3. Torin

3

TORIN

"I don't know, mum," I snarl into the phone as Bram and Tate snicker, exchanging a glance that speaks volumes. I reach for the empty beer bottle near my hand and fling it at Bram. His quick reflexes kick in, and he snatches it out of the air before it can hit him in the face. He gives me the finger with a scowl, but it fucking shuts him up. "I haven't seen or heard from him for a few days."

"So where is he?" she cries.

"Probably with one of the many little sluts he has stashed around."

"Torin," she growls.

"Look. You know what he's like. It's not the first time he's disappeared, it won't be the last. He'll turn up."

"Normally, I wouldn't particularly give a shit if he does or not, but that fucking meeting with the Brasch Coven is tomorrow . I do not want to sit there and have them look down on me because I'm a fucking female."

I roll my eyes. My mother is one of the most vicious vampires I have ever come across. The other is my dad. They are a match made in hell, choosing to stay together for power and influence rather than love and all that bollocks. "Dad is the head of the Ainsley Coven," I state the obvious. "He knows his duty. And if he doesn't show up, then I will have to take over. I'm his heir and sub-boss of this fucking Coven of prick vampire mages, so to be honest, I'd rather not. But if you don't want to do it, then fine."

"You are being a real cock right now," she snaps.

"Yeah, am I ever anything else?" I growl.

"Without this Coven of pricks, you would be nothing."

"Doubtful. But you know how I have always felt about this. Dad only took over as head because Shaf Ainsley got himself staked to death. It's not even ours. We should be creating a new faction of our own."

"You know we can't do that."

"Well, we can. He just won't, and you won't back me on this. You know as well as I do that it is the way forward."

"If you hear from your father, tell him to get his arse home." She hangs up on me, and I growl, flinging my phone across the room.

Tate stops it from hitting the wall and smashing into a thousand pieces with a bit of magick .

"So glad I don't have family to deal with," he states, letting the phone drop harmlessly to the coffee table.

"Lucky fucking you," I growl, my cock still hard from the brutal fucking of one little sexy assassin. I regret letting her go earlier. But it makes more of an impact this way. A savage fuck where we use her like a cum dumpster and then throw her out.

"I want to find her." Bram's statement stops me dead in my tracks.

"You had better not be talking about who I think you're talking about."

"Poison. I want her. I want her stuck on my cock for longer than a few minutes. I want to find her, abduct her, chain her to the bed and fuck her until I literally cannot fuck anymore."

"So, ten minutes then," Tate drawls, making me snort.

"Fuck you," Bram hisses, flashing his dark magick at Tate. Not that Tate gives a crap. His warlock magick is different to the wild fae power that Bram holds in his hand, but no less potent. Mine is a little more subtle, but I'm more comfortable with the vampire abilities, anyway.

"Enough of this bullshit. We aren't finding Poison. For starters, she is a ghost, and secondly, we know who she works for. I doubt it will be as easy as opening our eyes and just finding her hanging around. "

"We've had her in our hands four times now. And we keep letting her go. Why?" Bram challenges me.

I narrow my eyes at Bram. "Because that's the game, dipshit. We fuck her and toss her aside. Humiliate her and show her who's in charge. Besides, you don't think her bosses will notice if she goes missing? Personally, I'd rather not go up against the Syndicate because you are thinking with your dick, as usual."

I fail to admit that I am, too. I can't help it around her. What Bram suggests appeals to me on various levels, but the facts remain. She is too protected.

Crossing over to the door of the townhouse we live in just on the nicer edge of the Thornfield University campus, I'm so done with this conversation. "I'm going to track down my fucking dad. You two try not to fuck up anything while I'm gone."

Snatching up my phone, I stride out of the room, I hear Bram mutter, "Arsehole."

I flip him off without looking back. I've got bigger problems than his growing obsession with Poison. Like making sure my family's grip on power doesn't slip.

One way or another, we'll end up with that little assassin on the end of our cocks, but now isn't that time. We need to separate her from the Syndicate, and that will take time, finesse and a whole hell of a lot of luck.

Pulling up Dad's number, I dial and hear it ring once, twice, three times…

"Fuck," I growl as the call goes straight to voicemail. Dad's never been great about answering his phone, but this is ridiculous. I try again with the same result.

Shoving my phone in my pocket, I stride down the dark street away from our townhouse and towards the campus bar. The cool night air does little to calm my rising anger and frustration. Between my father's disappearing act, my mother's nagging, Bram's bitching, and that infuriating little assassin, I'm ready to rip someone's throat out.

As I walk, my thoughts drift back to Poison. The way she felt wrapped around my cock, her defiance in the face of such savagery. She is a fucking goddess. My fangs ache to sink into her soft flesh, to taste her blood on my tongue. It makes me wonder why she warned me earlier. Why didn't she let me taste her and possibly end up as a pile of ash? Why did she protect me?

I'm probably overthinking it but fuck it. It's bugging me.

I shake my head, trying to clear those dangerous thoughts as I stride into the bar. It's packed, sweaty and bright. I shake my head and back out. I'm not in the mood for this tonight. With Dad missing in action, I have some serious thinking to do about branching out of the Ainsley Coven. It grates on me that this coven doesn't even have our name on it. I want that. I want to be part of a legacy, and this shit isn't it. I turn away from the bar and start walking across the quiet campus. It's going to take more than determination to create a whole new Coven. I'm going to need power and allies. The kind that doesn't come easy.

Who could I trust to back me in a power play against my own father and the Ainsley Coven? Most of the vampires I know are loyal to their current regime. The ones who aren't are too weak or cowardly to be of any use.

I need someone unexpected. Someone with enough power and influence to make waves, but who isn't already tied to the existing power structures. Heading for the edge of campus, where the forest starts and stretches for miles to the rolling hills behind, there's an entrance to the tunnels beneath the university. It's time to make some discreet inquiries and put out some feelers to my less savoury contacts.

One way or another, I'm going to find a way to get out from underneath this farce and carve my own way forward, no matter what it takes.