Shane's Redemption (Maura's Men Book 3)

by Stella Williams

  Maura couldn't wait to drain her of not just her power but her life. However, the night she had chosen to strike Rodney had been forced to slink back to her lair. The Council's liaison had come to pay Molly a visit. This development was not good. If the Council got hold of her power, then Maura would be doomed. In her weakened state, Maura was in no position to exact her revenge on the Council. It would do more harm to her plans to even think about attacking at that moment. No, she had to wait and choose the correct time.

  The Council would be coming, and it was all a matter of timing. Maura needed her army to be fierce and numerous if she planned to be successful. She wasn't going to rush things like the last time. Her impatience had nearly cost her everything. Molly may have escaped her that night, but it was only a matter of time before Maura had her powers restored. Then, and only then, would she have her revenge on those who had made her in the first place.

  Those pureblood monsters who clung to their misguided notions of civility. Maura was their Frankenstein. They had created her, and they would soon pay the price for their arrogance. Maura let herself think back to that fateful night. She’d done exactly what the witch had taught her, except one thing. Maura hadn’t been able to stop herself from taking the last drop of blood from her sire. He’d tasted like pure evil on her tongue, but she’d welcomed it. The surge of power, the headiness of revenge, and the stillness of his body. The sharp bouquet of fear as his pulse weakened. The final beat of his heart before it crumbled to dust and fell from between her fingers like the sands of time running through the hourglass. It was that moment that Maura felt truly reborn. That her youth and vitality had been restored.

  She’d spent years draining humans in a quest for that same high but to no use. The thought of draining the purebloods of their precious elixir of life left Maura panting and salivating in need. A deep hunger grew within her belly, and she knew there was only one thing that could ease the growing ache. Would it quench her never-ending thirst? No, but at least she could have a little fun before the main course.

  She swung her foot out, connecting with the mass of male flesh at her feet with a satisfying thud. Her plaything stirred, not daring to look her in the eye. His skin still marred by their last encounter. If she demanded much more of him, he would surely perish, but she knew he wouldn't shirk away from her. He knew well enough now that his life depended on her continued pleasure with him.

  Axel was nothing like his Wiesel nosed brother. He knew his place in the grand scheme of things. His loyalty was firmly in her camp. Rodney would learn that soon enough. Maura would relish the look of pure betrayal in his eyes when Rodney’s own flesh and blood turned against him in her name.

  Council Visit

  Molly paced outside of the chamber room. It wasn't really a chamber room but the conference room at a large company that was a front for the local Council administration. She’d been here once before to register herself with the Council. Something she hadn’t thought necessary but the vampires who helped her get home from Scotland had insisted. It was then that they found out about her connection to Maura. They’d all run from her as if she’d suddenly sprouted a head. It was only then that she had gone to the mansion and found Cat. Still, it had been her first significant step towards independence.

  Here she was again, although several floors up, making another step towards her goal. Molly was nervous, and it didn't help that Brody was standing next to the guard shooting daggers in her direction. They had taken her phone away as soon as she and Xander entered the building so she couldn't even pretend to check emails or anything to keep her busy. Xander was inside now, and it was nerve-racking thinking that her time would be next.

  Would Xander be allowed to stay with her? Would she face them alone or walk in to be sentenced without even a chance to argue her case? Not that Molly had much of a case. All she had was her heartfelt promise she wasn't anything like the monster who'd brought her back from the dead, and even that was subjective. How could Molly be sure that whatever was inside her hadn't changed her in more fundamental ways? Already she was so much different than the woman she had been before the incident.

  Molly was proud of the things she'd been able to accomplish since her resurrection. Coming into her own as a businesswoman. Her club was by far the best venue in town, and she'd basically cornered the market on afterlife clientele. As she was learning more about this new world she'd been brought into, Molly found that there were fewer normal humans that frequented her establishment than she had thought. Of course, vampires had been less frequent recently due to the Council's scrutiny, but she'd had shifters and even a few magic wielders to come to her in thanks for providing a place for them to blow off steam and not feel out of place.

  As an orphan, she knew that feeling of being out of place all too well. I guess it shouldn't' surprise her that she would find a family of sorts amongst the ultimate of outsiders. She loved what she was doing. As long as the Council was willing to let her live her life, Molly would continue to offer her newfound talent in the entertainment sector to those who needed it most. One of the biggest lessons she'd learned in her experience was that even those who seemed like they had everything going for them, needed a place to forget whatever troubled them. Her club had become one of those places for a lot of people, including her.

  A shiver went down Molly’s spine as a familiar presence registered. She turned around expecting to see the shadowy figure that had tormented her since her return only to find nothing. Still, she felt it there as if it were breathing down her neck. Molly had no idea what it was doing there. This had nothing to do with her and Shane which was pretty much the only thing the shadow seemed interested in. Molly decided it best to ignore the presence. It evidently wasn't here to set her on fire or rake nails across her skin like before. Honestly, the Shadow was the least of her worries at this point. She would take its torture over the fear of actual death anytime.

