Chapter 24 EVAN #2
I don’t say it, but I agree. If burning the club is the quickest and easiest way to kill the coven, then by all means, let’s do it. Maybe then we can all find a little peace.
Especially Jericho. He deserves it most of all.
After everything that has happened, I just want to be alone with him. Like, truly alone. Far, far away from everything. But of course we can’t leave, and even going to the van isn’t safe anymore, now that the coven knows where we are. Instead, I pull Jericho toward the stairs.
“Come on.”
Jericho follows me quietly, never letting go of my hand. The silence of our room is welcoming. I collapse on the bed, lying on my back with one knee bent toward the ceiling.
Jericho lies down next to me, propped on an elbow. His dark eyes study me. “You okay?”
“Are you?” I counter. Jericho hates being reminded of his family, and his expression when I told the others about his family saddened me.
After a long moment, he says, “I don’t know. It just seems cruel.”
“What does?”
“My gift.”
“How do you mean?”
He looks at his hand, dark brows pulled together in a grim line. “Think about it. My family dies in a house fire and now I have the ability to kill others with it? Seems a bit… I don’t know. Cruel.”
“You can’t look at it like that.”
“How else am I supposed to look at it, Evan?”
I roll to my side and prop myself up, facing him. “You have the ability to help others. This gift is a good thing. It’s literally what Foxx has been chasing you for, and now you can use it against him. Stop him from hurting other people. It’s what we needed, Jer.”
He doesn’t reply.
“You stopped Alden today. That’s a good thing. And you almost stopped Rip.”
“But does killing the bad guys make up for all the bad I’ve done? Does it avenge the lives I’ve taken?”
“The lives you…” I tilt my head, confused. He’s not talking about the people he’s killed trying to control his thirst, is he?
“I killed them, Ev,” he says softly. “I was the one who started the fire.”
My brows furrow. “What are you–”
“I lit a candle before bed and forgot about it,” Jericho says. “It was my fault our house… That my parents… And now—” He lifts his hands, as if they’re the things that literally took his parents’ life. “It feels like a curse more than a gift.”
I cover his hands with mine. “You made a mistake, Jericho. An honest mistake, which is something any ten-year-old could have done. You can’t blame yourself for that, or your parents’ death.
But you can blame Foxx for all the shit he’s done, and now you have the literal power to stop him.
” I lean in. “You can stop him. You. It won’t bring your parents back, but think of all the other people you can help. ”
He sighs, linking our hands together. “I know. I just…” His eyes seem like they’re looking right through me.
Is he thinking about his parents? The fight in the field?
Justice? “It felt like I was right back there today. Like the house was literally crumbling around me and I could hear my mom screaming for help. So I… I wanted to help them again and couldn’t. ”
I brush a thumb over the back of his hand. “I’m sorry you lost them, but you can’t stay there, Jer. You can’t.”
He finally lifts his gaze to me, smiling a little before kissing me. “Thank you.”
My eyes widen. “For what?”
“Being here. Being you.” He kisses me again. “I don’t know if I could do any of this without you.”
I scoot closer. “You could, but I’m really glad I get to be here for it.”
When Jericho glides a hand over my ass, I wince.
“Sore?”
I smirk. “What do you think, Mr. Monster-Sized Dick?”
He snorts. “You liked it.”
“I really did. Seriously. I don’t know how we didn’t do all of that before, because it feels so right to me. I mean, it always has. To be with you. I just didn’t see the whole picture, you know? Like, how much deeper this is. And I’m glad I do now.”
He pulls me in for a long kiss just as someone knocks on our door.
We both groan then sit up. “Yeah?”
Red enters the room. “Forest just talked to Merebeth. He thinks you guys need to hear this.”
We exchange a look, then head downstairs.
Forest and Grant are at the table, talking to Jasmine, Rowen, and Ivy. Sage is pacing near the window, looking like he wants to put his fist through a wall.
“What’s up?” Evan says.
Forest takes a deep breath before addressing us. “Merebeth and three other shifters have been taking our shifts at the apartment this week since we need to stay closer to home.”
Jericho and I both nod, already aware of this.
“They’ve picked up on something that is, quite frankly, very alarming.”
“Okay?” Jericho says, folding his arms over his chest.
“Three nights ago, they counted over a hundred guests entering the club. We’ve been keeping tabs on the numbers, as best we can, so we know if the outgoing number is any less than the ingoing.”
“I’m guessing they were?”
He nods. “By six people,” he says. “And the numbers since then have been consistent. They’re six less, every night.”
I clench my teeth. “Which means?”
Grant sits up. “If we had to guess, those people are still at the club.”
“Or dead,” Ivy says.
Jasmine closes her eyes, like she can’t stomach the idea of anyone else dying. Neither can I.
Forest shakes his head. “That’s where it gets weird. Merebeth assumed the same thing. She called the authorities.”
Jericho scoffs. “Let me guess, they found nothing?”
“They searched the club, but came up empty. At least, that’s what they’re telling Merebeth. They say everything is running as normal. Nothing mysterious.”
“I call bullshit,” I snap.
“Exactly.”
“So the cops are in on it?”
“No, I don’t think so. I have a theory that the coven has a powerful enchanter working for them. Someone who can wipe memories.”
“Any vamp can wipe someone’s memory,” I say. That’s common knowledge.
“Not an entire police force, though,” Forest says. “There were eight police officers last night, and not a single one of them remembered anything out of the ordinary. That can only happen with a spell.”
“Maybe more than one vampire was screwing with their memories?” my mom suggests.
“That’s possible, but not all vampires are good at compulsion. In fact, most can do little more than make someone’s brain fuzzy, so they don’t remember what they were doing for the last five minutes. But to make all of them forget what they saw? No, that’s quite different.”
Grant nods. “Merebeth said her beta even sprayed a truth perfume on one of the officers today to test them, and they truly don’t remember seeing anything out of the ordinary. So I think Forest is right. I think someone is charming them.”
Rowen curses.
“Okay. So they’re… what? Holding these people hostage?
Feeding off them?” I say, stepping closer to Jericho.
For all we know, he could’ve been one of those hostages if he hadn’t made a deal with Foxx.
Hell, he still would’ve been if he hadn’t gotten away after Foxx turned him.
The psycho collects people for his own selfish and sadistic reasons.
“That is one option, yes. They’re leaving the club less frequently, which means they need more food. But, our other fear is they’re going to make more vampires,” Forest says.
“Then we have to stop them,” I say.
“Agreed. I’m going to work with the other packs and come up with a plan of attack, since working with the police is out of the question.
I want you to practice your gift, Jericho.
Push yourself. Learn as much as you can as fast as you can, because time is not on our side.
If those hostages are still alive, they might not be for long. ”
Rowen sighs. “I guess blowing up the building really is out of the question, if there are innocent people in there.”
At his words, Jericho reaches up to press a palm to his sternum. His face is pale, attention somewhere far away—like he’s feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders.
But he’s not alone in this. Not anymore. Jericho has us now. All of us. He doesn’t have to fight his sire alone.
He just gets to be the one to turn him to ash.
I slide an arm around his back. “Come on. There’s nothing we can do about this tonight. So let’s get some rest so we can start fresh tomorrow.”