Chapter 7
LORENZO DEVON
I n this new world, power was important. Politicians spent all their lives leaching after it, fighting over the reins even after attaining it. The CEG was stuck in the middle of its crossfire, so it was only logical for them to be diplomatic. Peace obviously depended on them—on us. Hence one of the biggest lessons for guardians. Tact was everything. Without it, there was no real grasp of power. And what power I thought I had shredded in seconds.
November was two days away, and the last five days I had spent locked away in my empty bunk. Fuck duties. How could I do them when I was going mad? When the beast hovered over my skin and filled my nostrils? Itched across my veins, demanding to be released? When the hunger deep in my belly wasn’t for food, but something else? Something new, intoxicating, dangerous?
The beast was out of fucking control for the first time in twenty-five years— and there was one damn reason for it.
Christopher. That kiss. It had all happened too quickly. How had we even gotten there in the first place? My body said one thing, but my brain said another.
Mom’s grave.
Why had I thought it was a smart idea to take him there? I could have visited her after, once he was hidden away in his little tower. There was no need to have him there. A place that I’d never taken anyone—not even Nina.
Every waking moment was spent processing it, replaying it over and over?—
“ That’s enough! ” I shouted, the guttural, husky voice echoing in the room I didn’t share with anyone. It felt cramped with the looming beast that craved blood and ached for murder. Who was supposed to surface only when necessary.
Not when I was fucking aroused.
Yeah, I’d had relations in the past, all to tame that itch I got once in a while. They never required kissing or dealt with emotions. Definitely never brought up the beast. But this? With these muddled feelings in my stomach and the constant shadow of Christopher’s lips on mine. . .this was different.
My skin fevered. This was beyond embarrassment. This had never happened before. A cocktail of confusion and annoyance disoriented me.
Fingers ran back and forth through my scalp, prickly short strands meeting my touch. Elbows dug into my upper knees as the moment replayed in full clarity.
One second, Christopher’s silvery voice had filled my ears, then suddenly, his sharp gaze had fallen on mine and softened as he studied my lips. The next second, our surroundings had turned invisible and he had claimed my mouth like I had done his the first time. Not as ferocious, but he shared the same excitement, erasing any leftover reasoning I tried holding on to the minute we stepped into the cursed parlor.
Sure, vampires had their ways to satisfy their sexual means just like humans. I never thought there would be a day I would witness it, though. To step into that scene was completely unexpected, but what really caught me off guard was what it triggered.
Desire for Christopher, one that had been growing the night my eyes laid on him.
Fuck.
That restraint had vanished. As if the tight chain I developed on the beast the past decade never existed, somehow breaking five nights ago.
Why had our silent ride back irritated me? Why had his lack of touch pissed me off as much as it equally worried me? Why did the physical ache in my chest continue to grow like a tumor as if I missed him? I barely fucking knew the guy! What was there to even miss? He fucking threatened me to work for him .
Christopher brought out feelings that went against everything I knew. There was no way this was anything more than the effect of our surroundings and my lack of action. With tensions rising in the CEG, it had been months since my last fling.
Fuck, what if he used this as blackmail to ruin Lace and the CEG? Lace hadn’t been returning my calls. Did something already travel back to him before I could reach him? No. That wasn’t possible.
“Shit.”
Clear the air. Apologize. Do whatever to fix this before it backfires on the man you owe everything to.
I rapidly grabbed the blueprint that was stuffed in my bookbag alongside the map and stomped toward the mansion. There was supposed to be some important Regal Vampire Family visiting in the next few days, so this had to be cleared tonight. As soon as possible. If anyone got in my way, I’d deal with it later.
The main entrance was off limits. Too central and in view of all the outdoor guardians that were currently posted. Although I hadn’t stepped foot inside the mansion, I saw Chief Guardian Tristan and Nina exit through the underground hatch enough times.
Stepping below ground, a long, dark tunnel stretched before me. One side held a drowning abyss that lacked life while the opposite was poorly lit. I followed the only side that was reflected on the blueprint and walked through a revolving door that camouflaged into the wall.
Once on the other side, droplets swished onto the tiled floors a few meters away from me, a dark-haired man swimming laps in the large pool. Noah Sephtis didn’t detect me as I snuck toward the spiral staircase and onto the main level.
Darkness shrouded the mansion, deafening silence and dust coating the air. Did these guys forget to pay their light bill and cleaning lady?
Christopher wasn’t on the first floor. His light scent trailed from the second floor where my feet followed hushed giggles.
