by Fall, Carly
When Thaddeus answered, Aiden heard the laughter and barking.
"Sorry to ruin the fun, but back to work, brother."
"Cy's program worked?" Thaddeus said. Aiden heard the ding of the elevator as Thaddeus stepped in.
"Yep." Aiden clicked off and looked at Cy who was back in his chair. The printer came to life and began spitting out pages.
Rohan got up and went to the printer and brought the papers back to Aiden.
As Aiden looked over the addresses, he hissed when he recognized the address to the house where they had found Holly. He closed his eyes and focused himself. He had to re-group. The past was the past, and it was time to focus on the future, which he hoped involved killing Victor.
He did an estimate and it looked like there were over fifty addresses just in the Reno and surrounding areas that belonged to Victor. And then there were those that were in different states. The amount of property, both warehouses and single-family homes, was staggering.
Aiden was cursing under his breath when Thaddeus walked in.
"What do we have?" Thaddeus asked as he sat down.
Aiden tossed a couple of pages at him. "We have a lot to fucking do."
Thaddeus scanned the pages, and let out a whistle. "Quite the property investor," he murmured to no one in particular.
Cy stood up, came over to the table, and plopped himself into a chair.
"I have bank accounts as well, my brothers," he said with a shit-eating grin. Cy loved nothing more than getting to the bottom of a puzzle, and the shell corporation upon shell corporation that Victor had designed was a big puzzle to crack. Aiden noticed that Cy didn't try to hide the pride in his work.
"This is interesting," Cy said. "There have been substantial deposits to a Mercury Medicine and Pharmaceutical." He stood up and went to his computer again.
After a few minutes of silence, Aiden and Thaddeus began talking about how to divide the property up for searches. Rohan sat in silence.
The printer hummed to life again. Cy grabbed the page on his way back to the table. "Mercury Medicine and Pharmaceutical," he said loudly. Aiden and Thaddeus went quiet.
Cy went on to explain how the company was made up of two scientists, both human. Each of them had been let go of their jobs at Pharmaceutical companies for unacceptable behavior, although the report didn't state what that behavior consisted of.
"Now why in the world would a full-bred vampire need the help of two wayward scientists?" Cy asked, looking around the table.
There was silence for a few moments, and then Rohan said, "Because he's near death."
His brothers looked at him, waiting for him to explain more.
"You weren't there," Rohan said, his deep voice bouncing around the room. "The Council was near the end. Some were already dead. We die at around a thousand years, right? Think about how old those bastards were. They were old, some even passing one thousand. He's dying. He's employing the scientists to help him live longer."
Thaddeus nodded and smiled. "You have to be right, Rohan. Hell yes, you have to be."
Aiden and Cy nodded. Cy went back to the computer and began typing again. "Looks like one of the company's scientists went missing a while back," he said over his shoulder. "No body to confirm death, but no reason to believe he would just disappear either. That's according to the police reports."
Aiden looked at his brothers, and it was apparent they were having one of those moments when everyone in the room was thinking the exact same thing at the exact same time.
"Victor did him in," Thaddeus said.
The rest nodded in agreement. They just didn't know the details, such as the why and where. They had a pretty good idea of the how.
"Okay, then. Let's get some shit figured out, and let's get moving."
Chapter 50
Two hours later, Thaddeus and Aiden had finally decided how to divide up the addresses on the paper and were going their separate ways to cover more ground. Thaddeus was taking the Sparks area, a suburb of Reno, and Aiden was taking Reno proper and some of Verdi, Nevada. They had a lot of places to hit.
While Aiden was covering Verdi, Thaddeus was going over the same group of warehouses he and Aiden had covered before. It was frustrating, but it needed to be done, as it seemed that Victor had a lot of properties to move his little vampire creations to and from. As the brothers went their separate ways, they both hoped that Cy was getting somewhere with the Mercury Medicine and Pharmaceutical company.
