I shuddered, that memory gripping onto my soul and tearing it to shreds. “Felix told me who they were. They were from the Brotherhood, they’d helped Ryder’s father kill mine. They were responsible.” My chest tightened and I didn’t look at Elise as I spoke my next words. “I killed them. And I liked it. I relished the feeling of their lives ending by my hand because of the justice it served me.” I took a shaky breath, knowing I had to finish this story now I’d come this far. Elise would see me differently now she knew I was a killer. Maybe she’d known before but had never really let herself believe it.
“Even before the last body hit the floor, the stars themselves seemed to shrink from me. I’d done it, I’d killed all of those who’d ended my father and there was only Ryder’s father left. But I just felt…empty. Hollow. Like there was no heart left inside me to pump blood around my body. Then Felix spoke at last and his words folded around me, wrapping me up in them, binding me to them forever. Well done, Dante, all Lunar followers are guilty. All of them deserve this death whether your father’s blood is on their hands or not.”
“They weren’t the ones responsible?” Elise gasped, echoing the same words I’d said to Felix in response that day.
“No,” I confirmed through my teeth, a well of anger opening up inside me for what my uncle had made me do. How the people I’d killed hadn’t laid a finger on my father. And how, for the first time in my life, I’d seen the members of the Lunar Brotherhood as more than just enemies from my nightmares. They were us in reverse. Fae with lives and families and loved ones. And I’d just ripped all of that to pieces with a vengeance that had never been meant for them.
I bit my lip as I thought over Dante’s words, my gaze unfocused as I looked out of the windshield at the farmland ahead of us.
My Atlas pinged in my pocket and I glanced at the confirmation that the Kiplings had made it into the warehouses with little interest. The first half of my job was done. We’d just have to drive the van back to collect them once they were ready and my payment would be waiting in my room when I got back to the academy.
“I know how it feels to want vengeance like that,” I said slowly. “If there was someone I could blame for my brother’s death then I wouldn’t hesitate to make them pay.”
Dante shifted in his seat behind the wheel, pushing a hand through his black hair as he released a sigh.
“I don’t think you would though, carina,” he said. “I don’t think you’d do what I did. I don’t believe you’d spill innocent blood.”
My mind shifted to Lorenzo Oscura, Dante’s third cousin who I’d tracked down before coming to Aurora Academy and beaten in a dark alleyway until answers began to spill from his lips. He’d died at my hands in a way. He’d chosen to take his own life rather than turn on the man responsible for Gareth’s death and give me a name. But he never would have killed himself if I hadn’t been there. If I hadn’t been threatening him. I knew it made me culpable in some way. But I hadn’t spared a moment of my time feeling guilty over the fact. Did I regret it? Yes. But only because he’d died without giving me the answers I’d needed.
I rolled my tongue over my teeth, choosing not to answer Dante’s statement. Because there was still a chance that I was sitting beside the very man who had taken everything from me. Still a possibility that I’d have to take his life in payment for Gareth’s. I’d heard what he’d said about the deaths not making him feel any better even when he’d believed that those Fae had been responsible for his father’s death. But that wasn’t the point. It didn’t matter to me if killing the person responsible for Gareth’s death made me feel any better. I wasn’t doing it to try and fix the shattered pieces of my heart. I was going to do it to get justice. And damn the consequences. If it meant my soul burned without peace for the rest of time then so be it. Because my brother had deserved more from life than he’d been given. And I certainly wouldn’t allow him to be short-changed in death.
“You say that that’s the worst in you,” I said slowly, wondering if I might be able to get the answer I really needed out of him. “So does that mean you haven’t killed anyone since then?”
Dante drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Not like that. Not in cold blood. Not intentionally.”
My heart beat a little faster at those words. But they weren’t any kind of declaration. He was saying he’d been somewhat responsible for someone’s death since those murders but how? Who??
“So if you killed for vengeance the first time, what drove you to it since?” I asked.
Dante looked at me for a long moment then sighed. “In my family, there is always some reason for someone to hurt you or for you to hurt someone. But the worst kind of blow you can strike against me is betrayal. I cannot let deceit and duplicity go unpunished. I could not let someone paint themselves out to be my friend, mio amico, and then spit in my face. Bring shame on my family. There will always be repercussions for such wounds. The stars would demand it even if I wanted to look away.”
“Who betrayed you?” I whispered.
“Qualcuno di cui ero pazzo di cui fidarmi.. I won’t make the same mistake again.”
“What mistake?” I asked with a frown, for once not liking the way he used his native tongue. It usually felt like he spoke to me in his language out of passion, this felt like he was using it to withhold information.
“Fidati solo del sangue. Famiglia per sempre.”
I pinned him in my gaze, narrowing my eyes a little to force a translation from him.
“It means: only trust blood. Family forever. The Oscuras are my family and I won’t ever trust anyone who isn’t one of us again.” His tone was dark and unwavering and a shiver ran down my spine at the certainty in his words.
