Chapter 31
Eric
The longer I ran, the less empty my chest felt.
At first, it’d been faint, but I started to get what Aries had told me, started to feel that there was indeed a bond between me and Finn. It really was a fragile thing, easily overlooked, but my vampire side appeared to know how to access it better than I did.
So, I let it take over. Well, I was still there, but also not.
Streetlights flashed by, gone within the blink of an eye as I ran as fast as I could. I was fast, faster than the cars on the street. They were bound by laws, but the only thing I was bound by was my own limitations—and I didn’t care about overextending myself.
I needed to find Finn.
Needed to fucking tear those fledglings’ heads off. They’d regret ever taking him. They’d regret taking what was mine. Hurting him.
I’d pay them back tenfold. I’d make them fucking hurt before ending them. They didn’t know it yet, but they wouldn’t live through the night. They’d fucking signed their own death certificates the moment they’d decided to take my Finn.
Finn.
I stopped dead in my tracks.
Bennie crashed into me, shoving me into the street, but I managed to jump out of the way as a car came barreling by.
“What the fuck?” Bennie shouted, grabbing me by the arm. “What are you doing?”
I held up a hand.
Finn.
Where was my mate?
I turned to the right.
Possibly.
I turned to the left.
Definitely not.
So, to the right it was.
“Eric?”
“Let him do his thing, youngling,” Aries said in his grating, indulgent voice.
I started running again just so I wouldn’t have to listen to him.
Building, building, alley, building, building, building, alley, building…
I kept running and running, the thing in my chest only vaguely helpful.
It wasn’t as if we were attached with some kind of string or rope.
Wouldn’t that be helpful?
No… the bond between us was more… as if he was calling out to me. His blood was calling out to me. And since I’d already tasted it, I recognized it.
It was just hard to hear because there were so many humans closer. And everyone’s blood seemed to want my attention.
But it was getting easier to feel Finn.
“Close,” I muttered as I slithered around a corner, grabbing the rough bricks for support.
This was a warehouse district, which was making it easier to find Finn. Fewer humans, less blood calling for me. Yeah, the fumes sucked and made it harder to pick up the fledglings’ scents, but then again, I didn’t need their scents. They weren’t important.
Finn was.
And I was about to get him back.
Right.
Now.
I stopped in front of a building.
It was old, a sign above a big, rusty garage door calling it Miller and Sons. An old auto shop that wasn’t in business anymore. Still, it reeked of motor oil and rust, and… fresh fumes.
Someone had definitely parked inside recently. Probably to get my mate inside without being seen.
Finn was here. I knew it. I felt it. His blood was calling to me.
I needed to get inside.
I turned my head, looking for an entrance other than the garage doors. And there… there, just around the corner in the back alley, was a door.
I turned the rest of my body in the same direction and…
“Wait!” Aries ordered, his hands grabbing my wrists like steel cuffs. “Wait.”
I snarled lowly. Not loud enough for the fledglings to hear.
I didn’t want to wait. I wanted to get to Finn.
“We need to know what we’re going into.”
No, we didn’t.
Maybe they did, but I didn’t.
It didn’t matter whether two fledglings were waiting for me or five or a whole fucking army. I’d kill them all. Obliterate them. Every single one of them. Everyone who’d dared to touch my mate.
My claws were itching, ready to slice through their chests and rip their fucking hearts out. Just like they’d ripped mine out when they’d taken Finn.
“Eric. Dude.” Bennie stepped in front of me, his eyes flashing with concern.
He placed his hands on my cheeks and forced me to look right at him.
“You did good. You found him. But now it’s time to reel yourself in, okay?
It’s time to start thinking again. You can’t risk marching in there wreaking havoc if you don’t know how many fledglings are waiting for you.
Otherwise, you risk Finn getting caught in the crossfire. ”
I growled.
I hated it when Bennie was right.
Unfortunately, it turned out he was right a lot.
He’d been right about my stalking habits ending badly, for one.
