Chapter 97
Chapter Ninety-Seven
APRIL
I have no idea where they took me or how they passed Sabastian to do it, but I find myself in a concrete room chained with those spelled chains to the floor, but unlike Andrei, I have a collar too.
Mutt would laugh if he could see me now, especially since I kept trying to put one on him, but he kept chewing through each and every one like a pro.
Head hazy from whatever spell that asshole slapped me with, I shake to clear it and bile burns the back of my throat. How the hell I get myself into these dumb situations is beyond me.
No one is here with me, so I take my time to look around. It’s useless. Nothing but gray walls, me, and the stupid chains are here. I bet that bitch will be coming soon to gloat. To add salt to the injury, apparently, she had a father they forgot to mention, too.
How lovely for them.
My tongue keeps poking out in hopes to wet my cracked lips, but to no avail.
Mouth dry like the desert, all I can taste is the remnants of the tainted blood I swallowed from the fucking mages.
We will see how long it’ll take before anyone comes to check on me.
If I’m lucky, they’ll try to cut me up like they did to Andrei.
As soon as anyone is close by, I’ll rip their throat out with my teeth.
It takes much less time than I think for someone to visit me. I almost feel flattered.
“I gotta say, seeing you like this … it suits you, April.” It’s Eddie who walks in from a door I didn’t notice all the way at the end of the long, rectangular room.
Pursing my lips, I watch him saunter near, but he stays out of reach.
He looks different in just a couple of days from when I saw him last. Sara’s brother looks like he is filling up his clothes better than any human should be able to in that amount of time.
Cocking my head, I look him up and down, and he notices my scrutiny.
“What do you think?” Spreading his arms wide, he turns in a slow circle. “I think vampire blood suits me, don’t you think?”
“I’m sorry, what?” Confused, I frown at him. The kid has lost his mind. “Did anyone turn you?” It could explain how he got to look so healthy, for sure. “Who was it?”
The thought that Khan probably did it is something that makes sense. The vampire was a lunatic hungry for power, after all. Turning mages is not something I’d put past him.
“Don’t be ridiculous, I’d never want to be a disgusting creature like you.” He sneers.
“You just said …” Not finishing the sentence, I shake my head at him, deciding to ignore him. The kid is crazy. I can see that clear as day now.
He was probably always a little nuts, I just didn’t pay attention.
“You see, we now make a potion with old vampire blood.” Loving the sound of his voice, he gloats, and my heart stops at his words. “All the perks, none of the vileness, if I may say so myself.”
“Mages hunt vampires to take our blood?” Appalled at the thought, I never thought I could hate him and his sister more.
“Hunt? Are you insane?” Eddie guffaws in my face. “They used to give it to us until your dumb ass got involved. Actually, I blame my sister for it a little, as well.”
“Khan,” I spit the word.
“Yeah.” He starts waving his hands in excitement, walking back and forth in front of me, though still not coming close enough.
“Like I told you, we needed to make sure you do what was meant for you to do and get rid of the Council. Then Sara was supposed to supply the blood we need while shacking up with you like the besties you were. But the stupid bitch can’t keep her legs closed.
She had to go screw that Italian asshole, and it all went to shit from there. ”
I’m too numb to reply to his tirade, so all I can do is watch him and listen.
“Never mind, we fixed that problem with that other guy, the blonde one.” The smile on his face is feverish and crazed.
“I didn’t think he had that much potent power; the foreign fucker fooled us all.
But he gave out what we needed, oh yeah.
Until you screwed everything up again. Seriously, you are like a pain in the ass. ”
“You and Sara also had a hand in the torture Andrei went through?” My voice is so low and calm, but it’s louder than a shout.
Eddie jerks to a stop, blinking fast as if not understanding why I’m so calm. The poor idiot can’t feel the numbness spreading through me as the darkness fills my skin to the brim. My vision shifts, and everything turns red.
“A hand in it?” He shakes his head, coming out of whatever trance he was in. “My father will only let me or Sara take the blood. He has trust issues.” One of his shoulders jerks in a shrug.
Continuing to mutter nonsense under his breath, he doesn’t see that a monster is about to come face to face with him.
Sara walks in then, a glinting dagger in her hand and a box full of small, round glass bottles closed with a cork.
She has a sneer on her face and ignores her brother, focusing all her attention on me.
I don’t twitch a muscle, just track her with my eyes as she approaches.
“I never thought I’d be so lucky, but you played right into my hands,” she tells me, dropping the box at her feet. “My father can never say I’m useless now that we have you. It’s time to bleed, April.”
I let go.
All the tight control I held over the monster inside me, mostly for Sebastian’s sake, is gone.
And I feel it. It starts at the center of my chest, spreading fast like a rushing tsunami until my skin can’t contain it anymore.
The tip of the dagger is so close it’s about to touch me when my power and rage explode outward, and a bright light follows, blinding me for a long moment.
