Wanted (The Un #2)

16. Raphael

SIXTEEN

RAPHAEL

Asher’s voice pierces my sleep-fogged brain. “Wake up.”

“Fuck,” I grunt into the mass of hair covering my face.

Alena sleepily pushes my head back down to the pillow. “Go back to sleep.”

“Can’t, my beloved.” I sigh as I hear Asher walking toward the kitchen. “Something’s going on.”

“Bite you,” Alena growls, and tries to push me back down on the bed.

I’m fast enough this time, though. There’s no way I’m meeting Asher with a wet cock.

Flipping us over so I’m above her, I smirk at Alena then kiss her forehead. “I’ll be back soon, my love.”

Alena pouts. “Hurry or I’ll be cold.”

Laughing, I get out of bed and head for the door. “You’re a vampire, my love,”

Entering the hall, a very vivid image of Alena kissing down my chest fills my head. Her plush lips are pulled back as she nips and nibbles all the way down to my throbbing cock.

Fuck.

Then she bites the side of my shaft, forcing me to orgasm.

“No!” I shout into the bond. “Bad girl.”

“Come back to bed,” Alena purrs.

Another image enters my mind. One of her lying on her back with one hand sliding up to her breast. Pinching her nipple tight between her fingers, she teases herself. While her other hand sinks between her thighs.

Red-hot arousal surges through me when she starts playing with her clit.

Groaning, I’m so fucking tempted to go right back to bed, but Alena will bite me and that will lead to another round of glorious sex.

Asher will be extremely annoyed with me if I choose to make Alena scream instead of answering his summons.

By the time I make it to the kitchen table, Asher and Chloe are sharing a blood bag.

Andrei is on a laptop, doing whatever studying he does.

And I hear Caden with Maddox upstairs, doing something unholy with a blood donor.

“Where’s Alena?” Asher asks.

“She’s still sleepy.” I motion to the blood bag. “We going vegan?”

Andrei sticks his head up from behind his laptop. “Fuck no. Mom’s still squeamish about the whole drinking from a body thing.”

“Language,” Chloe chirps at Andrei and throws a dirty napkin at his head. “No more foul language or you’re grounded.”

Andrei looks between Chloe and Asher. “You can’t ground me. I’m like centuries older than you. Besides, what could you possibly do?”

Chloe motions to the laptop. “I’ll take your hentai away.”

The entire house falls into silence.

Then there’s a loud commotion upstairs before Caden and Maddox burst into the kitchen.

“Hentai?” Caden asks.

“I don’t look at hentai!” Andrei shouts at Chloe and quickly closes his laptop.

“Honey, our son is a deviant.” Chloe looks sadly at Asher. “We may need to send him to therapy. That body pillow of his… it crackles whenever it’s moved.”

In a flash of movement, Caden and Maddox are tackling Andrei’s massive body out of his chair.

Both of them working on prying the computer from his arms.

Andrei curls up his body to protect his laptop.

It’s a mass of limbs and bodies as they try to wrestle the big man into a vulnerable position.

“What in the world?” Alena asks as she gracefully walks into the kitchen.

Alena’s hair is a complete mess, and it’s so damn sexy looking I’m half-tempted to carry her back to our room while this shit is sorted out.

“Alena!” Andrei bellows. “Bite Caden!”

Grinning deviously, Alena instantly gives into her inner brat.

Flinging herself across the room, she lands on Caden’s back.

Caden screams like a man possessed when Alena latches onto his neck. “Oh fuck!”

His body shuddering, he can’t fight off the effect of her bite.

Just like the human Alena fed on downstairs, Caden is unable to control the pure bliss coursing through him.

On one hand, I’m feeling petty enough to enjoy watching Caden writhe on Maddox’s back as his body locks up in agonizing pleasure.

On the other, I’m demonically pissed at the sight of her biting another man.

Roaring in disgust, Maddox pushes a shuddering Caden off him.

“But you’re my sister!” Caden winces and covers his wet groin with his hands.

Alena spits out the blood in her mouth. “Not biologically. You need to shower.”

Yanking Alena to my side, I snarl into our connection, “Don’t feed on another man.”

Fred is standing at attention now. His simmering rage nearly sending him into fury.

“Payback,” Alena says and crosses her arms over her chest. “He laughed at me when I couldn’t control my power.”

Pushing the rage down, I force out a chuckle.

“You shouldn’t pick on the stupid,” I tell her, and give Caden a small kick in the back.

