I rolled my eyes so hard I almost saw the back of my skull. “Yes, and I’m sure they were trying to let you know that their most dangerous criminal is missing! You know, that bastard that just made off with our mates? Now, put down the fucking phone and let’s go!”
Nicholas frowned at me before turning away. “Yes, this is Talbot. I need you to fill me in on what’s been happening tonight.”
I watched him in shocked silence for a moment before shaking my head and heading for the door. I might work for him, but he didn’t own me. He was being a fucking moron and wasting precious time.
We didn’t need to follow protocol right then. We didn’t need to contact our superiors. We needed to get the fuck out there and find our mates. Right this fucking second.
I caught Charlotte’s scent immediately and started running. It seemed like they’d cut a pretty straight line through the woods, so it was easy to follow. The trail was already getting faint, and I cursed the fact that I’d had to wait so long to do this.
But I’d been missing my head, and that really put a damper on any kind of recon mission I could have launched.
I burst out of the tree-line, running far faster than I should have where I could be seen by people, but I didn’t care. The trail led to a gravel parking lot, and I followed it to the back corner where it abruptly ended. I searched the immediate vicinity, but all I found were two broken cell phones that smelled like Adrienne and Charlotte. It was clear they’d gotten in a vehicle and took off from here.
“Motherfucker!” I screamed at the lightening sky.
Now they were in a vehicle, they could be anywhere. I couldn’t track their scent anymore, and I had no idea where they were going.
Charlotte had never been farther out of my grasp than she was at that exact moment.
She’d never been in more danger either.
I turned around and ran back to the training facility, moving even faster than I had before. When I made it inside, Nicholas was still on the phone, and it took everything in me to not snatch it from him and throw it across the room.
He turned when he heard me as he continued to talk. “Yes, I want a team sent to Van der Waal’s house. Have them strip it top to bottom. I want to know everything about him. Every dollar he’s spent, every phone call he’s made, every breath he’s taken in the last three months. Call me when you have something.”
He hung up and turned to me. “Where were you?”
“Actually doing something.”
His eyes narrowed. “What is that supposed to mean?”
My hands fisted at my sides as I reminded myself not to hit my boss. “It means I’m actually trying to find them instead of relying on the government to do it for me.”
Nicholas crossed his arms over his chest. “And what have you found?”
“Nothing,” I said as I looked away. “Their trail leads to a parking lot before it disappears. And their broken phones were left behind.”
“Exactly what I figured,” he said. “How long did you think they’d travel on foot before getting in a vehicle and becoming untraceable?”
I turned to him again, my fists clenching harder. “At least I’m doing something.”
“And I’m not?” he asked, his voice rising. “In the time it took you to make that pointless trip into the woods, I’ve alerted the entire guard. They’ve already mounted a massive manhunt.”
I rolled my eyes. “And what are we supposed to do? Sit here and wait for a phone call? That’s not happening, Talbot.”
I turned to leave when his voice stopped me. “You work for me. You go where I tell you to go.”
I spun around slowly, carefully controlling my temper before I opened my mouth. “I don’t give a shit what you have to say or if you like it or not. I’m getting in my SUV and driving back to the city. Right now.”
“You don’t even know if that’s where they’re going! We should wait here until we have more information and go from there!”
“I’m not fucking waiting! You can sit here on your ass and wait for your people to find your mate for you. I’m going to hunt mine down myself.”
“Alexander, you’re being ridiculous. What are you going to do? Comb through a city of millions single-handedly?”
“It’s better than what you’re doing!” My chest was rising and falling so fast as I tried to catch my breath, but the words just kept tumbling out of my mouth. “And you know what’s ridiculous? That this Italian bastard is even still alive to pull this bullshit. If you’d just killed him the last time he fucked with your mate, mine wouldn’t be in his clutches right now!”
Nicholas took a menacing step forward, but I welcomed it. “You know that’s not how we do things! And don’t you think I’m just as worried about Adrienne as you are about Charlotte? You know what he did to her last time he had her alone!”
“Yes! But she’s a fucking vampire! My mate is only a human! At any moment he could snap her fucking neck and she’d be gone.” I barely pushed that last word past my frozen lips. It was too painful to speak. Too painful to think.
“You know, a couple months ago you could barely stand humans. And now what? You think you’re in love with this one?”
I didn’t think. I just moved.
I dashed across the space between us and punched Nicholas in the mouth with as much force as I could muster. His head whipped to the side, blood spraying across the floor before he turned back to me. There was one silent moment between us before we both leapt forward and crashed into each other mid-air.
We fell to the ground in a heap of limbs, punching and kicking anything we could reach.
“What the hell are you two doing?” Edmund yelled, but we both ignored him.
I rolled Nicholas over and sat on his chest before pummeling him with my fists. I punched as hard as I could, as fast as I could, willing this violent anger out of my system.
Nicholas blocked as many hits as he could, but it wasn’t enough, and soon his face was bloody beneath my knuckles. In a move I didn’t expect, he bucked me off him and I went flying into the wall. It crumbled under my weight, and I fell to the floor in a cloud of dust. He wasted no time taking the upper hand, his fists flying into my gut and face in a blur I could barely follow.
