Chapter 13
LORENZO DEVON
R inging echoed on the other side of the phone, tension stiffening my fingers when the same voicemail responded.
“You have reached Lace Fernandez. Sorry if I missed your call! Nothing personal—duty calls first. Please leave your name and number and I will respond as promptly as ? —”
“Fuck, Lace. Please pick up.”
Fury raced through my bloodstream, unraveling something new, something crushing and engulfing that blurred my sight in waves. It fueled the urge to scream but kept my tongue frozen. It burned. It ached. And worst of all, it repeated Nina’s words.
“All you do is follow Lace like a lost puppy in hopes he’ll praise you.”
Small cracks pierced through the air as I squeezed my phone, glass pricking my skin. The phone didn’t light up anymore. And it was going to stay that way with how the piece of metal crumpled into itself like a piece of paper.
Shit. There goes my way of talking to Lace before I see him.
My jaw clenched, teeth clamping until my gums ached. I swallowed the frustrated groan that edged a scream.
“In hopes he’d give a shit about you like you do to him!”
My cousin’s voice boomed against my ears. She wasn’t in the training room with me like that day. Instead, it was just me, alone in front of mirror panels reflecting my frustrations. The room shrunk with every memory.
The way her face had twisted with a mixture of disappointment and anger. How her eyebrows furrowed and her lips thinned. The way her glossy eyes shook as if she was in pain. How she stormed away after I tried to reach out and fix. . .whatever I could.
“ Don’t talk to me!”
Nina had every right to be angry about Laces' decision with this new training and weaponry trial. The CEG took us in, but it was me who convinced her to become a guardian after Lace had taken me under his wing. He’d opened the doors and let us become who we were now. But the only way she had accepted it—accepted stepping up as a guardian—was through the CEG’s oath to protect with body and heart.
She knew the realities of the world before we were exposed to it. Humans and vampires alike saw guardians as pests. But I knew they feared the new and unknown. Like half-humans. Like me. Like her.
Was it wrong for me to hold off for so long? She was never going to like it. That’s why I had a plan in place; tell her in six days, right before I was scheduled to leave. But why didn’t I wait? Lace was fine with my decision. As long as I told her what was going on. I stood firm on Lace’s vision even if it went against his old ways. People’s visions change. It was natural for Lace ‘cause he was next up in line for the CEG inheritance. Even me. Possibly hers, too, with time.
But no. That wasn’t the case, was it?
“I, Christopher Sephtis, accept the marriage proposal, and will marry Anabella Ambrogio.”
Christopher’s voice. Those fucking words.
For two weeks, I spent day in and out trying to bury them. Force them out anyway possible. Runs. More training sessions. Chores when I had none. Picking up rounds away from the stupid mansion after Nina’s incident. But they stuck like glue. No matter how much I tried, they continued, replaying like a broken record.
Nina had a bad habit of stumbling on me whenever I was pissed. But I had the worst habit of taking it out on her by reacting on impulse.
This wasn’t the first fucking time. But it needed to be the last.
Trekking out of the employee quarters, through the underground tunnel, and into the mansion, it took every piece of me to focus on the target at hand—even if Christopher’s crisp scent called to me.
I shook my head. No. Don’t you fucking dare.
I turned to the left hallway on the second floor, darkness coating every inch as if windows didn’t exist. These fucking vampires and their love for the dark. No wonder Christopher wore glasses even if he said he didn’t need them. He?—
Stop. Thinking. About. Him .
Nina’s door was the first one, yet I didn’t move. She’d be more pissed if I barged in. She never liked it back in the CEG, even though she used to do it to me all the time.
The least I could do is be on my best behavior.
I knocked lightly against the wooden surface. On the third one my hand missed the door as it creaked.
The door was open.
“Nina?” I whispered into the air. Instead of meeting a short, muscular build with black hair, I stumbled on an empty room. The last time I was here, she was bedridden, swallowed by the queen-sized bed that took up the majority of the room. The random wooden furniture cramped what little space this room offered.
Still, there was a sense of comfort to the fuchsia walls and deep plush carpet that the CEG dorms didn’t have. They were stark white and squared with a small bed alongside a nightstand. Sometimes a desk, but rarely since we weren’t meant to be stuck in our rooms. At least here she had a closet that?—
Wait. What was that?
A book bag rested on the floor next to a very familiar briefcase. The one I brought Nina on my first day. It was unlocked, and instinct tugged at me. I caved. Empty blood bags stared in response.
