19. Elias
Elias
The woman Finley greeted so warmly paled as recognition hit her.
While my mate had never gone into detail about what happened at this woman’s party, I knew the reputation she had.
While I understood why she wanted both Rath and Derven to be at this meeting, I knew I was the better option.
I wasn’t sure what kind of stomach the elf had.
The vampire I wasn’t worried about. You don’t live to be a thousand years old without spilling blood.
When it came down to the dirty part of this job, I knew he’d be able to handle it.
The hulking giant of a man in the other chair had to be the gorilla and I wanted to pummel the shit out of him.
He attacked Finley and that was never going to stand.
Even though he was going to die at the end of this, he still needed to pay for that infraction before I ripped his heart out in front of the woman he loved in his own sick and twisted way.
“You,” Delilah spat. “You’re the reason I got kidnapped and dragged all the way out to a fucking barn? Do you know who I am? Who my family is? We will have your head for this, you bitch.”
I darted forward, grabbing her throat, and snarled. “You will not speak to her like that, you cunt. I’d take a good look at where you are and who’s really in charge right now because it isn’t you.”
“Get your hands off me, you mutant mutt,” Delilah screeched, trying to yank herself out of my grasp.
I leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Is that what you say to your gorilla when he fucks you up the ass? I’m sure you just love it when he uses you like the dirty whore you are.”
Delilah’s response to this was to start screaming her head off, making my ears ring, but it did little else.
A hand settled on my back and I knew it was Finley.
I’d know her touch anywhere. I released the bitch and wrapped an arm around Finley’s waist, drawing her to my side, feeling the need to shield her back.
“Would you like to know why you are here?” Finley asked once the screaming stopped.
“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you, just like you did everyone else at that party. So just get it over with already,” Delilah responded, her eyes going wild as she spat at Finley.
Before the spit could leave her mouth, Derven appeared and slammed his hand over her mouth so hard the chair teetered, almost falling back before he stopped it.
“That is absolutely no way for a young lady of your status to act. Spitting on people, your parents would be ashamed.” Adding insult to injury, he wiped his hand off all over her face before getting the last of it off on her pants.
Delilah gasped, looking at him. “I know you!”
“Yes, I suppose you would, which is why you’re here,” he commented, pulling a bottle of hand sanitizer out of her purse that was sitting by the chair. “We need some information and you’re going to give it to us.”
“Why would I do that? I’m not going to get out of this alive if she’s here,” Delilah shot back, gesturing with her chin at me. “I know what you are, assassin. They know you’re coming for them and they’re just waiting for you to make your move.”
Clearly, they had no idea what Finley had already made a move weeks ago.
I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing they hadn’t noticed.
My gaze drifted over to the gorilla, whose mouth was taped shut and was bound with silver chains.
We’d need Tabitha to deal with those since none of us could touch them.
His eyes bore into mine with the desire to murder my mate loud and clear in that look.
“That’s good, Delilah, so then you also know it’s futile to try and hold anything back from me,” Finley commented as she pulled a slim zippered case out of her back pocket. “This is going to help you feel more comfortable as I ask you questions.”
Delilah’s eyes went wide with terror. “No, no, not that, please don’t do that. I’ll talk, please, no drugs. They always use drugs on me.”
Finley paused and cocked her head slightly. “Who uses drugs on you?”
“My parents… they… they drugged me and let those filthy bastards use me until I was too old for their liking. One of them decided he wasn’t going to let me go and inducted me to the Dark Ring early, telling me that I would one day rule all of it if I listened to him.
Now here I am strapped to a chair going to die by the hands of an animal that we hunt for sport,” Delilah raged.
Squatting down so she was more eye level with Delilah, she rested a hand on her leg. “Who?”
“Gareth Vaughan,” she spat.
“The senator’s mate?” I blurted, completely shocked by this turn of events.
Tears filled Delilah’s eyes. “I didn’t know he was a werewolf until he threatened to bite me when I turned seventeen. He wanted to keep me because his frigid bitch of a wife was just a sham who had her own side piece.”
None of this was making sense. Why the fuck would Morwyn’s husband be working with the Dark Ring? He already had power over the Senate since Morwyn, as we discovered, was a figurehead for them. What was the purpose of having created the Dark Ring as well?
“Why are you lying to me?” Finley questioned. “That story is true, but it isn’t about Gareth. Who was it really?”
Delilah dropped the crying act and turned to stone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You asked and I gave you the answer.”
“No, you didn’t, not completely. There is something you are leaving out and that is the most important part that I need to know,” Finley challenged. “Tell me who it is that took you under their wing?”