  "You okay," Brody asked startling Molly from her internal pity party.

  She looked up to find he'd pushed himself from the wall and was staring at her with genuine concern.

  "Yes, thank you," She said with a clipped tone and straightened her posture.

  He sighed and shook his head.

  "You don't have to pretend to be brave with me. I know you remember," Brody said.

  "You don't know a thing about me," She snapped.

  "I know that you need to relax. Despite what transpired between us, I gave you a glowing recommendation. I hate to brag, but my word carries quite a bit of weight with the Council. I am their liaison for a reason," He replied calmly as if her anger meant nothing.

  Molly bit her lip and let her shoulders relax.

  "Thank you, I guess," she said.

  Brody snorted and leaned back against the wall.

  "If you were really thankful you'd give me what I want."

  Before Molly could reply the door to the conference room swung open. Xander stepped out looking surly as ever.

  "You're next," Xander said gesturing for Molly to come inside.

  She took a deep breath and strode inside with her head held high. Xander had told her it was best not to show any sign of weakness or shame. If she wanted to be taken seriously, she would have to prove that she wasn't intimidated by them. That she and she alone was in control of herself and thus her future. This was it. The moment she'd been dreading all day.

  Molly stood before the council trying her best not to laugh at the motley crew before her. Especially when four of the five were sitting in standard office chairs, and the fifth was in a gilded throne. When Xander had described the Council, she’d envisioned a more formidable group. These people in front of her all looked like bad stereotypes. Fur coats, bird feathers, and a spiked leather jacket graced the four Council members. Gilded throne wore an all-black suit, tailored to perfection but the thick white makeup caked to his pinched face and powdered wig made it comical. Still, with their gazes trained on her and only her, Molly felt like an animal ca
ged in a zoo.

  "This is what all the fuss is about," A large brutish woman that had to be Kirima said.

  "Don't underestimate her, Kirima. That mistake has already been made with her sire," Another of the Council members said.

  His beady black eyes skimming over Molly as if she were a pile of excrement at his feet. He was either Nathaniel or Maximus. The twins were easy to pick out even if she didn't know who was which. The only difference she could see was that one was slightly darker than the other.

  "She's barely a mouse. I could squash her with my boot," Kirima laughed.

  "You could squash an elephant with that boot of yours," the Man sitting in a gilded chair stated.

  He would be handsome if it weren't for the harsh glare he was shooting in Kirima's direction.

  "How about I squash your head," Kirima snapped.

  "Go ahead and try. You know the penalty of doing any harm to a pureblood."

  So gilded chair was Maximus. Now that Molly studied him further he seemed like the arrogant royal type. Entitled because of a title. She'd dealt with many men like him in her life. Jocks who'd tormented her in high school, professors who'd belittled her in college. She'd learned the hard way that being the nice girl got you nothing but footprints on your face.

  "Can it, then all of you! This is not the time for your petty bickering," one of the twins finally spoke up. It was the lighter of the two.

  The Council members turned their gazes on Molly. She felt like shrinking under their intense glares, but that wouldn’t help her here. She smirked and placed a hand on her hip. Time to put her big girl panties on.

  "All this fuss for a bunch of regular old entitled douchebags," She said and for a moment wondered if she'd gone a bit too far as they all glared at her, but then, to her surprise, they burst into laughter.

  "A noisy mouse this one," Kirima said.

  Nathaniel turned to her with a haughty expression. "Would you expect any less from such a filthy sire?"

  "Listen, I'm only here because I can only do business with other Vamps if you give the okay. So I'm here. Yeah, I was brought back by that bitch but trust me when I say if I ever saw her again I'd be the first to run a stake through her heart," Molly said.

  "You know that doesn't instantly kill a vampire right," The twin with the darker tan said.

  "Yeah but that doesn't make it hurt any less. Maura deserves all the pain, and suffering karma has in store," Molly replied.

  "Karma? So the rumors of your magic are true," Maximus said shifting uncomfortably in his gilded throne.

  "It's a figure of speech," Molly replied inwardly cursing herself for slipping up.

  Xander had warned her not to make any references that could be misconstrued as knowledge of magic if she wanted to avoid talking about the powers she still had yet to figure out. Powers that seemed the only reason she was being forced to endure this meeting.

  "Regardless I at least came prepared to test out this rumor."

  Maximus snapped his fingers. Through the second set of doors, a young woman came in escorted by a guard. She looked frail and tired. Once she stopped in front of Molly, she could sense a strong connection with this woman. Almost like a family member, Molly was drawn to her. Without thinking, Molly started to reach out to this woman, but something stopped her. Not just something but a voice in her head. A voice she was all too familiar with, the Shadow.

  Don't

  Why not?

  It will make things worse

  How?

  Don't ask questions just stand there like the idiot you are.

