Release (The Protector Book 3)

by M. R. Merrick

  “Okay…” I said.

  I knew everything was not fine, but I didn’t push the subject. I was exhausted and I didn’t want to fight. Not only that, I wasn’t sure I’d made the right decision about us. If this was the end, what if spending time with the people you cared about was the only thing that was important? I wanted to stop Riley, but if we couldn’t—

  “Actually, no,” she said.

  My stomach tensed and my thoughts came crashing down around me. Being exhausted didn’t matter; we were about to fight.

  “How could you bring him here like this after all he’s done?”

  “I…” I took a breath and shook my head. “Tiki swore to help him. What was I supposed to do? I kind of owe Tiki for all that he’s done for us, and Vincent might be able to help. He does have numbers on his side.”

  “Did. He did have numbers on his side. Now we don’t know what he has. And of course, leave it to you to make things more difficult on everyone.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Marcus is finally on board with us. He’s with us one hundred percent. He’s ready, Chase—ready to fight and stop this once and for all. And just when we should be focusing on keeping everyone safe and stopping Riley, you have this ridiculous urge to run off on a crusade to save a vampire you hate. One who has done nothing but betray us every opportunity he’s had.”

  “I never said I trusted him, and I sure as hell don’t like him. I said he could help. Look at it out there, Rayna; it’s a nightmare. We’re in the middle of a war I started. I’m responsible for all those people—for all of them holding on to what they have left of life, for all the ones floating as dust in the air, and all the hunters you’ve had to bury six feet in the dirt. I might as well have killed them myself.”

  “It’s not your war, Chase. It’s Riley’s. We’ve all just been caught in the crosshairs of one lunatic’s arrogant quest for power. That’s not your fault, and although for a while I thought it was, it’s not mine either. But you’re right, we are in the middle of it, and that’s exactly why we don’t have time to be taking on other people’s problems. Especially his!”

  “I resent that.” Vincent closed the door behind him and walked towards us. “Short of telling the entire Underworld you had the ring and then attacking you to try and steal it, I would say I’ve been more than fair with our arrangements.”

  “Fair?” Rayna said. “You kidnapped Willy, made us go get that stupid scroll for you, threatened us because Chase got the Mark—which apparently you felt you were entitled to—physically and mentally attacked us in your office, came after us with an army of vampires to steal the ring and do gods know what else, whined and complained the entire time we were in Theral only to follow that up with threatening to bring a vampiric war to our doorstep… does that about cover your idea of fair?”

  “You forgot the part about where I helped you discover where the hunters were hiding. And I did warn you about the Underworld’s knowledge of the ring. I even offered to protect it for you.”

  “Oh, did I miss that part? Well then, let me point out, dear Vincent, that all of those things you just listed were either in exchange for something you wanted, or the situation applied specifically to your best interests.”

  “You’re not entirely incorrect, my sweet…but I’ve seen the error in my ways.”

  “How convenient.”

  “Having the Sovereign knock, or rather, break down my door, has shown me the light.” Vincent’s eyes squinted slightly as he smiled.

  “Cut the crap, Vincent,” I said. “You’re on the verge of losing everything, and we’ve already lost a lot of lives. Your desire for Rayna’s attention, or to get under our skin—I can never tell the difference—is getting old.”

  Vincent opened his mouth to respond, but hesitated and sighed. Silence fell over the room and Rayna pushed hard on the last bandage.

  “Ouch!” I said.

  “There, done. I’m outta here.”

  “Wait…” Vincent said, softly. “You’re right.”

  Rayna stopped, not turning to face him, but waiting.

  “I’ve done nothing for you that I did not benefit from, and it’s been that way since before Chase came into your life. Many years I’ve spent taking from people, all the while I cowered in the shadows, hoping the Sovereign would not find me, and praying for something, anything that could give me the upper hand against them. I had spent centuries searching for magical artifacts, all over the world, until finally, with the help of a seer, of sorts, I was shown the path. I could rule the Sovereign. It was an achievable task, and he would be the one to put me on the throne that ruled the vampires.” Vincent pointed at me.