I hadn’t listened to him then.
I wouldn’t make the same mistake again. Because if he was right again and I didn’t listen, the price might be Finn’s life.
Fuck.
I took a deep breath, held it, and released it slowly. And again.
Aries was still holding my wrists behind my back, obviously not trusting my ability to take back control when needed, but even he relaxed after a while.
“Can I let go of you?” he asked.
I nodded.
“I swear to you, youngling, if I let go just for you to run off and barge in there, I’ll make you pay. Got it?”
Another nod.
Aries released my hands, then gestured for us to follow him.
Back.
Away from the building.
From my mate.
I couldn’t help but snarl at the thought of even taking a single step back, but Aries’s eyes flashed in a way that was, quite honestly, terrifying.
How old was he again?
Because in moments like this, I wouldn’t be surprised if he told me he was like a thousand years old.
We hid in an alley on the other side of the street. It was a strategically sound decision, I had to admit. We had a decent view from here. Both the big garage door and the back door were visible, but we weren’t. Not if those fuckers weren’t actively looking out for us.
Which they probably weren’t. Because those idiots had smashed Finn’s phone instead of taking it.
“I can detect six scent patterns. Finn’s in there. There are also four fledglings I don’t know, and the lingering scent of the one who attacked Bennie. So, chances are, there are four fledglings in there with your mate right now. Not ideal, but perfectly manageable between the three of us.”
“Yeah, it should be easy enough,” Bennie said with a sigh. He was giving me a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. I knew he wanted to cheer me up, but at the same time, I also knew he hated that we were about to kill someone. Even though they deserved it.
Hell, I knew he still felt bad for that fledgling he’d killed last week, even though it’d been a clear case of self-defense.
“If I’m correct, they’re keeping your mate in one of the back rooms. Ground floor.”
“How?” I asked Aries because what the fuck?
He shrugged.
“There are a lot of tricks you learn with age. You, youngling, are practically still a baby. Barely older than those foolish fledglings.” He sighed. “It’s a shame we have to kill them. They’d make good playmates for you.”
I would fucking kill him.
As soon as I was done with the fledglings, that was.
“So, what’s the plan?” Bennie said, his claws dropping.
“Kill them?” I asked.
“I meant more like Aries and I take the fledglings while you try to get to Finn?”
“No.”
Those were my kills.
I’d take…
“Looks like they’re coming to us.” Aries interrupted my thoughts with a delighted little clap as he nodded to the alley. The door to the garage swung open with a little creak, and out came two vampires.
Definitely fledglings—and really new ones. It was subtle, but once you knew what to look for, easy to spot. They looked uncomfortable in their skin. Skittish. A car drove by, and one of them literally jumped.
Really brand-fucking-new vampires, I thought, my fangs dropping.
How was it possible that they hadn’t spotted us yet?
The metal door fell shut with a loud bang, and the other fledgling turned his head, completely distracted by the loud noise.
Still, they kept walking.
“He should’ve taken the fucking phone,” the other one complained. “How stupid can you be to take the human but leave his phone? How did Mikey intend to get a message to Benjamin?”
Bennie shuddered upon hearing his name.
I just grinned.
“Dunno. I just hope we get this done quickly. I hate it here. It’s so loud. And I’m fucking starving.”
“Dude. You sucked that hobo dry like yesterday.”
“The day before. What can I say, I’m…”
The fledglings were so busy chatting that they didn’t notice us as they walked straight past the alley where we were hiding.
Sucked to be them.
I grabbed the first one, holding a hand over his mouth to keep him from screaming and alerting the remaining fledglings inside the garage, and tore into him. Literally.
Tearing out his throat was fast work.
Blood sprayed, but the fledgling stilled quickly.
Really, it was ridiculously easy.
I broke his neck with a resounding crunch and let the body fall to the floor, spitting on him for good measure.
The sour stench of fear hit my nose, and I turned around to find the other fledgling pinned against the wall by Aries.
