by Katie Reus
The next picture was of Vega and Lyra. Their daughter was wearing a cap and gown and Lyra wore a simple black dress. Their arms were wrapped around each other tightly. Lyra looked more like an older sister than mother in physical features, but the maternal pride she felt shined so clearly someone would have to be blind to miss it.
“She looks like you,” he murmured, his chest painfully tight.
He heard her shift in her seat. “She got my eyes, but that’s it. She’s all you.”
“She’s both of us.” And he didn’t know how that made him feel. Overwhelmed. Proud. Awed.
She sniffled as she looked at the picture. “That was her high school graduation. It was supposed to be at noon, but after some…mental persuasion I convinced the principal it would be better to do an evening one. I wasn’t missing her graduation because of a little sun.”
Despite the situation, he barked out a laugh. That sounded exactly like Lyra.
“The kids loved it,” she continued. “They were the first class at their school to ever have one at night. I miss her so much.” Her voice cracked and when she went to turn away again, he couldn’t help himself. No matter how angry he was, he could understand why she’d done what she had, and hurt like hell that he hadn’t been there for her. For either of them.
He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her in tight. To his surprise, she didn’t fight him, but buried her face in his neck. She didn’t sob or make any outward sounds, but he felt the wetness of her tears as she slightly shook. He rubbed a hand up and down her spine. Holding her soothed the darkest, angriest part of him. If he’d been in her position, he had no idea what he’d have done.
“We’ll get her back, I promise.” Because any other option was unacceptable.
“I have another confession,” she whispered.
He closed his eyes, not sure he wanted to hear it. Wasn’t sure he could take it. “What is it?”
“She wasn’t on her way to a concert. She ran away because she wanted to meet you. It’s why she was in Biloxi.”
Unable to speak, he tightened his grip on Lyra as he rested his chin on top of her head. His daughter had wanted to know him. Knowing that eased him a little. He was still angry, but right now they needed to support each other while they searched for Vega. Anything else would be destructive.
* * *
Vega shifted against the cold floor, the chains on her arms and legs jangling against her stone cell. She was trapped in the worst vampire cliché ever. Her crazy racist uncle had kidnapped her from her captors instead of rescuing her. Then he’d drained a pint of her blood and locked her in a dungeon of some sort. There were two other barred-in cells, one on either side of her. Both empty. At least he hadn’t drugged her. Which was good and bad because now she was perfectly aware of her surroundings.
The maniac wanted to use her blood to free a bunch of hungry demons from hell in his grand attempt to take over the world—specifically humans. Seriously? What a freaking moron. Her mom had never lied about how bad her relatives were, but Vega had always thought they couldn’t truly be so awful.
Turned out her uncle was way worse than she’d imagined.
At the sound of keys jangling, Vega tensed. There wasn’t anywhere to go and there was no sense pretending to be asleep. She was too amped up on adrenaline.
A second later the main door beyond the three cells opened and Claudius stepped inside, his shoes clicking over the stone floor. The blond vamp was dressed impeccably in a dark suit that probably cost more than her mother made in a year. Vega could see the family resemblance, but unlike her mother, Claudius was tall and had dark brown eyes.
Dead freaking eyes.
She watched him carefully. Even though her first inclination was to verbally lash out at him, she knew that would be a stupid mistake. On the way here—wherever exactly she was—she’d seen her uncle kill one of his own vampires simply because he’d asked a question.
The guy was seriously unhinged. She wondered if it was because of his age. Her mom had told her that her parents—Vega’s grandparents—had opted to put themselves in what was considered vampire stasis because they’d started turning paranoid. Later Claudius had told everyone something had gone wrong with the process because they’d died. Her mom had always wondered if he’d killed them. Something told Vega this nutjob definitely had.
Claudius stepped up to the bars of her cell and watched her for a long moment with those creepy, hollow eyes. “You’re different from your mother. Not so bloody weak.” He seemed pleased with that.
