by Jourdan Lane
"Impossible," Silver said. "Unless… unless it was on someone. But even then, we should have smelled it."
I looked around in disbelief, not really knowing what to do or where to start. The team was helping out and aiding the injured and searching for more survivors. I realized that they hadn't found everyone yet.
I swallowed hard. "Who was working the club tonight?"
Silver started giving a list of people, naming them off the top of his head. He paused after several names. "Xander was working the door."
"At Iniquity?"
He nodded and I suddenly felt sick. I searched for that link between me and Xander, but found only a small flicker. I had a feeling the transition might have changed a few things and how they worked. Lucien took off at a dead run and Silver and I exchanged a look of concern, following.
We came to a stop near a pile of debris and found Logan pinned beneath it. He was trying to sit up, but there was a long steel rod through the top right side of his chest. I assumed it went all the way through.
Lucien and I knelt beside Logan. I reached for the rod, but stopped, not knowing what would happen if I pulled it out. "We need a fucking medical team."
"We do not have anyone qualified."
"Then we let county come and help. The fire department will—"
"No! We cannot afford for any of the werewolves to be taken in. It would be more of a disaster than even this." A tear rolled down Lucien's cheek and he looked up at Silver. "Call Daniel. If you cannot get him, call the emergency line for the Council. Get us a Search and Rescue crew – and Medical."
There were times that I forgot that while humans knew of vampires, they didn't know anything of our weres and shifters. It was a secret that had been kept for century upon century. Springing the news now could cause a wave of mass hysteria.
Logan tugged at my arm. "Pull the rod out."
"Logan, I don't know what'll happen if I do. We've no one to feed you."
"I'll be fine. Just pull it out."
Lucien grabbed the rod with both hands and yanked hard.
Logan roared, hand going to the hole in his chest. "What do you need me to do?"
"Nothing," Lucien answered. "Just rest a minute and conserve some of your energy."
"It's just a little," Logan faltered, blinking hard, "just a little hole."
A warm, familiar energy seeped into my consciousness. I looked around, but couldn't figure out where it came from. Something told me to turn around. When I did, I found Xander. He was beat up as fuck, clothes torn and burned, hair almost white with ash and debris. His eyes held a dead expression, much like everyone else I'd seen so far. In that moment, all of the fights and arguments between us were forgotten.
I ran to him, hugging him up tight. "Oh, Xander. Are you hurt?"
He shook his head, confused.
"Don't know what I would have done if I'd have lost you, Xander."
I pulled away, trying to check him for injuries he might not have been aware that he had. Thankfully, I found nothing.
"Thought you were…" Xander shook almost violently, just sort of standing there, "I saw you just before it happened."
I pulled back. "I wasn't here, baby."
He nodded. "Yes. I saw you. You winked at me, wanted me to follow you. I was halfway into the room when I lost sight of you and…"
Lucien walked up and embraced Xander, obviously relieved that Xander was okay. When Xander just stood there, Lucien looked to me. "What is it?"
"Xander saw me before the explosion."
"That's impossible. We were at Rave."
Silver's radio squawked nearby and I heard something about hunters being trailed. I turned to Xander. "Stay here. Don't wander off. Help is coming."
Xander just fell to his knees, staring at the ground.
I broke away, going to Silver. "What do you have so far?"
"We had a trail, but it's thin."
"Was it a team of hunters?"
"We think so at this point. There are some in the area."
I turned on my heel and stalked to the car, intent on finding some fucking answers. There was one person at the moment that I could think of that would have an inkling of what was going on and who was responsible. Vaguely, I heard Silver yelling for me to come back, but I put the car into gear and left anyway.
Pure fucking rage began to settle in my gut. The closer I got to the house, the angrier I got. These sorry motherfuckers had hurt enough of our people and I was tired of it. The house came up quicker than I realized and I whipped the car into the drive, leaving it running, doors open. I stormed into the house and went straight down to the dungeon.
From the moment I stepped into the cell area, a heartbeat filled my ears. Fast and getting faster. I stalked down to the hunter's cell and stood before the door, glaring at the hunter inside. His fear filled the air, the scent of it sweeter than blood, sweeter than any candy.
I yanked the barred cell door open and went straight to the hunter, grabbing him by the throat and dragging him off the bed.
"Where is the rest of your team?"
He screamed, struggling to get free, gasping for air.
"Where do I find them?"
"No team. I swear." He reached for me, pleading. "I swear! It's just me."
"There's never just one of you. You're like fucking cockroaches. Where there's one of you, there are always a dozen more."
"I don't know! I swear!" My hand tightened and he screamed in terror. "Please! Please don't kill me!"
