Scorned by Venom (Argentium Vampire Hunters Trilogy #2)

17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Winnie

Drag and his crew had picked me and Erik up on the side of the highway and drove us to the van we’d left when we met Naomi. We stashed our masks and cloaks in the tote like she’d requested, and after filling Drag in on some of the things we’d found, we followed them home.

On our way back, Jimmy called and alerted me that Lyric and Sage knew where we’d gone, and Lyric had very politely kicked him out of our cabin. He explained he didn’t snitch directly to them, but since he and Nellie were now a couple, he’d figured it would be okay to tell her about the mission, and she was the one who told them.

Seriously, I didn’t even tell my girlfriend, so I had no idea why he’d thought it would be okay to tell his.

Despite my frustration with Jimmy, my primary concern was Nellie and I questioned why she’d shared information with Sage and Lyric.

Is she a teenage girl stuck in a woman’s body? Or she is purposely starting shit?

Either answer to my thoughts pissed me off, but I had no room for my anger when I needed to be focused on my groveling.

When I stepped through our cabin door, Lyric sat on the edge of the couch and said nothing as she glanced up at me, her face unreadable.

I did notice her constant joyful smile had disappeared because of my foolishness. I had murdered her happiness, smothering it with lies and severe commitment issues.

Fuck.

“I’m sorry, mama. I didn’t have a choice. We needed info and I was the only one able to get it.”

She dropped her head down, looking at her hands that were nestled between her thighs. “Winston, I . . .”

“It’s okay. You can yell at me. Tell me I’m an asshole and I messed up.”

Tears had welled in her eyes when they met mine again. “Actually, I was going to say that maybe you’re right. I’m not sure that us being together is what’s best for me, either.” She stood, grabbed a duffle bag off the floor, and slung it over her shoulder. “I’m staying with Stephanie for a while.”

She walked past, and I placed my hand on her shoulder trying to halt her so we could talk. “Hold up.”

Her sudden wrenching away shocked me, as it was something she had never done before. “Don’t.”

“What happened to happy for now, Lyric? That doesn’t exist anymore?”

Her heart raced as she looked over her shoulder at me. “You damaged our happiness when you lied to me.”

And without another word, she left the cabin. I stared at the door, wondering if I should go after her and maybe show her some kind of grand gesture.

Could I be a gallant knight with a sword, riding in on a white horse when I feel more like an antihero?

Should I pour my heart out to a woman I haven’t fallen in love with yet?

My feet wouldn’t move, locked onto the wood planks of the floor, and maybe, just maybe, this was for the best.

The last time a girl broke my heart I was still human. I hadn’t really let anyone else get close since then, and for good reasons. Between my heartbreak, Peach’s, Vivi’s, and Sage’s, I had seen too much—felt too much.

Obviously, it always ended in disappointment.

The woman that broke my heart had cheated and repeatedly lied to me.

I despised liars.

Had I done the same to Lyric? I would never cheat, but had I accidentally broken her heart by lying?

I suppose I did.

But my intentions were to protect her. I didn’t want her worrying about us for hours, or worse, trying to stop us from completing the mission because that wouldn’t have happened.

Am I laying down a double standard?

I plopped down at the computer desk and propped my feet up on it.

Even though I felt like Lyric should have been my top priority, saving my best friend from rotting away in a research lab had always stayed at the top of my list. Maybe that made me an asshole, but it felt nearly impossible to make everyone happy at the same damn time.

Sometimes, I believed things happened the way they’re supposed to. This was a sign I needed to let her go so she’d have a normal life with a man that could give her love and a family—give her the entire world.

Because in my mind, she deserved someone better than me.

Not long after Lyric left, Sage showed up, wanting to know what I found. I told her it would take me a while to go through the files and to check back when she awoke. Even though I should have said something about her uncle, I didn’t have enough mental energy to tell her.

After Sage left, I uploaded the files from the USB and hit the digital jackpot with the information I found. Not only did I have the coordinates for the closest VRC location, I also found six more facilities.

Venom attached Luka’s name and an identification number to a location only three hundred miles from here.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find Strike on any of the lists. But I wouldn’t reveal that information to my sister or anyone but Ravage for now.

I awoke with the sunset, and before I even had time to take a piss, Sage came knocking on my door, wondering if I found any info yet. I quickly filled her in on everything, and before we even talked to Drag or the others, she had me making hotel reservations—the first step in our new plan.

