Serpent's Hold (The Last Serpent, Book 5)

by Morgan, Tansey

  None of this, however, helped to still my heart, which had run away from me long ago and didn’t want to come back. My hands were shaking, my mind wasn’t where it should have been, and my body felt at the same time too heavy, and too light. I wasn’t the kind of person to succumb to nerves the way I was right now, but nevertheless, here I was, a nervous wreck about to knock on the door of a man I hadn’t spoken to since we’d spent the better part of a night having sex.

  Kyle nudged my arm, and I snapped out of the reverie and knocked. Seconds later, Dante opened the door. His eyes were narrow, his jaw was clenched tight, and his hair was looking neat, and well kept. He was wearing one of his suits, charcoal grey with a white shirt and a tie the same color as his shirt. Seeing him brought everything, every feeling, every unspoken word, every ounce of confusion and hurt up to the surface like acid reflux, but I swallowed it down. Not because we had important business here, but because something about him didn’t look quite right, and that had caught me off guard.

  “Lilith...” he said, eyeing Kyle up and down—I suspected he thought we were going to talk about us. “What’s wrong?”

  I stepped into the bedroom, shouldering past him. Kyle followed. When Dante shut the door, I handed him the open envelope with the pictures inside of it.

  “What’s this?” he asked.

  “This is something that was given to me today on the street,” I said. “Open it, take a look.”

  Dante did as I asked, then started looking at each of the pictures one at a time, stopping at the picture of the two-headed snake. He turned his eyes up at me.” Who gave these to you?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. Kyle and I were walking around and someone shoved them into me. I tried looking for them, but whoever it was knew how to blend into a crowd.”

  “I’m Kyle, by the way,” Kyle said, smiling perhaps a little flirtatiously.

  Dante nodded. “How long ago did you receive these?”

  “Maybe an hour ago,” I said, “Like I said, I don’t know anything about them besides what you’ve got in your hand. I didn’t see the person that left them, I have no idea where they came from or when they were taken—except mine, that one was taken last week—so, we should assume these other pictures are about from the same time.”

  “We can’t assume anything. The only thing we know from these pictures is that someone is taking them, and that someone is connected to the group back in Germany. They’ve found us somehow.”

  “The ones who kill women?” Kyle asked. I had mentioned them to him, but only in passing.

  “Yeah,” I said, “That’s them.”

  Dante reached for his phone, dialed a number, and pressed it to his ear, but no one answered. He tried again, likely a different number. Still nothing.

  “I’ve tried them too,” I said, “I couldn’t get hold of anyone.”

  “Dammit. Alright, I think the first thing we should do is try to round up the women, and move them to a safe place.”

  “Good old-fashioned corral,” Kyle said, “I’m on it. I know where Laura and Caitlyn hang out.”

  “You sure?” I asked.

  “Am I sure if I can get two girls to come and follow me to the library? Yeah, I think I’ve got this.”

  Kyle looked at Dante again, smiled, and then stepped out of the room, leaving Dante and I alone. I watched him try to make another call, maybe to Madeline, maybe to Leo, or the Keeper, but he wasn’t getting through. He then started writing a message, but his fingers kept fumbling. I could see the growing frustration on his face… his pale face.

  My eyes narrowed.

  “Dante,” I said.

  He looked up at me, and I saw now how his lips had momentarily turned a little blue before going back to looking pink and healthy again. Someone else may not have noticed, but Dante and I shared the same powers, and I knew immediately what he was doing. He was using his power to make himself look healthier than he actually was. The only problem was, every time his concentration broke, the disguise would momentarily slip.

  “We need to find Madeline,” he said.

  “I know we do, but… Dante, what’s going on?”

  He turned his eyes on his phone again. “Now isn’t the time to talk about us.”

  “I don’t want to talk about us. Believe it or not, right now, I don’t care about that. What I want is for you to look at me, and drop the mask.”

  “What mask?”

