Come on. I can answer any questions you may have later.”
She was right. It was time to leave. I walked out of the cell, noticing the rats scurrying along the walls and in the corners. They watched as we walked down the hall lined with cells on either side, perhaps wondering in their way why their friend was leaving.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” I muttered, chuckling to myself. “You’ll have to find another feast.”
“What?” Cari looked up at me, frowning.
“Nothing.”
She showed me the broken door which she’d used to get in. Likely the same door he had used.
“Wait,” I said, pulling up just shy of stepping out. “What’s outside? And what of me? Will I be seen like this?”
I hadn’t bathed and had been living in my own filth since then. My own stench embarrassed and appalled me.
“Oh. Right. I almost forgot.” She bent, allowing the pack to slide from her shoulder, and pulled out fresh clothes along with two large bottles of water and a small cake of soap. “I’m sorry. This will have to do for now.”
I was already halfway out of my clothes. I wished I had something to burn them with.
Minutes later, freshly dressed and somewhat cleaner, I walked out of the old prison. We were in the suburbs of Paris, the Eiffel Tower gleaming in the distance. Had it only been weeks since I stood at the top with her? And I’d thought we had problems then. What did I know?
“Gage?”
I turned to her and pulled her into my arms without a word. She buried her face against the side of my neck, shaking, her arms winding around my back and squeezing until my ribs ached. Not that it mattered.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered in her ear, holding her as tight as I could.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“But I do. I brought you here, to this. To him. I should’ve known. I was so blind about so many things.”
“So was I,” she insisted, clutching me. “I should’ve seen what he was doing. I wanted to trust him, and that was so stupid of me. You could’ve been free sooner than this, if I had just been smarter.”
“It’s all right now,” I murmured, closing my eyes and willing it to be so. It was all right. I was leaving the suffering behind me. It was over.
But I did need to feed again, and soon. Instead of slaking my thirst, the blood of the hitchhiker had left me yearning for more. But at least it had left me stronger. And I was alive.
Where would I find someone to feed on? We were virtually in the middle of nowhere, miles from the city. All around the prison was open fields, and beyond that what looked like a thriving village or neighborhood. Lights twinkled there, and cars. But it wasn’t the same as hunting in Paris, where a handful of nameless tourists might go unnoticed.
“I don’t know that I’m strong enough to course,” I mused.
“We could go over there.” She pointed to the rows of homes and businesses.
“I suppose. We’d have to be careful.”
“We will. You need to feed. We can move on after that. No one need know there are vampires around.”
We took off on foot, cutting through the field. As we walked, we discussed our options regarding lodging.
There weren’t many.
“I know this isn’t something you want to hear…” she began as we drew closer to the neighborhood.
The sounds of life were strangely foreign to my ears. I had convinced myself that I’d never hear the likes of it again.
“What are you thinking?”
Our hands were clasped—I thought I might never let go of her—and I squeezed to reassure her.
“The prison?”
“No. I can’t do that. I don’t care how safe it is. Surprising there aren’t squatters and drug addicts already making it their home.”
“Naomi told me there were legends about it being haunted. I wonder just how haunted it actually was, and how many of those supposed ghosts were…” She didn’t have to continue.
I knew what she was trying to say. How many vampires and poor, defenseless humans had Micah locked up there over the years?
“It was enough to keep everyone away, at least,” I muttered, not sure whether that was a good thing or not. I could’ve used the assistance, after all.
But humans might have brought more humans, and even more after that. There was such a thing as too much help.
Several restaurants were still open, and pubs. The heady aroma of so much blood was nearly too much for me to handle without running amok.
Only Cari’s hand in mine was enough to keep me grounded.
“Hey! You!”
I turned just in time to realize the angry shout was directed at me—and the angry vampire who’d shouted it was heading our way, his fists clenched.
33
Gage
“Who is that?” Cari asked, poised for a fight. Her instincts were still strong enough that she didn’t back down from a threat or even hesitate.
“I don’t know.” And I wasn’t strong enough to fight him.
He looked furious, eyes blazing as he marched toward us. Dark hair, short, a little spiky up top. As he drew closer, I had the feeling that I might have seen him before, but couldn’t place the face.
“What are you doing out here?” he demanded.
“Out where?” I looked around, confused. “Out here?”
“Who are you?” Cari asked, lifting her chin and sounding very bold and confident.
I had to give her credit for that.
He scoffed, looking her up and down. “What business is it of yours? What are you doing with this loser? Why don’t you try telling me that?”
“Hang on, now.” I stepped in between the two of them. “If you and I have business, that’s fine. Don’t bring her into it.”
He snickered. “What, is Anissa not good enough for you now? You cross the ocean and pick up another woman in her place?”
I blinked, pulling back. “Wait. You think I’m Jonah, don’t you? I’m Gage. Jonah is my twin.”
It was his turn to blink and fall back a f
ew steps. His entire body changed—his shoulders fell, fists unclenched. “Oh. Of course. I forgot there were two of you.”
“You know Gage’s brother?” Cari asked.
“Not personally. But by sight.”
“And by Anissa,” I guessed, smirking when he winced. “A friend of hers?”
“Yeah. A friend.” The bitterness was thick in his voice, and I understood quickly why he appeared to hate my brother. Probably a former sweetheart, or a friend who’d always wanted to be more. The humans had a term for that which I’d heard once or twice. Friend-zone.
