Chapter 2

THE VAMPIRE

A vicious throb pounded through my skull. I touched my temple and came away with blood on my fingertips. Pushing to my elbows, I winced. Shit, the demon knocked me out when I’d tried to get in the way . . .

Maya!

I bounced to my feet, frantically scanning for her. Blood dripped down my chin, and I thumbed it away.

Before I’d blacked out, the demon had gone after Maya. If it took her—I gritted my teeth together—I would never forgive myself.

Enzo gasped and shot into a sitting position. He rubbed his temple, flinching.

“Where is she?” he snarled, meeting my eyes.

My thoughts exactly. I rolled my neck. Destruction littered the room. Plaster spilled out of walls, furniture laid broken, and blood was splashed across every surface. Was she . . .?

Tanner hovered over Beckett. I limped forward and stilled. “He’s dead,” I said.

Enzo hoisted himself to his feet and shouldered in next to me, jamming his hands through his hair. A grim expression settled on his face.

“This is going to destroy her,” Enzo said, the muscle in his cheek bouncing.

My gaze flicked off each one. Understatement of the century. Maya had lost a mate. How would she bear this? “Where is she?”

“You’re speaking French,” Tanner said, not looking at me.

I pressed my thumb into my temple and repeated the question. I’d witnessed what we meant to her and now, she’d lost one of us.

“Don’t know but I’ll find her,” Enzo intoned in his low, threatening voice.

Tanner grasped Enzo’s arm, stopping his retreat. “And run around with our heads chopped off?”

I backed up, rubbing my palm across my jaw. A crunch under my boot brought my attention to the shattered cell phone. I crouched to look at the device. “We can’t contact her.”

She had to have gone after her father; he’d caused this evil chaos, and she would want to destroy him—which meant she was in danger. Enzo was right; we had to find her. Osmodus wouldn’t be easily defeated, and she’d already been weakened.

A chill traveled up my spine. She had to be okay. There was no other option.

Tanner sat back on his haunches with his lips pressed together. He blinked, and it seemed to take a little longer for the next blink to come. His expression shifted; his lips turned down at the corners and his nostrils flared.

These three had known each other the longest, and it wasn’t until then that I realized how close they’d become. When I’d first met them, I believed them enemies, only getting along for Maya’s sake. But I’d been wrong; they’d become comrades.

They couldn’t hide their friendship, even if they refused to admit it. Maya came first in every aspect for all of us, but for her, they’d come together and become a unit—and I’d become a part of that without realizing it.

Now one of us lay on the ground with his throat split in half. Was that his spinal cord?

Maya caused this, but not only that—Beckett had died at her hands.

The horror she’d experienced . . . I couldn’t think about it.

The rhythmic tick, tick, tick of a clock echoed in the silence. Tanner’s announcement froze me, I would be useless chasing my tail trying to find Ma . . .

Movement at Beckett’s throat forced me to focus. I gawked. No, impossible . His gaping wound was starting to knit itself back together, beginning at the ripped flesh along the edge. With every beat of his heart, a new spurt of blood leaked as it closed.

I froze, riveted as I watched the progression. I’d never seen anything like it.

Tanner inched away.

Beckett sucked in a ragged breath, so loud that everyone jumped. What was this madness? The wolf inhaled again. A hard cough wracked his body and black blood sprayed from his mouth. The inky color splattered down his chest like a paintbrush had been flicked at him.

I neared, almost stumbling as I approached, but my eyes hadn’t deceived me. Without a doubt, he’d been dead. How was this possible? His shoulders shook with each shuddering noise spilling from his mouth. His eyes widened at the ceiling, onyx filling the orbs, like Maya’s when she gave in to her other form. He blinked and the blue of his iris’s returned.

Beckett rubbed his scalp with his palm. “What the fuck happened?” he asked in a rough voice as he rose to sit on his ass.

Enzo gawked down at the werewolf.

“He didn’t have a pulse,” Tanner said, voice terse. He reached forward, but before he touched him, Beckett shoved his gloved hand away.