“There are only two bedrooms available, but there’s two beds per room. If we want more, we’ll have to wait three weeks.”

Sage’s head popped up from her phone. She had been staring at the map of the area by VRC for twenty minutes. “No more waiting. Luka’s been in there long enough, thanks to me. We have to go now. I’m not making him wait any longer.”

“Alright. We’ll have to bunk up.” I clicked confirm on the screen, reserving our rooms before a hard sigh left me.

Four days. We only had four days to get our shit together before we left on a mission that could cost some of us our lives. Sage hadn’t been training long enough and Lyric wasn’t speaking to me. These were only small weaknesses in our system, but weaknesses nonetheless.

Leaning back in the chair, I clasped my hands behind my head, my stare going to the ceiling. I yawned, exhaustion from last night hitting me. After sleeping next to Lyric for months, it felt weird being in bed alone this morning. It took me over an hour of laying there thinking about her before I finally dozed off.

“Did you have trouble sleeping alone after Luka was taken?” I asked, without looking at Sage.

“Um, that’s a random question.”

“Lyric is so pissed at me for going on the mission she slept at Steph’s, and I had trouble sleeping without her in bed.”

“I didn’t really have that issue because Luka and I never got the chance to be in a real relationship. But I have had trouble sleeping every night since he’s been gone. I have a lot of nightmares now. Some of them are about me killing people, but most of them are about Luka being tortured.”

Sage got quiet and besides the hum of my PC, her racing heart was the only sound filling the room. I knew she was in deep thought about what kind of torture Luka had been getting for months. Worse torture than my girlfriend being mad because I lied.

“Only a few more days,” I mumbled, breaking the silence. She didn’t respond, making my stare drift to her. “You hear me, Sage Stick?”

“What if he hates me, Winnie?” She bit her lip before dropping her head down, picking at her nails.

“That’s literally impossible.”

Her hazel eyes met mine, glazed with emotions. “I couldn’t save him and he probably hates me for it.”

The last thing I wanted was for Sage to go back to hiding from the world. I dropped my hands from my head and sat up. “Luka decided to sacrifice himself for you and he couldn’t possibly be mad at you for it. You need to let that shit go.”

Sage snickered, a playful expression on her face. “Or what, Pooh Bear? Are you going to yell at me?”

“No, but I might throw your ass in the lake again.”

“I would like to see you try, Asshole.”

We both laughed as I hopped up from my chair. “I gotta freshen up so we can fill everyone in on what I found. I have some other info you’re not gonna like.”

“Of course you do.” Sage stood from my recliner and headed for the door. “I’ll see you out there.”

Since I didn’t have time to shower, I quickly brushed my teeth because I had morning breath, but primarily in case Lyric decided she wanted to talk to me. If we made up, I wanted my breath to be fresh when I devoured her mouth.

Once outside, I went straight for the circle of people gathered around the bonfire. Lyric had taken a seat next to Erik, and she glanced at me before quickly averting her eyes. I snickered and surveyed the surroundings, pondering where to find a seat, as it definitely wouldn’t be next to her.

As I took in the many faces, I noticed some people were still missing. I also realized this seemed to be our group’s thing . . . like a supernatural council that allowed humans in.

“We should make our own organization,” I blurted. “Like Save, but with humans.”

“Would you like to fill us in on the conversation you were having with yourself, son?” Ravage asked.

“I mean, Save kind of fucked us over, but we have enough people to start our own group. Plus, some of the older members, like you or Peach could lead the council for the vamps, Drag for the wolven, and Marcus for the humans.”

Ravage barked out a belly laugh. “You better watch your mouth, boy. Peach will rip your balls off for calling her old.”

“I’m being serious, dude. It’s kinda like we already started one. We just haven’t appointed positions like we had in Save.”

“What does Save mean again?” April asked with a curious look. “Zeke always kept me out of Venom and vampire politics, so I knew very little until I came here.”

“Save stands for Supernaturals Against Venom Elitists. It’s an organization that actively protects vampires and wolven from being used for research. Or that’s what they used to do before we found out some of them were traitors.”

We hadn’t completely cut ties with Save. We currently had Lane and Laren attending meetings and monitoring things, but it was a need-to-know basis. For now, none of the ex-Venom members, other than Lyric, Sage, and Erik, needed to know because we had to do what was best to protect our spies.

“Why do you guys call Venom members elitists?” Nellie asked, causing my attention to drift to her.