Vega bit her anger back. Her mother wasn’t weak. She was the strongest person Vega knew. Lyra Marius had been kicked out of the only life she’d ever known with no skills and limited experience in the human world, yet had created an amazing life for the two of them. She now ran two bookstores and didn’t let her aversion to daylight stop her from being successful. Vega knew her mom had needed to steal when she first set out on her own—pregnant and alone—but she’d eventually repaid all those she’d taken from once she got on her feet.
“Nothing to say?” he asked as he opened the cell door. It creaked ominously before he knelt in front of her, his expression a sneering mask of disdain.
She refused to feed his insanity, but she also wouldn’t cower in front of him.
Frowning when she didn’t respond, he stood and barked out an order. A moment later another vampire appeared in the main doorway. This one couldn’t be much older than Vega. Maybe a decade. She could sense how young he was. Her mom had shown her how to do that. This vamp didn’t exude much power. Unlike her uncle, unfortunately. That monster was coated in a thick aura of raw, evil energy.
All Vega could hope to do was escape. She wasn’t stupid enough to think she could take him on all by herself. She was only sixteen and not even close to coming in to her full powers. And her uncle was over one thousand years old. No contest who’d be the victor.
Holding a syringe attached to a plastic IV bag, the other vamp scampered in, keeping his gaze locked on the floor.
“Don’t just stand there, drain her,” Claudius snapped.
Panic slammed into her, but she still didn’t respond. Even if he could scent her fear, she wasn’t going to outwardly show it. She wouldn’t give him the pleasure.
The other vampire moved into action and bent down next to her. Without looking at her, he took her arm and examined her veins. “How much should I take?” he asked as he slid the needle into her vein. At least he didn’t miss this time.
Last time he kept jabbing her skin because he’d been shaking so bad from fear of Claudius. Luckily she healed fast, but she didn’t like getting poked with a needle. It pissed off her inner wolf. Not to mention she hadn’t been allowed to run free in days so her wolf was downright agitated.
“Another pint,” Claudius said, his gaze on hers, arrogant and condescending.
Good Lord, she’d never realized how great she’d had it in the human world. If she’d grown up in a coven with this guy as a ruler…ugh. Yeah, she so would have run away. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself not to speak. Calling him a douchebag would likely only incite him to take three pints. If she’d been human, she’d be dead, but with her combined shifter and vampiric healing abilities, she was only weakened.
Too weak to shift just yet. Damn him.
She looked at the plastic bag as it slowly filled with her blood and forced herself to breathe normally. No matter what, she had to reserve her strength. Once she was alone again, she’d try to think of a way out of here.
A commotion from somewhere past the main dungeon door stole her attention. She could hear multiple males shouting, then an angry roar. Definitely not a human sound. Not shifter either. Or, not wolf shifter. Of that she was certain. “Do you have a freaking bear out there?” she asked before she could remember to censor herself.
Claudius ignored her and strode from the group of cells, leaving the main door open.
“You like hurting someone unable to defen
d themselves?” she snapped to the vamp drawing her blood.
He met her gaze, the spike of fear rolling off him so potent, it made her nauseous. He glanced over his shoulder then looked back at her. “I don’t have a choice,” he whispered.
“We always have choices.” Something her mom had taught her. Even if you made the wrong choice, it was cowardly to hide behind your situation. Make a decision and own it. Clearly this guy was going to be no use. Vega had thought she might be able to play up the sympathy card, but the vamp was just too scared of Claudius.
Ignoring him, she turned to the entrance as her uncle strode in with his hand wrapped around the neck of…something.
The gigantic man or animal was covered in soot and kind of an odd shape. Oh crap, he was mid shift. But what kind of animal was he? She couldn’t even tell. He was a huge, dirty and lumpy figure.
Claudius threw him into the cell next to hers. The being howled in rage as it hit the far stone wall.