  Molly wanted to argue with the Shadow, but deep down she knew it was right. There was something about this girl, this woman. She felt like, home. It made Molly feel like crying. Instead, she stood there and pretended like the Shadow told her to do. The first and probably last time Molly would ever do exactly as instructed by it.

  "Tell me, Slave. What do you see," Maximus commanded.

  Molly really hated this guy. The woman looked up, her eyes connected with Molly's. A glazed over stare that Molly had seen many times with the drug addicts that had passed through her life. Still, the woman didn't seem drugged, this indifference was much worse. She'd given up on life and on living. The woman was nothing more than a shell of her former self, and it made Molly want to punch something or rather someone. She broke eye contact with the woman for just a second to glare at Mr. Entitled slaveholder. She hadn't liked the guy from the start, but now she had to remind herself of her own precarious situation to keep from lashing out.

  Molly turned her attention back to the diminutive woman in front of her. She could feel the power surge within her just as the need to free this woman from whatever hell she was in wrapped itself around her heart. The woman's eyes cleared almost immediately a brief glimmer of hope before it died out again and the woman gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head. Not for her master, but for Molly before her eyes fell to the ground once more.

  "Yes, Master. There is a trace of magic within this woman but nothing of substance. Diluted so much I was only able to detect it because of my own potency," she said.

  The woman’s voice barely above a whisper.

  "Probably residual magic from her uncouth resurrection. Be Gone," Maximus snorted.

  The woman shuffled away without a single glance back at Molly. It took all of her strength not to rush forward and strangle the man who held this woman captive.

  One day she will be free.

  So now you are back? How do you know?

  You will save me.

  The woman's voice joined the mental party.

  How are you in my head?

  We are linked now and forever, my sister. Be safe.

  Molly tried to reach out again. Willing her brain to reconnect but something was blocking them now that the door was closed. Molly had a feeling it wasn’t the physical barrier between her and the woman. All she could hope was that one day that barrier would fall again, and when it did, Molly would be ready. She didn’t know when, or how but she would be. In the meantime, she had her own life to focus on.

  "Are we done here? I have a business to run," Molly snapped

  The Council members exchanged glances.

  "We'll be in touch," Kirima said and gestured towards the door Molly had entered.

  She turned on her heel and marched to the door. Not bothering to hide the fact that she was pissed. This entire meeting had been a giant waste of time. They hadn't asked a single question about her business, about her relationship to Maura. It seemed their only interest in her had been about her rumored powers. That was disturbing in itself, especially given the woman they'd brought in to test her.

  How was it possible in this day and age for anyone to have let alone justify the use of slave labor for any reason? Thankfully, Molly hadn't lost control back there. She had a feeling that if she was as powerful as they'd hoped that her fate would have been worse than death. A life of servitude so bleak it robbed you of your will to live. She felt relieved and defeated at the same time. She may have been saved, but that poor woman was still living that hell.

  "Let's get the fuck out of here," Molly said marching right passed Xander and to the elevators.

  "That good, huh." He said.

  Molly huffed, jamming the elevator button again and again as if it would make the damn thing show up any faster. Xander placed his hand over hers and brought it to her side. Tears were already welling in her eyes.

  "Deep breaths. It's just a few minutes until we are out of here, but I need you to keep it together until we leave the building. No weakness, remember."

  "Right, no weakness," She replied.

  Her hands still shook like leaves in the wind.

  Maximus exited the conference room leaving the other council members to bicker amongst themselves. The idiots were oblivious to the real issue that this meeting had presented. Despite what his slave had said, Maximus knew there was more to this Molly woman than she showed.

  “Sir! Can
you spare a moment,” Brody called from behind him.

  Maximus scowled and turned to face the man he’d hoped would be a suitable mate for his daughter. Brody was a vampire of action. He was ambitious and cunning. Up until recently, Maximus had no reason to doubt the man’s judgment. Maximus knew all about his dalliance with Molly. After having met the woman, experiencing first hand her magnetism, it didn’t surprise him. All of Maura’s progeny were attractive, the perfect specimens to ensnare her prey.

  Molly may be the first female Maura had turned, but it wasn’t out of character. Maura was a formidable mind. If she were born a man, there was no doubt she would have been one of the great generals in history. Unfortunately for her and for the rest of the world, she’d been born a woman. A beautiful woman at that. Her fault of intelligence landed her in the hands of a slave trader instead of a wealthy husband. That slave trader had also happened to be the number one seller of blood slaves to the vampire elite of the time.

  A series of unfortunate coincidences that created the most dangerous woman in the world. So dangerous she’d even managed to trick her own slaves into thinking she was dead and gone for years. Now she was back and forming knew prodigy that matched the current era. Women were openly dating other women now so having a beautiful woman to tempt them was par for the course. In no way did it make Molly any more special than the rest. If anything it made her more of a threat. Molly was evidence that not only had Maura survived her slave's uprising, but she’d evolved. Fighting a relic with set patterns was easy. Fighting an evolving madwoman was like navigating an ever-changing maze.