Caden looks at Asher and whines, “We were supposed to have a little sister we could pick on!”

Alena frowns sadly at Maddox. “I’m sorry you got caught in the crossfire.”

“Not the first time it’s happened,” Maddox whispers to her before heading back upstairs.

“Caden, quit jizzing all over the place.” Asher sighs loudly and rubs his temples. “And go change your pants.”

Andrei says, “Hands off the laptop. I was actually doing research.”

Chloe snickers. “On girls?”

Andrei sighs. “On lore. Shitty lore. There’s a comic that’s become quite popular in Japan recently. Even though it’s published underground. It’s called Hexmark. And there’s a striking resemblance to our vampire world as it is right now.”

Returning to the kitchen table, I ask, “Who’s writing it?”

“That’s the issue,” Andrei says. “No one is taking credit. It’s mailed to the publishing company anonymously.”

“Why does this bother you?” Asher asks.

“Because they have the Order, or well, something like the Order in the books,” Andrei answers. “And they don’t paint them in a good light.”

That’s odd. Only the vampire world knows about the Order and the shit we’ve dealt with. Sure, there are whispers among the human population about them, but it’s more like dark fairytales.

“Keep a watch on it and we’ll see if anything comes of it,” Asher says. “On to why I woke everyone early. Matthias found the hunter. And Kian has finally shipped Isaac off to Peru. So he’s assisting in bringing the hunter in.”

“Hunter?” Alena asks.

Fear slices through the bond.

The word, hunter , nearly sending her into a panic.

Wrapping my arm even more tightly around her, I soothe her. “Don’t worry, my love. This isn’t the first hunter we’ve dealt with.”

“Beyond getting information from him, is there anything else we need?” Andrei asks.

“No. You know the score with this one.” Asher looks at me, his expression darkening. He knows everything I saw in Alena’s memories. “He’s dead after he talks.”

Alena tenses beside me.

I look down into her eyes. “You won’t even have to see him, my beloved.”

With the family’s comfort and support surrounding her through the blood link, Alena says carefully, “I want to see him before he dies.”

Asher nods at her. “Good.”

The sound of a vehicle racing quickly up the driveway turns all our heads.

Alena cringes when the tires screech and the vehicle slams on the brakes. Her vampiric senses are still extremely heightened and sensitive.

It’s something she’ll get used to in time.

We all have.

Andrei quickly puts down his laptop and races outside.

I’m tempted to go myself, but Andrei, Kian, and Matthias should have one simple fucking hunter in hand.

“Bring him into the garage,” Asher shouts before standing and exiting the kitchen.

Alena, Chloe, and I follow him.

When we step into the empty garage, I hit the button on the wall to roll up the door.

The hunter strains Matthias and Kian as they try to drag his ass inside. Fighting their hold with more strength than I expected.

Must be the fucking vampire blood in him.

Andrei picks up a crowbar and cracks it over the hunter’s head.

Dazed, the hunter starts to slump in Matthias and Kian’s arms, allowing them to drag him in.

Hitting the button on the wall again, I shut the door behind them.

“He’s a fucking strong dickbag.” Kian growls and punches the hunter hard in the back, where I assume his kidneys are.

“Yeah,” Matthias grunts as he throws the hunter on the concrete floor. “We caught him making his way through the woods about ten miles out.”

“You what?” Asher asks, bringing over a couple sets of heavy chains. “His tracking was going that well?”

I step in to help. We sit the hunter down on the floor and bind his wrist, ankles, and knees.

This fucker is way too strong for rope.

“The Prophet probably showed him my memories,” Alena explains, her face full of worry.

“Yeah, well, whatever that prophet’s doing, he’s not hiding it any longer. Before we picked up this asshole, we swung by the church,” Matthias says. “A bunch of trucks rolled up, packed with hunters. A fucking lot of them.”

“Fuck hunters.” Caden sneers as he steps into the garage. “They’re not superheroes or anything.”

“Some of them might be your kryptonite, Caden.” Kian snickers. “We counted quite a few female hunters among them.”

“What the fuck?” Chloe asks and looks at us in confusion. “They don’t allow female hunters.”

“Say that to my liver,” Kian grunts as he kicks the hunter in front of us. “They don’t allow them to live or train together, but there are hunters of both sexes.”

He’s right. I’ve fought a few female hunters in my lifetime and they’re worse than the men.

