29. Whats worse than a vampire cult.?
Chapter twenty-nine
What's worse than a vampire cult...?
Nick
N ick found himself seated in what could charitably be called a circle, though the hastily pushed-together tables and chairs made it look more like a planning session for the world’s most dysfunctional book club.
Caleb sat to his left, close enough that Nick could feel the warmth radiating from him—a steady, reassuring presence that kept the anxiety from climbing too high in his throat.
Luka claimed the chair to his right, and Nick noticed that his twin, Matteo, looked different.
More settled. Their conversationhadclearly gone well, and Nick felt a strange flutter of relief in his chest. He wanted Luka to be happy.
Marcus took the seat beside Caleb, and Nick’s arm instinctively shifted closer to his body. The man who severed his handwasnow three feet away, but instead of terror, Nick felt... complicated. Marcushadbeen protecting Caleb from the hunter when he did it.
Matteo settled next to Luka, and Petrov filled the next chair, his imposing frame making the furniture look comically small.
Nick remembered him from Society files—dangerous, methodical, impossibly strong—but right now he just looked like someone’s protective older brother.
Vincent and Adam completed the circle, and Nick felt a brief spike of unease.
Vincentwassupposedto be a monster, but hewascurrently holding Adam’s hand with casual tenderness.
Opheliahaddraggedover a folding chair and perched on it like some kind of gothic gargoyle, feet tucked up under her in an oversized black hoodie.
Her hoodwasup, leaving only wisps of brassy curls hair around her eternally bored expression.
Despite her intimidating reputation, she looked like any teenager forced to attend a family meetingshe’drather skip.
“First,”Marcus said, his voice carrying a comfortable, natural authority with a single word,“I want to say how glad we are to have found you alive and well, Nick. We’ve all been worried about you.”
Nick’s throat tightened unexpectedly. Whenwasthe last time anyone worried about him? Actually worried, not just calculated his usefulness? He glanced at Luka, whose eyeswerewarm with something that might have been pride. Nick felt his shoulders relax fractionally.
“And almost in one piece,”Ophelia added, not looking up from her phone.
Heat flooded Nick’s face as shame crashed over him—not just about the disability itself, but about the circumstances that led to it. He covered his stump with his hand beneath the table, trying to minimize the obvious absence. Say you’re sorry. Thank him for not taking more.
Stop it.
Luka’s hand found his under the table, fingers interlacing with calm certainty. The contact grounded him immediately, pulling him back from the edge of that spiral. Nick squeezed back, amazed again at how Luka could read his needs so accurately.
Adam made a sound that might have been a choked laugh, which he quickly tried to stifle behind his coffee cup.
“Ophelia,”Caleb said, his tone carrying gentle reproach.
“What? It’s accurate,”she replied, glancing up with those unsettling blank eyes.“Could have been worse. Could have been his head.”
Nick almost laughed despite himself. The casual way she discussed potential dismembermentwasoddly comforting—no pity, no careful avoidance of the topic. Just facts. He could work with facts.
“Moving on,”Marcus said, shooting Ophelia a look that she ignored.“I’ve been briefed by Luka and Jae about what happened at the community center in Peoria. Vincent, Petrov, Ophelia—what did you find in your trips to the other neutral territories?”
Nick straightened in his chair, recognizing the shift to business. Thiswasinformation he needed to hear. The Society’s scopewaslarger than this family understood, and their safety depended on accurate intelligence.
The energy in the room dropped as Vincent leaned forward, his earlier domestic struggles with the coffee machine forgotten as he slipped into what Nick recognized as detached, almost tactical mode.
The transformationwasstartling—from fumbling with kitchen appliances to dangerous predator in seconds.
“Champaign’s group is gone,”Vincent said without preamble.“Clean sweep. Bodies removed, but thereweresigns of a coordinated assault. Multiple entry points, professional execution.”
Nick’s stomach dropped. ThatwasSociety methodology—precise, overwhelming, thorough.He’dbeen part of operations that looked exactly like that. The familiar patterns made his skin crawl, knowing how those attacks would have unfolded.
“Decaturthe same, but many bodies left behind”Petrov added, his deep voice carrying no emotion.“The hunters hadbeen prepared there. Many weapons, zajaknati vrati , but didn’t help them.”
