Chapter 36

Chapter Thirty-Six

Serenity

I woke the next morning to find Angelo was gone. My thighs ached from the night of lovemaking. I sat up, the covers falling away from me, and looked for any sign of him again. Had he really meant what he said last night? Did he really love me?

"Angelo?" Silence answered me back and disappointment gripped me.

I flicked the covers off and climbed out of bed naked. He wasn't in the bathroom. I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. My hair was a tangled mess. I looked like I stuck my finger into a light socket.

I turned on the shower, hoping Angelo would return and join me, but after steam swirled around in the bathroom, that hope died.

I washed my hair and glided shower gel over my sensitive skin as I thought about our night of lovemaking and declarations of love. I didn't know if he meant it, but I meant every word. He was the love of my life. Someone I trusted and never wanted to be parted from.

The water pulsing over me turned cold, and I shut off the faucets. I towel dried my hair and my body. I put on lavender lotion then blow dried my hair. Within a few minutes, I looked normal, but I felt different. Not because my power had been restored, but I was in love. The feeling pushed over my doubts and any other negative ones.

I threw on a red sundress and headed downstairs. Angelo liked sundresses, and I wanted to please him. Maybe he had gone downstairs to eat breakfast and didn't want to disturb me while I was sleeping.

I followed the smells of frying bacon, my stomach grumbling and my mouth watering. Happy voices echoed through the dining room. I thought heard Gianna and Elena talking and was eager to join them. I was about to enter the dining room when Petar, one of Angelo's men, stood in front of me. He was Dimitri's father, but he didn't look anything like him. Dimitri had an undeniable presence to him that drew others in like a moth to flame, but his father had a slimy presence like an oily salesman that you just want to kick out the door.

The corners of his mouth curled up into a Cheshire Cat smile. "Serenity, I was just about to find you. Angelo sends word. He found Joy."

For a moment, the world seemed to stand still as his triumphant words hung in the air between us like a bugle call. My heart leaped with a surge of relief and happiness so intense it nearly brought me to my knees. But before I could fully process the joyous news, he continued, his expression sobering.

"She's with her father and brother now, but she's hurt. Angelo says you can heal her."

The joy that had filled my chest suddenly twisted into a knot of worry and fear. Joy was hurt. The thought of her suffering, of the pain she must be enduring, sent a chill down my spine. I swallowed hard, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill down my cheeks.

"How badly is she hurt?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly. "What happened to her?"

He shook his head, his brow furrowing with concern. "I don't have all the details, but Angelo seemed to think it was serious. He said you were the only one who could help her."

A fierce determination rose within me, pushing aside the fear and worry. If Joy needed me, if I had the power to heal her, then nothing would stand in my way. I squared my shoulders, meeting his gaze with a resolute stare.

"Take me to her," I said, my voice steady and strong. "I'll do whatever it takes to make sure she's okay."

"Come, follow me." He clasped my arm a little too tight, but it just had to be the desperation to save Joy.

As we hurried through the halls, my heart raced with a potent mix of anxiety and determination. Hold on, Joy, I thought, sending a silent prayer out into the universe. I'm coming. You're going to be alright.

As the reality of the situation began to sink in, tears clouded my eyes. How badly was she injured? Joy was out there, hurt, waiting for me, and I knew that I would move mountains to get to her, to wrap her in my arms and never let go again.

As we set off, my steps quickening with every passing moment, I sent up a silent prayer of hope to the universe that I could heal her. She was my family, and I couldn't lose her. Not after Angelo had found her. Who had hurt her and why?

Doubt that I wouldn't be able to save her haunted me, but then I kept telling myself I healed Enzo, and he was a vampire, so I could heal her.

He guided me through the house, away from the delicious aroma of crackling bacon that wafted from the kitchen. I expected him to lead me to the front door or the courtyard that opened onto Bourbon Street, but instead, he veered down an unfamiliar hallway, his steps quick and purposeful.

As we navigated the twists and turns of the corridor, I couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right. The air seemed to grow colder with each step, and the once comforting walls of the house suddenly felt oppressive, almost menacing.

I kept looking over my shoulder for Angelo or Enzo or Gianna, or even Elena, but there was no one behind us. Despite my uneasiness, I forced myself to keep going. Joy was in trouble. I'd walk through fire to save her.

Just as I opened my mouth to voice my concerns, Petar came to an abrupt halt before a nondescript door, half hidden in the shadows. With a furtive glance over his shoulder, he reached out and pressed his palm against a seemingly unremarkable panel on the wall.

To my surprise, the panel slid aside, revealing a sophisticated keypad. Petar's fingers flew over the numbers, inputting a complex code with practiced ease. A soft click echoed in the stillness, and the door swung open, revealing an alley.