“You won’t get to him,” she taunted. “I know why you want to know, but you won’t be able to take him down. He’s far too guarded and there are hundreds of people who will die for him.”
Finley took a deep breath and started to open the case once more and draw out a syringe. “If you won’t tell me what I want to know, then I’ll make you.”
The threat was clear by the icy tone in Finley’s voice. She’d once more shut herself off, allowing her assassin persona to take over. It was an odd feeling, being cut off from her in this way now that we’d been soul bonded.
“Do what you have to do,” Delilah taunted. “If the waterworks didn’t make your frigid heart question your motives, then what’s the point in keeping up the act?”
That had been an act? Damn, this woman was more twisted than I expected.
Clearly, whatever happened to her fucked her in the head royally.
Finley ensured the syringe was ready to use as Derven secured Delilah’s head to the side, making it easier to hit the vein.
With quick assured movements, Finley administered the drug and stepped back.
“Let’s have a chat with our friend while we let that take effect,” Finley commented as she walked over and ripped the tape off his mouth. “We meet again, but this time you’re the one tied to a chair instead of me. Oh, how the tables do turn.”
“I have nothing to say to you,” Bakos said with a growl.
Finley nodded her head right before slamming her fist into his face. “That’s good because I don’t want any information from you. The only reason you were brought here alive is because I wanted to kill you myself.”
Having never seen Finley in action as an assassin, it was shocking to see her so brutal. Avoiding the silver, Finley landed another few shots to his face, chest, and groin, making the bastard groan in pain.
“I know how you treated those around you who did fall in line. Always the biggest and the strongest right? Well, not tonight,” Finley snarled, her nails turning into claws as she sliced across his face.
“How many of our kind did you serve to your masters on a silver platter? You betray all of us, loving a real monster in sheep’s clothing.
Is she that good of a lay that you’ll fuck her any way that she wants you to?
Has she ever put you up on one of those stages to be fucked and bled like a living juice box for a vampire? ”
The whole warehouse started to pulse with her anger as her magic rose, responding to her emotions. Rath wasn’t here to stop her, so I prayed we could manage whatever happened without him here.
“Like you’re any better than me?” Bakos roared. “You kill humans and supers alike for the money. Now all of a sudden, you’ve grown a conscience? Don’t make me laugh. You’re a stone-cold bitch who could kill anyone without batting an eye.”
“If you believe that, then what’s left for you?” she countered. “Why fight? Isn’t it better to know you’ve lost and take it like a man?”
He bared his teeth at her trying to lunge forward, but the chains stopped him. “You know nothing.”
Finley took a step back and waved her hand at him dismissively. The scratches she gave him healed and he almost seemed to shrink in size, losing the bulk of his muscle. “I know they turned you into what you were and now, I’ve undone it. How does it feel to be human again?”
The look of horror on his face was enough to tell me that Finley had taken everything from him. “No, that can’t happen. There’s no way you would be able to do that to me. I was finally what she wanted. Now I’m nothing.”
He was talking about Delilah. She wouldn’t want just a normal human following her around.
A batshit crazy woman like her would need to have something that made people fear her.
Being turned into a gorilla shifter meant he was her brute power.
If my mate had really made him human again… That was a fate worse than death.
“You tell me,” Finley countered. “Do the chains hurt? Does the mental burn or is it just something that is holding you down?”
“No,” Bakos bellowed, thrashing about in his chair until he toppled to the ground, face in the dirt.
I made a move to at least flip him over so he wasn’t choking, but Finley stopped me. “Leave the worthless human where he lies.”
Doing as she said, I left him, but I hoped she had a plan because I wasn’t so sure about this side of Finley. I’d been prepared to be the evil one in this situation, not her. Clearly, I hadn’t been paying attention when she said working for the Organization stripped everything from her.
“Stop, please don’t hurt him. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” Delilah begged, tears streaming down her face. “He was forced onto this, they ruined him forever, but I still loved him anyways.”
This time I could tell the crying was real—the snot dripping from her nose, the tears gushing out of her eyes, and the heaving breaths.
It was an ugly cry, one you could only do if you were absolutely devastated about something.
It seemed that Finley had known this would be a trigger for Delilah all along.
“You want me to help him? Then tell me what I want to know,” Finley demanded. “He’s once more fully human, not a speck of supernatural to him. Bakos can once again be the perfect man you loved before they, as you said, ruined him.”
“What do you want to know?” She sobbed. “I’ll tell you, please just don’t let him die. He doesn’t deserve it.”
That was debatable but clearly, whatever Finley had given her worked. Now let’s see what the witch had to tell us.