by Shana Vernon
My phone beeped as Sofia and Ekon came through the front door carrying orange and pink, rectangle boxes. “Please tell me those are doughnuts,” Nikita exclaimed as she yawned and stretched, her tattoos openly displayed in her black tank top. The black, swirling runes over her arms and chest on display.
Was that a new one?
None of them had divulged any details about the tattoos, going so far as to completely ignore their existence. My curiosity peaked, wondering again how in the world it could be possible to tattoo a vampire and what they meant.
“Yes, we got a few of every flavor they had,” Sofia replied as they set down the boxes on the table.
“You are a Goddess,” Nikita mumbled, a doughnut already halfway down her throat.
My phone beeped, reminding me of unread messages, and my brows furrowed at an unknown number.
Who could possibly have gotten this number?
I clicked and the text opened, the voices fading into the background as I read the message.
Hello sister, this is Zander, in case you have other people who also call you sister. I would like to meet up with you for dinner and start over. I know we got off on the wrong foot, and I’d love the chance to rectify that.
I couldn’t believe with the fun from the party, I’d completely forgotten my newly discovered family member, and everything I’d learned from him.
I cleared my throat. “Guys, there is something we need to talk about.”
“Uh oh. This sounds serious. You have that serious expression on your face,” Sofia said, crinkling her forehead.
“It’s something good. At least I think it is.”
Trey got to his feet. “Why don’t we go to the dining room, so we can all hear what it is you need to tell us.”
Everyone voiced their agreement and began moving to the other room.
Ekon slipped his fingers between Sofia and halted as they reached my side, looking me dead in the eyes. “Do you believe in love at first sight or should I pass by again?”
“Why do I feel like I walked into something weird?” Luka’s voice said from the doorway.
Sofia cracked up and walked out of the room. “That’s because you did. Those two are freaks.”
“You know you like it!” Ekon called after her. She flipped him off over her shoulder.
“She likes it,” he said to me and Luka, who grinned.
After going over everything that had happened, purposely leaving out the details about Luka being a prince, I answered Zander and set up a time and place for dinner. Sofia had offered to join us, but I thought it would be best for it to be just the two of us.
I’d called Maximus to see if he knew anything about the city or Zander, but he was just as surprised as I’d been. Luka left to go see his mother to figure what she knew but warned me it was unlikely she would have known about Ibrida and never have mentioned it to him.
The rest of my Guild friends had been shocked to learn about the hidden society, but all agreed that it was potentially a better solution than leaving all of them stuck in safe houses. I had to agree with them.
I walked behind the waiter as he led me through the tables to join Zander. It was the fanciest restaurant I’d ever been to; the tiny meals prepared on large plates and the fancy clothing worn by the clientele and the wait staff.
He was sitting alone, his honey-blonde hair the first thing I noticed before taking in the rest of him. In the warehouse, I hadn’t had the chance to really pay attention to his features. He was tall and lean, his body looking like it was more at home in a gym than in a real fight. Zander wasn’t a natural fighter, that much was suddenly clear.
I didn’t know what they were doing in Ibrida, but wouldn’t it have made sense to train fighters for when they help save hybrids? He also looked completely out of place with a different graphic t-shirt, this one said Save water, drink blood. It was ironic because I knew for a fact that hybrids didn’t need to drink blood to survive, though it did strengthen them.
He looked up as I neared, his blue eyes piercing my mismatched ones. Not that anyone could see my single brown eye since it was covered in a blue contact lens. Zander got to his feet as the waiter pulled my chair out for me and I threw him a grateful smile.
“Sister,” he said, a smiled crinkling the sides of his eyes.
“Brother,” I replied, the word sounding strange and foreign as it left my lips. My phone buzzed through my clutch and I ignored it, smiling pleasantly at Zander.
A waiter appeared and silently placed a glass of ice water and a menu in front of me before retreating.
“I want to apologize again for the misbehavior of my people. They have been appropriately reprimanded.”
