CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE || COLE
“Idon’t like this,” Eli said. “This isn’t how it should be. I don’t want to just stay home while you go off and face some super-evil and ancient vampire.”
“I need to go alone,” I told him flatly. “I can’t risk you.”
“You’re not going alone,” Thierry said firmly. “We’re not letting Magnus separate us again. Absolutely not.”
“He threatened Eli’s life. I must destroy him,” I replied. I fixed my twin’s gaze with mine. “Would you be able to risk Jeremy, if you were in my shoes?”
“Hey, now. I’m a lot less breakable,” Jeremy said, holding up his hand.
It immediately shifted—his fingers elongating into wicked-looking claws.
“And Magnus has no idea what I am. That gives us the element of surprise. You need me in this.” His tone grew colder.
“I’ll kill him for what he did to you two. ”
“This conversation is both tedious and unnecessary. You will die if you go alone,” Godric said, fixing me with a hard look.
“You will attack Magnus, and he will kill you. He wishes for you to become his ally. He must already suspect that you will refuse him. If you do so, he will end you without a flicker of hesitation. The only chance we have is overwhelming force.”
“How the hell could you possibly know that?” I demanded, feeling outrage flash through me.
“He’s psychic,” Thierry told me, shooting Godric a dark look. “And he was Magnus’s right-hand man for centuries. He knows better than anyone what we’re up against.”
“We must come up with a plan,” Godric added. “We will have one chance at this.”
“Can you see what Magnus is up to?” Jeremy asked.
Godric shook his head. “I have not been able to see him since the night I conscripted you and your mate into aiding me. Magnus is blocked from my vision and has been for days. He is using magic—an amulet, perhaps—to ward himself from magical detection.”
“Which means that this is a trap,” Jeremy said pointedly. “Magnus intended for you to see him. He lured us here. And now he’s attempting to separate us. This is villainy 101.”
Thierry flashed his mate a startled look. “I keep forgetting how clever you are,” he said, the ghost of a smile on his lips and his eyes shining with naked affection.
Jeremy rolled his eyes but returned Thierry’s smile. “I try.”
Then my brother turned back to me. “But yes. Precisely what Jeremy said. Magnus will expect you to go alone, because he threatened your mate’s life.”
“I can stay with Eli,” Harris offered. He had insisted on coming back with Thierry and me—more evidence that he was willing to be… friends. The word felt strange in my mind. He added, “We can go somewhere public, away from here—a hotel or something. Magnus won’t know where we are.”
“Yes. And you must load your gun with silver bullets,” Godric said approvingly.
Harris stared at him. “Wait, I thought those were for werewolves?”
“Silver works on most supernatural creatures,” Jeremy said before Godric could reply. “Silver kills wolves. But it saps the strength and speed of a vampire. They become more or less mortal in their abilities. It evens the fight.”
Harris’s brows drew together. “Oh. Huh, good to know.” Then he shook his head slowly and let out a low exhale. “I don’t know if I’m ready to accept the existence of werewolves, though. People who can shapeshift into animals is just a little too strange.”
Jeremy flashed him a sympathetic look and patted his shoulder. “Sorry, man. It just keeps getting weirder from here.”
“I won’t leave Eli and his sister—because Sam must be protected as well—under the care of just one human,” I cut in. I frowned at Harris. “And I cannot ask you to put yourself in such danger. I can send other officers.”
“No. There’s another way,” Thierry said. He traded a glance with Jeremy. “We have friends. If we ask them to come, they will.”
Godric nodded approvingly. “Yes. This is sensible. Might I suggest Simone and Poppy? Between them and your brave mortal friend, they will protect Eli and his sister. But leave the others out of this. It is far too dangerous to involve them.”
“What, you don’t want anything to happen to Tobias and Bryan?” Thierry asked, frowning. “They’re the ones standing in the way of you and Rico.”
“Yes, but if anything were to happen to them, it would destroy my beloved. The very same is true of Danny and Michael—Rico sees each of them as a father figure, a part of his family. And therefore, they must remain unharmed.” Then Godric paused.
“I would gladly go years without him by my side, if that meant he did not need to ever suffer the pain of such a loss. I would trade my own happiness to keep him protected, if needed.”