  “What?” I asked.

  Vincent nodded. “And then a few months later, you came into Revelations, my sweet Rayna, and like a lost puppy, Chase trailed behind you. I almost couldn’t contain my excitement.”

  “You realize this little story isn’t helping your case, right? It’s making you look even more like a selfish ass,” Rayna said.

  Vincent smirked. “When the Sovereign invaded my home and began to slaughter my family, I had an epiphany. I had endured enough and my quest for power had destroyed my gift of eternal life. What good is eternity if you spend it hell-bent on the past? I don’t need to rule the vampires. I rule my home and I rule it in my own way. One that is fair and just.”

  Rayna laughed and shook her head. “Fair and just? Those are two words I never thought I’d hear in describing what you do.”

  “Compared to the Sovereign, I am a saint. My point is that I realized keeping my family safe was more important than changing the vampire law. I have created a safe world here in Stonewall for turned vampires to live. They seek me out from all corners of the world and although we are forced to live in the shadows and hide from the Sovereign, they are our shadows.”

  Rayna took in his story, but her expression didn’t change. She still looked angry.

  “I have done countless horrible things, not just to you, but to many. It’s true you have no reason to trust me, but I cannot do this alone. I cannot save the members of my family who have survived. What was once thousands could now be mere hundreds, maybe less, but they’re still my family.”

  “Thousands?” I asked.

  “There was I time I told you not to underestimate me, Mr. Williams. You don’t hide from the Sovereign for four centuries and not learn how to prepare yourself. But now I cannot keep them safe without your help, Rayna. They are here for me, and as their rules go, I have fourteen days—which is now only eleven— to concede or they will take further action. So I come to you as a humbled creature of the night, and ask not for your forgiveness, for I know that must be earned, but to ask for your help. Do this with me, and I swear I will aid you in any way I can.”

  Rayna looked to me and I couldn’t muster anything but a shrug. I had already made my decision. I didn’t care at all about Vincent, but I wasn’t doing it for Vincent, I was doing it for Tiki. Rayna was better than me though. If she chose to do it, it wouldn’t be for Vincent or for me or for Tiki; it’d be for all the vampires that were innocent bystanders—the victims of the Sovereign’s assault.

  “I’ll think about it,” she said, and turned and left the room, slamming the door behind her.

  “After that story, told with such passion, I truly thought I had her on board. You would think in time she’d get easier to understand, but that is not the case…” Vincent stared at the door, confusion warping his features.

  I picked up my shirt from the floor and moved for the doorway. “Rayna is never easy to understand, but then again, she’s never been one to take the crap you feed her. Now get out of here, there’s work to do.”

  “I don’t do work.”

  “Well, if you want anyone around here to help you, you better start.”

  Chapter 16

  I spent the next few days helping where I could. There was a copious amount of laundry, mouths to feed, and research to be done.
We needed to figure out how to find at least one of Ithreal’s soul pieces, so based on the information I’d given Tiki and Marcus, they had set themselves up in the library.

  Rayna and I took turns doing the laundry and we both worked on keeping everyone fed. Garrett and Karissa made multiple trips to the grocery store, and we were still waiting to hear from Jax and Willy. The longer they were gone, the more nervous I became.

  Grams seemed to be dealing with Willy’s absence just fine—at least on the surface. She refused to do anything around the house short of keeping her famous healing slop coming, and the condo had gotten so smoky Marcus had to ask her to smoke outside. Grams wasn’t happy about it, but she agreed, which meant we didn’t see much of her.

  I tried to find the right time to talk to Rayna about us the entire day, but anytime I thought about doing it, I was interrupted by something. When we’d been alone for a few minutes and the silence had settled in between us, I finally thought I had my chance.

  “Hey, walking buddy!” Karissa came up beside me while I was cutting vegetables.

  Apparently I was wrong again.

  “Hey,” I said. “You’re back already?”

  Karissa nodded. “We got in touch with Chief and he’s headed back with everyone now. They should be here tomorrow or the day after. As for The Ouija Board, everything is cleaned up and there was no sign of Arian. Thank the gods for that.”