“Your people?” I asked, taking a sip from my water while I perused the menu. I didn’t understand half of the words and feeling ridiculous until I found an easy option. “Can you explain how it works?”
“Our people, Sister. Ibrida is government by a monarchy. Our mother is the Regina, and my father is the Regis. Males cannot rules on their own and must do so alongside the Regina,” He said, gaining confidence with each word he spoke. “You are considered the Regina Filia, and I am the Regis Filius. You are older and a woman, so you are the heir, unless challenged. I am second to the throne, but only if I take a wife before accepting the crown. It’s a bit complicated,” he finished with an apologetic shrug.
My head was spinning. Never in my life had I expected that my mother would be alive, let alone a Queen of a hidden kingdom. It all sounded like a crazy fairytale, one that I voiced out loud to Zander as my phone buzzed again.
“If only you knew how close that is to the truth,” he said, as the waiter returned for our orders. “I asked to meet you for more than one reason. While I am serious about turning over a new leaf, I also came to give you some information we discovered.”
I moved forward in my seat. “What information?”
He lowered his voice, “We’ve been hearing rumors for some time about a specific target the humans are searching for. They say she is more important than any other hybrid, though we don’t know why.”
My phone continued its vibrating.
“Nobody even knew her name, just that she has fighting abilities unparalleled amongst hybrids. They say she was trained in an old-school, underground gladiator ring. We also heard that she recently escaped from the ring, accompanied with another trainee and two panthers.”
I had so many questions. So. Many. Questions.
“Panthers?” I asked, that question seemingly slipped out ahead of the other, far more important ones.
He nodded. “Apparently she can communicate with them.”
“That’s... that’s insane. Impossible.” Though, after thinking about it, I had a similar ability with my hawks. Was this hybrid also the child of a Guild member?
“And yet, according to our scouts, that’s what the rumors are whispering.”
Our conversation was halted by the arrival of our food, the sight of my medium cooked stake and potatoes making me salivate.
I was suddenly reminded of something Ekon and Axel had mentioned months ago. They’d said they heard the Guild members asking over and over, ‘Give me the name.’ I would bet every last penny I had that they were talking about the gladiator.
“You should probably answer that,” Zander said, pointing to my bag, which was shaking from my phone rattling around inside. I whipped it out and accepted the call when I saw Ryder’s name.
There was screaming in the background, a loud high-pitched keening that sounded like Sofia. I jumped out of my seat.
“Ryder? What’s going on?”
The screaming didn’t stop.
“Ryder!” I yelled, causing the people eating in the restaurant to stop and stare. Zander got out of his seat and looked at me, concerned.
Ryder finally answered me. “Lenna,” he choked out. “We need your help. It’s Ekon. He’s hurt really badly, and there’s blood everywhere.” He paused, gasping for breath. “Lenn
a, I think he…he’s dying.”
My terrified expression met Zander’s and I spun around and sprinted out of the restaurant. “Where are you?” I demanded as I slammed the cooling sensation through my body, not caring who witnessed me disappear from sight.
He gave me the address and I hung up, shifting to my hawk form, not caring who saw me shift, and scooping up my bag before speeding toward their location. My heart pounded in my chest.
Please let him be alright. Please let me get there on time.
I urged my wings to flap harder, pushing my body faster than I’d ever flown. The address Ryder had given me came into view, and what I saw almost made me drop out of the air. There were bodies strewn about the yard, all of them wearing Guild fatigues.
The fight must have begun outside before moving indoors, where I heard shouts emanating from. A few of the bodies were torn apart, blood and organs splayed out on the floor haphazardly. Panic surged through my chest as I searched the bodies, looking for familiar faces, and I exhaled in relief when I didn't see any of my friends.
And then I saw him through the window. Ekon was on the floor, his body unmoving as Sofia, Ryder, and Quinn knelt beside him. The rest were off to the side to give them privacy. Sofia and Quinn both had tears streaming down their faces, and I could see from the distance that even Ryder’s eyes were misty.