The surprise was visible on Thierry’s face. “Huh. Well, maybe when we get back, I’ll put in a good word for you with Bryan and Tobias.”
“I suppose we shall see,” Godric agreed.
I don’t like this, Nicolas. I don’t like the idea of you going up against the guy who turned you. And I don’t want us to be separated. If anything happens to you—
It won’t. You and Sam will be well protected. By sunrise tomorrow, we will be together again. And without any threats from my past to keep us apart.
Do you promise?
I hesitated. I knew better than to make promises I couldn’t keep. But I met his gaze and nodded anyway. Yes, darling. I promise.
* * *
In the end, Thierry called Poppy and Simone. They took the first flight out, along with a vampire named Sadie, who apparently caught wind of what was happening and insisted upon coming as well.
“I will be aiding you,” she said flatly when Thierry called her and told her not to come.
Her voice was openly disdainful through the tiny speaker of my brother’s phone.
“It matters little to me whether you are wise enough to accept the help or not. I am coming regardless. Your input on this situation is entirely unnecessary.”
“But it’s my situation!” Thierry protested, sounding scandalized. He shot me a sheepish look and amended, “Or, well, it’s ours. Sadie, it’s not your business in the least!”
“You may protest the specifics after my debt is paid in full. I am preparing to board, and your theatrics will not change my mind.”
Thierry grimaced when the line went dead in his hand. He heaved a heavy sigh. “For some reason she thinks she owes me a favor. Goodness, she’s insufferable.”
Jeremy snorted. “Maybe you shouldn’t have decided to go and be the hero who changed the course of history for all vampires everywhere.” He paused. “You can’t deny that she gets shit done. Eli and his sister will be well protected.”
“They may need therapy afterward, but she’ll keep them safe until this is over,” Thierry replied grudgingly.
After that, it was a matter of checking Eli and Sam into the fanciest boutique hotel in town.
My mate, of course, balked—not because he was being protected, but because of the price tag.
If he fully understood how little money such an expense was to me, I wondered if that would make things better or worse for him.
“You can’t keep us protected in a Motel 6?
” Eli demanded, looking around at the spacious suite I had booked for them.
It was ultramodern, with pristine black-lacquer furniture that gleamed under the fully adjustable overhead lights, a massive bed, a full living room with a sleek charcoal couch, matching chairs, and a television that deserved its own zip code.
The view through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Los Angeles skyline stretched out below in the gathering twilight, just before sunset fully set in, was stunning.
“Of course not,” I bristled. “You and your sister will be much more comfortable here.”
“This room costs ten thousand dollars a night!”
“It’s only money,” I replied. But that wasn’t his main concern—I could tell.
I swept over to him and pulled him into an embrace.
“We must destroy Magnus. Until we’ve done so, no one can know you are here—except for the select few I’m trusting to keep you safe until this is over. If anything happened to you—”
“I know,” he whispered, putting his arms around me. “And me too. I just—I hate this so much. It feels wrong that we’re separating.”
“It’s only for one night,” I assured him, feeling something in my chest twist at his words. “I love you, Eli.”
“I love you, too,” he replied, sounding ragged.
I could feel his fear and helplessness—his desire to keep me safe. But Magnus had threatened his life. I couldn’t risk Eli being anywhere near me when I confronted the vampire who had turned me into a monster.
He added, “Why does this feel like a goodbye?”
His lips were warm and deliciously masculine when I pressed mine to them—a promise of a future that was waiting for me.
But not a future spent with Eli constantly in danger.
And Magnus himself had set the stakes. I could never allow my mate to spend even a moment under the threat of a monster like my maker.
“I’ll be safe,” I assured him. “Thierry, Godric, and Jeremy will be aiding me. Magnus isn’t expecting that. No matter how powerful he is, there are four of us against one of him. This will all be over easily.”
“You’ll come straight here when it’s done?”
“Of course.” I pressed my lips to his again, trying to hide my desperation from him—my fear. But the sun was setting soon, and I needed to leave. “We will be together again soon.”
And then, without another word, I stepped back and turned from him. I left the room without looking back. If I did, I would lose my resolve.