The men are simply there to do a job, but the women are rabid in their devotion. They can be quite frightening, truthfully.

“We need to get word to the Council about this development and quick,” Andrei says to the room. “The Order sounds like they’re amassing an army.”

“Fat lot of good that will do.” Asher spits on the hunter in disgust. “They’re a bunch of fucking useless old assholes only worried about their power.”

“Still…” I say slowly and hate what I’m about to suggest. But in these times of crazy, we need to look at all our options. “What about Lord Albert? He could push for action.”

Asher looks at me like I’m a madman. “He could also come in and annihilate this whole fucking city. He may be a sympathetic ear to us, but that blade of his… it controls him.”

“He’d also be very interested in coming to New Elysium,” Matthias adds. “Two soulmarked in one city.”

Fuck. I didn’t think about that.

If word gets out that we found two soulmarked here, within a week of each other, we’ll have covens from across the globe trying to move in.

More vampires on our side is a good thing. But not all covens would want to work with us. Jealousies would be impossible to control.

And we’d probably lose half the human population within the first month alone.

“We’ll let the Council know,” Asher says, putting the matter to a rest.

“Just not yet,” I say and smirk at him.

“Exactly.” Asher nods and points at the hunter on the ground. “Time for work.”

Moving closer to Alena, I say quietly, “Alena, my love, you can go inside if you want.”

It’s as if mirror is being held up in front of my face when I feel the rage blazing through Alena’s body.

“No!” Alena hisses loudly. “This motherfucker tormented me for years. He tortured me for anything and everything. He made my life a living hell! Instead of helping me, he beat the shit out of me!”

Ripping herself away from me, Alena stalks up to the hunter and screams. “Remember that day you beat the bottoms of my feet for three hours straight?!”

The hunter glares angrily at Alena. “You’re nothing but a dirty vampire whore. You got what you deserved.”

Leaning down into his face, Alena whispers, “Say that again, Jeffrey.”

“Whore,” Jeffrey says and smiles. “You’re going to burn in Hell for eternity.”

A small bit of worry gnaws at me as I watch them taunt each other. But it’s mostly because I don’t want her to bite him.

I could give a fuck if she hurts the hunter. She most likely needs to do it to heal. But she can’t drink from him.

That fucking sick prick doesn’t deserve the bliss.

“Too bad this hunter’s a fucking pathetic lackey.” Alena cackles. “He flogged himself every time he looked at me! He wanted me!”

Jeffrey spits at her, but she dodges out of the way. “You’re a succubus! Even if the Prophet doesn’t see it, I do!”

“Hmm, maybe so.” Alena giggles. “I do suck now, but you’ll never know what it feels like. Not that any woman would want the… tiny thing you’re packing.”

I think all of us standing around, watching the byplay, are about to die laughing when Alena holds her finger and thumb apart. Showing only about an inch between them.

“Sis.” Caden cackles and wraps an arm around Alena’s shoulders while he points at Jeffrey. “You telling me this shit stain has a micropenis?”

Alena laughs. “They have a name for that?”

“Oh fuck.” Matthias finally breaks down from the rigid posture he’s been trying to maintain. “That’s fucking beautiful.”

“I would see his teeny, tiny erection poking through his pants sometimes when he was beating me. And it looked… Well, nothing like Raphael’s. Raphael is as big as a horse.”

“Ah fuck!” Caden pushes off Alena with a laugh. “Way too much information.”

Jeffrey releases a high-pitched scream. “You sick slut! Our army of the Prophet’s Blood will destroy you all! We’re fucking coming for you. And when we get you, I don’t care what the Prophet says. I’ll take my wrath out on you, Alena. His powers are far beyond what you could ever dream of! He tried to show you, he tried to give you his—”

Alena punches Jeffrey in the nose, shutting him up.

There’s a loud crunch followed by a gush of blood.

Rocking back, the hunter shakes his head, as if he’s trying to shake off a daze.

Then the fucker spits at Alena again.

Unfortunately, this time she doesn’t move fast enough. The bloody spit hits her in the chest, staining her shirt.

Turning back to me, Alena’s eyes are feral, bordering on frenzied.

She’s been feeding into my rage through the bond.

Barely stifling a growl, I say, “We can’t just snap his neck. He’s got too much of that prophet’s blood in him. He might turn into a vamp.”

Jeffrey starts shaking as he shrieks, “How dare you speak such blasphemy!”