I checked on my healing energy before I shifted, but I could tell there was no point.
I was too late.
Luka noticed me first, meeting me outside and pulling off his blood-stained shirt to hand to me as I ran. I yanked on his shirt before slipping to the floor and throwing my hands on Ekon’s body, knowing it was useless. His throat had been slashed all the way across. Red poured everywhere; drenching Sofia’s body as she clung to his still form.
I gagged as I tried to thrust my power into his body, but it was no use. Nothing happened. Sofia seemed to understand as her sobbing reached new heights and she cried out, “No, no…no. Baby, no!” She began scooping up his blood as if she could force it back into his body.
“You’re okay. You’re okay,” she repeated over and over as tears and snot dripped down her face. Quinn went to put an arm on her, and she flinched away, screaming for him not to touch her. Quinn would have tried to take away her pain, and she didn’t want that. My face was damp and my hands, covered in scarlet, trembled as I removed them from his immobile form.
I turned to the side in time to reach out what little I had managed to eat at dinner. It couldn’t be. He couldn’t be dead. I’d seen him just a few hours before, teased him about how whipped he was for Sofia. He hadn’t even denied it, was content with the world knowing how much he loved her.
Their love had be real and deep, and now he was gone. One of the kindest souls I’d ever met, one who didn’t deserve to have his life ended so young. My mind couldn’t comprehend how he could have gone from being so alive that morning, to being dead so quickly. I bent back over, wearing nothing but Luka’s shirt and continued heaving, though nothing was left to expel.
I didn’t understand what they were even doing in this ruined house, why there were so many bodies everywhere. I didn’t see the ones left alive, nor did I see any hybrids.
“Sofia,” Ryder said cautiously. “We need to leave before they send reinforcements, or a cleanup crew. We can’t stay here.” She ignored him; her body laid out over Ekon’s as she sobbed.
I had never felt that life was crueler than in that moment. Guilt stabbed my chest, digging deep as I realized I should have been there. I’d never sat out of a mission before, and now Ekon was gone because I couldn’t get to him in time. Even without knowing what had happened, I knew without a shadow of a doubt, we couldn’t linger there.
Even with that knowledge, I stayed on my knees, my head bowed as my face dampened steadily. I would never again get to hear another ridiculous one-liner from him, never hear him joke around, laugh, tease, dote on Sofia. Nothing.
He was gone forever.
Chapter 26
It was decided that we would need to leave Ekon’s body for the Guild to collect, otherwise our grief would look too suspicious. We headed back to the penthouse; my arms wrapped around Sofia as she continued crying into my borrowed shirt. A surge of pity rushed over me. Sofia had lost the two people she loved most in the world. Her brother Miguel, and now Ekon.
Pain stabbed through my stomach and tendrils of light flew around the car as Luka drove us back to the safe house. I was glad nobody was speaking because I wasn’t sure I would be able to vocalize anything at that moment. I focused all of my energy into holding Sofia to my chest instead of flying through the car window and tracking down every single Guild member that was involved in the elite unit and killing them in the slowest, most painful way I knew how. And I knew very painful ways to kill.
Looking down at her tear-streaked face, I worried about how she would handle his death, and hoped it wouldn’t be the same way she reacted to Miguel’s. Sofia had tried to take her own life when her twin brother had been killed by a gang in her city.
Once she had recovered from her attempted suicide, she funneled all of her rage into teaching herself how to fight with knives and went after the gang members who had killed her twin. She had managed to kill one before getting caught by the police and ending up in jail. Which was how she wound up at the Guild to begin with.
All I could think about was how I should have been there instead of having a fancy dinner with a brother I knew nothing about. I kept showing up too late when it really mattered. First with Papa, and now with Ekon. I resolved to never let it happen again. Too many people lost their lives because I didn’t do enough.