“Because Supernaturals Against Venom Cultists doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as easily.”

Her brows clenched at my sarcasm before her eyes narrowed on me. “And why do you call it a cult? Just because we’re inducted into the society by giving blood doesn’t make us a cult.”

Us?

Since being here, the ex-Venom members had referred to the society in the third person, as if they left it behind. But this bitch looked me right in the face and said, “us.”

Even though the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up, alerting me of a possible intruder, I refrained from breaking her neck in front of everyone. Peach would yell at me for not getting more info first, April would probably cry out of shock, plus I might actually feel bad if I was wrong.

Probably not.

My back stiffened and I glanced down at Ravage. His expression told me he had the same feelings I did.

Not wanting to be suspicious, I lowered my ass onto the log next to him and leisurely leaned my elbows onto my knees. “Because that’s exactly what they are, or at least that’s what they portray. Cultic behavior causes vulnerability in its members, or so I’ve read. Once individuals participate in it, it can impact their critical thinking and emotional processing. That shit allows cult leaders to have complete control over their members. Consider this, would Venom be able to function without the masks and cloaks?”

“Absolutely, it could,” Erik answered, before looking toward Nellie. “The cult shit seemed normal until Winnie and I had this same conversation right after we came here. It’s easy to get caught up in the society when you’re raised to believe you’re doing the right thing. Now it all makes total sense. We were brainwashed to follow the leader.”

My gaze went to Sage since her father was the actual leader of the Venom society. She stared at me, then quickly glanced at Nellie, and when her eyes met mine again, I somehow knew she had caught on.

“Not to mention they pay for housing, cars, and still gave us a paycheck,” Steph added. “Which sounds nice, but it’s another way to make the members dependent on them. They would give us the world as long as we obeyed.”

“Is that what this meeting was about?” Nellie interrupted. “Us starting our own society? I thought you found VRC information or something.”

Ravage stood rather quickly, and I did my best to keep my cool. “That’s what we were going to discuss, but there’s a storm on the way, and there’s too many of us to fit in one cabin. We can discuss it later. Everyone better head inside soon.” Without another word, he strolled off into the darkness, and I knew our meeting was being relocated.

Peach turned toward Marcus, laying her hand on his knee. “I need to get the baby from Kimber and Vivi. I told them we wouldn’t be long. Not that they wanted to give her back, anyway.”

“Baby?” April’s eyes sparkled as she scooted to the edge of her seat. “Whose baby do you have, Peach?”

“Oh, she’s a sweet little thing. Do you want to come meet her and I’ll fill you in on how I got her?”

“I would love that.”

Peach peered over at Sage. “I think I left one of the baby’s bags in your Jeep. Can you bring it to me when you’re done here?”

“Sure. I gotta pee first, then I’ll bring it over.” Sage rose from her seat and gave Lyric one look.

“I want to see the baby again,” Lyric said as she stood.

I didn’t know how they always knew what the other thought or wanted, but it fascinated me.

Peach, Marcus, April, and Zeke took off, and I turned my attention to Drag, hoping he understood the lie I was about to tell. “Do you still want me and Erik to help you at your sister’s place?”

Drag hopped up without hesitation. “Yeah, and we better get there before it gets too late. She’ll kill us if we wake their baby.”

I glared at Erik, and it took him a few extra seconds to catch on and stand. “I’m ready when you guys are.”

We followed Drag to his truck and when I went to get into the passenger seat, Ravage appeared next to the door like a magician.

“I don’t think so.” He opened the door and slid into the front seat.

With a sigh, I hopped in the back. “Where’s Lynx?”

“She’s back at the tattoo shop, keeping things running for me. She’ll be back in a few days.”

Ravage hadn’t tattooed me in months and I really needed some ink therapy, but we had too much going on for me to worry about myself.

Pulling my phone out, I sent Peach a text letting her know what we were doing.

Winnie: Going to Dani’s. Bring Sage and Marcus.

I hesitated a second before adding another name

Winnie: And Lyric.

Peach: Be there after we pack up the baby.

“What’s going on?” Erik finally asked when Drag pulled out of the lot. “Why didn’t we have the meeting about what we found last night?”

Ravage turned his head toward us. “Because we’re pretty sure we have a rat living here.”

Once at Dani’s cabin, I stood in the middle of the room and quickly filled everyone in on the VRC locations and about Sage’s uncle smelling weird so I could get some honest feedback before Sage got here.

