Chapter Sixteen

Route 18, Near Snow Summit, CA

Tuesday, 4:00 AM

Maddie navigated the more than two hundred miles in far less time than would have been considered safe for humans. The night air was cool, thankfully because she was forced to open her window to air out the skunk bomb smell.

She couldn't completely air it out or they'd wake up before she could get them secured. But there was only so much of that smell she could take. Even a dozen spritzes from her usual perfume did little to save her acute senses.

It was still a couple hours before dawn when she pulled into her most recently updated cabin rental property. This one was placed near a popular ski resort area, so it did brisk and profitable business during cooler months. This time her bunker was hidden beneath a private workshop, supposedly rented by a reclusive artist. Her property manager was smart enough to not ask questions. Even questions about why someone might be unloading bodies in the middle of the night.

Which suited her perfectly.

Unlike the last place, this one was up to date and well stocked. It was close enough to Malibu that she'd sometimes come out to work on various projects. Not that she'd done much of that lately. In fact, she hadn't gone after any vampires in years.

Part of that was the fact that Division Eight kept a tight watch on this part of the country, but mostly she just hadn't felt the same level of anger and need for vengeance. She'd been thinking of that as a good thing, an improvement on her mental state.

Until now.

Now all she could think about was how she might have been cozying up to the vampires who had drained and murdered her clan for the sake of a cheap high.

The worst part about it was how she couldn't even be sure what her reaction would be if they confirmed their guilt. She'd grown so close to Bella, like family. And Quinn… dammit. She felt something with him that she'd never felt before. She'd begun to believe that she would never find a partner that she could love that way, someone she could trust with her everything.

Finding love with a vampire had felt strange. Wrong but also a bit like destiny. She'd accepted the strangeness and couldn't wait to learn more about who he was beyond his race.

Never had she considered that he might be guilty of destroying her whole life.

She did all this thinking while moving their unconscious bodies into the bunker and securing them each in their own locked rooms.

While moving them, she checked each to make sure they wouldn't have any lasting harm from the gas.

Both Bella and Georgie felt like limp corpses. Almost no trace of a pulse or breathing. So slow and shallow as to be barely even measurable, which was what she expected from vampires. Quinn had both, although they were weak compared to a normal human. She wasn't sure what to make of it.

Even if she ended up killing them, she didn't see any need to letting them suffer. Instead, she planned to interrogate them and compare their stories. Only then would she make a decision about what they deserved.

At least that was the cold-hearted plan she kept repeating in her mind.

She set the ventilation on high and used a wet cloth to clean off all Quinn's exposed skin. It would help him work the toxin through his system faster. She wanted to talk to him first. But also, was dreading it the most.

What if he really was guilty? What if she didn't care anymore?

No, that wasn't right. She'd been hunting for the murderers for centuries. She wasn't going to give up on justice even if it was Quinn. She took a deep breath and steadied her heart. There was no way she'd be able to stay by his side knowing he'd played a part in killing her parents, her little brothers and all the others… No, she couldn't pretend to not know.

Quinn shifted in his chair. His arm muscles tensed but he didn't fight against the magic-soaked cords that held him in place. A slight smile flitted across his lips. "No music this time."

"No music."

"But no mask either. Thank you." He was far too relaxed about the situation.

She shut the door behind her and moved to stand right before him. "Don't thank me."

"I'm glad I can see your face." His smile was gentle, accepting, patient. As if he could easily wait to find out what she had in mind for this particular act of the play.

She flinched. "Don't be." Why was this happening? Why now? Her eyes burned with the emotions she tried to lock down.

"Madeline, what is this about?"

She took a slow deep breath. This was so much harder than she'd expected. But she had to ask the questions.

"Maddie…?"

"My clan, the Jackel Clan territory was near Morocco. I told you that they were killed by vampires. Were you and those two… Were you the ones responsible for those deaths?"

"Me? Oh…"

Her wolf snarled in pain. She wiped away the threatening tears before they could slip from her lashes. "Just answer the question."

