by Shana Vernon
I dropped my arm. “Do you have a car here?”
“Of course, would you like me to return you to your Guild?”
“No. Cade thinks he killed you, so we need to pack your stuff and move you into one of my safe houses,” I said as I made my way to his front door. I reached the door before realizing Luka hadn’t moved. He had a peculiar expression on his face.
“What?”
“You would do that for me? Set me up in one of your properties?” He asked as if it was the craziest thing he’d ever heard.
“Of course I would. You’re my friend.” I pulled at his arm. “Come on, before he wakes up.”
Luka zoomed past me into his house and blurred around. Moments later he reappeared by my side with two full suitcases and a set of keys. “Ready.”
I chuckled and followed him to his car, settling down in the Italian leather.
A girl could get used to this.
It then occurred to me that I was filthy rich and could buy myself any kind of car I wanted. I smiled and directed Luka to our destination. Maybe I’d buy one for myself as a gift once I finished my revenge.
“Here you go,” I said, handing Luka a spare set of keys to one of my penthouse properties as we walked through the door. I chose that particular property since I had a feeling it was closest to his general taste.
“Thanks,” he said as he took in the space.
I showed him through the foyer to the main living space, complete with hardwood floors, a large U-shaped grey couch, comfy looking armchairs, a flat screen TV, and an empty fireplace.
“If you don’t mind, we should probably make this our official meeting place to discuss what’s going on at the Guild and the hybrids,” I said, leading him into the kitchen. The walls were painted white, and the room boasted granite countertops and stainless-steel kitchen appliances.
“If I don’t mind? Little assassin, this is your home. You can bring whoever you want here,”
“I wouldn’t really call it a home, since this is only the second time I’ve been here. I want you to feel comfortable though.” I opened the fridge to check the contents. “I’ll stop by the grocery store to pick up some food for you.” I looked through the empty pantry before I realized something rather important. “Um... I’m not sure how to find blood for you. Do I just go to a donation clinic and order it?”
His head tipped back as he laughed. “No, little assassin. That’s not how it works.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Fine. Get your own blood then.”
He came around the island and approached me slowly. “You’ve already done much more than necessary, Lenna. I truly appreciate it, and I can find my own food, you don’t need to worry about me.”
“You’re supposed to be dead. Don’t forget that. How long can you last without blood?” I asked, surprised at how little I knew about vampires’ dietary restrictions.
“I drink blood every day, but I guess I could last two or three days before bloodlust consumes me. I hadn’t gotten a chance to drink before your friend showed up.” He lifted my arm and sniffed my wrist, his nose rubbing against my sensitive skin. “May I?” He asked, his eyes fixated on mine.
That felt like a line. A line that if I crossed it, I knew it couldn’t be taken back. The apartment was empty though, and I had no way to bring him blood before the following day. He seemed to sense my hesitation and began to back away, lowering my arm.
“Okay,” I said, my voice unusually quiet.
His eyes widened. “Are you sure?”
I lifted my wrist to his face and nodded. It didn’t really seem like he had any other choice. Plus, I’d fed Max before and it hadn’t hurt very much.
A strange expression came over his features as he gripped my hand, his fangs descending from his gums. I felt a slight pinch and the familiar pulling sensation of my blood leaving my body. It was different from both Max and Mitus. With Max, it had been done during sex, but the actual action hadn’t felt sexual. And with Mitus, he’d been trying to rip out my throat, so that was enough of an explanation.
Luka kept his honey eyes connected my mismatched ones as he drank, a heated look coming over his. I felt tingles flurry through the pit of my stomach, the tempo of my pulse beginning to speed up. With every swallow that he took, a rush swept through my body, right to my core.
Heat flushed my cheeks, and I knew I would have a slight blush to them by the time he was finished. Luckily, that came a few moments later as Luka’s fangs vanished and he slowly laved the wound, the puncture marks fading away.
Chapter 20
“I can’t believe he did that!” Sofia exclaimed; her arms crossed over her chest from her position on our pushed-together cots. “We all wondered how he would react, but we thought there was a chance he could be reasoned with.”
“And if anyone was going to convince Cade, it would’ve been you Lenna,” Ryder cut in. He touched the tips of my hair, which were ruined, charred from Cade’s flames. “How bad did he hurt you?”
I quickly hid the ends by putting my hair up in a messy bun, tucking them in tightly. I would need to get a haircut before I saw him again. “It wasn’t on purpose.”
“It doesn’t matter if it was on purpose, Len. He almost fucking killed you and Luka!” Sofia exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “Don’t make excuses for him.”
“I’m not,” I said, covering my face. “What he did was so awful, you should have heard the way he was speaking to Luka. If I hadn’t been there, I would’ve never believed it. He’s a totally different person than I expected.” I said, the disappointment clear in my tone.
Sofia rubbed soothing circles on my back, the smell of her strawberry shampoo comforting.
“What are you going to do about him?” Ekon asked.