  “I don’t understand him at all. I thought he was working with Riley, but now it seems like he’s on his own.”

  “That’s Arian for you. He’ll be fighting beside you one minute and biting into you the next. To say he doesn’t play well with others is an understatement. He doesn’t follow anyone. It’s his way, or no way.”

  “Sounds like someone else I know,” I said, eyeing Vincent across the room. I’d recently caught him licking his lips while changing bandages on some of the hunters, and I’d made a note not to leave him alone with anyone. The downside of that was I had to hear him complain every time he had to do anything that resembled work.

  “Why is he even here? You’re not really going to help him are you?”

  “I am. If not out of respect for Tiki, then for the simple fact that if any of his family is still alive, his numbers will come in handy. But by no means is he a priority.”

  “I guess I’ve always had a hard time trusting vampires, so forgive me if I’m a little on edge.”

  “Forgiveness isn’t necessary. I sure don’t trust him either.”

  Karissa smiled. “Can I help? I’m a pretty good cook.”

  “We’re fine.” Rayna walked behind me and grabbed a knife, chopping the lettuce for a salad.

  “Okay…” Karissa said, biting her bottom lip.

  “You’re here now, I’m sure we can find something for you,” I said.

  “The laundry needs changing, and Marcus needs someone to go and get more books from the warehouse,” Rayna said.

  “Why haven’t we just moved everybody there already? There’s much more space and it’d be a lot safer.”

  “Because it’s not safe,” Rayna said, staring daggers at Karissa with her bright green eyes. “The coven isn’t finished putting the seals up to hide us from the Dark Brothers magic. If we go there and they find us, that spot is ruined. The warehouse isn’t any safer than here right now, but in a few days, it will be.”

  “What is your problem? Why do you hate me so much?”

  “I don’t hate you…” Rayna’s voice turned soft, and she lowered her eyes away from Karissa.

  “Yes you do. Every time I come near you or Chase, you scowl at me and….”

  “And what?” Rayna asked, glaring and waiting for a response from Karissa that never came. “You never seem to have an issue sharing what’s on your mind, don’t stop now.”

  Karissa looked up at me with an arched brow and then back at Rayna.

  “Come on, spit it out,” Rayna snapped.

  “Fine,” Karissa said. “It just seems like any time I look at or talk to Chase, you get mad. You’re jealous.”

  Rayna laughed. “I am not jealous.”

  “Yes, you are. I just can’t believe I didn’t see it before. Don’t get me wrong, I understand. I make him smile and that hits a nerve, I completely get it.”

  Rayna gripped the knife and pointed it at Karissa. “First of all, I’m not jealous. You’re free to talk to whoever you want. Second…” Rayna stopped, seeming to have lost her train of thought.

  “And second?” Karissa asked, but when Rayna didn’t respond, she smiled. “Look, I have no intention of moving in on whatever it is you two have going on. Chase and I are just friends.” Karissa smiled.

  “This salad looks great,” I said, but my words went unheard.

  “I’m not worried about it, because Chase and I don’t have a thing. We’re just friends too.”

  “If you say so.” Karissa rolled her eyes.

  “Did you girls know I can shoot fire from my chest?”

  “I do say so,” Rayna snapped.

  Karissa shook her head “Whatever, I’ll go check the laundry.” Karissa turned and walked down the hall with a bounce in her step.

  Rayna’s knuckles were turning white as she gripped the knife. “Gods I hate her.”

  “What? You just said—” The look Rayna gave me stopped me from finishing that sentence. In the following silence and Rayna’s burning glare, I tried a different topic. “Looks like training is going well with Grams.”

  Rayna sighed and shook her head. “Well, at least it looks that way. We’re not really getting anywhere. Right now I just cut up ingredients, which isn’t much different than making this salad. I can’t actually do any new magic.”

  “It’s probably just like our elements. It’ll take time to learn.”