All three of them.
They were supposed to be stretched out until next month. Why had she drank them all? She never did so, unless she starved and hadn’t?—
No .
My gaze fell on the half-zipped book bag. Fingers pulled at them until orange jars spilled into my hands, each one filled to the brim with large, white pills. Pills doctors had prescribed Nina for her condition. The condition she could cure. The one Lace worked on tirelessly to help her with.
Pills she wasn’t taking.
For how long?
My body tumbled onto the soft mattress, my weight pressing down on it as I stared into the dark closet. Footsteps echoed behind me. There was no need to turn around when I felt the shift in the air. The sharp inhale of Nina.
“You lied to Lace,” I said, my voice distant. “You lied to me, Nina.”
“No-no, I didn’t!” She motioned, but suddenly halted when I met her gaze.
“Katerina. You promised you would take your medication no matter what. It was the price you had to pay to keep working.”
I could excuse teen Katerina whenever she skipped pills or thought she could go without them. Resisting help in the beginning was normal. Diving into the unknown and being seen as weak was always the hardest. But now, after more than three years being prescribed medication, this was unacceptable. She had no excuse for this.
So why? Why would she regress when Lace and I wanted her to improve?
Unless she didn’t want to.
No. I wasn’t going to let her.
“I’m not going to tell Lace yet. But you won’t be going to the Christmas Ball. I’m staying behind to ensure that. It’s going to be a large event. We can’t risk it ‘cause you chose to not take your medication.”
“You can’t do that. Please, Lorenzo. I have to go to the Christmas Ball.” Her expression faltered, the pain in her gaze caving.
I’d only witnessed her rampage once. It was a blur after all these years, but there, deep in my mind, a shadowed figure lived like Mom. Distant, irretrievable, but breathing with the little life it possessed. Always there—haunting.
Her figure cowered. Did the room suddenly shrink? “Who knows what could happen in a room filled with humans and vampires while unmedicated. I’m not putting that to the test just for you to have fun for one night, Katerina!”
My words echoed, but her whispered words punched me in my chest. “Did you ever really trust me?”
Our foundation was supposed to be built on trust. On days I thought it stood strong, something always wedged it, whether it was on Nina or me. We always played this tug of war, pulling at the remaining thin thread, always testing instead of fortifying it. It was why we fought about it. Why, even now, I couldn’t say yes or no.
“I can’t say. I never pestered you for answers. I respected your privacy and kept all my questions to myself, but if I can’t depend on you doing the bare minimum, there are no more excuses.” It was my problem to bear.
“What does that mean?”
And I needed to make sure no one got hurt.
“You’re unequipped as a guardian, Katerina. You’ll be leaving with me after the Ball, and I will push for your title to be stripped to Lace.”
Tense silence wedged between us, Nina’s face completely hardening as I left and forgot all reason. Fuck all these stupid rules for guardians. No more sneaking through the shadows. What would be the worst they’d do? Fire me? We were less than five days away from that Christmas Ball. Six days away from going back to the CEG. They’d be doing me a fucking favor at this rate.
Eyes fell on me as I pushed through the tall doors and exited the mansion, my feet walking to the employee quarters. But the last thing I needed was to be in that sad-of-an-excuse room. The gym wasn’t going to help. Running would.
If it wasn’t for the tail that stalked behind me.
The beast surfaced. I knew when a predator tailed a prey. It was in the way the air grew tense, how my sharp senses amplified and adjusted to my surroundings. While it was similar to the way it crackled when I hunted, this wasn’t the case.
I was the prey now. In reality, I had been ever since I was assigned here.
First, with Sonia. She had stalked me ever since my arrival, but recently, she'd made it more obvious with more frequent run-ins across my rounds. With her, I wasn’t as weary.
But with Mr. Amelle, I was.
We’d spoken only a handful of times, but not enough for him to be suspicious of me. Every interaction Christopher and I shared was planned. Precise. If it had been about that, Sonia would have brought it up already. Although I’m sure no one knew what was happening between us.
But that wasn’t a problem anymore. I stopped seeing him after that night when I’d heard Sonia’s voice and his response from behind his room door.
I will be accepting the marriage arrangement to Anabella Ambrogio.
So why was Mr. Amelle tailing me now?
Storming out of the mansion like that doesn’t really make me look innocent .
I followed the path from the second gate to the first one, where it spanned to the quarters. Entering, I stepped through the lobby and sharply turned into a back hallway. Rows of empty offices occupied the space, but there, at the corner, was an undisclosed exit that faced the secret door I saw on my first day.