“Hey! Leave him alone!” she shouted.
Her uncle ignored her and dragged the man/beast up from the floor. He quickly secured the man’s hands. As she watched, she saw his body transforming slightly as he shifted to his human form. What had once been claws were now huge, regular, though still sooty, feet.
“Finish with her now,” Claudius snapped at the nameless vamp still drawing her blood.
Her uncle kept his gaze on the newest prisoner. “You are definitely a welcome surprise. Don’t get too comfortable,” he murmured to the growling man in that creepy, evil way of his.
The vampire pulled the IV from her arm and on trembling legs stood and gathered everything. The stench of his fear was even more potent now. She wanted to tell him to grow a pair.
As he left the cell, Claudius stood there, watching them like the megalomaniac he was. Like he was a king and they were his peasants or something. “Did you speak to her?” Claudius asked in a voice so eerily calm it sent a chill snaking down her spine.
The vamp cleared his throat. “No.”
Wrong answer. She knew it before he’d uttered the lie.
Claudius plucked the blood bag from the vamp’s hand, passed it to a waiting lackey lurking in the main doorway, then sliced off the other vamp’s head in one clean sweep using razor sharp claws. Vega had never seen anyone do something like that before.
She’d never seen a lot of stuff until she decided to run away to meet her dad. Closing her eyes, she filed that sight away with crap she never wanted to witness again. When she opened them again, the vamp was a pile of ash.
“You can blame yourself for his death.” Claudius still stood there and she wanted nothing more than to wipe that imperious smirk off his face.
She shrugged as much as her chains would let her. “I didn’t kill him.”
Those dark eyes narrowed. “Perhaps you are more like your mother than I thought.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
His jaw tightened at that. “I’m going to torture and kill her in front of you. We’ll see how arrogant you are then.”
Vega snorted with a lot more confidence than she actually had. She didn’t want this maniac anywhere near her mom. “My father will you kill you before that.” She felt like a five year old kid on the playground telling another kid that her dad could beat up their dad. In this case, all she had were rumors to go on, but she’d heard how powerful Finn Stavros was. And she didn’t even know if her mother would find her in time. Vega was just hanging on to a thread of hope that she would.
Maybe it was her imagination, but Claudius paled a fraction. Instead of responding, he pulled the heavy iron door shut behind him. A dull echo filled the room as the lock clicked back into place.
Vega turned to look at the chained man through the bars of their adjoining cells to find bright silver eyes staring at her. They were so vivid, made even more so against his dirty face, she sucked in a breath. She couldn’t even tell how old he was. Not with all that dirt. He was big though, definitely over six feet. His arms and legs were freaking huge. “Are you okay? Where did you come from?” she whispered. She wasn’t sure if her uncle had video cameras or recorders in here, but she hadn’t seen any cameras at least.
He stared at her so long she didn’t think he would answer. When he did, it surprised her. “Why did you tell him to leave me alone?” His voice was hoarse, as if he hadn’t used it in ages.
She frowned, not understanding. “Why wouldn’t I? Look, why are you here? Do you know either of my parents? What’s your name?” Vega bit her tongue so she’d stop bombarding the filthy stranger with questions. He was clearly in worse shape than her.
“I…came through the gate that vampire opened. I don’t know your parents and I don’t have a name.”
She was going to go back to the no name thing later, but first… “You came through the hell gate?” She hadn’t seen it because she’d had a hood over her head, but she knew what her uncle was doing. He’d boasted about it practically nonstop on the drive to New Orleans. And she could smell the sulfur coming from outside their dungeon so she knew the hell gate was close.
He nodded.
“You don’t look like a demon.” The truth was, she hadn’t actually seen one. She’d heard about them and read about them, but that was it.
He laughed bitterly, the sound raspy. “I’m not. We need to get out of here.”