“Do they know the prophet is a vampire, Alena?” I ask her gently.

Asher frowns. “Do they even understand is the better question?”

The rage blazing in Alena’s eyes dims as she considers the questions.

After a few seconds, she shakes her head. “I don’t know. I wasn’t in the loop. They kept me… ignorant.”

That last word hurts her deeply. She’s not just talking about being left out of the politics. She’s referring to her lack of education.

“Either way, he needs to die,” I growl while staring into Alena’s eyes. “He hurt you. No one hurts my beloved.”

Anger radiates off the entire family, filling the garage with a malevolent energy. Every brother is pissed and ready to kill on Alena’s behalf.

You don’t hurt one of our women. Period.

They are to be treasured, spoiled, pampered, and protected.

Nodding her head in agreement, Alena looks like she’s about to start crying at any second.

Turning away from everyone, she fiddles with the hem of her shirt.

“He spit on me. I need to go clean up,” she chokes out before running from the garage.

She’s not running because she doesn’t want to see us kill Jeffrey.

She’s running because she’s so overwhelmed by everyone’s anger on her behalf, she doesn’t know how to handle it.

Caden starts repeatedly kicking Jeffrey in the spine. “This is for hurting my little sis!”

Still gripping the crowbar, Andrei walks up to Jeffrey and brings it down viciously across his ribs. “Piece of shit.”

Emotions running high, everyone wants to take a crack at the hunter. Even if they don’t know the full picture, what Alena said was enough to start a fire.

Our soulmarks are rare and precious to us.

You don’t fuck with them and get away with it.

Matthias kicks Jeffrey hard in the knees, busting both kneecaps. “What Caden said.”

Even Kian, who has only spent minutes in Alena’s presence, punches Jeffrey in the throat. “Fucker.”

Asher walks forward and my brothers fall back.

Gurgling on his own blood, Jeffrey tries to curl up in a ball to protect himself, but he’s still chained and can’t do shit.

Face a stoic mask, Asher simply stares down at Jeffrey for a few long seconds. Then he uses the toe of his shoe to nudge Jeffrey until he’s lying flat on his back.

Asher grins viciously. “Guess I’ll join the party.” He slams his foot down, right on top of Jeffrey’s balls, and crushes them beneath his heel. “This is for hurting my daughter.”

We all hear the pops of Jeffrey’s balls bursting and cringe.

Drifting forward, her eyes shining with rage, Chloe spits in Jeffrey’s face. “You will be the one who burns in Hell!”

When Asher steps back, I finally approach. Kneeling down in front of the hunter, I take in all his injuries.

He’s clinging to consciousness. The beating caused some serious internal damage.

But I can hear his body working to repair itself. His blood rushing through his veins like a vampire’s would.

“He has that prophet’s blood inside him,” I remind everyone. Then I place my hands on both sides of the hunter’s head. “Only one way to make sure this fucker dies for good.”

Asher nods at me.

“Any last prayers, Order boy?” I ask Jeffrey.

“His army marches as we speak,” he slurs between his bloody lips.

Twisting Jeffrey’s head all the way around, I hear everything in his neck crunching and snapping.

Then I rip his head off his shoulders.

A fountain of blood erupts from his torso, and I quickly step back.

I don’t want any of that diseased shit getting on me.

Dropping the decapitated head next to the corpse, I look at Caden. “Burn this motherfucker to cinders. Then we’ll separate his remains into four lead boxes and drop them in different parts of the ocean.”

“Sounds good to me,” Caden says. “No one fucks with my sister and gets away with it.”

From across the house, I hear Alena yell, “Why are there so many birds circling above us?!”

Birds?

At first, I think her hearing must still be fucking with her.

But then I listen closely to be sure.

Something is slicing through the air above the house, but no bird sounds like that. No bird I’ve ever heard.

A pit of dread forms in my stomach and I race into the house.

“Gargoyles!” Matthias roars in fury before I hear the metal of the garage door crumbling like tinfoil behind me.

“ Raphael! Help! ” Alena screams into our bond.

Through her eyes, I watch as a stone creature breaks through the window of the bathroom and grabs her.

I’m moving as fast as I can, but Alena is pulled out into the night before I can reach her.

Every fucking fear inside of me crashes down on my shoulders like the weight of the world.

I burst through the door of the bathroom, but she’s already gone.

Racing up to the broken window, I peer outside and see her being carried high into the night sky.