“What’s your name?” Cari’s voice was suddenly gentle. She understood, too.
“Raze. From the Carver clan.”
“Ah, I see. And what’s a Carver doing outside Paris? Shouldn’t you be in New York?”
“I could ask the same of a Bourke,” he reminded me before looking back and forth, as though watching his back. Watching for what—or whom? “Here. Do you feel like sitting for a bit?”
“I would love nothing more.”
There was an empty table at the pub in front of which we’d met up, and the three of us claimed it. There wasn’t much in the way of a crowd inside or out, nor was there much foot traffic. We had enough privacy to speak at least in generalities.
He leaned in. “See, after the business with Marcus, things fell apart within the clan.”
“The business with Marcus. Oh, yes. I’d heard a little bit about that.”
Cari, on the other hand, looked positively lost. I made a mental note to explain things to her later.
He nodded, frowning. “You can imagine, then. Here’s the thing, many of us were already dissatisfied, well before his arrest. What he did to Anissa, and Sara…” His jaw tightened, his eyes regaining the fiery look they’d held when he first charged at me. Yes, he felt a great deal of attachment to Anissa. Jonah couldn’t like that.
He continued. “At any rate, I’d wanted to leave the clan for a long time leading up to the news that he’d been locked up. Once Marcus was imprisoned, it seemed like the natural time to make a break. I’m not the only one, though I think I’m the only one to come to Paris.”
Cari’s leg nudged mine, under the table. “Where are you staying? We’re looking for accommodations.”
“Though, if there’s a strong League influence…” I began, giving him a meaningful look. I wouldn’t tell him straight-out why we were running from the League until I knew I could trust him, but I couldn’t allow him to lead us into the arms of the enemy, either.
He shook his head, frowning deeply. “What League? Now that Lucian’s gone, there’s really nothing left.”
“I would beg to differ,” I murmured. “The League’s influence runs deep. Just because there isn’t a permanent leader in place doesn’t mean there aren’t still those who uphold the laws set down so long ago.”
“What did you do?” he asked, looking from one of us to the other. “Why are you hiding from them?”
“Who said we’re hiding?” Cari asked.
She would’ve made a decent professional gambler, with a poker face like hers.
“Why else did you come all the way out here?”
I leaned forward. “I could ask you the same thing, then. It seems a long way to run simply out of dissatisfaction.”
“Sometimes you want to put an ocean between yourself and others,” he replied, and I understood.
No wonder he’d been furious when he mistook me for Jonah. He’d come all this way to forget him, and Anissa.
His smile was tight. “But don’t worry, no matter why you want to avoid them. There’s no connection to the League. I fell in with a rather ragtag group of outsiders. Genevieve was no picnic, from what I understand. This band fled her leadership decades ago and set up their own arrangement. Like a commune of sorts. They flew under her radar for a long time.”
I weighed our options. We could either survive on the streets, scrambling to find shelter every morning and murdering in the evening—we’d have to move on quickly, before it became clear that we were spreading death wherever we went—or we could take a chance on Raze and his group of outsiders.
I had no idea there were so many. It made me wonder how many there could’ve been back in the states.
Cari watched me, waiting for my decision. I knew she’d follow whatever course of action I set us on. Not only was she a babe in the woods when it came to clan business, but she trusted me. Even after I’d led us to near destruction in Paris, she trusted my judgment. I wanted nothing more than to prove myself worthy of that trust.
“We’re looking for someplace to stay,” I reasoned. “And I’m in great need of something...” We exchanged another meaningful look.
“They have a bank in place,” he assured me. “Synthetic, but better than some alternatives.”
“Believe me.” Cari and I glanced at each other. “Anything’s better than some alternatives.” I remembered the rats, a chill running down my spine. Perhaps not anything…
“By all means, let’s get moving. It’s not far, maybe fifteen minutes. You’re looking rather worn. Are you sure you can make it?”
“You just lead the way,” I assured him with a grim smile.
Cari took my arm as the three of us set out. “Do you get the feeling we’re always jumping out of a burning building and into whatever looks slightly less threatening?”
I chuckled, kissing the top of her head with greater humor than I actually felt. Yes, I had that exact feeling. Living without actual choices wasn’t something I was accustomed to. We had no other option but to take advantage of what looked like a stroke of good luck in meeting up with Raze.
The only question was, would it turn out to be such good luck? We wouldn’t know until we arrived.
“Did I forget to thank you?” I murmured.
“You didn’t have to thank me.” She tilted her head up so our eyes met, and I remembered the night we met.
How she’d captivated me from the first minute as we walked through Manhattan. Now, we were outside Paris, and our situation was greatly changed.
But she was still captivating. I was still in her thrall, just as much as ever—especially after she’d saved me from a living hell.
“Even so. Thank you.”
“Now, we’re even,” she reasoned, smiling as she wrapped her arms around mine and leaned her head on my shoulder. To the average passerby, we were a loving couple walking with a friend, enjoying an evening together.
They didn’t know we were escaping an unspeakably horrific past and walking into an uncertain future.
At least I had her at my side.
Afterword
I hope you enjoyed Vindication! I can’t wait to bring you the next book in this series!
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