19. Finley #2
“Jhaeros is young, about your age, nin mel, just a few years your senior. Crevier has had him since he was fifteen years old, treats him like his son, even going so far as to call him that. Jhaeros doesn’t want to leave Crevier’s side.
He thinks that is where he belongs and sadly remembers nothing about his people or his family he left behind,” Rath said, tears shimmering in his eyes as he spoke.
“When I was captured, Jhaeros was with me. He’d snuck out and tailed me as I went into the city to do errands.
As they captured me, he ran out trying to protect me, but as his big brother, I should have been the one protecting him.
Not a day goes by that I don’t hate myself for getting him caught.
Who knows what Crevier has done to him to make my little brother forget everything about us. ”
Our bond was flooded with his pain and guilt over the situation.
Flashes of memories showed up in my mind’s eye, casting a picture of what their relationship had been like before they were captured.
Jhaeros looked so much like Rath but instead of seafoam-colored eyes, they were a light crystal blue like the clearest water you’ve ever seen.
From these memories, I could feel the love Rath has for his little brother and how much it tortured him when his little brother didn’t remember who he was when they met at parties.
“Look, I don’t mean to sound like a dick when I’m the last person to question you on this, but are we going after this guy because he’s the best target or to save your brother?” Colt challenged, holding Rath’s gaze, the tension humming between them.
Rath dropped his eyes, first not arguing the challenge.
“You are right to ask such a question, and I will admit, in this case, it’s both.
The reason that Crevier got to keep Jhaeros is because of how powerful he is, being at the top of the food chain in the Dark Ring.
His position of prowess is what gave him the right to claim such a prize from the batch of us they caught.
While I am using this to my advantage to save my brother in the process, I would still give the same answer if he wasn’t a factor in this matter. ”
Colt seemed to think on Rath’s words before he nodded and dropped the reservations he had on the matter. “So where do we find this guy? I’m guessing he’s not someone we can just drive up to his house and snatch.”
“He has a primary residence in Nantucket of all places, seeing as his hatred of being around too many people is well known, it’s not surprising,” Rath shared.
“The only thing is that he has a home in all the major cities as he likes to be present for any and all Dark Ring functions. He refuses to stay in other people’s homes, too afraid someone is going to kill him and take all his prized possessions. ”
Frowning, I cocked my head. “Why would he think that?”
Rath flashed me a bright smile. “Could be on account that I tried to kill him when he stayed at my second master’s home.
It had only been three years since I was kidnapped and I wasn’t smart at playing the game like I am now.
If I were presented with the same opportunity, I would be far more subtle about my murderous ambitions. ”
“Fuck, well, now you have to tell us what you did,” Mason requested with a chuckle. “Here I am thinking you’re way too prim and proper to go plotting someone’s death.”
“It’s not much of a story, I was sent up with the evening tea and tried to stab him with a cheese knife I’d slipped into my pocket earlier.
Due to the fact I was so rare, they didn’t kill me, choosing instead to whip and beat me, locking me away for a solid month.
It took until I had a different master for them to relax and allow me to be around the public again.
After seeing what a full-on assault got me, which was to be locked up.
I learned quickly to be far more sly and cunning.To wait for the right moment when the small rebellious act I did would ripple out into fruition later on. ”
Mason looked at Rath with a new kind of respect. “Remind me not to ever piss you off. I know we are mate brothers or whatever word you used, but I still feel like there are ways you could get back at me that I don’t want to experience.”
“That is a wise choice, my friend. I am far more skilled now than I was back then at getting petty revenge,” Rath informed with a wicked glint in his eye.
“So it sounds like we need to find out the social calendar of the Dark Ring to track down where Crevier will be,” Noah interjected, bringing us back on track. “Is there a better person for us to go after in that regard?”
Rath tapped his fingers together as he pondered, then I got a zing of excitement when he thought of a person. “I think we can kill two birds with this one stone. Delilah is the hub of knowledge when it comes to parties and other events that anyone who is anyone in the Dark Ring should attend.”
“Does that mean you know where she is hiding out?” I asked, this idea catching my full attention. “I figured she would go underground, but the way you make things sound with the Dark Ring, they don’t really do that.”
“Oh no, a woman like Delilah would never hole up when someone has come after her. You are not the first, but from the sounds of it, you came the closest, and that will piss her off even more, making her stupid and cocky.”
Shifting in Zander’s lap, so my back was to his front, I faced Rath leaning into my desire to hear the next bit of information he’d share.
“Delilah would have run to her grandfather, Vincent Slesinger, the supreme court judge who lives right outside of Washington D.C.,” Rath announced.
Zander shot to his feet. “Fuck! We might as well give up before we even start, that man is pure evil and it’s no wonder his granddaughter turned out to be such a cunt. If that man finds out we are after his own kin, there is nothing he won’t do to kill us.”
“Why do you sound more afraid of him than the Senate and the Dark Ring combined? Is this someone we should have known about already?” Lane asked, worry written all over his face.
“If there is one person you can count on to do all that’s in his power to stop something that will give supers any kind of rights or protection, it’s that asshole.
Many have gone up against him or even tried to kill him, but somehow, it always fails.
Now that I know he’s connected to the Dark Ring, it makes a hell of a lot more sense.
He had lots of scary fuckers to watch his back, along with brainwashed supers,” Zander explained.
“If this bitch is hiding out under his protection, then going after her is a suicide mission.”
“Not if we can draw her out,” I countered. “If we present the right situation, I know we can play off her confidence. All we need to do is get the right bait and I know just the thing to use.”
It’s about time Delilah got a taste of her own medicine and I was more than happy to give it to her right before I killed her like I planned to do all along.