by Lexi C. Foss
She followed my gaze to see what I meant, her nose curling. “I can smell it.”
“Yeah. It’s awful.”
Her eyes slowly returned to mine. “I’m glad you’re you again. This Ryder I understand.”
“Do you?” I asked, slightly amused. “Because I seem to recall you once saying you would never understand me.”
“That was human Willow,” she replied. “Wolf Willow understands you just fine.”
My lips quirked. “Then it must have been your wolf I met that first day when you tried to fight me even while dying.”
“Seems like something she would do,” Willow admitted.
I smiled. “She’s your warrior half.”
“Then what does that make my vampire half?”
“Your logical side,” I replied. “Which is why I’m speaking to that side now when I say move your sweet ass because I’m tired of Lilith’s little game.”
I intended to end it tonight.
Willow nodded. “You’d better know what you’re doing.” She took off before I could reply, forcing me into action. I went around the building beside me to the nearby alley, then ran down it to the end, beating her to the other side. With age came speed, and her human legs weren’t nearly as fast as her lycan ones.
Well, they might be faster right now. She was still pretty clumsy on four legs.
I watched from the shadows as she did exactly what I told her, running across the road and screaming at me to reconsider.
While she made a scene, I observed the main entrance.
Several Vigils stood outside, all watching her. They held machine guns, thwarting my earlier expectations, but they didn’t aim at her. Instead, they watched for me.
I leaned against the wall, observing their behaviors, noting their shifting positions. They were nervous, not because of Willow’s approach but because of my inevitable one.
Well, they wouldn’t have to worry about that much longer. The second Willow was within throwing range, she did exactly as I told her.
I pushed off the wall, slinking through the shadows created by the buildings. The Vigils didn’t have supernatural eyesight, marking them as inferior. They needed the moon to illuminate me before they knew where to aim.
Three.
Two.
I stepped out from my hiding spot, the Vigils drawing their weapons, and smiled when the grenades went off just in time.
Then I did exactly what I told Willow I would do—I ran right for the glass windows of the front lobby.
Two bullets took out the windowpane, granting me entry with one leap over the flower bed.
Then I wasted no time taking out everyone who stood inside, raining down bullets on a series of unprepared vampires who had stupidly expected a row of Vigils to take me down.
I blamed Lilith for their ignorance as I dove behind the receptionist counter, just in case a Vigil had survived, then peeked out beside it to take down those who remained standing.
It happened in a few blinks, my vampiric age and speed aiding in my attempt. My experience with weapons helped, too.
When I finally came up for air, it was to find over a dozen bodies on the ground, some of whom had been taken out by the blast. The others all had one or two bullets in them. None of them were truly dead yet, just wounded enough to stay down.
I rolled my neck, looking for the source of my problems. No electricity meant no video footage, which meant she had to be nearby to witness my approach.
Had it been me, I wouldn’t have cut the power and I’d have remained high up in the tower to watch the feeds below, thereby allowing myself enough time to plan a counterattack.
I also wouldn’t have turned off the resource my human Vigils required to do their job.
No light equaled minimal sight clearance—a weakness I’d exploited beautifully with the help of my pet.
If I wasn’t already pissed off by Lilith’s antics with Damien, I would have been pissed off by the insult that she thought this would be enough to take me down.
“Oh, Lilith,” I called, whistling as I began my search of the lower level.
I was banking on her penchant for entertainment. She’d want to punish me by making me watch Damien die rather than have me walk in to find him already dead. It was her fatal flaw—her need for attention.
“Come on, darling,” I said, peeking into the administrative area behind the reception desks and finding it empty. “I thought we had a date?”
A muffled grunt met my commentary, causing me to grin. Thanks, Damien, I thought at him, following the sound. He always did find me amusing, or at least, that was how I interpreted his reaction.
“Why are you playing hard to get?” I asked, entering the restaurant. Lilith stood near the center of the room beneath the unlit chandelier. Damien sat in a chair beside her, bound and gagged and missing an eye.
They were otherwise alone, implying she thought this would be enough to bring me to my knees.
Or perhaps she had reinforcements coming.
That would explain her prolonged silence.
“Have you completely lost your mind?” she demanded, arching a perfect blonde brow. It sort of matched the rest of her—all glorious perfection in an exquisite white gown. She capped off the purity act with a battle-axe in her right hand, really driving home the whole avenging angel facade.
“I’m not sure it’s wise for you to question the sanity of others, Lilith,” I said conversationally. “I mean, you did lead a revolution to enslave the human race, all to what? Avenge your Michael?”
She growled. “Do not speak his name.”
I looked around. “Oh, if I say it three times, will it make him appear?” I asked in a conspiratorial whisper. “Or is that another old wives’ tale? I’ve mixed them up over the millennia. I think a mirror is required?”
“You dare make jokes about my loss?”
“Forgive me,” I drawled. “I tend to make light of situations that piss me off. Such as you removing the eye from my progeny. Is that supposed to be a metaphor? An eye for an eye? Because I’ll be needing your eye now as payment.”
She tapped the battle-axe against her ankle, a sign her patience was beginning to run out.
