Chapter 15 Vesper
Vesper
Something’s wrong.
General Lee had walked into the place thirty minutes ago, and even my vampire hearing couldn’t make out any noises.
Quickly but silently, I snuck over to the other side of the building, keeping tabs on where every single vampire guard was. But none of them even looked my way.
As strange as it sounded, it felt good to slip back into my hunter self. The skintight black outfit was almost exactly the same, the weapon on my belt lighter but intertwined with Cedar’s magic. It would do.
Crouching, I watched as the vampire sighed and looked off into the distance, obviously not wanting to be here.
The moment he was distracted, I pounced. My hand covered his mouth while I grabbed the knife and shoved it right through his chest and into his heart.
The other vampires would hear the scuffle and be here in seconds. Steeling myself, I slowly placed him on the ground and listened.
Footsteps came from the right.
I only had a few seconds to prepare before a vampire appeared from the corner of the building. His eyes widened when he saw me, and he reached for his dagger. Quick as lightning, I slammed it into his heart and twisted. His groan was loud. Loud enough to call even more attention.
But there was nothing. Not even the sound of the wind.
I had the sinking feeling in my chest that something was off, and my mind had limited it to the general. But there was one other organization out there that wanted to be on top.
One I knew all too well.
An ear-piercing, horrible, nails-on-chalkboard sound reached my ears. I immediately covered them with my hands, but it didn’t help in the slightest.
The sound shot through my entire body, rendering me useless, and I crumpled to the ground, my mouth opened in a silent scream.
My vision was getting blurry, but I could make out the dark blobs that silently crossed the space. Two of them stopped by me, looking down. I could see the device in their hands, one that hunters only used on the rarest occasions due to how inhumane the effects were.
My eyes were turning red, blood pooling in them. Pain racked my entire body.
One of them kneeled down, getting close enough for me to register his face. He lowered the sound on the machine just enough for me to hear him talk, but not enough to stop the ringing pain.
A familiar snake ran up his throat. A face that looked so much like my own stared back at me—the only difference was that it had aged over the years.
“Look how far our savior has fallen,” my father said with a frown.
“You’re su-supposed to be…” I groaned as a wave of pain shot through me. “Retired.”
He gave me a twisted grin.
“Yes, well, when my child fucks up, I have to take responsibility, don’t I?” He grabbed my face and forced me to look at him, letting out a noise of disgust. “The organization has forsaken you. I am here to remove your title.”
He held out his hand, and the person next to him handed him a dagger. One whiff and I could tell it was magical.
No. Horror washed through me. I pushed myself up on unsteady legs, trying to put as much space between us as possible, but hunters surrounded me, five at least, all of them putting their hands on me and forcing me to the ground.
I thrashed, fighting them as hard as my weak body could handle. One of them grabbed my arm, and I snapped at them with my fangs, but another managed to hold my head down.
I should have let Cedar come.
The bond was roaring to life, letting me know they were both feeling what I was and worried about me.
My father came up, the knife aimed right at my throat, before he stuck it in and dragged it down the column of my throat, destroying the tattoo.
White-hot pain flashed up the entire left side of my body. The magic burned as it ate away at my skin. My scream was cut off, the pain too much for me to even make a sound.
Stop. I wanted to scream. Why me?
But I couldn’t. All I could do was stare at my father as he raised the knife again.
“Do it,” I forced out through the pain. My throat was on fire. My fangs were aching to bite into something, but the hunters had me trapped.
My father looked down on me. I couldn't decipher the look because I had never seen it before, but whatever it was, it had him dropping the blade to the ground.
“You're no longer one of us,” he said, his voice filled with venom. “You made your bed with the vampires, now you have to lie in it.”
The hunters were just as confused as I was. My father was known to be a ruthless vampire hunter, yet here he was, letting his own child live. Even when our organization specifically called him to end this. To end me.
A kind of painful hope unraveled in my chest. It caused bloodred tears to fill my eyes.
All my life, I had wanted my parents to show they cared about me. That it wasn't just about the prophecy. But I had been disappointed and hurt over and over again, both physically and mentally.