Tears streamed down my cheeks when I remembered the list of cheesy pick-up lines I’d saved to my phone to use on him, and now I would never get to see his reaction. I wouldn’t see his full-bellied laugh or run my fingers through the fur of his beautiful tiger form ever again. I pulled Sofia closer to my body, both of us taking comfort from the other.
This was the first Guild funeral I’d ever witnessed. Sofia’s hand were gripping mine so tightly, her fingers had turned white. We stood in the back of the compound, surrounding a pyre, different types of trees and flowers littering the fields around us. It was a strange dichotomy of death and life together.
Guild members hurried about, setting up the multiple pyres needed for that evening. Because of the suspicious ways Guild members often died the bodies were burned, and their ashes returned to their families along with a pension. A breeze swept through the air, goosebumps appearing on my flesh as a shiver went down my spine. I hated that Ekon wouldn’t even get the respect of having his own funeral.
When I questioned Ryder about where the members went that surrendered, he told me that Sofia had lost it and slashed the throats of each member left alive. I couldn’t fault her for that. I would likely have done the same thing. Actually, I had been doing the same thing since Papa’s death.
Ryder stood erect next to us, acting like a silent sentry. Guarding us against what, I didn’t know. The vampires had sent condolences and apologized for not being able to make it to the funeral. That would have been impossible seeing as nobody was supposed to know about how he died, especially not vampires, and Luka was thought to be dead. By Cade.
I looked over to him, Quinn by his side, and was momentarily surprised that he had shown up. Then I remembered that he had been friends with Ekon before they’d entered the Guild. His eyes were swollen, and guilt stabbed my stomach that I hadn’t thought about their connection until now. Of course he would be grieving as well.
I heard a snapping noise, and my eyes flew down to see Sofia pulling at her wrist band. Something she hadn’t done since I’d healed her scars. It felt like a punch to gut, and I wished with everything I had that I could heal emotional wounds. Though by her reaction to Quinn, she wouldn’t have accepted it even if I could.
I pulled her closer to my body and her arms wrapped around me before she continued with the elas
tic, the noise was the only thing I heard. My attention was diverted to my aunt as she made her way to the front of the crowd, members moving to the sides to allow her to pass. She looked as pristine as always, her black suit freshly pressed, her honey-blonde hair high up in a bun, her heels sinking slightly in the grass.
“Thank you all for joining us as we send of brothers and sisters who bravely gave their lives for our cause,” she began, everyone’s attention fixated on her.
I wanted to throw up. Ekon’s life was not given to their cause. It was stolen by people who decided they could attack those who didn’t deserve it. Bullies in the worst way. He didn’t deserve this funeral. He deserved something intimate, with friends and family where we could discuss what truly happened to him. Speak about his life and our connections with him. Discuss how our lives would never be the same without him in it. I mentally wrote down everything I would want to say if given the chance, promising myself that we would hold a real funeral for him. One that would be worthy of the person he was.
“For those of you who haven’t witnessed one of our funerals, I will explain our tradition. You will see people walking around, handing out pencils and paper. Please everyone write down something you wish to say to the deceased. Something you might have wished to tell them in person and never got the chance. It could be a wish for the afterlife if that’s what you believe in. You decide what you wish to say and write it down.
“Then, you fold the paper and once the pyres are lit, you throw it into the flames. Even if you don’t believe that your loved one will receive the message, consider doing it anyway. We have found that it helps to have closure, for those who didn’t get the opportunity to say goodbye.”
Sofia was silent in my arms as the paper and pencils were passed through the crowd, and I took for the both of us. I adjusted myself and pressed the paper against Ryder’s toned back, writing my note to Ekon.
Dear Ekon. I know we’ve only known each other for one year, but it was the best year of my life. You were my first friend at the Guild, and I will be forever grateful for your friendship. You lit up my life with your charisma, humor, love, and spirit. I will never forget the imprint you’ve left in my soul and I promise I’ll take care of Sofia for you. See you on the other side, friend.