“You’re stalling,” I observed. “Are we expecting company?” I wasn’t naive enough to think it would be this easy. While her ego served as a serious weakness in her decision-making, she wouldn’t leave herself this vulnerable without a purpose.
Of course, I held two guns and had a third on a belt.
So maybe it was that easy.
All I had to do was lift and aim.
Which I did now. “Will they save you in time, Lilith?” I asked her, no longer smiling. Because unlike her, I didn’t believe in long, drawn-out shows of amusement. I preferred action and death.
“You won’t shoot me, Ryder,” she said, sounding bored.
“I won’t?”
“You can’t.”
Her tone implied such confidence that I almost wondered if she knew something I didn’t about my weapons. Which was utter insanity. I’d just used them to take down her pitiful excuse for an army.
My mind whirred with quick math.
And yeah, I had plenty of ammunition left to send a few bullets into her skull.
“Pretty sure I can, Lilith,” I informed her.
She shook her head as though sad. “I had no idea you’d grown so delusional over the years. I should have come to check on you. Old age can really alter the mind.”
This nutcase was calling me delusional? I almost didn’t even know what to say.
She pulled out her phone then and set the battle-axe against Damien’s leg. Within seconds, the power returned, flickering to life and momentarily blinding my senses. But it wasn’t enough to derail my focus. My aim didn’t waver, my suspicion mounting.
“We’ll need to record this for the trial,” she explained conversationally.
“Trial?”
“Yes, your upcoming trial,” she replied, her atten
tion on her phone. “You’re clearly unfit to lead, and after your display of disobedience tonight, I’ll also be moving to have you terminated.”
My eyebrows shot up, and a laugh left my throat. “Terminated?”
“You’re a danger to our society, Ryder,” she said, her tone severe. “You’ve slaughtered countless members of our kind over your very short tenure, and now you’re pointing a gun at my head as though you have the authority to shoot me.” She tsked sadly. “I take part of the responsibility for this. It’s clear to me now that I never should have left you alone.”
“Oh, you take responsibility?” I drawled. “Here I thought I was responsible for myself, but it’s good to know you feel invested in my well-being. Truly, it’s touching, Lilith.”
She sighed again, returning her attention to her phone. “If you’ll just provide me with another minute to pull up the proper application, I’ll begin the recording.”
I snorted. “So let me get this straight. You feel I’m a danger to society and want me terminated, yet you expect me to stand here and just… obey?”
She ignored me, thereby answering my question.
“I’m not sure what impresses me more—your ineptitude or your arrogance,” I said, frowning. Something wasn’t right. She’d shown true strategic genius in her previous plays. While she clearly underestimated me, I knew better than to misjudge the situation now. That’d been my mistake before.
What are you really up to? I wondered, narrowing my eyes.
I looked at Damien, noting the perspiration on his brow. That could have been brought about by pain, but his expression said something else entirely.
Concern.
Not for himself, but for me.
I frowned. What am I missing?
This was the woman who had publicly taken down Cam. Now she wanted to record us. That implied a hidden agenda, something I hadn’t taken into consideration. We thought the threat resided in Chicago, but what if Lilith had mobilized it?
I slowly lowered my gun, my senses flaring, searching for a viable threat and coming up blank. Other than a few groans from the other room, nothing—
A blaring alarm shrieked through my skull, rendering my senses useless. Fuck! I pressed my palms to my ears, only slightly aware that I’d released my weapons. The ground bit into my knees as I collapsed, the echo roaring through my thoughts, paralyzing my every instinct.
“Finally,” Lilith said, her voice far too loud and commanding in my head. “I just had to find the right frequency.”
Right frequency? I repeated to myself, cringing as that scream continued to pulverize my mind. What the fuck are you doing to me?! Only, the words wouldn’t leave my mouth. Or maybe they did. I couldn’t hear a fucking thing beyond the screech drilling through my brain.
“Now that I have your attention,” Lilith continued, her voice only slightly louder than the chaos roaring behind her. “I’m going to start by terminating your progeny. You’ll be able to see again in a moment when I slightly lower the frequency, but you’ll still be immobilized.”
I swore I heard her heels clicking.
Felt her fingers combing through my hair.
Smelled her too-sweet perfume.
What the hell? How is this happening?
“Then I’ll transport you back to Chicago to meet the others,” she said, her voice almost soothing in comparison to the piercing sound debilitating my thoughts. “We’ll stage your termination at a later date—likely during the council meeting. Of course, I may keep you. Your age and blood will prove quite fruitful.”
Was her nail tracing my neck?
My shoulder?
Fuck, this was insane.
I could feel her inside me. Her voice a hypnotic caress I longed to hate, yet craved over the damn alert shredding my mind.
I began to shake, rage boiling inside me.
I should have shot her when I had the chance.
Why the fuck had I waited? I knew better, that this couldn’t be that easy.
She cooed in my head. “There, there,” she murmured, the sound akin to nails on a chalkboard.
I wanted to strangle her.
Destroy her.
Fucking rip her head from her neck.