“What the fuck, man?” he grumbled and then grimaced, pressing his thumbs to his temples. The fae seemed to collect himself, and a slight smile curved his mouth. Tanner swiped his fingers across the splatter on Beckett’s chest. They came away smeared with black.

“Vampire, blood is your expertise, does this remind you of anything?” He lifted his glistening fingers in the air.

I crouched and swiped a bit off Beckett myself. He growled, smacking at me in slow motion. Sniffing deep, a sweet, familiar smell went to my head. My mouth watered. A sweet honey I would be able to pinpoint anywhere. Before I knew it, my fingers were in my mouth.

The three of them stared at me with looks of ‘what the fuck.’ I licked the sweet nectar off my fingertips.

“ Je suis désolé, I haven’t had a meal and the fight drained me.” I rubbed my hand against my shirt and cleared my throat, trying to not pay too much attention to the werewolf who looked like he wanted to snap my neck. “As for the blood, it tastes like Maya’s.”

“Looks like bonding to her worked in your favor, wolf. She’s not easy to kill, which means her mates aren’t either,” Tanner said, standing with smugness radiating from him.

Enzo cleared his throat; the flash of discomfort on his face disappeared. “Well, good, he’s not dead. Pretty girl won’t have to suffer, but we still have to find her.”

Beckett clambered to his feet unsteadily. “I agree.”

Enzo scoffed like that wasn’t the norm.

“Don’t act like you weren’t sad,” Beckett said, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t give a fuck if you die, but Maya shouldn’t suffer. The fae was the emotional one.” He sounded a tad on the defensive side, but I stifled my laugh.

“Me? Emotional? The most oxymoron sentence I’ve ever had the displeasure of hearing.”

A sniffle reached my ears, and I peered into the bedroom as they continued sniping back and forth. Shadows moved from within the room. Another more obvious cry floated to my ears. I waved my arm at the others, and their conversation tapered to a stop. Children, three of them. They huddled against each other in the corner of the room with their faces crumpled in fear.

“Come out,” Enzo barked. I sighed and shook my head at the brute.

“That’s no way to get them to relax,” I hissed. “Hello, little children,” I crooned, wiggling my fingers at the huddle.

“That wasn’t any less scary,” Tanner drawled.

I ignored him and slowly approached, then knelt in front of them, leaving a few feet between us. They stared, eyes wide and complexions pale.

“We’re wasting precious time,” Enzo snapped.

I agreed, but saying so was counterproductive. “We can’t just leave them . . .” I retorted crisply. They were just kids and by the look of them, they’d been dragged into this shit without a choice. Dirt dusted their clothing, and their faces were smeared with patches of grime.

Tears welled in one of their gazes while in the other two, acceptance settled. I breathed in slowly. The air held hints of a coppery scent. My mouth watered. “We can’t leave them surrounded by corpses.”

“Elliot has a point. We don’t know what they’ve seen, nor where they came from. We can question them and then leave them with the authorities,” Tanner said, stepping next to me.

The smaller dark-haired kid cowered behind the angry-looking one who looked exactly like him.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” Tanner said in a low tone. They didn’t seem convinced.

Enzo sighed and retreated. “I don’t have the patience for this. I’m going to make a call.”

I knew how to read others, a skill I’d fostered to perfection. But my expertise and training was in women. All in an effort to please Maya. Even so, clearly these kids needed to be somewhere safe after what could only be described as a violent and terrifying experience.

I remained crouched and stared in the eyes of the boy near the twins. “We won’t hurt you. We’re going to help you guys out, but in exchange we need you to move fast. We have someone very important to us that we need to return to.”

Suspicious eyes focused on me, and I tried to keep my expression as gentle as I could. Tanner sighed, and I gave him a look.

“What’s the worst that will happen, that hasn’t already happened to you?” he said in an even tone and crossed his arms.

The expressionless blond I’d been staring at scowled, while the other two waited. It was confirmed: my skills only worked on women.