It pissed me off even more, knowing that our own people screamed in terror and panic while in the hands of hunters, that our people had begged for their lives—and they'd been slaughtered anyway. The hunters seemed hell bent on continuing this fucking war, but we were going to finish it.
Even if we had to do it one hunter at a time.
I yanked the man up and struck his neck. As the blood began to flow, I searched the man's mind almost instinctively. I growled, finding nothing. Nothing but fear and terror. And it sweetened the blood. The more the man screamed, the sweeter his blood ran. The better it tasted.
The man's heart stuttered and he grabbed at my hands, desperate for me to let him go. I felt an odd twitching at my face, but before I could think about what was happening, my mouth and nose began to grow and shift into a muzzle. The man's heart skipped a few beats and he fought like hell to get away.
In a flash of a moment, I pulled him up and set my mouth at his throat, biting down into his flesh. With a quick jerk of my head, the man's throat was nothing but a huge, gaping hole. I spat out his flesh and dropped him to the floor. Blood surrounded him in a pool and I looked down at him, feeling nothing.
No remorse. No regret. Perhaps a small desire for another taste.
Another heartbeat filled the room, steady and strong. I turned to walk out the room. Nikolas was standing in the doorway of the broken cell. I paused when I got to him, licking the corner of my mouth.
"I think I broke him."
Nikolas' eyes met mine, unflinching. "There'll be more."
Unfortunately, he was right. There would always be more hunters. Now, more than ever, I was determined that we needed to wipe them out—before they managed to wipe us out.
When I turned to walk away, Lucien was in my path. The expression on his face was more concern than horror. "Peter? What happened?"
"I wanted a few answers."
"Did you get them?"
"Just one." I stopped even with him, leaning in close. "The only thing sweeter than the taste of sex—is the taste of fear."
Epilogue
I sat in one of the new thrones on the dais at the front of the throne room, watching as people filed in and found a place to sit on the other side of the room. Quiet murmurs filled the air, but there was a noted lack of laughter. A polite smile passed here and there, but for the most part, the happiness was gone.
Destroyed by tragedy and fear and loss.
It had been three weeks since the explosion at Iniqui
ty. Twenty had been injured and required medical treatment. Whoever made the bomb had incorporated silver-coated pieces of metal and, from what we could figure out, some sort of powder with a high grade of silver, both deadly to vampire and Lycan alike.
There were over a hundred dead; three-quarters of them ours, most of them Lycan. To see so many people hurting and in pain – whether physical or emotional – and to know I could do nothing to ease it was a rude awakening. For so long, I'd been fooling myself into believing that we were invincible. That nothing or no one could hurt us as long as we stood together.
The club was a complete loss as well. What hadn't been damaged by the explosion had been ruined by fire and water. The structure was so unstable that we'd had to hire a demolition crew to tear it down and clear the property.
Lucien and I had stood in the dirt two nights later and vowed that we would rebuild, bigger and better than ever. That we would implement any and every measure possible to make sure this would never happen again. And then we'd cried until we couldn't cry anymore.
I had hoped that the next time we brought the coven together, that it would be under happier circumstances. That we'd have answers about what had happened, that maybe we'd manage to find those who responsible. But we still had nothing. The trail had long gone cold and we were being forced to pick up where life before the explosion had left off.
Tonight, however, was the night of Caleb's punishment. We'd put it off and put it off until we couldn't any longer. Xander had come to Lucien and me both, begging for Caleb to be punished so that he could at least be brought up from the dungeon.
It hadn't been an unreasonable request. After all, Caleb had been down there for nearly a month. It was time to put an end to this, to bring it full circle, and move on.
Someone squeezed my shoulder and I glanced up, meeting Logan's gaze. He smiled sadly, giving my shoulder another squeeze. "Are you okay?"
I nodded. "Just…thinking."
He knelt at my feet, arms crossed over one arm of the chair. "Things will get better, Peter."
"Will they?" I asked, my voice just a whisper. "Or is it wishful thinking? Look around, Logan. Do you see even a smile? Do you hear a hint of laughter?"
"I see fear on their faces, Peter. Hear it in their words—in their thoughts. All they want is to feel safe again." He took my hand. "You and Lucien can do that. And I know you will. You have already begun the process."
"It feels wrong to do this punishment now. To make an example of Caleb in the wake of such a tragedy."
"It must be done, Peter. If you hesitate here, they will not trust in you or believe in your abilities to lead, or in Lucien's." He squeezed my hand, then pulled his away. "Where is Lucien?"
"He went to the library for something. He should be back in just a minute. You need something?"
"Oh, no. I was just curious." He looked around the room. "Guess I need to find a seat. Place is filling up quickly."
I nodded. "Yeah, time to start here shortly."