“Break it up!” Edmund yelled, but we ignored him again.
I caught one of Nicholas’ fists and twisted until his wrist broke. He grunted in pain before jabbing me in the face with his other hand. We tumbled backward, with me on top again, when a jet of water blasted me in the face.
I turned away, but the icy stream didn’t stop, and soon I was soaking wet and freezing cold. I rolled off Nicholas and climbed to my feet to find Edmund with a hose turned on the both of us.
“What the hell are you doing?” I screamed as the water was turned back my way. I did my best to cover my face, but it didn’t really matter. I was already drenched.
“I told you two to break it up,” Edmund called.
Nicholas climbed to his feet, one hand in the air to cover his face. “All right, Edmund. You’ve made your point. We’re done now.”
“Speak for yourself,” I growled, my hands still fisted and ready to fly.
Nicholas sent me a withering look. “We’re both done.”
I kept my mouth shut, but my hands were still clenched as Edmund shut off the water and Nicholas turned to me.
“We won’t find them by turning on each other.”
I took a step forward, my teeth gritted. “We won’t find them by sitting on our asses in this house either!”
Nicholas nodded slowly. “You’re right.” He sighed and rubbed the space between his eyes. “Where do you think they’ll go? North or south?”
I’d already thought about this. “South. He’ll go back to the city. He’ll have more places to hide down there. And probably more resources.”
“Not more than us,” Nicholas said as he pushed his wet hair off his face. “Let’s get changed and get on the road. If we hurry, we should make it to Man
hattan before dawn.”
I cracked my knuckles and nodded. “Sounds like a fucking plan.”
Chapter 9
Charlotte
“This is it!”
The excitement in his voice did nothing but fill me with dread. I didn’t know much about this vampire, but it was already clear he was cruel, and something that made him this happy couldn’t be good.
“Oh, it’s perfect, sire!” the other vampire, Ivan, said.
We were tucked behind a row of tall hedges that lined a small park. Across the street was a two-story home set back from the road. Its cheery yellow color did nothing but turn my stomach.
The head vampire clapped Ivan on the shoulder and said, “Now, go in there and kill them all.”
My gasp was drowned out by Adrienne’s. “What? No! Massimo, you don’t have to kill them! Just glamour them to leave!”
Massimo ignored her. “I want them all dead.”
Adrienne pushed herself between the two vampires, her chin notched defiantly. “I’m not going to let you slaughter a whole family for fun. Let me go in there and I’ll get rid of them for the night.”
Massimo’s face was expressionless, so there was no warning for what came next. In a movement too fast for me to follow, he struck Adrienne across the face, the blow powerful enough to knock her to the ground. She fell with a huff, and I watched wide-eyed as she climbed to her feet.
“I’ve warned you to not tell me what to do,” Massimo said, his voice void of any emotion.
Adrienne clutched the side of her face, the bruises already blossoming across her cheek. “I’m not going to let you kill them,” she said again.
Massimo laughed. “You have no choice.” He turned to Ivan again. “Go.”
Adrienne tried to run after Ivan, but Massimo caught her around the waist. “Let me go, you son of a bitch,” she yelled as she struggled in his hold.
Massimo slapped his hand across her face, hard enough that I heard the bone crunch beneath his palm. “Shut the fuck up, or I’ll kill you right now.”
Adrienne shook her head until his hand fell loose. “I don’t give a shit! Just let me go.”
Massimo ignored her as she continued to struggle in his hold. I wished there was something I could do but knew there wasn’t. If he could hurt Adrienne that badly despite the fact she was a vampire, I had zero hope.
Because there I was again.
Still a human.
Still the weakest.
Still at the bottom of the food chain.
Still at the world’s mercy.
I looked away from Adrienne and Massimo struggling and tried to tap into that place deep inside me that was connected to Alexander. That place that told me I wasn’t really alone. And, more importantly, that he wasn’t really dead.
That was what I’d been trying to tell Adrienne in the van earlier.
I’d been woken up by a surge of anger so strong it felt like it was too big for my body. I’d known it wasn’t my own emotions I was feeling, and that meant Alexander was alive.
It was the only solace I had in this whole mess.
“Let’s move,” Massimo said.
I turned to see Ivan in the open front door, waving us over. My stomach twisted deep inside me because I knew what that meant.
He’d already killed every living person in that house.
My hands fisted at my sides, but they shook violently as I followed Massimo and a still-struggling Adrienne across the street. We entered the dark house and my eyes immediately looked for the evidence of a brutal crime scene, but there was no sign of that.
In fact, this looked like a perfectly normal suburban house.
There were knickknacks on the shelves and framed pictures on the wall. I did my best to not look at those, though. I didn’t want to know who’d just lost their lives.
“Are they disposed of?” Massimo asked.
“Yes, sire. They’re all in the shed out back.”
The questions were on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them. Not only because I didn’t think I really wanted the answers, but also because I didn’t want to draw any attention to myself.
So far, I’d been largely ignored, and I hoped to keep it that way.