As Aiden arrived in the warehouse complex just west of Reno, he looked at the rows and rows of warehouses where he would be doing a little B&E. He knew that the ones with windows would be a dead end, but there were those without that hopefully would land him directly in the neck of Victor, or Vladislav, with a knife cutting his jugular. The thought brought a smile to his lips.
While he walked across the gravel, he thought that there were two beings within him. A straight up killer, one that enjoyed the hunt, and if he were honest, the kill when it was appropriate. The second being within him was a male who loved nothing more than to please his Holly and Robert, and would do anything . . . anything, to see them smile. Hell, today he had even played Twister. He thought of all the erotic thoughts that were going through his head as Robert yelled, "Yellow!" and Holly had twisted herself around him. All three of them had ended up in laughter on the floor. It felt good, and it felt right.
He was in a good place. A place of peace, a place of happiness. He closed his eyes, sending his sixth sense out into the area around him, trying to sense any danger. He felt . . . nothing. Zero.
He sighed, cracked his knuckles and drew the knife from his back. He better get on with the search just to make sure he had his bases covered. Locked doors could hide interesting things.
Chapter 51
"Hello?" Aiden said into the phone as he peeked at the clock. Four in the afternoon. Who the hell was calling him at this time?
"Hey, Aiden. It's Rohan."
Aiden listened as Rohan explained where he was and what he was doing. Apparently the male had taken it upon himself to do a little work during the daylight hours, and was sitting in the living room of one of the scientists who was helping Victor, and Rohan had the guy in a trance.
"He looks a lot like you from a distance," Rohan said. "Up close, you're far sexier."
"What the hell, Rohan? How did you get in there? What did you do?"
Aiden listened as Rohan told him that he walked the guy's neighborhood with his dogs, pretending to be blind. When he saw the scientist, he dropped the leashes and gave the command for his dogs to charge him.
"I called the dogs back, but then with me being blind, I couldn't find their leashes and asked the scientist to help me out. From there it was easy. Just slapped him into a trance, and now I'm drinking one of his beers and talking to you. Have you ever had this Sierra Pale Ale? It's quite good."
"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Aiden said, sitting up. "You're going to get yourself killed!"
"Relax, Aiden."
"Seriously, Rohan. You—"
"Actually, just shut-up, okay? Get in the car with Thaddeus and get over here. I have a plan to put an end to Victor once and for all."
Chapter 52
Aiden and Thaddeus arrived about an hour after sundown. Thaddeus was still steaming that Rohan had directly disobeyed the plan of observe, don't interact.
"Really, Thaddeus, just relax, okay? He's fine. Christ, he's sitting here having a beer from this guy's fridge. Chill, my man," Aiden finally said, interrupting Thaddeus.
The scientist still sat in the chair across from the sofa staring off into space.
"So here's my idea," Rohan said, obviously enjoying himself. Molly got up off the floor and nudged his hand for a pet.
"Good girl, baby," Rohan said before continuing with his plan. When he finished, Aiden smiled
"I'm so down with that," he said.
Thaddeus began pacing the floor looking for problems in Rohan's plan. "You're goin
g to have to be quick, Aiden. He's a full-bred vampire. If he figures out the switch, you're going to be in a muck of knee deep shit."
Aiden nodded. "That's why you'll be there. Just in case something goes wrong. Back-up."
Thaddeus nodded.
"You'll stay here with him?" he asked Rohan while nodding at the scientist.
"Sure. I'll make sure our boy over here doesn't come around, and when your done, I'll make sure his memories are erased. He'll probably think he's going crazy, but fuck it. He's no saint. Besides, he's got good beer." "Okay, then," Thaddeus said. "Let's go ahead and put the thoughts we want in this guy's head and have him make the call to Victor."
Chapter 53
Aiden waited in the office area in the warehouse in Sparks. He heard a car pull in, a door open then shut, and the crunch of footsteps on the gravel. He was dressed in the scientist's white lab coat and also had on a surgical mask. When the scientist had called Victor, he had told him that he was a little under the weather, but getting the update of the serum into Victor was critical, so the scientist had said he would wear a mask.
