Chapter 7

Chapter

Seven

A ngelo

Enzo kept pounding on the door. “Boss, it’s important. Open the door.”

My jaw clenched, my hand tightening on the blade I held. The vision of Serenity, bruised and surrounded by evil, still burned in my mind.

If Petar hurt her, he would never know a minute without pain. I would keep him alive and in misery for the rest of his life.

“Don’t want to keep him waiting, do you?” Dimitri murmured. “I’m not going anywhere.”

I threw open the door, still clutching the blade.

Gianna ran her gaze over me and clapped a hand over her mouth. “How could you?” I glanced down at my shirt and trousers, stained with Dimitri’s blood.

Pain flickered in her eyes. “Don’t listen to a word Enzo’s about to say. What he found is a forgery.”

Now that grabbed my attention. I focused on Enzo. “What did you find?”

Enzo’s eyes darted to Dimitri and Gianna, then back to me. He handed me a folded paper, his expression grave. “This. Hidden in a pocket of one of Dimitri’s leather jackets.”

“Someone planted that there. Someone’s trying to frame him,” Gianna insisted.

My curiosity piqued, I unfolded the paper and scanned the letter. The elegant handwriting was instantly recognizable. Each word felt like a blow as I read it:

Dimitri,

Your loyalty to the pack will not go unnoticed. The information you provided about the Nephilim’s location was invaluable. Our plans will proceed as discussed.

Ensure the path to Crescent Manor remains unguarded. Your role in weakening the vampire coven’s defenses will prove crucial, and you will be handsomely rewarded when the Luparion Crystal shines again and the Nephilim is mine.

Betray us, and the hunt begins with you as our prey.

Trystan Hunter

When I finished reading, a tidal wave of fury washed over me. My hands shook with rage, nearly tearing the letter. Trystan had tried to take Serenity once before, at one of Simon Cartier’s private auctions. I had had to fight him to secure her. And now, with Dimitri’s help, he was trying to reclaim her? This betrayal meant death.

Wordlessly, I handed the letter back to Enzo, who took it with a grim nod. Gianna looked up from where she cradled Dimitri’s head in her lap, his blood smeared on her dress and hands. Her eyes were wide with fear and pleading. “Please, Angelo. Don’t kill him,” she begged, her voice breaking. “There must be some explanation. Dimitri isn’t allied with Trystan and the wolves, I swear.”

I stared down at Dimitri, determined to drain the bastard.

I could smell the fear radiating off him beneath his bravado. The one eye he could see out of darted between Gianna and me. I saw the silent plea there, his desperation to spare her from witnessing what was about to happen.

“Come on, Angelo,” Dimitri rasped, managing a weak smirk despite his battered state. “You wouldn’t deprive a wife of her husband’s charming company, would you?”

I nodded with my chin, unmoved. “Take her out of here, Enzo.”

Gianna shook her head violently, her dark hair flying around her. “No. No! Stay away from him. You’re going to kill him.”

I gave her a level look, rolling my shoulders. “Yes, I am.”

“No!” Gianna shrieked, her voice raw and desperate. She lunged forward, throwing herself over Dimitri’s body, her hands slick with his blood as she shielded him. “Angelo, don’t do this! I’m your sister. As you love me, don’t kill him!”

Enzo moved to pull her away, but she fought him like a wild animal, kicking and clawing. “Get your hands off me!” she screamed, her eyes flashing with fury and terror. “Dimitri, I won’t let them hurt you!”

It took both Enzo and me to pry Gianna off Dimitri. She thrashed in our grip, her nails leaving bloody scratches down Enzo’s arms. “You’re a monster, Angelo!” she spat, tears streaming down her face. “If you do this, I’ll never forgive you!”

I tightened my grip on Gianna, feeling her fury and fear. For a moment, our eyes locked, and I saw the desperation there, a plea for mercy I couldn’t grant.

“Enzo,” I said, my voice grim. “Take. Her. Out.”

With a sharp nod, Enzo reached for Gianna. I released my hold, allowing him to take full control of her, pulling both of Gianna’s arms behind her back, restraining her very effectively.

“No!” Gianna screamed, renewing her struggles against Enzo’s grip. “Angelo, please! Don’t do this!”

I ignored her entreaties. In our world, betrayal was the ultimate sin, and Dimitri had crossed a line that couldn’t be uncrossed. Family or not, I couldn’t let this go unpunished. The safety of our entire organization—not to mention of Serenity—depended on it.

I cracked my knuckles, the sound sharp in the sudden silence of the room. The smell of Dimitri’s fear intensified with the coppery scent of his blood. Time for him to die.

“Angelo, non. S’il vous pla?t .”

I stopped in my tracks and turned to the frail voice. Elena stood there, leaning heavily against the door jamb. Her silver hair, usually piled up into a bun, now hung loosely over her shoulders. Her vibrant blue eyes, typically so full of warmth and wisdom, were tired and sad as she looked between me and what was left of Dimitri. Her arrival here was so unexpected that, for a moment, I forgot to breathe.

There was a fierce determination in the set of her jaw. Whatever she had to say, she considered it important enough to drag herself down here, barely recovered from her attack as she was.