A soft meow caught my attention, and every single pair of eyes swung to the right. There, walking along the back edge of an aged sofa, was an orange tabby cat. It meowed again, and my stomach flipped deep inside me.
“I thought I told you to kill everything in this house,” Massimo said quietly.
Ivan twisted his fingers nervously in front of him. “I thought I did, sire. I don’t know where this cat came from.”
Massimo rolled his eyes as he stalked forward. “It would have only taken half a brain cell to know the animal scent in here meant there was an animal living here, stupido.”
I watched him walk toward the cat, my eyes growing wider as he got closer.
“Massimo, wait,” Adrienne called.
I turned to find half her face swollen so badly I could barely recognize her.
“Don’t kill the fucking cat. I can just let it outside.”
Massimo turned to her, his eyes deadly and crazed. “Wife, that is three times tonight you’ve made the mistake of telling me what to do.”
His words rang through the silent house as everyone fell still. I don’t think a single one of our hearts even dared to beat as we all stood there, waiting for what came next.
Without warning, Massimo darted toward the cat and grabbed it by the back of the neck. “Let this be a lesson to you, moglie. You have no say in anything. I will do what I want when I want to and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
His thin lips curled into a sneer before he grabbed the cat’s body and twisted. The crack of its breaking neck seemed to echo through the house as I stood there, frozen. My heart was back to thundering in my chest, my palms sweating as I watched him toss the dead cat on the ground.
It was then, in that moment, that I knew I was in deep shit.
“Come with me,” Massimo said as he stormed through the room toward the stairs.
When no one moved, the old vampire turned around and snarled. “I said to come!” His words were so loud they hurt my head, but I didn’t cover my ears. I didn’t do anything as I waited to see who he was talking to and what the hell he wanted.
Massimo’s face turned uglier, crueler as we all stood still in the middle of the stolen house. Finally, he jerked his head toward Ivan. “Bring her upstairs.” He turned to leave but stopped and said, “Bring the human too.”
My heart fell to the bottom of my stomach as Ivan grabbed both of our arms and dragged us toward the stairs. I didn’t bother putting up a fight, but Adrienne didn’t stop struggling the whole way up.
If I’d been able to talk to her, I’d have told her to save her strength.
I’ve known evil men before, and I had a bad feeling about what this one had planned.
Ivan led us to a large bedroom where Massimo already stood, his back turned to us. The nervous vampire threw us both on the ground in the middle of the room and took several steps back. Like even he had an idea of what was coming.
I scurried on my hands and knees over to the bed and tucked my legs to my chest. My goal was to make myself as small and unassuming as I could. Maybe then I’d escape whatever storm was brewing in the psychotic older vampire’s system.
“You’re my greatest disappointment, moglie. Do you know that?”
“I’m not your fucking wife,” Adrienne spat.
Massimo spun around slowly, his eyes lit with a frightening gleam. “I made you. I gave you this life. And all you’ve done is spit in my face. You’ll pay for that tonight.”
Adrienne climbed to her feet, her body crouched as if ready for attack. “I’m not afraid of you. I have nothing else you can take from me.”
“We’ll see about that,” he snarled before his long leg shot out and kicked Adrienne right in the gut.
A loud grunt whooshed out of her as
she went sailing into the opposite wall. She got to her feet again. “Is that it?”
Massimo’s eyes gleamed brighter before he was just a blur. The next time I saw him, he was across the room, lifting Adrienne by her throat. He squeezed so tight her face turned red and her eyes bulged out of her head. My stomach was in knots inside me, but I could only watch in horror as he slowly killed my friend.
“You are nothing against me,” Massimo said as he shook her violently. “If I hadn’t already invested so much time in you, I would have killed you by now. I could still kill you very easily. Then maybe you could see your precious false-maker again.”
“Fuck you,” Adrienne gasped, her fingernails digging into the hand that still held her throat.
Massimo froze for a moment before a loud roar fell from his lips and filled the room. I covered my ears as the sound ricocheted off the walls. I looked up just in time to see him take his free hand and slam his fist into the side of Adrienne’s head.
She started bleeding immediately.
But he wasn’t done.
He hit her again.
And again.
Until her head was misshapen, and her hair was matted with thick blood.
I watched in terror as he punched my friend’s head until it caved in and she finally stopped struggling.
But Massimo wasn’t done.
He took that same bloody fist and jabbed it into her midsection. Once. Twice. Three times, until blood was pouring out of her mouth.
I bit my hand to stop my screams as fat tears rolled down my face.
Massimo finally stopped punching her and instead, slammed her motionless body onto the hardwood floor. He stood up slowly before pulling one leg back and letting it fly into her chest.
I knew the popping sound of her ribs breaking would haunt me for the rest of my life.
But he didn’t stop there.
He kicked her over and over for what felt like hours. Until she wasn’t moving anymore. Until I could barely recognize her anymore.
Finally, it was too much for me.
I turned my head and lost the last meal I’d eaten. It didn’t take long for me to run out of food to vomit, but my body wasn’t done being sick. I retched over and over, dry heaves wracking my body as I tried to tune out the sounds of breaking bones and squishing blood coming from across the room.
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