Aiden took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. Right now was where he was the most vulnerable. He didn't like having his back to a full-bred vampire, but he had to take his chances because if Victor paid too much attention and pegged Aiden, shit would go south quickly. He thought of Holly, Natalie, Brandon, Emily, and Thaddeus. It was critical that this plan went perfect, and he was the catalyst. Victor had been responsible for too much heartache, too many deaths, and Aiden promised himself he wouldn't lose his temper and mess it up. Vlad had a lot of blood on his hands, and it was time for it to come to an end.
Victor walked in and began thanking Aiden for calling with the update on the serum. "It's apparent you care a great deal for your work, just as I do," Victor said as he lay down on the cot and rolled up his sleeve.
Aiden nodded and coughed. A blinding rage went through him as he listened to Victor, making his hands shake, and sweat form on his brow. Visions of eviscerating Victor swam before his eyes, and he could barely contain himself.
He took a deep breath and concentrated on calming down. He needed to get it together and go through with the plan, not go off half-cocked. If he did that, he would most likely end up dead. And Victor wouldn't. Sure, Aiden could do some damage on his way out, but Victor would live, and that wasn't acceptable. He calmed himself by thinking that if he could get the shot into Victor, then he would get his revenge. Victor's death.
"Thank you for wearing the mask as well. I would hate to fall ill when I have just found my freedom."
Aiden turned, keeping his eyes lowered, but he couldn't help but take a quick glance at Victor as he approached.
He looked so normal. Just a good-looking vampire with brown hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in a nice black suit, and Aiden could see how so many women fell for him. Aiden knew the horror that hid behind the pretty facade.
As he approached Victor, he again had the urge to say the hell with the needle and drive his knife in Victor's heart. But being full-bred vampire, Victor could move quickly with deadly strength. They needed him to have the shot before they killed him.
Victor shut his eyes as Aiden slid the needle in with efficiency, glad he had watched Holly administer shots when she stitched everyone up. Aiden pushed the plunger in slowly, just as he had watched her do. He didn't know what would happen if he just slammed the plunger, but this was their one shot at killing Victor, and he wasn't going to screw it up.
Victor's eyes suddenly flew open and met Aiden's. Aiden didn't know how long it would take for the shot to cause the paralysis they needed, but he was certain it needed some more time. He jammed the plunger with his thumb, efficiency be damned. They needed as much of the drug in Victor as possible.
"This feels different than last time," he said, his eyes narrowing.
Aiden slipped the needle from his arm and shrugged. He turned to go back to the desk and put the needle away. Shit, he really hated having his back to Victor.
He spun around as he heard a thump on the floor. Vlad had de-cloaked from his Victor disguise, and Aiden was staring into the face of a full-blooded vampire who had just swung his feet to the floor.
"Reveal yourself to me before I kill you," Vlad hissed.
Aiden backed up as Vlad slowly came closer. He felt his heart go into overdrive, a ribbon of fear threaded through him. He could hold off a full-bred vampire for a little while, but not long. Shit, when was that stuff going to take hold?
"What was in that shot?"
Aiden looked at the being in front of him. He felt such rage and hate build up in him as he thought of all pain Vlad had caused, he pulled off his mask, the fear and the weak dam that had held back his anger gone. "Your death, motherfucker."
Before Aiden knew what hit him, Vlad was on top of him, slamming him to the ground with his fangs bared, hissing and growling, obviously looking to remove Aiden's jugular. Aiden wrapped his hands around Vlad's neck and was barely able to hold him off. Vlad's claws were doing a number on the white lab coat, shredding it as he tried to reach Aiden. Aiden could feel the blood beginning to well on the scratches on his arms as the coat was destroyed.
Aiden knew he was in trouble. He could feel the strength of the full-bred vampire, and felt his own weakening. He thought about Holly and Robert, and knew he needed to live—he couldn't leave them now, not when they had all finally found each other, not when he had finally come to terms with the past.