“Do you think he’s some kind of hybrid?” Lane asked, sitting on the brown leather couch. Since he’d been working with us, and Dani knew about it, they had both listened in on our conversation.

Drag let out a hard breath from the matching recliner across from Lane. “I’ve never heard of a hybrid of all three species before. It seems unnatural.”

Erik was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed when he snickered. “And you guys are all natural?”

Dani cackled. “I like you. From what Kimber tells me, you seem like a good guy. You’re Lyric’s brother?”

Erik nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“She’s sweet as pie. I like her a lot.” Dani’s gaze wandered to me, and the way they narrowed, made my skin crawl. “Don’t fuck that up, Winnie.”

Little did she know, I already had, so I completely avoided her statement. “All I’m saying is at first I could smell each species individually, but then they blended together somehow, which made my nose confused as shit.”

“And if that’s true,” Dani said, her eyes wide, “then Sage is a witch and doesn’t know it.”

“I’ve known Sage and Ben my entire life and I’ve only known them as human. But I did notice how weird Ben acted last night. His actions were mechanical. Almost like he was purposely slowing them down.”

“I noticed that too, but it made sense to me because that’s what we’re trained to do in the beginning.”

Erik stared at me with a look of confusion. “What do you mean?”

“When you become a vampire, you’re filled with overwhelming energy that you aren’t used to, so our origins teach us to slow our movements. Mainly because it consumes too much energy and that would require us to feed more often. And feeding isn’t as easy as it seems without a mate, so we have to conserve. Most of us usually only move super fast if we have to, or in my case, if I’m pissed off. Ben looked like someone that was new to it. Like someone who recently became a vamp and that’s why he seemed mechanical. Or at least, that’s my theory.”

“It’s a good theory, son,” Ravage said from the kitchen adjacent to the living room. After taking a big swig of his beer, he set it on the counter. “Maybe we can visit Shayla tomorrow evening and see what she has to say about it.”

I scrunched up my nose, not wanting any part of visiting the witches.

The baby began fussing and Dani picked her up from a bassinet, then retook a seat in the recliner next to her brother. “I don’t like this, Drag. It’s giving me a bad feeling. Are the spells strong?”

“They aren’t due to be re-cloaked until mid-summer. But if we go to Shayla’s, I’ll ask if there’s a way they can add an extra layer of protection.” Drag’s attention went to Lane. “Did you and Laren find anything at Save tonight?”

“Not much going on. Viktor is still letting Finneas lead every meeting.”

Every one of us believed that Finneas was the one working with Venom so they knew where vampires were, making it easier for them to capture or kill them. But considering Viktor had all but fallen off the face of the earth, I was unsure if maybe we’d accused the wrong brother.

“When is that shit going to be done?” Dani asked, rocking the baby. “I don’t trust those people enough for my brother-in-law to be hanging out with them.”

The crunch of tires filled my ears as a car pulled into the driveway. “Shit, they’re here,” I said before heading toward the door. “Don’t anyone mention anything about Save yet.”

Once everyone exited the Jeep, Peach was the first through the door as I held it open, with Marcus right behind her.

I rolled my eyes when Vivi came in, her expression telling me she knew about me fighting with Lyric.

“You’re a punk.” She punched me in the arm when she went past, then went over to stand by Dani and the baby.

Sage strolled in next, her eyes going wide at the room filled with people before she seated herself on the floor.

Last was Lyric who nervously looked at me before saying, “Thank you.”

I shut the door. “No problem, mama.”

We locked eyes and for a split second, I wanted to grab her and smash my lips against hers.

“What’s up, Marcus?” Lane shouted, breaking the intense gaze I had on Lyric. “How’ve you been?”

“Much better since I get to see your sexy ass.” Marcus laughed, taking a seat by Lane before pulling Peach down next to him. You couldn’t take Marcus anywhere without him making best friends.

Since the cabins weren’t very big, Lyric squatted onto the floor with Sage and I remained standing.

My hands were jittery, which surprised me since nervousness had never really been an issue for me. But as I looked around the room full of people I loved and admired, I had a feeling that some of us weren’t going to make it to the end of this war. Especially after knowing there was some kind of triple hybrid species.

Tribrid? Trispecies? Evil trinity of hell?

I took a deep breath, attempting to keep a calm demeanor before locking eyes with Sage and blurting, “Your uncle’s a freak.”