“No kidding.” She tugged on the silver chains, her inner wolf howling in agony as the silver scraped against her wrists, the metal chafing. “Until I get my strength back that’s not an option. And if they keep taking my blood, I won’t be able to get stronger.”
He looked around their cells, at the ceiling, walls, and metal doors as if assessing everything. Then he pinned her with that silvery gaze again. The brightness had faded a little so they were grayer now. “Don’t scream,” he whispered.
Why would she scream? Before she could ask, he opened his mouth and released a long stream of scorching orangey-red flames.
Chapter Twelve
With his back pressed up against the high stone wall surrounding the two-story mansion in the Garden District, Finn waited for the signal. Impatiently.
The ever resourceful Spiro had given all of his team—including the two vamps from Lyra’s former coven—earpieces and locked them into the same frequency. He scented other vamps nearby, but couldn’t be sure this was the place they were looking for. The vampire Bruno could have lied about the location.
Finn didn’t think he had, but the vamp’s fear had been so strong it could have overpowered the stench of a lie. With fear like that, however, it was a good bet this was the place.
Right now he couldn’t afford to be wrong. Not with his daughter’s life hanging in the balance.
“Four vamps visible. One on the east perimeter near the wall, two in the backyard and one on the far south corner leaning against a tree. There might be more. Trees are too thick.” Lyra’s voice was so low he wouldn’t have heard her without the earpiece. She was too high in the air, using her ability to fly to give them a perfect aerial view.
Considering they were moving in practically blind, her gift was the best option they had right now to infiltrate this place unseen. Gabriel had rounded up five warriors in addition to the four others who had been searching with him in Biloxi yesterday. He hadn’t expected them to come since they were running on practically no sleep, but according to his Guardian they’d insisted. Word had spread that he had a daughter and the entire pack had wanted to come to New Orleans to help.
A daughter.
Fuck, he had to keep his head on straight. “I’ll take the east, everyone else, you know what to do.” They’d been in enough battles with other supernatural beings over the decades and fought alongside each other enough that he didn’t need to give explicit instructions. His men and women were trained well.
They would secure the perimeter, then move on the house. From there, they would take down any other combatants who got in their way. Simple as that. Vic
toria was waiting in one of the vehicles in case they needed her healing strength. If Vega was hurt—he cut down that thought with a razor-sharp blade.
Using all the strength in his legs, he jumped up nine feet and grabbed onto the outer edge of the wall. Then he pulled himself up and crouched low, scanning the expansive yard. Magnolia and oak trees covered the property.
Below him he spotted the vamp Lyra had been talking about. On his cell phone, the vamp was texting. Shaking his head, Finn jumped down and unsheathed his claws in midair. The vamp must have heard him because he turned, shock on his face.
He dropped his phone and went to grab for a blade sheathed against his hip, but Finn struck hard and fast, slicing through the man’s neck. Normally he preferred to fight in wolf form, but that wasn’t the best option tonight. He needed to be fast and deadly. There was no margin for error.
Seconds later the vamp turned to ash at his feet. An unfamiliar scent teased his nose. Turning, ready to strike, he stopped as Lyra dropped from the sky, bringing her blade down on his would-be attacker in a perfect slice. The female vamp’s eyes widened a split-second before her head tumbled to the ground. Just as quickly, her body disintegrated into ash.
“Thanks,” he murmured to her. Seeing her like this now reminded him of how much she’d changed. She’d been strong before, but now she was also trained to kill quickly and efficiently. Something that shouldn’t turn him on, but did. “Everyone check in,” he ordered, whisper quiet.
Once he received affirmative responses that everyone was alive and the perimeter was secure, he motioned toward the house. “Move in.”
He and Lyra headed for the east side of the house where there was a small iron fence that wrapped around a descending staircase. There was also a door that led into what he guessed was a kitchen or utility room, but the stairs led below ground into what could be a basement. And basements in the South were almost unheard of. Especially in below sea level New Orleans with hurricanes and flooding. One would have to be completely insulated.