I glared at Enzo. “What is she doing here?”

I didn’t want her to see what I was going to do any more than I wanted Gianna to witness it.

Enzo shrugged, looking as bewildered as I felt. “I don’t know. She was unconscious when I left her.”

I turned back to Elena, my voice softening. “Elena, what is it?”

As Elena opened her mouth to speak, the tension in the room was like a rattling lid on a boiling pot. “Angelo, I…saw who put the dagger…in Gianna’s drawer.”

I remained perfectly still, except for my thundering heart.

She took a deep breath. “It was Petar. I came in to put away some laundry and he was in there.” Fear flashed in her eyes. “He was angry and told me that I shouldn’t be there. And that he…had to…shut me up.”

I clenched my fists. “He attacked you?” Another nail in Petar’s coffin.

She nodded. “Yes. The look in his eyes… I believe he is mad, Angelo.”

Gianna gasped, and from behind me, Dimitri let out a weak, humorless chuckle that ended in a wet cough. “Well...well,” he croaked, his voice rough. “Looks like... Someone’s been a naughty boy.” Each word seemed to cost him effort, but his sarcasm still cut through. “And here I thought... I was your favorite punching bag, Angelo.” He wheezed, a pained smirk twisting his bloodied lips. “I’m hurt...truly.”

I shot him a warning glare, but he merely attempted another smirk, wincing as the expression pulled on his split lip. His words came out slurred and breathless, punctuated by pained gasps.

“Don’t...tell me you’re...surprised.” He paused, struggling to pull in breath. “In our line of...work...betrayal’s practically...expected.”

Dimitri’s labored words had barely left his bloodied lips when sudden, searing pain lanced through my skull. I staggered as I tried to keep from falling.

I caught my breath. The room spun around me, colors whirling around as if I had turned into a spinning top.

Serenity’s sweet voice echoed in my mind.

Angelo, be safe. I’ll find you. Just know I love you.

Enzo gripped my arm. “Boss, what’s wrong?”

I braced my legs, fighting to stay upright as the world around me tilted and faded. Darkness enveloped me, and then... The smells hit.

Rich leather, new. The unmistakable scent of a luxury vehicle.

Champagne. Sharp and bubbly, perhaps spilled on upholstery. Potatoes… Why potatoes?

A man’s cologne—expensive, but applied too heavily to be anything but oppressive.

And beneath it all, the faintest trace of her perfume. Serenity.

“Angelo,” her voice whispered in my mind, fragile yet determined. “Be safe. I’ll find you. Just know I love you.”

I gasped, the connection breaking and the room snapping back into focus, Dimitri’s heavy breathing distracting me from my racing thoughts.

Gripping the edge of a nearby table laden with instruments of torture, I tried to make sense of what I’d experienced. A limousine. She was definitely in a limousine. But going where? The smells offered no clue as to her location, just the agonizing certainty that she was out there, afraid.

With a roar of frustration, I hurled the instrument table against the wall, sending metal tools clattering to the floor. The crash echoed through the room, doing nothing to quiet the rage inside me. Every vampire instinct screamed to hunt, to tear apart whoever dared touch what was mine.

“What’s happening, boss?” Through my haze of fury, I saw Enzo appearing in my peripheral vision, his stance wary as he blocked the doorway.

“It’s Serenity...” I snarled through clenched fangs. “She’s on the move, in a limousine. But I don’t know where. I can’t fucking find her!”

I broke away from him, then grabbed Dimitri by the throat and hauled him off Gianna’s lap. I shook him hard, making his head flop around like a chicken’s. “Who has her? Tell me your dad’s plan.”

Blood trickled from his split lip as he choked out a laugh. “If I... knew Daddy Dearest’s plans,” he coughed wetly, “...don’t you think...I’d have better things to do...than get tortured by you?” His eyes rolled briefly before focusing again. “Although...this is...rather cozy.”

Despite his battered state, a weak smirk returned. “But hey...if we’re taking bets...my money’s on...Dear Old Dad making a deal with...our doggy friends.” Another painful wheeze. “He always did...want to be king.”

I dropped him on the floor and he crumpled into a ball, his eyes fluttering shut. Gianna pushed herself up from where I’d left her, stumbling as she rushed to close the distance between her and her husband.

“Stop, Angelo, please. You’re going to kill him.” Her voice cracked with desperation, but I barely heard her over the roaring of my blood in my ears.

I stared at Dimitri, trying to decide if he was telling the truth. Either way, the scent of his blood called to the monster inside me, making my fangs ache.

Enzo came up next to me. “Petar wouldn’t be able to take you down without an army, and then Trystan would get his Nephilim prize.”

“Serenity.” Her name tore from my throat like a curse. Fury like I’d never experienced in all my centuries rushed through me, a red miasma clouding my vision. My fingers curled into claws, itching to tear into flesh. My body trembled with barely contained violence, the need for bloodshed thrumming in my veins. The beast inside me howled for retribution, demanding blood for blood.

“This note is Trystan’s declaration of war.” I crushed the paper in my fist, my voice dropping to a guttural snarl barely recognizable as human speech.

The predator inside me was rising, hungry for vengeance.