Chapter 15 – Silas
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
SILAS
Sitting at the head of the scarred oak table, Lucian drones on about routes, shipments, territory lines; his voice a low, controlled thunder that usually commands the room without question.
Tonight, it barely scratches the surface of my awareness.
I can’t help but worry, thinking of her alone and disagreeing with Clutch coming back here for this.
“The next drop happens on the east side, no deviations. I don’t want whispers that the MC’s gone soft,” he says, eyes sweeping over us like blades.
“We still need to be seen. Still need to be feared. Last thing we want is other clubs circling, thinking we’ve handed over our town.
” A chorus of low agreement rumbles around the table.
Knuckles tap wood. Chairs creak. The air is thick with leather, smoke, and unspoken violence.
Then my phone vibrates. It’s small and quiet, but it cuts through everything like a gunshot.
The screen lights up against the dim room, casting a cold glow over my hand.
My chest tightens as I pick it up, something dark and instinctive clawing up from deep inside me before I’ve even read the message.
Lucian’s voice fades. The room fades. It’s just me and the words on the screen.
My dead heart stutters, then slams violently against my ribs, like it’s trying to come back to life, just to break all over again.
My grip tightens around the phone, plastic groaning under the pressure.
“Silas, you fucking listening?” Lucian snaps, his voice cracking through the haze like a whip.
I blink hard, dragging myself back into the room, but everything feels distant. Warped.
“Morbius has just texted me on Lilith’s phone.
” My voice is flat, but it carries. It always does.
Silence drops. Every brother at the table stills.
“He has Lilith.” The words leave my mouth, and it feels like something inside me tears open; slow, jagged, and merciless.
Like a blade being twisted deeper into flesh that never heals.
Echo leans across without asking and snatches the phone from my hand, his eyes scanning quickly. His jaw tightens.
“It says, ‘Here’s my location,’” he mutters. “But there’s no link. No coordinates. Nothing.”
“Could be a prank,” Clutch offers, though his voice lacks conviction; fear and concern consume each word. “Fake number. Someone trying to stir shit.”
“No,” I murmur, voice low and deadly. “She’s had the same number since the nineties.” A beat passes as that information lands.
I shake my head slowly, fighting the urge to rip his head from his shoulders for leaving her. “You fucking left her! You should have been there!” I seethe, every nerve in my body screaming, every instinct clawing at me to move, to hunt, to tear the world apart until I find her.
“I’m sorry, brother. I was following orders. We thought she would be okay,” Clutch apologizes, guilt lacing his words.
“Okay, enough. It’s my fault, not Clutch’s,” Lucian says sharply, already shifting into command mode.
“Diesel. Rook. You still run the shipment. Straight there, straight back. No detours. No stops. No mistakes.” His gaze hardens.
“God knows what Morbius is planning. He’s the last standing and only member of the Dominion.
He won’t be alone. He’ll be surrounded, served, and protected by the Velmora Vessels. ”
Clutch lets out a disbelieving scoff. “I’m sorry, the fucking what?”
Viktor exhales sharply, irritation flashing across his ancient features. “Fuck, do you young ‘uns not bother learning anything after you change?”
“I changed and joined you lot,” Clutch shoots back. “Didn’t sign up for a bedtime story.”
“It ain’t a damn story, boy,” Viktor snaps. “It’s very much the present.”
Cain leans forward, elbows on the table, voice quieter but far more dangerous.
“The Velmora Vessels… are us. Vampires. But not like us.” The room shifts.
Tightens. “They’re taken and collected and chosen for one reason or another.
Some are promised salvation; told they’ll be fixed, turned back into humans.
Others go willingly, because they’ve got nothing left to lose.
” His eyes darken. “Most of them are old. Real old. From a time before stories softened what we are. Back when people thought they were cursed. Possessed. Punished by God.” My fists clench.
Wood creaks beneath my grip. “They’re bound,” Cain continues.
“Bound to the Dominion for eternity. Forced to serve. Forced to obey. Kept beneath Velmora like animals, fed scraps, starved just enough to keep them desperate.” A pause.
“They’re feral now. Lethal. Their loyalty isn’t a choice; it’s a compulsion.
And their hunger?” His jaw tightens. “It’s savage. ”
The image hits me: Lilith surrounded by them.
Trapped, outnumbered and hunted. Something inside me snaps.
“He has her!” I roar, slamming both fists into the table.
The wood splinters beneath the impact, cracks spiderwebbing outward as the entire thing shudders violently.
“I don’t give a flying fuck who knows about the Vessels!
” My voice is raw now, stripped of control, soaked in rage and something far worse: fear.
“All I care about is getting her out of there before he takes her from me again. Permanently!” The room is silent, but it’s not calm.
It’s waiting. Tense. Coiled and ready to explode.
“We’ll find her,” Cain says, more carefully this time. “This is Lilith we’re talking about. She’s not just going to let him-.”
I let out a sharp, humorless laugh, cutting him off.
“You don’t get it.” I shake my head, a bitter smile twisting my lips.
“She loved him.” The word feels like acid in my mouth.
“Still does,” I correct quietly, the truth tasting like poison.
“There’ll always be a part of her that believes whatever shit he feeds her, because that’s easier than accepting she gave her heart to a fucking monster. ”
“And whose fault was that?” Lucian’s voice cuts in, sharp as a blade.
I turn to him slowly. Our eyes lock. For a second—just a second—I consider it.
Ripping him apart and letting the rage take over and letting it consume everything.
But I don’t. Because he’s right, and that’s worse than any insult.
My jaw tightens, something hollow opening up in my chest. I told her lies.
For years. Built a life on them. Wrapped her in false safety, false truths, thinking I was protecting her.
And now? Now those lies might be the very thing that costs me her. Forever.