The neutral hunters knew somethingwascoming. Nick felt sick thinking about people preparing to defend themselves while having no idea what theywerereally facing. The Society didn’t just attack—they studied, planned, overwhelmed. Those people neverhada chance.
“Pontiac’swerejust gone,”Ophelia said, still focused on her phone.“No bodies, no signs of struggle. Like they just vanished. Which probably means theyweretakenalive for questioning before being disposed of elsewhere.”
Nick flinched.He’dseenSociety interrogation techniques. The clinical way Ophelia delivered the informationwasprobably kinder than dwelling on what those peopleendured before they died.
The silence that followed felt heavy with implications Nick understood, but hoped hewaswrong about. He glanced around the table, seeing concern instead of panic. They still didn’t fully grasp what theyweredealing with.
Marcus nodded grimly.“That confirms what we suspected. This isn’t the same small group of zealots we dealt with before. This is something much larger and more organized.”
Nick wanted to correct him—itwasn’tjust larger, itwasprofessionally organized, well-funded, and methodical in ways that made their previous encounters look like random violence. But speaking up felt enormous, like standing on a cliff edge.
Stay silent. Stay small. Too many of them. Don’t draw attention.
Marcus turned to him, amber eyes gentle despite the serious subject matter.“Nick, do you remember anything about Society planning to target the neutral hunter networks? Any discussions about expanding operations outside of Chicago?”
All eyes focused on him, and Nickhadto fight the familiar urge to drop his gaze, to make himself smaller. But Luka’s thumb stroked across his knuckles under the table, but he pushed forward. These people needed the truth.
“Itwasnever brought up,”Nick said, his voice steadier than he felt.“At least not in any of the briefings Iwaspart of. The Society doesn’t like neutral hunters, but the official policywasto ignore them unless they became a direct problem for Society operations.”
“Official policy,”Adam repeated, picking up on the subtle distinction.“What about unofficial policies?”
“I...”Nick paused, thinking back to the fragments of conversations heoverheard, the meetings Henderson and Owenattended without him, the way Shaw would sometimes reference operations that Nickwasn’tbriefedon.
His throat felt tight.“Therewerethings Iwasn’ttoldabout.
The current head is Shaw, he didn’t always include me on everything, I was only told where to go and who to.
..”He stopped, uncertain how much to reveal.
“What about Shaw? How far does he reach?”Marcus asked gently, without a trace of judgment in his voice.
Nick met his eyes, seeing only patience.
No demands, no pressure. Just willingness to listen.
The kindnesswasstill surprising. “Shaw runs more than just the Chicago cell,”Nick admitted, the words feeling heavy.
“Therewerereferences to other cities, other operations. But Iwasnever given details about the full scope of what theyweredoing.”
Luka’s hand squeezed his encouragingly, and Nick felt a flutter of gratitude. Admitting his ignorance felt like confessing incompetence, but Luka’s touch suggested understanding rather than disappointment.
The silence that followedwasheavy. Nick watched as glances were exchangedaround the table—not panicked, but concerned. Theywerestarting to understand what Nicktried to tell them: the Societywasn’tjust a local problem anymore.
Luka did a series of one-handed motions, and Ophelia glanced up from her phone.“He wants to know how big,”she translated.
Nick met Luka’s eyes, seeing worry there but also trust. Lukawasasking him to be honest, even if the truthwasterrifying.
“I don’t know,”Nick said, his voice gaining strength.
“But from what I overheard, what I pieced together... Shaw commands at least one hundred active hunters across multiple cities. Maybe more.”
The number hung in the air like a death sentence. Nick could see the calculations happening behind their eyes—one hundred trained hunters versus their small group of vampires and broken humans. The mathwasn’tencouraging, and Nick knew the realitywasprobably worse than even that estimate.
“One hundred, that you know of,”Ophelia said, leaning forward with an intensity that made her previous boredom seem like an act.“It could be more if they’re compartmentalizing information.”
Nick nodded reluctantly.“It probably is more. The Society operates on cell structures. Need-to-know basis. I only saw a fraction of what theyweredoing.”
The weight of his limited knowledge pressed down on him.He’dbeen so focused on individual missions thathenever noticed the bigger picture. How many peoplediedwhile he remained ignorant of the Society’s true scope?
Ophelia’s dark eyes fixed on Nick with laser focus, and he resisted the urge to shrink back.“Did you notice anything strange at the community center?”