I could tell he wasn’t going to offer up any more on the subject so I guessed I’d just have to try and figure out if he’d been friends with Gareth or not before working out if my brother could have betrayed him in some way.
I decided to drop the subject and break the tension, sidling a little closer to him across the seats.
“So you don’t trust me then, Dante?” I asked, dropping my voice as I said his name.
“Not even a little, carina,” he replied steadily, his gaze trailing over me.
I blew out a breath, pouting like I was disappointed.
“Do you want me to trust you?” he asked slowly.
“Maybe,” I replied.
“Then perhaps you should tell me more things about yourself that are real,” he said.
“Like what?” I asked.
“What’s your favourite colour?”
I rolled my eyes. “Blue, like the kind of blue the sky is on a perfect summer day. What’s yours?”
A smile tugged at the corner of Dante’s mouth. “Lilac.” He reached out and twisted a lock of my hair between his fingers for a moment before dropping it again.
I looked into his dark eyes and smirked. “Do you trust me now then?”
“Even less than before,” he replied.
“Why?”
“Because I think if I gave you my trust, you’d use it to steal my heart and once it was yours you’d never give it back.”
The air in the cab suddenly felt a lot thicker than it had a moment ago and I leaned back slowly, wetting my lips with my tongue. Dante followed the motion but didn’t make any moves himself.
“Do you want to play a game with me, Dante?” I asked.
“A game? Like what?”
“Catch,” I said simply, grinning at him as I curled my fingers around the door handle.
“And what am I trying to catch?”
“Me.” I yanked the door open and hopped out, shooting out of the truck and around the back of it.
The sound of Dante’s door opening and closing came as he followed me out of the truck and I smiled to myself as I pressed my back to the metal doors behind me.
“And just how am I supposed to catch a vampira when she runs from me using her gifts?” he called, his footsteps crunching o
n the gravel as he walked away in the opposite direction.
I slipped off of the path and ducked down a row of blue crystals which were growing in the paddy fields there.
Dante was striding forward purposefully, his gaze sweeping back and forth as he tried to locate me in the fields which surrounded the road.
I stalked him through the shadows, my senses sharpening as I drew on my gifts.
The steady thump of his heartbeat called to me like the pounding of a drum. My fangs lengthened as I drew closer to him, my own pulse rising as I felt the simmering heat of electricity in the air.
He drew to a halt at the edge of the road and let out an irritated breath.
I smiled to myself as I slipped closer, my steps silent on the wet soil and my lips tingling as I prepared to launch myself at him.
I stayed low, using the shadows to hide me as I got ready to pounce.
I leapt at him with a spurt of my Vampire speed, my gaze fixed on Dante’s throat as I lunged forward to claim my prize.
At the last moment, he whirled around, strong arms catching me in his hold as he pulled me flush against his body.
“Nice try,” he laughed, twisting me around so that I couldn’t get my fangs into him and hoisting me over his shoulder.
“Put me down!” I cried, thrashing against his grip as he started walking.
His only response was a laugh and a slap on my ass which made me cry out again, though this time I wasn’t entirely telling him to stop. “Bad vampira, you need to learn some manners.”
My toes curled at the feeling of him spanking me again and my stomach knotted as I tried to break free of his hold.
Dante’s laugh was dark and full of secrets as he continued to walk, my weight not seeming to cause him the slightest bit of trouble.
The world twisted around me as I swung upright again and my ass landed on the hood of the truck with a dull thump.
“What do I get for winning?” he demanded, nudging my thighs apart with his knees so that he could stand between them.
“How about, I bite you gently?” I offered, my gaze trailing over his throat again hopefully.
“You’re always trying to show me your power, bella. Don’t you want to feel what it’s like to wield mine?” he suggested.
My eyes lit with the idea of that and I nodded eagerly, looking up to the moonlit sky above us. The thick clouds still dominated the sky but there didn’t appear to be any sign of rain amongst them.
Dante shifted closer to me, his hand moving to cup my cheek and his power dancing along the point where our skin met in a silent offering, the barriers around his magic already lowered as he waited for me.
“I thought you said you didn’t trust me?” I teased as I reached out, laying my hands on his biceps to maximise the points of contact between our flesh. Power sharing wasn’t something that was easy to do with just anyone, it was unnatural to lower the walls that contained your magic to let someone else invade it. Doing so was supposed to be the greatest sign of trust or it proved that the person doing it had a very high level of control over their own magic. But each time I’d done this with Dante it had somehow seemed like the most natural thing in the world. More than that, it was a heady kind of rush, like our magic delighted in each other’s company, aching for the caress it felt when we allowed it to blend together.
“Press your magic into mine, carina, and we can summon a storm together,” Dante purred.
My gaze caught his and I urged my power forward, losing my own barriers far more easily than should have been possible with someone I harboured suspicions for. The rush of our magic colliding sent a shiver coursing down my spine and a moan escaped me as his pupils dilated.
“Merda santa,” Dante growled as he welcomed my power into him and a wave of static energy twisted through the air around us.
My skin tingled with it and every hair on my body stood on end.