But now, for the first time, my father was showing me the mercy I never got as a child.
“I'm going to finish this prophecy,” I told him, pushing myself to a sitting position as the hunters started to slowly retreat. “Not for the hunters. For myself and the people I love.”
My father motioned for the others to leave. They cast one glance at me before they started disappearing. Behind buildings. Into the surrounding forest. Melding into the darkness like the professionals they were.
Leaving only my father and me.
“How noble of you,” he replied. “Maybe it'll make you feel better about betraying your people.”
I let out a growl and shakily stood. Pain was coursing through my veins, and my vision was still hazy. They’d taken the sound machine, but the ringing was still there, making it hard for me to concentrate.
“Don't you see they've been betraying us? They're just using our bodies, our lives, to further their agenda. Don't you understand how much pain we went through to get here? Is any of it truly worth it?”
“You’re bleeding out, yet you still have the energy to lecture your own father.”
I took a step forward, and this time he didn't move. He let me get closer. So I took another step. And then another.
“You're here. You let me live. So you must know it even if you don't admit it. Don't you want more? Don't you want to see your children again?”
His throat bobbed, and his eyes fell to the ground.
“Vesper, I—”
I wobbled, almost falling over before his hand caught me. It was warm and gentle, so much so that it caught me off guard. I flinched, expecting pain, but it never came.
“They turned you against us. Your own children. Don't you see it?”
His face twisted. His jaw tightened.
“It doesn't change anything,” he said, pulling me up. “In another life, one where we weren't tasked to save our species from ruin, maybe I could've been a better father.”
“You can still try—”
“Enough,” he spat, but it lacked the usual harshness. It brought me back to a memory.
I was a child, begging him for something. I forgot what it was, maybe candy or a toy, but I remembered how tired my father had been at that moment. And it made me understand that, while he had been cruel and hurtful, maybe the hunters made him that way.
I let myself fall into him. It wasn't a hug since he didn't wrap his arms all the way around me, but I felt the weight of one lingering on my back.
“Run away,” I whispered. “Take Mom and run. Nothing good will come from staying here. If not hunters, then the vampire council—they’re using our blood percentage to try to justify punishing us for being hunters. It'll never be safe.”
There was a pause before I was pushed back with a force that had me stepping back.
“I’m sorry for everythin—”
It happened so fast, and I was so disoriented I didn’t realize what was happening. Blood splattered all over me. My father's face froze in a horrified expression. I looked down at his chest, where a hand had been shoved, holding his still-beating heart.
I opened my mouth in horror, the scream still building in my chest as the person pulled his hand away and let my father's dead body fall to the ground.
General Lee was there, staring at the heart in his hand as it slowly stopped beating. He looked horrible. His hair was a greasy mess around his head. Blood covered his body, but it didn't seem like it was all my father’s. His shirt was torn, and I could see the scars Aurelia mentioned peeking out.
They didn't look like scars, though. They looked like open wounds, blood slowly leaking out.
And the smell.
I crawled to my father, my body simply reacting as I bit open my wrist and forced it to my father's open mouth. His eyes were already unfocused and far gone, but that didn't stop me from trying to pour my blood into him. I was so weak, I was shaking.
“The hunters always have to stick their nose where it doesn't belong,” General Lee said before tossing my father's heart aside. “Now, what to do with you?”
The scream that had been building in my chest was let out like a battle cry, and I lunged at him using all my strength, but he caught me by the throat and held me up. I struggled against him, but even if I wasn't in my weakened state, there was an obvious dark power rolling off him.
What is he?
From the time he had left my sight until now, something changed about him. And I was…
Scared.
His eyes were red and glowing, and black veins traveled across his entire body. The smell was starting to become overpowering, and every time that dark power brushed across my skin, it burned.
“Unfortunately, Adrian wants obedience. And that means I can't kill you right now, or else the princess is going to have a fit. But that doesn't mean I can't send a message.”
I fought against him, kicking and clawing at his arm as he dug his nails into my throat and gave me a wicked grin.
“Say hello to the council for me.”
Pain swept through me, and my consciousness slipped away, plunging me into the darkness.