  “I’m not so sure. I can do the same spells I’ve always been able to do, but I can’t do anything more than a basic enchantment. Nothing like I should be able to do according to Grams. The magic is there and so is my focus, but it just won’t…happen. Grams doesn’t even know why.”

  “Well, between the two of us, we’ll figure it out.”

  Rayna brushed a strand of red hair behind her ears and smiled.

  “What about your dad?” I asked. “Have you talked to him?”

  Rayna shook her head. “He helped me shift and I’m grateful for that, but what now? I’ve been without him for seventeen years. Marcus is the closest thing I’ve ever had to a dad, and I’m not sure…can we not talk about this?”

  “Rayna?” Marcus called from the third floor above. “Can you come up here please?”

  Rayna didn’t look at me as she walked past, but the awkwardness between us was definitely stronger than before I’d left. For me, I’d been gone a day, but for everyone else it had been a few days, and they hadn’t been easy.

  When I left, I knew exactly what was happening, what the plan was, and where everybody stood. Now I’d been thrust into a room full of injured strangers and everything felt different. Rayna was going through her own thing with Grams and dealing with her dad, and we weren’t connecting like I hoped we would. Willy was still missing and I was frustrated with not knowing if he was okay. Riley was on the offense, going after any and all allies we had, and I was officially worried.

  Marcus had been trying to get in touch with the Circle, but we still hadn’t heard back from them. I wanted nothing to do with the Elders or the hunters beneath them, but I was starting to see that we couldn’t turn anyone away who could help. I had to put the anger of my exile behind me. After all, Vincent had done worse to us and I still agreed to help him. If the Circle was willing to work with us on equal ground, I had to acknowledge that they would be an asset. Then again, Riddley Peterson was still AWOL, probably in hiding with Riley somewhere, so we didn’t even know whom in the Circle we could trust.

  I knew we had to get everything in line, wait for reinforcements, and act smart, but part of me wanted to find the answers myself and tackle the situation head o
n. That was the approach that had hindered more than it helped, and I wasn’t going to follow through with it, but the urge was there. I had to figure out a way to get something done besides making dinner, and if that required me going into the much despised library, so be it.

  ******

  The condo was dark and quiet. The fire crackled in the library’s fireplace, and I sat in one of the nearby chairs, flipping through pages of an old leather-bound text. The writing inside had been done with a quill on parchment, and it was hard to read, but I wasn’t about to let old pages and bad penmanship get in the way of answers.

  Marcus and Tiki had been going through books all day. I told them what the worlds looked like to me, and the creatures inside them. So far they had been unlucky, and against my suggestion to rest, they stayed with me, going through book after book.

  “Anything?” Marcus came up beside me, setting a steaming cup of coffee on the table.

  “Thanks,” I said. “Nothing yet. The sheer number of Underworlders that exist baffles me. This is an endless search of half-creatures and legends. The seal to the other dimensions was hammered shut with magic, thousands of years ago. For all we know, the creatures we’re looking for don’t even exist in these—”

  “It’s here!” Tiki shouted, and then sheepishly hunched down, as though that could remedy his yelling in the middle of the night. “I think I have it,” he whispered. He set an oversized book on the table in front of me and the light from the fire wavered over the parchment. “This is the only thing I’ve seen that comes close to describing what you saw. Is this it?”

  A drawing in the corner of the page showed a pure blood demon. His lower half was thick and shaded with an orange pastel. Black claws stuck out from huge fur-covered paws, and the muscles in his four legs were bulging. A nearly hairless tail swung out behind him, with a tuft of dark brown hair on the end. His hind legs were bent like a cat’s, and the absolute strength that this picture radiated made it look like a lion on the hunt.

  The upper half of its body was a subtle yellow. Two oversized eyes were filled with black, and a third eye sat between them, slightly higher than the other two. It was a bright orange orb that contrasted with the black. Dark veins and muscles rippled across a wide human-like chest, and three-fingered hands clasped deadly looking blades. Its head was smooth and shaved, with the exception of a long ponytail that matched the brown hair on the end of its tail. The mouth was opened partly, revealing a square jaw filled with long, razor-sharp teeth.