And I wanted to shoot myself for not taking advantage of the moment I had to take her down. Goddamnit, I knew better.
“Yes, it’s done,” I heard her say, seemingly to someone else. “Did you find his hybrid?”
Willow.
Shit!
I tried to growl, to demand she leave her out of this, but that alarm only bellowed louder. Fuck, it hurt. Was I even breathing? Living? Had I died without realizing it? Was this hell? I’d never really believed in the afterlife or perpetual torment. But I did now.
This was agony.
Utter devastation.
Insanity.
I winced, only vaguely aware of the ground beneath me.
“Well, go find her,” Lilith snapped. “Don’t come back without her!”
Her voice offered me a moment of reprieve. Willow’s still safe.
Run, little wolf. Run, I urged her, my mind fracturing from the sound. I blinked in and out. In and out. The word run playing over and over in my thoughts. To the point where I didn’t know why I said it but vaguely remembered it was important.
Run.
Run.
Run.
33
Willow
Several Minutes Earlier
The buzzing in my head irritated me while I ran toward the building. Some sort of frequency that seemed to be tickling my eardrums through the plugs Ryder had given me.
It must be a lycan thing, I thought, pushing it away as soon as the line of Vigils and their guns came into view. Shit…
The hysteria in my voice as I screamed for Ryder not to kill me took on a very real tone, only I was directing it at the humans standing sentry outside the building.
Yet other than look at me, they did nothing, their focus intent on the area behind me.
Because those guns were for Ryder, not me.
They didn’t see me as a threat, just as he’d predicted. Given the size of their weapons, I was okay with that. I wasn’t ready to test the limits of my immortality yet.
Instead, I kept up my act and ran right for them while shooting panicked glances over my shoulder. Then I unpinned the grenades in my hands and threw them at the Vigils before diving behind the nearby planter. I crawled as far as I could, trying to get away from the inevitable blast, and collapsed beneath the violent vibration that rocked the front of the building.
Fuck! If it hurt that much with the earplugs, then I didn’t want to know how that would have felt without them.
I curled into a ball, my ears ringing madly.
Come on, Willow, I coached myself, counting the seconds. Come on. Come on. Come on.
There wasn’t a plan after this part, but lying on the ground outside the building didn’t seem like the smartest place for me to hang out.
Gunfire startled me from my inner musings. Glass shattered and Ryder leapt through the air like a god, entering the building just as he said he would.
I blinked, stunned.
Then more shots rang out through the air, each one resembling thunder against my sore ears.
And that damn buzzing wasn’t helping.
Where the heck was it coming from? Maybe it had something to do with the electricity being down?
I frowned, looking around, trying to find the source, when I heard Ryder calling for Lilith inside. Did he just say something about a date? I shook my head. Only he would issue taunts in this situation. I preferred it to his coldness. It helped me feel more at home. This was my Ryder, the confident vampire with millennia of experience.
Was I supposed to join him now? Or wait?
A soft shuffling noise drew my focus to the side of the building. It paused, followed by a soft curse that had my eyes widening.
I was a sitting duck right here without a weapon.
Shit.
A trio of bushes sat just off to my left, the greenery calling my name. I crawled over as quietly as possible, removed the plugs from my ears, and waited for the source of the sound to appear.
Ryder’s deep tones graced my ears, his words indecipherable as a result of the distance between us. But my wolf relaxed, content with his status.
Meanwhile, the vampire in me strategized my next play.
I needed a knife or a gun, preferably the former. While Ryder had showed me how to fire a weapon, I wasn’t nearly as comfortable with it as I was with a blade.
“Ugh,” a female groaned. Then I heard her shake off debris as though she’d been knocked out or had fallen from my blast. The ground had rumbled pretty violently, and the side of the building her sounds were coming from was only a few feet away from where I hid now.
If I’d learned one thing as a new immortal, it was that my senses were much more heightened now. So the explosion would have impacted all the others nearby as well.
A female stepped into view, her shoes a deep red. One appeared to be missing a heel, which suggested I was right about her falling down.
I took in her bare legs and short black dress. Her face was hidden by the branches.
She sneezed, then cursed about dirt and started hobbling toward the entrance. My nose twitched at her ferrous scent. Vampire, I guessed. Because she didn’t appear to be bleeding, just a little roughed up.
I winced as the irritating buzz intensified in my head. What the heck? I tried to shake it off, but the sensation only appeared to grow. It felt wrong. Foreign. Invasive.
The lights suddenly came roaring back to life, causing me to cringe at the abrupt brightness surrounding the streets and building. I blinked, my eyes watering from the unexpected change. It gave me a new appreciation for Ryder’s dislike of the sun.
Fortunately, my senses almost immediately adjusted, the vivid scene taking on a new hue through my wolf’s eyes. She started pacing inside me, her restlessness twisting my stomach with a sense of dread.
Instinct prickled down my arms.
Something’s wrong.
Frowning, I slowly maneuvered away from the bushes and toward the front of the building, staying low in a crouch and silent on my feet. Blood and burn marks painted the ground, most of the mortals dead or on their way there.