“Luka altered his memory, so he believes he went through with the mission successfully, and that I was never there.”
“Do you think you can still be with him after this?” Sofia said.
“Seeing him like that… I don’t think I could be with someone who feels that way about an entire group of people,” I replied. “I have no idea what I’m going to tell him though. It’s not as if he remembers why.”
Ryder opened his mouth to respond, when the door flew open and Brielle rushed in, Hailey and Axel hot on her heels. “Did you see the news?” She asked, breathless.
At our bewildered expressions, she brought over the newspaper she had clutched in her hands. “Look at this.”
The front page had the headline ‘Vampires attack college students, parents outraged.’
I began to read the article, the others reading over my shoulder.
“At three in the morning on April 17, 2020, a group of vampires broke into a college dorm, killing twenty innocent humans. The police have refused to divulge any evidence of the crime and we have no reports as to why this gruesome event occurred. The names of the victims have been released, but the identities of the vampires who committed this heinous crime have not been distributed.
It’s been years since such a violent act has taken place. The humans are demanding justice for the students who were taken from their families at such young ages. One of our reporters was able to track down and get a comment from the Mayor of Boston, who stated, “Perhaps it’s finally time to enact stricter rules for the vampires, so incidents like these do not continue happening. We can’t have this situation escalating any further.”
What are these strict rules the Mayor so casually spoke of? Are the identification bracelets not good enough? Should we continue to ostracize members of our society simply because they have a different diet than the humans? What right does the government have to enforce stricter laws on vampires? Some people say the vampires should be given the right to police themselves.
To play devil’s advocate: Is it safe to have people that are so much faster and more powerful than the general population free to roam the streets of Boston when their main food source is human blood?
The polls seem divi
ded right down the middle. Half the people are shouting for equal rights and that we shouldn’t judge the overall vampire society on the actions of a few. Others, however, are more concerned with the future. Will the vampires decide one day that they don’t want to rely on donated blood? What happens when they choose to rise up and take the country for themselves? Who can stop them if they make that decision?
Really, there is no easy solution. All we know is that there is are too many families who lost loved ones, and there will be a memorial held over the weekend. Details will follow in the upcoming days.”
The newspaper slipped through my fingers to land on my bed and I raised my head, my eyes meeting Sofia’s. A group of vampires killing so many humans wasn’t just a tragedy, it was one million steps backward from all the progress of human-vampire relations that’d been made over the years. One action did that. One action that could have been prevented if we’d been informed.
“How did nobody know this was being planned?” I asked in bewilderment.
My question was met with silence. I knew why Ekon, Sofia, and Ryder were silent. They were thinking the same thing as I was. The Guild was about to sanction a lot more contracts on innocent vampires.
I left as quickly as possible, making sure I didn’t run into Cade as I exited the compound and went into town. I seriously needed a haircut. I smiled as I remembered all of the times as a child I’d argued with Papa, trying to convince him to allow me to get a real haircut from a salon. He hadn’t agreed to it until I was already in my teens, and then made me go a few hours away, just in case. I couldn’t exactly go to the salon in disguise since they would need to touch my real hair.
But it didn’t matter anymore who saw my real hair. The only natural feature I still kept hidden was my mismatched eyes
“Girl, what happened to your hair?” The stylist said as she threaded her fingers through the charred tips of my blonde locks.
“A slight misunderstanding with a scented candle,” I replied with a slight shrug.
“And where’s the candle now?”
“At the bottom of my garbage can.”
She laughed. “Did you have a style in mind?”
“I guess keep it as it is but cut off the burned parts.”
She agreed and sent me to the sink to wash my hair. Once I was back and she started clipping off the ends, the back of my neck tingled, and I had the terrible sensation of being watched.
My eyes moved about the room, searching for the cause of my unease, but found nothing. I internally shook my head and sat back in the chair, the movements of the stylist not relaxing me as they normally would. Thoughts swirled around in my mind while she cut and styled my hair. Thoughts about Killian Abbott figuring me out and ambushing me on the street.
Even after all of my training with Evelyn, I still wasn’t completely confident I would be able to best him in a one on one fight. Caught in an ambush without any proper weapons? That didn’t feel favorable for me in the slightest. I couldn’t bring weapons into the hair salon. That simply wasn’t done in regular society. And using my gifts? Well, that was out of the question in front of civilians.
My phone beeped just as I was exiting the salon an hour later, Quinn’s contact popping up.
He’d been activated.
“Who is it this time?” Ekon asked, leaning back, and crossing one leg over the other as he lounged on Luka’s sofa. Sofia sat beside him; her head tipped back as she tossed pieces of popcorn into her open mouth.
It had been getting increasingly more difficult to have proper conversations without being overheard since our group was growing in numbers, so I’d brought everyone to the safe house where I’d stashed Luka.
I worried that it would be awkward between the two of us after the previous night, but Luka had been nothing but polite which was a relief. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about my reaction to him but I didn’t have the time or energy to delve into it.