I took the chance. If it existed, it was for a reason—to help me.
Wind passed me in waves as I dashed through and around the surrounding forest until I reached the one place no one could reach.
The cave.
I’d lost Mr. Amelle, but found someone else.
“What are you doing here?” I spat at Christopher, his shoulders rising as he turned to me. Anger rushed through my veins but it wasn’t enough to mask the overwhelming ache in my chest. It did nothing to erase the beauty that called to me. His intoxicating scent that fired up every piece of my body with electricity.
“Is everything alright?” His eyes were glued to my fingers. Suddenly, sharp tips dug into my skin. I released my fists, my normal fingernails gone, transfigured by the beast's claws that blended into skin and bled around the cuticles. “I haven’t seen you in quite some time.”
I inhaled deeply. Held it. When I exhaled, the nails dwindled and revealed mine. “I’m fine.”
Did he notice I was lying straight through my teeth?
Christopher’s eyebrows furrowed as he gradually stepped forward. “What is it? And don’t lie this time. I can. . .feel when you do.”
“Of course you can,” I spat, although the sarcasm was beyond that since I felt it, too, in small increments. “You can do whatever your heart desires and fucking lie all you want, though.”
“What?” Sage green eyes deepened in disbelief.
Fuck.
“What are you talking about Lorenzo?”
“I heard you,” I muttered. “You’re marrying someone.” I didn’t know who, but I didn’t fucking care. It was someone who wasn’t me .
“It’s not for love. It’s solely political. Lorenzo, you must believe me?—”
“I don’t give a fuck!” Rage thundered through me and splattered my vision with red. Was this his plan all along? To string me along until duty called? But then why not make that clear from the start? Guardians could marry, but it wasn’t common. And for some like me , who shouldn’t exist in this world dictated by politics, it was impossible.
His lips parted but he didn’t say anything. He took another step forward. My body responded by motioning away. “Tell me. Was any of this even real?”
“Lorenzo, yes, of course, but let me explain?—”
“No, let me explain one thing, Christopher.” Everything stilled. “This feeling I have for you—which pulses and grows— is beyond anything I’ve felt before. Something otherworldly yet not. And it has existed since the moment I laid eyes on you.”
Nina thought I loved Lace in a different way. But there was no way when I never felt it. Not before Christopher, where this feeling stood bigger than life.
He slowly shook his head. “Lorenzo, don’t?—”
The confession poured out of my lips with clear helplessness. “I love you.”
He stood awe-struck and silent.
“And if you knew you weren’t going to ever feel this way for me, then we should have stopped this when I said there was no turning back.”
When he didn’t respond—the fucker couldn’t even look me in the eyes—I added, “I won’t be going to the Ball and will be leaving the day after. This will be the last time you see me, Mr. Sephtis.”
And with that, I left, even if I didn’t believe all of my words.
December twenty-fifth rolled around in light rain and overcast, gloomy clouds. Everything was packed and ready to go. Except the loose end that stared back at me on my desk.
Mallory’s notes. The diary. The device.
I’d betrayed Lace to help Christopher. That was one mistake I couldn’t undo—but there was another I could fix.
By finding Mallory, I could complete the failed mission I kept from Lace. By using this chance in the new task force, I could atone for the lies I told my best friend. I’d deal with all and every repercussion for failing and lying. Even if it meant stripping my title alongside Katerina’s. Even if it meant throwing everything I had with my doll away.
So be it.
I stood, but froze at a knock on the door. Nina should be holed up in her room right now, and given our last argument, she wouldn’t come out to find me when we were giving each other the silent treatment. And with the Christmas Ball, everyone should be gone including Mr. Amelle. So who was it?
Sonia stood in the hall, my hands tightly closing my door as I stepped out. “Something has come up, Mr. Devon.”
“What is it?”
She handed me a folded piece of paper, her fingers digging into the thin sheet with hesitation. “Although this is your last night, I hope you upkeep the rest of your duties until you’re relieved tomorrow.”
She bowed and parted before I could ask or say anything. In the quiet, I opened the note.
Two choices rested before me: finish my last mission that I had failed as the Hound, or follow my last assignment as a guardian.
The motorcycle roared to life, light December rain coating my skin as adrenaline raced through my veins. Wind gusted past me as I headed north to Silverman’s Island, knots pressing into my stomach and hairs rising on my nape.