Chapter 12

Ares was back at his desk the following morning, looking over Zia"s photographs of Erik"s dealings.

Ares only had himself to blame. He had been the one to push Corven to find some employment for Erik. He had invited the snake in.

Now, he would have to pay off the debts and try to cover it up so the Volso family didn"t lose auctoritas with the vampire council. They were still reeling from Aulus"s conspiracy to try and become king of the vampires. If Ares acted quickly, no one would notice him having to clean house. He would have to deal with Corven"s disappointment, which was somehow worse.

Ares was always the one who gave him bad news, including Kris"s death. He had been stewing over what Zia had said about the murderer being in the family.

Who could have had a grudge against Kris, though? He was sweet and harmless as far as dhampir went. He kept to himself, living out on the coast and painting. He always had a kind word and open house for any of the Volsos.

There had been more than one occasion that Ares had visited him and had just drunk a beer and watched him paint. They didn"t need to talk. Kris had never tried to force him either. Killing him benefitted no one. It was just a malicious act of violence.

Unless it was done so that it would hurt the family the most. The very idea rocked him. Ares pulled up his file on the family and the long process Corven had been going through to choose his heir. It had been years, and most hadn"t even known they were being considered. He shouldn"t have access to the file at all and had never been motivated to look in it until then.

Ares"s eyes snagged on a photo, and his blood went icy. He was older and had a fresh scar on his face, but his brother was looking at him from a photo snapped without Mars noticing.

Ares pulled up the file. There was no address, no indication of where the photo had been taken. The information in the file was basic, citing his current criminal dealings, which were mostly petty theft and assault charges. Corven"s notes had been one word—Unacceptable. That he had been noted at all made Ares want to throw up.

Corven had been the one to find them and pull Ares out of the shit hole he"d been raised in. The vampire had found young Ares covered in old blood and sitting in his room. He couldn"t remember how many days it had been.

Ares had taken one too many beatings from his father, one of Corven"s more volatile children, and Ares had finally snapped. Mars, who had always gotten in on the beatings, had been so scared, he had abandoned his ten-year-old brother.

Ares had been left in the run-down apartment with the rotting corpse of his father. The only thing he could remember was how peaceful it was to be left alone. It was something that he had carried with him ever since.

Kris was as close to a brother as Ares had allowed again. It was because he had been so peaceful. Ares"s phone started ringing, and he snapped out of his spiraling dark thoughts.

"Hey, boss," Samuel said with his usual cheer. "I have good news and bad news. Which would you like first?"

"Bad," Ares replied without hesitation.

"Okay, I haven"t been able to find anything on your brother, but I"m still waiting on a retired police officer I know in Athens to get back to me."

"Keep digging. I have a bad feeling," Ares admitted then wondered if he had said too much. "What"s the good news?"

"I found Paulo Anastides, and the guy is a huge piece of shit. People were eager to rat him out, I can tell you. He was never on Crete, so your information was way off there. He"s always been here in Inferno. The foster home he was in was raided, and he was kicked out onto the streets. I dug through some old case files of the kids in that place, and he was known for his violence and attacking other children. You were right about one thing—there was a girl who he harassed the most," Samuel said, and Ares heard some tapping of keys. "I"m going to send you through the pictures they had. It might be your girl."

"Thanks, Samuel." Ares opened the file and found a picture of a too-skinny teenage girl glaring at the camera. Big, familiar brown eyes burned with defiance. Shit.

He clicked on a police report from the raid and found medical records of the state she had been in when she was found. She had been covered in bites, pieces torn out of her that she had been trying to treat herself with no one noticing. She had been only fifteen and had seen too much of what Inferno could dish out.

Ares"s vision was swirling with red and black. This was the piece of shit that haunted her nightmares and caused the panic attacks. He was the reason she flinched when Ares touched her scars.

"Address," Ares said, his voice dropping an octave. "Now."

Samuel rattled it off without hesitation. "I don"t know what you"re planning with him, but cover your tracks and watch your back. He"s a weasel, and they always have tricks up their sleeves."

Ares hung up and stared at the girl on the computer, his rage on her behalf seething through him. There had been no one to protect her then, but there was now.

Ares was many things, and most of them made him the villain. Despite that, he protected what was his. It didn"t matter who Zia was, or why she had been pulled into the family mess by Corven. She was one of his from when he saw her ridiculous swishing ponytail and sunshine smile.

Ares would never be a knight in shining armor, and Zia didn"t need saving. He enjoyed vengeance, and he would paint the city red with Paulo Anastides's blood for her.

Ares waiteduntil the sun set before dressing in nondescript black clothes and changing his hairstyle. He took the stairs down to the garage level and slipped out of the back of the building. He would double-check any security footage when he returned and doctor it to ensure it was on record that he had never left the building. He flagged down a cab and paid the driver extra cash to ensure he was forgotten. The drivers in Inferno knew better than to pay attention to who was in their cabs anyway.

Ares walked the last few blocks to the dive apartment building that Paulo lived in. It was in the human district which raised a red flag all on its own. Paulo liked to prey on those weaker than him, and if he had been caught with his proclivities in the vampire district, he would have been swiftly killed and left to rot where he fell.

There were parts of the human district where a dhampir could do what he wished because no one was strong enough to stop him. Paulo thought he was the predator in the darkness. Ares"s smile was razor-sharp as he jumped, pulling down the fire escape ladder and beginning his climb up.

Paulo lived on the third floor and was stupid enough to open his windows at night. Ares was silent as a shadow as he slipped into Paulo"s room. The TV was blaring some action movie, and the place stank of old food and unwashed douchebag.

Paulo didn"t even have time to react before Ares hauled him out of the chair and tossed him against the wall.

"What the fuck? Who the fuck are you, man?" he snarled, getting back to his feet.

"Who I am doesn"t matter. Who I represent does," Ares said, his fangs lengthening. "Do you remember a girl called Lucrezia?"

Paulo"s rat face lit with recognition, and he spat a gob of blood on the floor. "That little bitch really couldn"t let it go after all. Are you fucking her? If you think she"s sweet now, you should have had her when I did."

Ares"s vision went crimson, and he was on Paulo before another word could come out of his mouth. Ares"s fist pounded into his mouth, shattering his nose and cheek. Paulo pulled a dagger from his boot and slashed it across Ares"s ribs. Ares grabbed Paulo"s wrist and crushed the bones until he dropped the dagger with a scream of pain.

"P-Pussy must still be worth it," Paulo garbled.

Ares hit him and didn"t stop until his fist was halfway down Paulo"s throat, and he was convulsing underneath him.

Ares came back to himself with blood over his hands and pure rage in his heart. He sorted through the mess and picked out Paulo"s fangs before putting them in his pocket.

Pain registered in his side, and he lifted his shirt to inspect the one slice Paulo got with his dagger. It was deep, but Ares had worse. He wadded up some kitchen paper and held it over the wound. He couldn"t leave any evidence of his blood.

Ten minutes later, Ares pulled on the fire alarm as Paulo"s apartment turned to ash. He would offer free housing to the residents in one of the Volso-owned buildings. They would be better off without the rat nest they had been forced to live in.

Ares disappeared into the night, leaving no trace of ever being there.