"I don't think so."

"What the hell does that even mean? How can you not know if you helped to murder nearly a hundred people?"

"I'll tell you if you want, but I don't know if it will make you feel any better."

He might be right. If she didn't get a clear answer, did she want to hear about it at all? It could be painful and maybe even pointless, but she had to know whatever he could tell her. She couldn't meet his gaze. "Tell me."

He looked down at his lap for a moment. Then he raised his gaze once more. "This happened not long after our maker had left us behind. We were all feeling lost and out of place among humans. We decided to travel around and see more of the world."

"What year?"

"I'm not sure exactly, probably around the middle of fourteen hundred. Maybe fourteen sixty?"

Her family had been killed in fourteen fifty-nine. The timing was close enough to be damning. "Continue."

He studied her face and frowned at whatever he saw. "We were looking for connections, trying to join with others who we thought would understand us. There was a coven traveling south along the coast. We went with them for a short while." His words had grown more and more quiet until they trailed off completely.

But she couldn't let him stop there. "And then what?"

"While we were traveling, they shared their special wines with us. Georgie and I both drank what we later learned was werewolf blood mixed with the wine. Bella refused it. Before we understood why, we were both nearly lost to the addiction."

"You went blood mad on wolf blood?"

"There were several weeks that I have almost no memory. Eventually Bella dragged us both away and locked us up until we were free of the madness."

"Do you remember anything?"

"Not enough to confirm or deny my innocence."

He was claiming that he didn't remember. And may have ingested the blood unintentionally. If he was being honest, perhaps he hadn't hurt anyone.

"Maddie, I'm sorry about your family. I'm sorry that it happened and if… I'm sorry for any part we played in the situation."

"You said Bella didn't become addicted? Does that mean that she remembers?"

"Yes, although she has always refused to talk about it."

She left him there and locked the door behind her before going to the room that held Bella.

Leaving him there, bound to a chair, locked in a cell, it felt wrong. But this was the only way she could move forward. What if he was innocent and after all this, he couldn't forgive her? Her eyes stung with the emotion. But she'd already gone too far to go back. She had to have her answers. Even if they destroyed her.

She went into the room with Bella.

The woman was tied to the chair and hanging forward as if still unconscious. However, it was an act. "Bella, I know you're awake."

She straightened. "You take the fun out of every game."

"This time it's no game."

"Oh? Did you finally decide to hunt me?" Despite the question, she didn't seem the least bit worried. "I somehow always figured you'd come at me face to face."

"Sorry to disappoint you. When it comes to taking down an enemy, I'm not worrying about how it looks, only about who gets to walk away."

"There's an honest feel to that as well." Bella smiled at her, still completely relaxed and not showing even a hint of fear. "You caught me, now what?"

"Now you answer a few questions."

Bella's blue eyes sparkled with repressed laughter. "I'm okay with that. You know how I love to tell a story."

"This is a specific story. About a massacre near Morocco in the fourteen hundreds. Tell me that story."

Her gaze lost its shine. "I'd rather not."

She hesitated. But only for a moment. "Why not?" Even if she was about to hear something that would rip open all her scars and tear apart a future she'd only just begun to dream about—Even so, she had to know the truth.

"It's not a very nice story."

"I know how not nice it is. Tell me anyhow." If it was as bad as she feared… Why couldn't she be the kind of person who could let it go, pretend the truth didn't matter? Why did it have to matter so much that it hurt to breathe?

Bella shifted uncomfortably in the chair. "Do you really have to know? Does it really matter how your family died?"

"I have to know because it does matter to me."

"I know it does, honey. I just didn't want you to be disappointed in us. As strong as we've become, once a long time ago we were young and foolish just like any other. We were led astray and ended up making costly mistakes."

She gave her an expectant look, she needed more than a vague explanation.

Bella must have understood that she'd need more to be satisfied. "Fine. I'll tell you the whole story."

"Good."