* * *
The address Magnus gave in his note was a derelict warehouse on the far edge of town. Thierry eyed it skeptically.
“This is where he wants to talk?” His fingers tightened on the wooden stake in his hand. “Well, it’s not exactly a luxury mansion in the French countryside, is it?”
“Magnus has occasionally taken up residence in modest places over the years,” Godric replied, looking up from the wickedly sharp silver axe he had just been studying, though his tone sounded doubtful as well.
“Though he would not have given you the address for his true home—not until he was convinced you were truly his ally. And perhaps not even then. This is merely the stage he wished to set for tonight’s events. ”
“Can you see the outcome?” Thierry asked him. He cast a nervous look at Jeremy before meeting Godric’s dark eyes. “Can you see if we’re going to win?”
Godric hesitated, then shook his head, looking troubled. “Whatever cloaking magic he’s using, it is potent enough that I cannot see past it.”
“Fan-fucking-tastic,” Jeremy muttered. He shifted his hands into claws, his eyes flashing gold. “But I don’t need any psychic powers to know how this ends. We’re going to kill this sick fuck before he can hurt anyone else. We’re ending him tonight.”
I agreed completely. Magnus had made a terrible mistake when he threatened Eli’s life. I couldn’t allow him to live. None of us could. “Remember the plan. Wait exactly three minutes, then follow.”
I turned to go, but Thierry grabbed my shoulder, stopping me. Surprise flooded through me, and I met his eyes—identical to mine in every way. They were filled with a mix of conviction and fear.
“Be safe, brother,” Thierry said harshly, his gaze shinier than it ought to have been. “I’m warning you now, if anything happens to you, I’m going to be livid.”
I grinned at him. “When aren’t you angry with me?”
“No heroics,” he said firmly. “Stick to the plan and only the plan. Promise me.”
“I promise. I will be fine, brother. It is Magnus who should be afraid. Of us.”
Though I sounded far more confident than I felt.
I wouldn’t have traded the way I felt about Eli for anything—nor would I have traded the fact that Thierry was my brother again, and that I had the capacity to feel how much that mattered.
We all had a real future now, once Magnus was eliminated.
It was a good one—one that I could scarcely allow myself to believe in.
And feeling the enormity of that—of the fact that Thierry and I might finally set right all that was broken between us—was a gift.
But I also wouldn’t have minded the total lack of fear I used to have. Now, because I cared about far too much, unease stalked my every step.
Thierry nodded sharply at me.
Then, without another word, I walked up to the front door and steeled myself.
Still, the plan was simple and would be highly effective.
We had already coordinated: I would go in first to pretend as though I was willing to entertain Magnus’s offer and get him talking.
In exactly three minutes, Godric would enter through the rear door of the warehouse.
At the same moment, Jeremy and Thierry would follow in my footsteps through the main door.
Once everyone was in place, we would all strike as one.
We would go for the kill immediately. The time for talking to Magnus was long past.
He needed to die.
I took a deep breath and then pushed open the door.
The warehouse was covered in dust. Moonlight shone through the huge windows along one wall of the cavernous, empty space.
Here and there on the floor, a few wooden workbenches had long since decayed into uselessness, slumped to the ground like fallen soldiers.
A rusted metal catwalk ran the perimeter of the room.
There was graffiti, trash, and empty bottles everywhere.
A dirty mattress in one corner suggested that the space had been used by one or more unhoused individuals seeking shelter.
I stepped farther into the room, my unease ratcheting up. This was… wrong.
For one thing, the Magnus from my memories wouldn’t have wanted to meet in this desperate place. He would have wanted luxury and refinement—especially if he was seeking an alliance with me. For another, the space was far too quiet.
No one else was here.
Still, I moved farther in, half refusing to believe it. Then my gaze landed on a cream-colored envelope resting on one of the fallen workbenches. It was exactly like the one that had been resting on the bodies earlier that day.
With trembling hands, I picked it up and opened it.
In Magnus’s spiky handwriting, the note was brutal in its simplicity—just one line that gripped my heart, crushing all my hopes and dreams.
You have disappointed me, Nicolas. Now I’m afraid Eli must die.