The boom that comes deafens me, and when I can finally see, I find myself alone in a crater with everything around me broken to pieces.
The sky is covered by a plume of dust, and I’m crouched in the middle of it, the chains ripped and hanging on my wrists, ankles, and neck like some horror accessories.
Disappointment spreads next that I blasted the bitch and her brother, and I feel cheated.
They needed to suffer. That’s when I hear Sebastian shout my name from somewhere above.
Lifting to my feet, I turn to see where he is, and his head pops up looking down.
I’ve never seen a more beautiful sight. Hair covered in dust and sticking out all around his head, face streaked with blood, he still takes my breath away.
Then Marcus, Andrei, and Eshe join him, and a smile stretches my mouth, although I still feel cold and numb.
The darkness churns inside me, hungry, fuming.
“Sebastian,” I breathe, but as soon as I say his name, two things happen at once.
A piece of broken wall tumbles with a crash, and a moment later, cold steel slides between my ribs.
A scream is wrenched from me.
Grabbing hold of the hand clutching the dagger, I yank it out of me and spin to face Sara. But it’s not the betraying bitch that stabbed me in the back. It’s Eddie. From the corner of my eye, I see Sara’s body half under a large piece of wall, her head twisted in an unnatural angle.
She is dead, but he is not.
Thumps behind me announce Sebastian and the rest joining us here. Crushing Eddie’s wrist in my hand, I don’t look away from him.
“Check if his father is alive,” I tell them, then I tug the little shit closer.
He screams.
It’s a shrill sound that hurts my ears, but I love it.
I toy with him for a long time, ripping little parts of his body just as they did to Andrei.
His tainted blood coats my tongue and my parched mouth, yet I still keep going, oblivious to everything.
Even after Marcus returns saying their father is dead.
I keep going, even when his chest is torn open like a Christmas gift.
“Tesoro, he is dead.” Sebastian’s voice penetrates the fog in my head after I don’t know how long. “He is dead.”
Prying my fingers open, he makes me drop the arms I was clutching like a lifeline, although they are not attached to a body.
“He is dead,” he repeats. “They are all gone. Allow me to take you home.”
“I will kill them all,” I hear myself say from far away. “Blood will run like rivers through the streets of this city. They will all die.” I want to believe that Viktor is dead with everything in me but deep down I have a feeling I haven’t seen the last of that monster yet.
“Let me take you home please,” Sebastian begs, his eyes full of sorrow.
I want to feel bad that I’m making him like this, but I feel nothing. My insides are frozen, and I can see smoke coming out of my skin like I just walked out of a freezer after being inside for too long.
Staring at him, I blink.
I want to kill everyone that can even think to hurt me and mine.
“April?” Marcus and Andrei step in front of me, one behind each of Sebastian’s shoulders. “Please,” Andrei implores, his eyes sad.
I want to do it. I just don’t think I can.
That’s when I feel Sebastian tug on the bond we have, the invisible cord tightening my chest. I don’t know how long we play tug-of-war, but eventually, it starts melting the tundra inside me.
A wave of love and affection washes over me, taking away the darkness with it, and shaking my head, I look around me.
Everyone, including the Guardians, have joined Sebastian and used the connection we have through my blood to bring me back from the all-consuming abyss. My knees give out, but before I drop, Sebastian scoops me up in his arms.
“I have you,” he whispers, his deep voice vibrating through his chest into my side. “I have you, Tesoro.”
“I told you I’m the most dangerous creature they will ever face,” I mumble, leaning my head on his shoulder.
“You did,” he mutters.
“And you were glorious, bella.” Marcus places a hand on my shoulder, keeping it there.
I feel Andrei’s touch on my ankle, and I close my eyes with a sigh before turning to look behind Sebastian’s shoulder.
Every Guardian is down on one knee, their heads bowed and fists over their chests. Not in submission. No.
They do this in recognition.
My eyes dart around the devastation I wrought.
Whoever dares to think they can come after me and mine better think twice.
I will level this city to the ground if they try.
Those thoughts stay churning in my head until a familiar building comes into view, the crumbling walls and all, but it still gives me that false sense of safety.
The fact I have the three males around me at that moment is more than enough to stop me from fracturing at the seams. Because be it as it may, we are safe for now.
Whatever comes after this is future April’s problem.
Leaning my head back on Sebastian’s shoulders, I let him take me home.
The moment the building overtakes my view something inside me loosens. It almost feels like nothing else can reach us here. As if brick and mortar would make us invincible which is ludicrous and proven wrong, but I can’t help the feeling spreading through me like a tidal wave.
With the three of them around me, here, I’m finally at peace.
Thank You for Reading!
If you have a moment, I would truly appreciate it if you could leave a review on . Reviews not only help other readers discover my work, but they also mean the world to me as an author.
Whether it’s a few words or a detailed review, your feedback makes a huge difference.
Thank you for your support, and I can’t wait to share more stories with you!