He also thought of Natalie, and hate rippled through him. Vlad had been responsible for Natalie's death, but he wasn't going to be responsible for Aiden's. With renewed purpose, he locked his arms and grimaced as he shut out the pain as Vlad's claws ripped at the skin on his arms. Then he remembered Thaddeus was supposed to be back-up.
Where the fuck was he?
Two things happened at once.
Vlad all of sudden went still and silent, and Aiden could feel the male's strength depleting. Their eyes met, and Aiden saw a flash of something that looked like fear, but then the hate and menace returned.
Thaddeus then appeared over Vlad's shoulder. Thaddeus grabbed Vlad and hauled him off, sending him into the wall across the room. Aiden stood up slowly, his breathing heavy and his arms bleeding.
Thaddeus removed his gun from his holster and fired into Vlad's chest. "That's for Emily and Brandon, you cocksucker," he said with deadly quiet.
Vlad's black-pitted eyes were still open, they could still hear his breath. He began to snarl, but he couldn't move. Aiden brought out the knife from his back and flung it at Vlad, landing dead center in his chest.
"That's for taking Holly from me," he said. "And now, this is for Natalie." He unsheathed a knife from his ankle and stepped up to Vlad. He crouched right in front of the male, taking in his face. Aiden wondered if the last thing Natalie had seen had been this face with the long, bony white skull, the black pitting eyes, and the extended fangs. He hoped not. Aiden met his eyes for a brief second, and then dragged the knife across Vlad's throat.
There was a gurgle, and then silence.
He had done it. He had finally gotten revenge for Natalie's murder. He felt the final nail of closure seal that part of his life. It was over.
"Let's get rid of him," Thaddeus said quietly.
Aiden stood up and nodded. "There's a field behind the warehouses. Lot's of tall grass. He can fry there in the morning."
Three Days Later
It was snowing. Well, it was actually a blizzard. Wind whipped the snow into a frenzy making it seem as though it were dancing before actually hitting the ground.
Aiden sat on the leather couch in front of the big window, a roaring fire off to the side in the fireplace. His Holly curled into his chest on one side, and Robert curled into his chest on the other, each of them under an arm. He couldn't imagine being any happier. His mate. His son. His family. He was The Man. He kissed both their heads, and then took a sip of whiskey. Holly was finishing a glass of w
ine. The three of them talked quietly, not wanting to disturb the peace in the room.
Dawn would be arriving in a couple of hours. They had been out playing in the snow before the wind suddenly picked up. They had just changed after coming in and were all dressed in sweats or pajamas. They had made the saddest snowman Aiden had ever laid eyes on. Yet, the snowball fight had been epic. Holly had a hell of an arm, and it was just one more thing on the long list of stuff he admired about her. Scratch that. That he loved about her.
Then Thaddeus, Hugo, Brandon, Rohan, and the dogs had joined them, while Emily watched from the sidelines claiming she had a pass due to pregnancy. Apparently that meant she got to throw, she just couldn't be hit. Cy had opted to watch the fun from the large window, staying warm inside.
Things got crazy fun in the snowball fight. The dogs would jump and catch the snowballs before they landed on their intended target, especially if that intended target was Rohan.
Holly let out a sigh, and Robert let out a yawn. Neither of them seemed to be interested in eating. It was almost time to put his family to bed.
As he stared out into the forest watching the snowflakes get tossed around before finally landing on the trees and forest floor, his eyes honed in on a figure in the trees. Well, he thought it was a figure in the trees. If he had drunk a lot more whiskey, he would assume he was hallucinating. Considering this was his first glass, he highly doubted it.
He blinked. She was still there. She was in a white robe, her black hair flowing around her shoulders, a small smile on her face. Snow whipped around her as if she were in a vortex. He blinked again and rubbed his eyes. Nope, still there.
Natalie.
She looked at him, and for a brief second he felt the need to throw himself out the window to go to her. His heart began to pound; he felt his muscles tense, and beads of sweat formed on his brow.