We had come to the alley next to Crescent Manor where all the deliveries were made. There was a truck parked in the alleyway. I looked around for guards but there didn't seem to be any there. The morning sun hadn't reached the alley, and a dark shadow fell over us like a black mist.

"Petar, why are we here? Where're Joy and Angelo?" I whispered, my heart pounding in my chest as I strained to make out my surroundings in the feeble light. Angelo's words haunted me. He said only to trust him, Elena, Enzo, or Lorenzo. He hadn't mentioned oily Petar who suddenly reminded me of Freaky Freddie. I cursed my stupidity.

"Quickly, inside. Joy and Angelo are inside," Petar urged, his voice low and urgent as he clamped his hand down on my arm, ushering me up the ramp of the truck. "We mustn't be seen."

Angelo would not be hiding in the back of a delivery truck, especially if Joy was wounded.

I twisted my arm. "Let go of me." As he dragged me up the ramp, the sense of foreboding grew stronger, a cold dread seeping into my bones.

As I stepped over the threshold, I looked wildly around. "Where's Joy? Angelo, are you in here? "

A soft, menacing laugh sent a flicker of unease dancing up my spine. Something about this felt wrong, dangerous even. But before I could give voice to my doubts, Petar had closed the door behind us, plunging the truck's interior into near darkness.

And then, without warning, a door slammed shut and the truck started up. Petar released me abruptly and I stumbled. I could hear his dark laughter but couldn't see him. As my vision adjusted, I felt the blood drain from my face, my breath catching in my throat as I took in the scene before me.

For there, in the center of the truck, stood a figure cloaked in shadows, a figure whose very presence radiated malevolence and barely contained rage. And in that moment, I knew with chilling certainty that I had walked straight into a trap, led astray by my own eagerness to save Joy, and ignoring Angelo's dire warning.

Gianna wasn't the traitor. It was Petar, and he'd turned me over to the enemy.

"It's so nice to finally meet you, Nephilim," the dark figure said as he approached me, his voice dripping with a sickening mixture of anticipation and contempt. Yellow eyes, filled with a hatred that seemed to burn with the intensity of a thousand suns, glowed from beneath his hood. As I met his gaze, I saw my own death reflected in those merciless orbs, and a cold realization washed over me. I was about to become victim number five, joining the ranks of the murdered girls.

Instinctively, I stepped away, my back pressing against the cold metal wall of the rumbling truck. "Who are you?" I managed to ask, my voice sounding small and fragile in the face of such an overbearing menace.

"Someone who has wanted to meet you for a very long time," he replied, his words laced with a dark promise that filled me with an icy terror, freezing me to the core.

As he closed the distance between us, my heart hammered in my chest, a frantic beat that seemed to echo the relentless pounding of the tires against the road. "Why?" I whispered, my thoughts spinning in a dizzying whirlwind as I tried to make sense of this nightmare unfolding before me.

In a flash, he was beside me, his movements so swift and fluid that my eyes couldn't track them. His fist buried itself in my hair, twisting the strands painfully as he wrenched my head back, forcing me to meet his gaze.

"Because I want Angelo to feel the pain I endured," he snarled, his breath hot against my face. "I want him to know what it's like to lose a mate, to have his heart ripped from his chest and crushed before his very eyes. I want Angelo to suffer as I have suffered, to experience the agony of a love torn asunder."

Fear gripped me, its icy tendrils wrapping around my heart and squeezing with ruthless intensity. But even in the face of such terror, a desperate need to understand burned within me. Who was this creature, this being of shadow and rage, who sought to destroy Angelo through me? What vampire could possess such golden eyes, so different from the crimson hue I had come to associate with their kind?

Mustering every ounce of courage I possessed, I squared my shoulders, determined not to give him the satisfaction of seeing me beg for mercy. "Tell me who you are," I demanded this time. My voice was steady despite the tremors that wracked my body. "Are you a vampire?" The questions fell from my lips like a final prayer, the last words I might ever speak.

A cruel smile curved his lips, a flash of gleaming white in the darkness. "No, Nephilim," he chuckled, the sound devoid of any warmth or humanity. "I'm a wolf, and you, my dear, are my prisoner."

As the horror of his words sank in, a scream bubbled up in my throat, a primal, desperate cry that never made it past my lips. For in that moment, the world went black, and I knew no more.

Do you want to find out more about Serenity and Angelo? Here's a bonus scene for you!!!

There's more to this series! If you want to read more about the vampire mafia series, check these out!

The next book this exciting vampire mafia trilogy is Curse of Blood and Silence !

I'm the key to an ancient power. Now everyone wants to possess me.

If you want to find out more about Dimitri and Gianna, then you want to read their story in Kiss of Blood and Sin !

Mafia princess by force, rebel by choice.