“If you want to end him for good, you need to rip his head off,” Aries said with a smirk. “But not a bad job for a newbie.”
I growled.
Not a bad job?
It’d taken me mere seconds to render the fledgling useless. Not nearly long enough to satisfy the burning need to maim.
I eyed the remaining fledgling.
His eyes widened.
“No, no, no, no. Please,” he started begging, voice hoarse.
Aries quickly pressed a hand against his mouth, hard enough that there was a crunch.
“You will be silent unless we ask you a question. Got it? And if we ask you a question, you will answer truthfully. Or you will regret it. Understood.”
The fledgling nodded rapidly, his whole body trembling.
“Did you know we were coming?”
Head shake.
“Are there more than the two remaining fledglings?”
Another shake of his head.
“Is the human unharmed?”
The fledgling’s fear spiked. I snarled, taking a step in his direction. What had they done with Finn? I’d fucking kill him.
“What the fuck?”
We turned to the old auto shop as anguished screams ripped through the silence of the night. Oh, humans wouldn’t be able to hear it; the sound was muted by the heavy concrete and brick walls, but to us it was still audible.
I started running without waiting for Bennie or Aries to say something, anxiety spiking. They could have the remaining fledgling. I needed to find out what was happening in there.
Those screams were not Finn’s.
Which should relieve me, but actually scared me even worse.
Had we missed something?
Was Ambrose there, torturing the fledglings for fucking up?
The smell of burned flesh hit me as I ripped open the door.
The scene in front of me was pure and utter chaos, and oh so confusing.
One fledgling was rolling on the floor, clutching his face. The other one was standing next to a door, peeking inside, trying not to get hit by a bright, bluish beam of light that was waving wildly.
The fledgling turned to me, his red eyes widening. He started raising his hands, but I jumped him before he could even say the word surrender.
It wasn’t pretty.
My claws dug into his skin, and the force of my movement meant that we flew into the wall. Blood leaked from the wounds on his shoulders as I let go of him with one hand and sliced at his throat.
A spray of blood hit me in the face.
Ugh. He must’ve fed earlier in the day.
I kept slashing with my claws, obliterating his throat, severing the skin and muscles, tearing at his flesh until I could see his fucking spine.
The fledgling had gone limp, the life quickly draining from him.
The other one was still screeching and screaming, but I didn’t even turn to him. Aries and Bennie were there; I could feel their presence.
I cocked my head, looking at the remains of the fledgling in my hands. Between all the flesh and blood, I could see his spine shining through. He was ready. I grabbed the head and pulled. I pulled until I heard the crunch of his bones giving in, and the head popped free with a wet sound.
I took a step back and let both the body and the head hit the floor, then turned around.
Bennie stared at me in horror, his eyes so wide they looked as if they’d pop out of his head at any second. His skin was ashen, but there was a slight green tinge.
Oops.
I’d have to apologize to him.
Later.
Finn first.
“Finn!” I shouted, my voice echoing off the walls. “Finn?”
“In here.”
I wanted to cry with relief as the sound of his voice reached my ears. It was weak, a bit sluggish, and filled with so much pain I wanted to turn around and rip the fledgling’s head off once again, but I needed to see him first.
I stepped over the fledgling’s body, past a completely still Bennie who held the fledgling we’d caught in the alley, and Aries who had the partially burned fledgling pinned to the floor.
They should end them already.
I rushed through the door and right to Finn’s side, dropping next to him, growling as the scent of his blood hit me. He was hurt. He needed a doctor. Now.
“I’m okay,” Finn said, his voice betraying him. He didn’t sound okay. He sounded hurt. In pain.
I sliced through the leather holding his hands back and cradled him in my arms, my eyes prickling with tears.
He smelled of fear. Vomit. Blood.
But his heart was beating. His body was warm.
And his hands were clutching at my neck, holding on for dear life.
“I’ve got you,” I whispered. “I’ve got you.”
And I was never letting go of him ever again.