“So, I didn’t want to say anything until we were all together, but we know this vampire. It’s Treval Blackheart,” Quinn said, his face pale.
My heart thudded painfully in my chest.
First Luka, and now Trey?
I didn’t have a clue what was going on but that couldn’t have been a coincidence. Someone must be targeting Luka. The question was why? What could Luka be involved in that would warrant the attention of the Guild? As far as I know, he wasn’t all that connected in the human world, and he didn’t spawn a hybrid.
I spun around to face Luka. “Do you know where Trey is right now?”
He already had his phone out and was dialing. There wasn’t a sound in the room as we all waited with bated breath for Trey to pick up. He’d come on a few of our previous missions and we all had built an easy camaraderie with him.
His voicemail picked up and Luka’s face whitened.
Quinn and I both jumped to our feet simultaneously. “Do you know where he lives?”
Luka nodded. “He lives across town. It’ll take at least twenty minutes to get there by car.”
I kicked off my shoes and began stuffing them into my bag. “Give me the address and I’ll fly there now. You call Max and the both of you can run, cutting the time in half.” I threw Sofia my keys, which she plucked out of the air. “The rest of you meet us there as quickly as you can.” I was already half undressed by the time I finished, quickly memorizing the address from Luka, and pushing the cooling sensation through my body to enact my invisibility.
I shifted to my hawk and scooped up my bag, before heading over the window Sofia was opening for me. “Save one of those bastards for me,” she said as I flew out the window, substituting my usual gliding with fast flapping of my wings, desperate to get to Trey before the Guild assassins arrived.
Less than ten minutes later, I approached his house, spotting a bald individual making their way around the side of building. I angled myself in their direction, tucking in my wings and shifting right before I touched the floor, rolling in my human body and sprinting forward in a fluid motion.
I yanked the member around to face me, still invisible and stumbled backward.
Leo Martinez.
I was actually surprised we hadn’t crossed paths until now, with him being an elite member, but I kept missing every opportunity to reach him. Now here he was presented in front of me, the perfect opportunity to interrogate him.
“What the hell?” Leo said as his wide eyes shifted in every direction in search of his attacker.
The sound of crashing furniture paired with a loud grunt from inside the house had me glancing back. Trey was in trouble. My eyes moved back and forth between the house and Leo and I had to decide. Interrogating him for information or saving Trey. I summoned a light dagger and slit his throat, not willing to risk him waking up from a knockout later and hurting someone. His blood was a tidal wave as it poured down his body, and I cursed, leaving him on the floor before turning and streaking for Trey.
I burst through the door and stopped in my tracks. Trey was surrounded by seven Guild members, each of them with daggers out, fixated on their prey.
He was drenched in blood from multiple different wounds across his arms, chest, and one along the side of his face. His white, braided hair was stained red and droplets flew through the air as whipped about, twirling around his combatants. He weaved and dodged between the different members, two were already lifeless on the floor.
He was built for fighting. That much was clear from the way he danced around them, but even he was no match for nine magically trained assassins. He halted suddenly as one of the members held up his hands, as if holding him in place from a distance. Trey struggled to move but was unable to break free from his invisible bindings.
Another member was inching forward, a dagger poised for his heart, when I dropped my invisibility and threw my light dagger, handle over blade, until it buried itself into the member’s back.
He fell to the floor and Trey shot me a grateful look just as Luka zoomed into the room,
decapitating another member before moving on to the next.
A fiery blaze shot passed my face and I flinched, thinking of Cade, but I traced it back to a red-haired girl who was cackling as she swirled flickers of fire around her fingertips. I was in no mood to get my hair done again and I scowled at her, readying another light dagger to throw in her direction when a roar filled the air.
Ekon’s tiger form bounded through the doorway and pounced on her, his claws savagely ripping through her chest. Her screams died as she did, and Sofia and Quinn rushed into the house and we all quickly disabled the remaining members. Ekon lay on the floor, his red and orange stripes gleaming in the moonlight as he licked the blood off one of his paws.
That’s disgusting.
I ran over to Trey where he was slumped on the floor, his hands grasping his wounds. I closed my eyes and summoned my healing energy and pushed it through his body, clearing away his injuries. His hand captured mine while I worked, and I opened my eyes as I let the last drops of energy trickle away.
“I am in your debt, Lenna Turgenov,” he said as he brought my hand to his face, pressing his lips to my knuckles. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t arrived when you did. I thought my time had come.”
Chapter 21
For the remainder of that week, I’d taken every precaution against seeing Cade. I’d accepted more contracts than ever before, going so far as to complete two just yesterday alone. Not wanting him to barge into the initiates’ quarters while I slept, I’d begun sleeping in one of the guest rooms at the safe house.
Even though I’d initially given the apartment to Luka to use seeing as he was supposed to be dead, the rest of the group had started using it as a sort of refuge away from the compound. A place where we could be open and speak about what was really going on. A place where we didn't have to hide.