  I took a step toward him, frowning. “Dante…” I warned.

  Dante glared at me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He went back to typing his message.

  I walked up to him and smacked the phone out of his hand, sending it across the room. First his eyes went to where the phone had come to rest, but then he looked at me, and when he did, I saw just how pale he looked. And it wasn’t just that he was pale, all of the color had drained from his face, he had dark circles under his eyes, and his lips were cracked.

  He wasn’t sick, or hurt—he was starving.

  “Oh my God, Dante…” I said, reaching for him, but he swatted my hand away.

  “It’s nothing,” he said.

  “Bullshit it’s nothing, what’s going on with you?”

  “Look, we have more important things to concern ourselves with than the way I look. If you don’t mind, I’d like to start tracking Madeline down, because she needs to know what’s happening.”

  “And we will, just as soon as you tell me what’s happening.”

  Dante pressed his lips into a thin line. “Lilith, drop it,” he growled.

  “When have you ever known me to just drop something?”

  “You don’t have to remind me of how stubborn you can be.”

  “Right, I don’t have to remind you, so how about you just answer my question?”

  “What question?”

  “How long ago was it since you last fed?”

  His jaw clenched, and he turned away to avoid having to look at me. I guessed that was some kind of an answer, but it didn’t answer the entire question, not in any kind of satisfactory way. I reached for his shoulder, trying to be as tender as possible, and this time managed to touch him. His shoulder was strangely cold, despite how warm the room was.

  He turned his head, slowly.

  “Dante,” I said, “Please, how long has it been?”

  “It’s not important, Lilith.”

  “If you don’t tell me what’s going on with you, I can’t help you.”

  “I don’t want you to help me. What I want is for you to join the other girls, and wait for me to find Madeline. We need to figure this photograph situation out.”

  I urged him to turn around fully by tugging on his shoulder. When he looked at me, I wanted him to see not the woman he’d walked out on a week ago, but the woman who owed him for essentially saving her life. “I’m not going anywhere if you’re not okay.”

  “Lilith, please,” he said, taking my hand, “I need you to drop this for me.”

  I narrowed my eyes. I didn’t want to simply drop it, it wasn’t in my nature to do something like that, but the look he had just given me… it wasn’t like any look I had ever seen Dante give me, or anyone else for that matter. This wasn’t normal. Whatever was going on with him, wasn’t normal, and while the control freak in me needed to know, needed to be informed, I had no choice but to drop it until he was ready to tell me.

  If he would ever be ready to tell me.

  “Okay, Dante,” I said, “I’ll drop it, and I’ll go and find the other girls.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me. I’m not happy about this, and we need to talk, but you’re right, there are more important things to deal with right now than this.”

  Dante nodded, and by simply brushing his face with his hand, he was able to pull up the illusion of a man who wasn’t deprived of the energy that was keeping him alive.

  “I’m going to go downstairs,” I said, “I’ll wait for you there.”

  “I won�
�t be long,” Dante said, “And I’ll call the others down.”

  I turned away from him and headed out of his room, making sure to message my guys as I went. I wanted them to be with us downstairs. Raph, Vik, Liam, and Aiden all had to know what was going on, too, and they were going to hear it from me first before they heard it from anyone else.

  When I arrived at the library, Kyle was already there with Laura and Caitlyn by his side, though Laura and Kyle were arguing. While I never thought I would ever be relieved to see Laura’s face again, the fact that they were here, and they were safe, at least, was something to be relieved about and thankful for.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I cleared my throat to get their attentions, and Laura turned to scowl at me. “What the hell is so important that I had to have me leave my lesson half way through?”

  I arched an eyebrow. “Excuse me?” I asked.

  “Is everything ok?” Caitlyn said, intervening to break the tension, “Kyle said you wanted to see us.”

  “Yes, I did. Something’s happened, and I—”

  “Don’t you think it would be best if we were to hold off on the explanation until everyone’s here?” Kyle asked.