Nina came into view, her back to me as I paused next to the nearest corner on the left hallway. She’d been staying here since she was an indoor guardian, but it didn’t mean I liked it. Especially when the boy next to her was too close for fucking comfort. Even with slouched shoulders, Alek, the fourth Sephtis kid, was no different than his brother. The pompous fuck carried himself exactly like Christopher.
She stopped next to a door and after a few minutes of their wide smiles and hushed whispers, he entered and she stepped toward the one on the opposite side. Her body halted and her shoulders straightened. Right as she glared to the side, I hid behind the wall I rested on. No footsteps resounded my way as a door closed in seconds.
For once in my life, I counted to ten. Was it because I didn’t want Nina to see me? Or was it because I knew I wasn’t supposed to be in here? Couldn’t be either. But once I hit ten, I poked my head out, the coast clear. A breath of relief escaped my nostrils.
I unraveled the blueprint in my hand. There were eight bedrooms in total, all on the second floor, and while they didn’t declare who stayed where, Christopher’s scent flowed from the other side of the mansion.
Although my desire to question Nina grew, I stuffed it away for another time. Right now, there was one priority.
The faint powdery smell emitted from the door on the left side, my body pausing before it with a raised fist but no knock. Instead, something else caught my attention.
Another scent. A warm musk that dampened the air just like the rain. One I hadn’t smelled ever since Mom died.
It emitted from the chained-up towering doors at the end of the hall. Many things were wrong. For one, the burnished chains that tightly wrapped around the iron handles weren’t any silver. They were silver nitrate. Lace’s brother had discovered it not too long ago, and apparently it was silver’s stronger variant. Vampires as a whole were secretive already. It made sense they knew of its existence before we did.
From the few times I’ve seen silver nitrate, it was hard to tell them apart since the metals looked practically the same. But it was all in the touch and smell.
It oxidized the air and froze my fingertips. While silver nitrate was known to be the only object that could penetrate and kill vampires, it didn’t affect me. Against my strength, it snapped in half.
The other thing that piqued my curiosity? This room wasn't in the blueprint.
What am I doing?
Before I could convince myself to turn back and ignore the nostalgic scent, I stepped into the room and faced a copycat of the vampire parlor. It was as if that cursed place had thrown up here.
Deep red and black speckled wallpaper covered the walls and high ceiling, a large gothic chandelier hanging above the king bed. Burgundy canopies draped around the mahogany bed frame and enclosed the matching velvet bedding. Even the floor was buried in ruby red carpet, but hollow stains stopped me in my tracks. A closer look confirmed what I already knew.
Remnants of putrid blood drowned the air, the majority concentrated at the opposite side where a black chaise lounge chair rested. Death hung like a shadow.
Whoever died hadn’t done so under normal circumstances. They’d been murdered in cold blood.
The warm musk amplified when I closed the distance and leveled in front of the chair. Something else dangled underneath. I grasped it, a light leather-bound notebook weighing my palm. What was this? Opening it to the first page I noticed small, scribbled initials.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Instincts kicked in as I whipped around and stuffed the diary into the back pocket where the folded blueprint hid. Adrenaline raced through my veins as Christopher came into view. He didn’t step inside. What was stopping him? Instead, he hovered by the door, eyes wide with burning anger.
I cleared my throat. Since when had a lump formed? “Got lost.”
“Searching for what? Our mother’s death place?”
Dread washed over me. Fuck, fuck, fuck. “No. I was searching for you,” I quickly said as I stepped toward him, his body recoiling as I tried to close the distance. “L-Listen, I just wanted to apologize for yesterday’s?—”
Words died on my tongue as Christopher pulled a silver device from his pocket. It was small and round, with a centered button his thumb rested on as he held it up for me to see.
This was the fucking device Mallory had used on me that night. And it was in Christopher’s hands, ready to be activated.
Lace failed to find it because the device had already been found. Had Christopher had it this whole time?
Fingers curled and tightened into fists on my side. I bit away at my tongue, the bitter blood and echoing pain enough to subdue the tremble that seized my body.
“Lorenzo. Get. The. Bloody. Hell. Out,” he said through clenched teeth. “Or I will make you suffer for your despicable actions.”
Christopher’s fixed composure persevered, but with every passing beat, it slowly crumbled, his body vibrating with unfiltered rage. Muted green eyes darkened as he stared at me with detachment, the very sight of me disgusting him.
Without responding, I followed my employer's command.