“Alena!” I roar as her shape becomes smaller and smaller.

Gargoyles…

Only a witch holds power over gargoyles.

Cellphones start ringing all over the house. The shrill tones driving me further and further into madness.

Rage strums every fiber of my being.

My beast wants to be unleashed. Begging me to give into his unholy fury.

And I allow it.

Another winged stone creature slams its heavy body into the window frame. Its bulk and weight easily collapsing the wall around it.

The gargoyle opens its mouth in a silent roar as it launches itself at me. Taking the impact, I roar my own challenge in return.

Upstairs, Maddox screams something about interrupting his shower.

But I have my own gargoyle to deal with.

Locked in a tight embrace with the stone fucker, it tries to bite my throat.

Leaning my head back, I slam my forehead into its lower jaw.

And it hurts like a motherfucker.

Shaking my head, I’m dizzy, and the world is spinning around me.

Whatever stone these fuckers are made out of isn’t normal.

Bringing my knee up between us, I don’t bother trying to knee the bastard in the nuts. It doesn’t fucking have any.

But I need the leverage.

Holding onto its arms, I use all the strength in my berserking body to yank them off the body.

The gargoyle stumbles back for a moment. Only to charge back in with its wings wide and gaping mouth full of fangs.

Grinning savagely, I use its own arms as clubs to beat the shit out of its head and shatter its skull.

Its body drops lifelessly to the ground and breaks into pieces, as if whatever magic was powering it is gone now.

Roaring into the house, my voice echoes throughout the rooms. “Take their heads and they die!”

As I race toward the garage, another gargoyle crashes through the back door of the kitchen.

I’m on the fucker’s back in an instant.

Wrenching its head to the side, I brace my feet against its wings and yank as hard as I can.

The head comes off, but the force I used causes me to fall to the floor, landing on my back.

Suddenly, a large hole appears in the ceiling and three stone bodies fall through. All with parts of their heads caved in.

Maddox drops through the hole with two more gargoyles gripped in his hands.

He keeps slamming their bodies together until their skulls crack and their bodies become lifeless.

No doubt, they tried their best to hurt Maddox. But with his impervious skin, they didn’t make much progress.

Quickly examining the bodies, I spot broken teeth and snapped talons.

Leaping to my feet, I grab one gargoyle before it hits the floor and rip an arm from its socket.

Time to fucking hunt.

Finally reaching the garage, I see utter chaos.

Asher is moving around multiple gargoyles as they try to take him down.

But Asher’s main power is extreme strength.

He simply punches holes into the gargoyles heads.

Ambrose is down on the floor, his body badly beaten. Caden stands above him, protecting him, but isn’t looking much better himself.

Chloe is blinking around the room. Dodging and weaving around gargoyles as Matthias breaks their heads off from behind.

It looks like most of the gargoyles have tried to breech our house here. Where we were keeping the hunter.

The fucking hunter was a goddamn trap.

My heart aches at the loss of my beloved. The bond stretching between us strained and taut.

But I have to fight now and help my family if I want to get her back.

Kian dashes over to stand behind Maddox and me, using us as a shield to answer his phone. While he talks, Maddox and I dispatch a duo of gargoyles.

“The pack has five subdued or dead outside!” Kian shouts above the mayhem. “They haven’t seen any come through the skies for a few minutes. Whatever’s here is the last of them!”

Shoving my way forward, I glare through the opening of the garage and see a few gargoyles outside. Either they’ve lost their desire to fight, or they’ve been called back, because they suddenly take flight.

Soaring up to the sky, they’re beyond our reach in an instant.

Even with the levitation abilities some of us possess, there’s no chance we can catch them.

Turning to Asher, I grab the last of the gargoyles from him.

Pressing its head between my hands and staring into its glowing red eyes, I bellow my rage.

All the torment... All the anger and hatred…

The utter fucking despair I feel flows through my arms as I crush its head into dust.

“Raphael.” Asher grabs me by the shoulders and forces me to look at him. “Calm. Focus. Do not go into a rage.”

Shoving Asher away from me, I grit my teeth. “I’m already fucking raging, Asher. But I’m focused! I control my rage now! It was a gift from my beloved.”

In my periphery, I see a lot of movement.

Acting quick, I catch Caden before he hits the ground.

“Ambrose wouldn’t leave.” Caden groans hoarsely. “He wouldn’t leave my side. He fought harder than I’ve ever seen anyone fight…”