  “Right… that’s probably a good idea.”

  “Who’s everyone?” Laura asked, and just as she did, Liam walked into the room. Laura rolled her eyes. “Guess we have to wait for the rest of your personal cheer squad, then.”

  “Cheer squad?” Kyle asked, “Oh, you did not just say that.”

  “Say what?” Laura asked.

  “Kyle, it’s fine,” I said.

  “No, it isn’t,” Kyle said, “The atomic blond over here needs to know she can’t go throwing shade whenever she likes.”

  “I didn’t throw shade.”

  “Should I come back?” Liam asked, looking like he’d walked into the girl’s bathroom by mistake.

  “No, honey, you can stay,” Kyle said, then he turned to Laura. “You know, I’ve heard you talking about Lilith and the guys for a while, and I have to say I’ve been entirely fascinated as to why they always seem to be on your lips.”

  “They aren’t always—”

  Kyle turned a palm up at her. “Hush, I didn’t ask you to speak. I said I’ve been entirely fascinated, but I’ve recently discovered why this is; why you look at them and snicker from the sidelines. You’re jealous.”

  “Jealous? Of them?”

  “Oh, it’s clear as day, otherwise why else would you be as invested in them as you are?

  “I am not jealous of anyone,” Laura growled.

  “Sure you aren’t. Lilith walks in with all of the attention attached to her, and you can’t deal with it, so you decide to talk shit about her. Let me tell you something, badmouthing a loving and consensual relationship between adults is the kind of thing assholes do, and unless you want us all to see what an asshole you really are, you’ll cut it out.”

  Laura glared at him, then over at me. Her cheeks had gone bright red at this point, burning with the embarrassment. “Look,” she said, “I’m not being an arsehole about this, I’m just… it is weird, okay? I’m allowed to think that.”

  “Twenty years ago, people thought gay relationships were weird. Many still do. But things have changed and are changing, and you can either be part of the problem, or part of the solution. The choice is yours, but you have to make it right here, right now.”

  I didn’t want to say anything, but having Kyle fighting in my corner felt really good. I had no problem defending myself, of course, and I absolutely could have if I had wanted to, but Kyle, clearly, had wanted to jump into the ring for me because he had his own point to make on the issue, and I wasn’t about to deny him that chance.

  Caitlyn stepped up to me, her hand extended. “Hi,” she said, “I’m Caitlyn.”

  I took it, confused, and shook. “Hi,” I said.

  “I know we’ve met, but I just wanted to properly introduce myself, since we haven’t really had a chance to do that yet.”

  A smile brightened my face. “Well, in that case, I’m Lilith, and this is Liam.”

  Caitlyn shook Liam’s hand too, then turned to look at her friend. “Laura, c’mon,” she said.

  Laura stared at me from across the room, her hands still folded across her chest, then she sighed. “I’m sorry,” she said, “What problem?”

  I walked over to her and gave her my hand, which she took and shook. “Friends?” I asked.

  Laura displayed the most put on smile I had ever seen, but shook my hand all the same. “Friends,” she said.

  “See?” Kyle said, “One big happy family.”

  Aiden then stepped into the room, followed by Vikram, Dante, and Raphael. This meant that with the exception of the other higher ups, we were all here.

  “Okay,” Dante said, wasting no time in addressing the room, “So, here’s what’s up—I’m going to be as brutally blunt about it as I can because we’re all adults. This’ll probably be more of a shock to Laura and Caitlyn than it will be to the rest of you, so let’s just go slow.”

  “What happened?” Aiden asked, clearly anticipating something big had taken place today.

  “The cult has found Lilith.”

  The guys looked at each other. “How do you know?” Vikram asked.

  “Because today I was given an envelope full of pictures of me, Laura, Caitlyn, and even Madeline,” I said, “They don’t only know where we are, they’ve been watching us for I don’t know how long.”

  “Watching us?” Caitlyn asked, “Who are these people?”