He kissed the back of my hand, stood, and walked across the floor. When he sat down, it was next to Reid. They shared a few words, a small smile, a brief touch. A quiet hiss drew my attention to the area behind the dais. I looked back to find Nikolas. He inclined his head toward the door leading to the dungeon.
I got up and followed him, closing the door once I was through it. "What's up?"
"Nothing. Just saw you sitting there lookin' all sad." He crowded me into the corner of the door frame. "Thought I'd, I don't know, feed you or something."
I grabbed him and pushed him into the opposite doorway, kissing him, then nuzzling my way down his throat. His heart pounded with excitement, blood rushing quickly through his veins. I pulled back and looked at him, a little dazed at the way the hunger hit hard and fast.
Nikolas was dressed in his scariest leather, his eyes dark with kohl, hair spiked just perfectly, one long strand in the front covering his right eye. I pushed a leg between his, grinding myself against him.
"We don't really have time to fuck, princess."
"'S too bad." I scraped my fangs against his neck, drawing just a little blood, fighting the urge to sink my fangs deep into his flesh and just feed. Fuck it. Just a sip. "Just a little…"
Nikolas bared his neck a little more. "Hard, Peter."
And I did strike hard. Hard and deep, my fangs piercing his flesh like a hot knife sliding through butter. He would have screamed, I think, had I not been shoving two fingers into his mouth at the same time. He bit and sucked at my fingers, panting and gasping with each pull of my mouth on him.
My cell phone vibrated in my pocket, then rang. I growled, not wanting to end this yet. But the longer my phone rang, the more important I guessed the call probably was. I licked at the marks on Nikolas' neck, stopping the flow of blood. They began to heal before I'd even managed to pull away.
I dug out my phone and leaned against the opposite wall, still licking my lips as I opened the phone. "Yeah?"
"Hello, Peter."
Daniel.
Perfect fucking timing. I hadn't heard from him in weeks and he picked now to call? The fates were fucking cruel.
"Hang on," I growled into the phone, pushing the mute button.
Nikolas stepped forward and kissed me, though I knew it was more for the taste of blood than anything else. "See you in a little bit."
"Thank you, Nikolas."
"I won't even lie and say that I only do it for you." He smirked. "Fucking love it when you feed from me."
"Gee, I never would have guessed by the way you're always offering yourself up to me."
He flipped me off and started down the hall. I put the phone back up to my ear and took it off mute. "You have the worst timing, Daniel."
"I hear that a lot."
"What do you want? In case you didn't get the memo, we're busy here tonight."
"I'm sure you are. I needed to let you know personally that your new physician is on his way to you this evening. I just dropped him off for a chartered flight. Will you have someone meet him at the airport? A truck would be best, considering he does have several trunks."
"Yeah. I'll have someone meet him. What time's his flight coming in?"
"At three. I've emailed you the specifics."
"I'll let Silver know so that the transport will be guarded." Lucien opened the door and raised a brow inquisitively. I held up a finger for him to wait just a second. "Is that all, Daniel? We're about to get started."
Daniel hesitated. "For now."
The phone went dead and I smiled at Lucien. "Everyone here?"
He nodded. "What'd he want?"
"Our new physician is coming in tonight at three on a chartered flight. We'll need someone to pick him up and a team to guard them all."
"I'll let Silver know so he'll have a few hours to plan. You know how he hates last-minute things."
"Yeah."
"Come on out, lover. Take your place on the throne beside me so we can be done with this night."
"Sooner the better," I said softly.
He leaned further inside the corridor and kissed me. "I love you."
"Love you, too."
Lucien opened the door for me and, as I edged by him through the doorway, I kissed him back. He groaned and followed me out, but stepped off to the side to talk to Silver. I continued on to my chair and sat down.
A few moments later, Lucien walked up onto the dais and looked up into the crowded room. He remained quiet, just standing there as if waiting for something. The door from the dungeon opened and Nikolas walked out, holding a length of heavy chain. At the end of that length of chain was Caleb.
He wore nothing but a pair of white cotton pants and the manacles at his wrists and ankles. His eyes were fixed on the floor as Nikolas walked him across the room. They stopped in front of the St. Andrew's cross that had been installed in the center of the floor. Nikolas gave Caleb the order to face the cross and grasp the handle at the top left side. Caleb complied, but when Nikolas gave
the final order to grasp the top left side, Caleb hesitated.
Nikolas gave the order again, but Caleb still balked. I shifted in my seat and Caleb noticed me then, looking at me through the X. I made a gesture, half-pointing at the right side where he should have already had his hand. He bit at his lip, but finally raised his right arm up, letting Nikolas bolt him in.
When Nikolas stepped back, Lucien spoke.