"Some other older vamps invited us to join them. The boys like the idea because there were many beautiful women in their coven as well as many willing humans for feedings. And in between they offered us a specially cultivated wine suited to vampires. It was made from wolf blood." She looked ashamed.

"Go on."

"I only tasted it and found it awful. I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it but I can taste the emotions of the donor when I feed on blood. What they were offering us tasted disgusting. The boys both drank it and quickly became addicted. I think Georgie could taste the fear in that blood as well and it tormented him. He wanted to feel the high but hated the taste of it. So, he would drink too much, too fast and fall unconscious for days at a time."

"And Quinn?"

"Quinn… Are you sure you want to know?"

Her wolf whimpered at the question. She didn't want the truth to destroy what they might be able to build together but she knew she'd never be able to let it go if she didn't know everything. "Yeah, tell me."

"Quinn would drink with the women of the coven and play with them. He would disappear for days at a time. He was a complete embarrassment. He was useless for anything but pleasure. I doubt he even remembers that whole year."

Knowing how Bella had felt about Quinn she wondered if her friend had taken advantage of the situation as well. But she wasn't about to ask for any of those details.

"I hope you'll forgive him."

"Tell me about the massacre of my clan."

"It was not us. That coven was out of control. They were talking about how their supplies were running low and how they would replenish the blood wine that everyone enjoyed so much."

Then she understood. "You tried to stop them, didn't you?"

She glanced back down at her lap. "I think I wanted to do something about those other vamps. But all I did was drag the boys away from there and get them thinking straight."

"All three of you left before the attack?"

"Yes, I'm sorry I didn't do more."

She wanted to ask more, wanted to know what they were all like back then. But all she asked was, "Do you know what happened to that coven?"

"I don't know anything for certain."

"But you know something."

"Two or three nights after I got them out, Quinn seemed to be doing better. I turned him loose and he disappeared. I was focused on Georgie because he was still struggling. I didn't stop Quinn or even ask where he was going."

She held her breath, praying she wasn't about to hear what she suspected. That Quinn had taken part in the killings.

"He came back the next night, covered in blood."

Her heart was thundering. Her wolf whimpered.

"It wasn't wolf blood. It was vampire. If you want to know what happened to them, you should ask him."

"He said he didn't remember."

"Maybe he just doesn't want to." Bella smiled gently. "Or maybe he just doesn't want you to see that side of him."

"That side…"

"The side of him that can walk into a gathering of people who called him friend and slaughter them all. The kind of man that has to carry that with him for the rest of his very long days."

She could understand both of those motivations. And didn't resent him holding back the truth.

"Are you ever going to untie me?"

She held back a chuckle. "I suppose I should. Though having you at my mercy was amusing." Not that she had any illusions. There was no way to tell whether Bella was truly restrained or if she just hadn't tried to get loose. She untied the cords.

"I didn't even know you were into bondage."

"You don't know everything about me." She'd better go release Quinn too. Her feet didn't move. "Will he be mad?"

"Who, Quinn? I doubt it. If he does get pissy, just buy him flowers or rent that Twilight movie. He's a pushover for romantic gestures."

She had her doubts that such a simple act would be enough to make up for all she'd done to him. When she recalled the last few days, she hadn't treated him fairly at all. "What if he doesn't forgive me?"

"Forgive you? Why would he need to do that? Why would you need that from him? All he has to do is choose you. Mistakes are going to happen. Yours and his. All you need to do is accept each other."

She wasn't sure if it would be that simple or not.

"You're not a child. Hell, you're closer to a granny. Just do what makes you happy and try to not make him suffer too much."

"Since when were you so full of relationship advice?"

"Since my best friend started acting like she needed it."

"Jerk."

"Bitch."

"You know it."

"Go get Quinn. We'll need to figure out what to do with Georgie next."

She nodded. Talking with Bella might have helped her understand the past and Quinn a little bit better but none of that would matter if she couldn't put the right words together to apologize to him.