Dante tipped his head back to the sky, a smile lighting his stunning features as he turned his attention to summoning a storm.
I followed his gaze, a swirling knot of energy building in my stomach as the clouds swept together overhead, merging, coiling, blending into one as they darkened and banished the light of the moon.
A crash of thunder sounded dead overhead and I felt it resounding through every inch of my body.
My lips parted as I watched the clouds curling into a dark ball above us and a flash of lightning spilled through them, making them glow with power from the inside.
I gasped as the jolt of electricity spun through my flesh, my back arching and my grip on Dante’s arms tightening.
“Too much?” he asked, his gaze falling back to me though I couldn’t tear mine from the sky.
“No,” I breathed. “I want more.”
He growled deep in the back of his throat as he looked up at the heavens once again and the next time the lightning zigzagged through the sky an actual moan left my lips. The electricity roamed freely through my flesh, filling me with its power for the briefest of moments before fading away again and leaving me breathless.
Dante’s link to my magic tightened and he pulled on it, demanding more of me. I complied willingly, letting the trickle turn to a flood, a spike of pleasure tumbling through my body in response.
Pressure built around us and Dante moved closer, the hand he had pressed to the hood of the truck moving to my back, pushing at the hem of my sweater so that he could lay his palm against my flesh instead, increasing the flow of my magic into his.
“Are you ready?” he asked, his voice low like the darkest temptation.
“Yes,” I breathed, the word sliding from my lips like honey.
Dante tightened his grip on my cheek, tipping my face back up to the sky and following my gaze as thunder boomed once again.
A huge fork of lightning crashed from the sky directly above us, the light of it blinding as it carved a path right down to the earth.
It slammed into the soil a few meters to the left of us and a scream escaped me as the force of it rattled through the ground and the power of it slammed through my body like a tsunami.
My nails bit into Dante’s flesh and his dark laughter accompanied the raindrops which cascaded from the clouds.
My heart finally remembered how to beat again and I released a shaky laugh too, my tingling skin delighting in the feeling of the fat raindrops which pelted us.
“Fuck, Dante, that was incredible.”
“Incredible,” he agreed but his gaze was on me instead of the storm and the intensity in his eyes made heat rise to my cheeks.
“We should head back,” I breathed, the rain soaking us, though neither of us made a move.
“We should.”
“Just a little longer,” I added as the thunder crashed above us again, no longer needing Dante’s magic to prompt it into action.
Dante’s lips curled into a knowing smile and he tipped his head back to let the rain run over him, enjoying the feeling of his storm as it washed him clean. And as the rain spilled over us, plastering our clothes to our bodies and drowning out the rest of the world, I couldn’t help but think that there was something truly magical in the heart of a storm. Especially one born from a Dragon. And I could only hope it might wash me clean too.
I headed into The Iron Wood just before sunset, wanting to do right by Elise. I knew she didn’t trust me, and I hadn’t given her any reason to either. But if I told her what I’d done to Gareth…
My throat thickened and a dark mist clouded around my mind.
Why did I do it? Why couldn’t I control myself that night?
I shook off the grip of that memory, trying to break free of the collar around my neck which bound me to it forever. If I’d known he was in trouble, if I’d known why he wanted the money…
Would I have given it to him? If things had been different, if he’d been honest. If he hadn’t blackmailed me?
Questions circled in my mind but I had no answers. I would like to think I would have helped the g
uy, especially now I knew Elise. But I didn’t know for sure.
I took a shuddering breath, clenching my jaw. I would have helped…right?
The problem was, everything I knew about my nature pivoted around that night. I didn’t think I could do that to someone, but I had. So how could I really know how I would have acted if things had been different? If I’d known what he was going through.
Maybe I would have been a selfish prick. Maybe I would have refused to help him anyway.
I can’t make that right, but I can try to find out who attacked Elise on the night of the party. I can help her with her investigations as best I can. But I fear they’ll all lead her right to me.
The wood was dark, but the soft hues of twilight pooled down between the branches, lighting the path just enough to see by. I headed deeper between the trees where the silence was thick and even the birds didn’t sing.
I eventually came across the cabin where Elise had been taken. Where the Black Card had gathered and where I’d seen the body of the boy who’d killed himself. Whatever magic had occurred here was dark, I could sense the remains of it tingling through my skin and heightening my senses.
I moved up the wooden steps onto the porch, heading to the door and twisting the knob. It swung inward with a loud creak which sent a tremor rolling through my body.
The scent of must and blood tangled with the air as I slipped inside. There was nothing there but a long table and moth-eaten curtains on the windows. The quiet pressed in on me and I felt The Sight tugging at my mind, trying to guide me somewhere. I was almost in control of it for once, stepping eagerly into the vision that awaited me. Mystice had been right, when I need The Sight the most, it was easier to wrangle. My desire to help Elise was so strong it was able to overcome the powerful magic that held my powers in check. I wondered if that was because she was my Elysian Mate.
Savage Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac Book 2) Page 29