  “We discovered them in Germany. As far as we know, they’re trying to kill off all of the female supernaturals in existence. They want to kill every supernatural on the planet, but by killing the women, they play the long game.”

  “What’s the reason for that?” Laura asked, suddenly interested in the conversation.

  “It’s because of the mother-gene,” Dante said, “All supernaturals possess the supernatural gene, but it’s only passed down to children via the mother—men cannot pass it on.”

  “Is that why there are so few women supernaturals alive right now?”

  “We think so. We don’t know how old this cult is or for how long it’s been doing this. We know for a fact there were many more supernaturals in the past. That there aren’t many now tells us that, slowly, we’ve been whittled down to almost nothing.”

  “All of us except one race,” Vikram put in, “Vampires.”

  “Because they’re not born, they’re created…” Caitlyn said.

  “Right,” I said, “We’ve faced these cultists before, and what they lack in supernatural power, they make up for in being cunning little bastards, so we need to be careful and assume they can get to us, even in the Alexandria.”

  “Do you have any idea how they might have found us?” Aiden asked.

  I shook my head. “All I know is that I was given those pictures earlier today, and that the pictures were little more than a message…”

  “More than just a message,” Madeline said, entering the room. Behind her were Leo, and the Keeper. “The pictures are a warning. I know of this group. They’re the reason why I have done my best to find women to bring to the Alexandria. They’re the reason I wanted to rise to the position of Keeper. As a Keeper, I would have the power to make decisions that would better protect women, seeing as the previous Keeper didn’t consider the group to be a threat.”

  “That’s insane. Of course they’re a threat.”

  “Yes, to women. The group doesn’t hunt men. Period.”

  “Guess I’m alright, then,” Kyle said, dropping a joke to try and break the mood.

  “So, what are we going to do?” Caitlyn asked. She was pale, now, visibly frightened. I wasn’t sure if it was the thought that a group out there wanted to kill women, and women only, or the idea that someone had taken a candid photograph of her, violating her privacy. It occurred to me they hadn’t seen their photos yet, so I walked over to Dante who was still hold
ing the envelope, and handed Laura and Caitlyn’s pictures to them.

  “Do you know when these were taken?” I asked.

  Laura’s hand began to tremble as she examined hers. “I remember this…” she said, “This was the night you and I met… I was on my way to the pub.”

  “I don’t recognize the street, though,” I said.

  She shook her head. “I wasn’t coming from the Alexandria, I was coming from somewhere else…”

  Laura trailed off, so I turned to Caitlyn. “What about you?”

  “This could have been taken at any time,” she said, “I read at my window often. It’s the best place in my room to get natural light.”

  “We have to assume they can see us at all times,” Madeline said, “Knowing that, at least, gives us something to go on.”

  “Do we have a plan yet?” I asked.

  “I’m working on it,” Leo said, “Whoever dropped that off right in your hands made a mistake.”

  “What mistake is that?”

  “I can’t say right now, but I’m working on it.”

  I breathed deeply, then exhaled. “Okay, fine. What should we do in the mean time?”

  “For now, I think we should make alternative sleeping arrangements, moving the women into some of the unoccupied inner rooms, with windows facing the back yard instead of the street. You could also share a room if you like. I don’t want to have to institute another lockdown, especially since we just lifted one a few days ago, but I may have to.”

  “No,” I said, “Let’s not do that… we know who these people are after, so it’s the women who have to be careful, no one else.”

  “Right, that’s a good idea,” Dante said, “If the cult thinks we’re keeping things business as usual, then they’re likely to try a new tactic.”

  “One that may be a little sloppier than this one,” Leo added, “Which will only help us find them faster.”

  “You think we can find them?” I asked.

  “I know we can. We’ve done it once, we can do it again.”

  Turning to look at the girls, I said, “What do you think? Wanna be roomies for a while?”

  Laura pursed her lips, then glanced at Caitlyn, who was already nodding vehemently. “I guess so,” Laura said.