Chapter Eighteen
Viktor’s instincts screamed at him to scoop Ant up, throw him in the SUV, and get the hell off the property before Claudius recovered enough to try something stupid.
His mate had just blown apart a centuries-old ward matrix.
Ant was probably running on fumes, and Viktor could see the exhaustion around his eyes even if Ant was too stubborn to acknowledge it.
But when Ant ended the call and slipped his phone back into his pocket, Viktor’s hopes of an immediate evacuation died. Ant held up one hand, forestalling Viktor’s planned argument.
“We need to gather the physical evidence,” Ant said quietly. “I’m concerned that with a case of this size my testimony won’t be enough to put Claudius away for life.”
Viktor’s grip on Claudius tightened. “I could just kill him. I know that’s not what you prefer. But what the fuck? Your site readings are the most accurate anywhere, and your word is respected…”
“I know, but Claudius’s defense team will argue that the ward-trap I encountered during the scene reading proves the magical environment was compromised.
” Ant’s gray eyes were steady, clearly already thinking three steps ahead.
“They could claim the vision was corrupted, and therefore I can’t be certain of what I witnessed because I was trapped in a magical construct designed to disorient and harm. ”
“That’s bullshit,” Viktor snarled. “You saw what happened. I saw what happened, damn it.”
“I know that. You know that.” Ant gestured toward Claudius, who was starting to regain some focus despite Viktor’s hold on him.
“But his lawyers will introduce reasonable doubt. The Justiciary has strict evidentiary standards precisely because there are some situations where magic can be manipulated. Without corroborating physical evidence, my testimony becomes circumstantial.”
Viktor was open to debating that at length if necessary, but he’d spent enough time in courtrooms - first as Tony’s enforcer, then beside Ant during their cases - to know his mate wasn’t wrong.
Defense attorneys loved to tear apart magical testimony by claiming contamination or bias.
And Claudius would hire the best lawyers his stolen money could buy.
“You want the documents,” Viktor said slowly, pieces falling into place. “The ones Ronald photographed.”
“Yes.” Ant’s attention shifted to the manor. “Ronald Finch broke into Claudius’s study and photographed ledgers documenting the shell corporations, bank transfers, and a journal detailing which humans were enthralled and when. That evidence exists in physical form in Claudius’s safe.”
“Which you can’t get into without me,” Viktor finished, stomach sinking.
“Well, I could, but it would take longer, and I could be intercepted.” Ant met his eyes.
“The Justiciary will arrive in approximately eleven minutes now. Claudius and his guards will begin recovering from the magical backlash in less than that - I’d estimate six to eight minutes before they regain full mobility, given their age and power levels. ”
Of course he’d calculated the recovery time.
Viktor glanced around the garden. Claudius was still dazed in his grip, his breathing shallow.
Edmund lay face down where Viktor had kicked him, groaning pitifully.
Nathaniel had stopped struggling and was simply trying to breathe.
The younger guards scattered across the lawn were barely conscious, likely overwhelmed by the ward collapse.
But Claudius was as old as Viktor, and there was a good chance that he’d shake off the magical backlash faster than the others. And once he recovered enough to think clearly, he’d destroy that evidence himself rather than let it fall into Justiciary hands.
“You want to break into his study,” Viktor said. “Right now. While everyone’s down.”
“Yes.”
Viktor looked at his mate, still pale, exhausted, swaying slightly on his feet but still standing with Able pressed against his leg.
Ant hadn’t had a full meal since that dinner with Claudius, and that felt like a lifetime ago, and while Viktor hadn’t eaten either, he could take a sip of Ant’s blood and keep going for another week.
But with his magical energies maxed out, and the lack of food and decent sleep…
Ant had gone through so fucking much in less than forty-eight hours, but, apparently, in his mind, it wasn’t enough.
Now he wanted to walk back into the manor where Claudius had tried to kill him and rob the bastard blind.
Gods, I love him.
“You’re out of your fucking mind,” Viktor said, but there wasn’t any heat in it.
“I prefer the term ‘thorough.’” Ant tilted his head. “We have a narrow operational window. I recognize this isn’t ideal, but…”
“Not ideal?” Viktor laughed, sharp and incredulous. “Babe, you just took down an entire estate’s defensive network. You’re exhausted. And you want to go back inside while Claudius and his guards are waking up?”
“The alternative is allowing a murderer to destroy evidence and potentially evade justice through legal technicalities.” Ant’s expression didn’t change, but Viktor felt the steel beneath the words through their bond. “That’s unacceptable.”
Yeah. It really fucking was. Viktor looked down at Claudius, who was blinking now, awareness creeping back into those cold gray eyes.
The ancient vampire’s mouth opened - probably to threaten or bargain or do whatever manipulative shit he thought might work.
Not in the mood to listen to anything coming out of that bastard’s mouth, Viktor slammed Claudius face-first into the ground.
“Don’t,” he advised pleasantly, then twisted both of Claudius’s arms behind his back at an angle that made the vampire hiss in pain. “You lost, asshole. Accept it.”
He grabbed Nathaniel next, who’d recovered enough to look resentful, and efficiently bent him into a pretzel beside Claudius. Edmund tried to crawl away. Viktor stepped on his spine, pinning him.
“Able,” Ant said quietly.
The German shepherd immediately moved to stand guard over the three restrained vampires, lips pulled back to show teeth. Able wouldn’t attack unless ordered, but his presence alone was usually deterrent enough.
Viktor straightened and moved to Ant’s side, scanning his mate for injuries. “You need to rest. You’re running on empty.”
“I’m functional.” Ant touched Viktor’s wrist. Through their bond, Viktor felt the truth. Ant was exhausted, but he’d pushed through worse during particularly difficult scene readings. “I can maintain consciousness and motor function for at least another hour.”
“That’s a real low bar, precious.”
“It’s sufficient for our purposes.” Ant’s gray eyes were steady. “We retrieve the documents and return here to wait for the Justiciary. Total estimated time - four to five minutes.”
“If everything goes perfectly,” Viktor countered. “Which it never does.”
“Then we adapt.” Ant squeezed his wrist once before releasing him. “It’s only a few more minutes and one more task.”
Viktor wanted to argue. Gods, he wanted to argue so badly.
Every protective instinct he had demanded that he carry Ant away from this nightmare estate and never look back.
But his mate was right. Without physical evidence, Claudius’s lawyers would tear apart the case.
They’d claim magical interference, argue the scene reading was unreliable, maybe even suggest Ant had fabricated the vision out of bias against vampires, or some other fucking shit, leaving Claudius free to leave the court and rebuild his fucked-up idea of an empire all over again.
Fuck.
“Four minutes,” Viktor said flatly. “We’re in and out in four minutes. Any longer and we bail, evidence or not.”
Relief flickered through their bond before Ant’s expression smoothed back into cool professionalism. “Agreed.”
Viktor glanced at the manor. They’d have to move fast. Some of the younger guards were starting to stir, and Claudius’s eyes were tracking their conversation now, rage building beneath the disorientation.
“Stay close to me,” Viktor ordered, already running through the fastest route to Claudius’s study in his head. “And I mean close, Ant. If anything feels off…”
“I’ll tell you immediately.” Ant bent to speak to Able, running his fingers through the dog’s fur. “Guard. Protect.”
Able barked once and planted himself more firmly between the restrained vampires and freedom.
Viktor extended his hand. Ant took it without hesitation, and Viktor felt the absolute trust radiating through their bond. His mate believed they’d succeed because Viktor wouldn’t let him down.
I’d better not fuck this up, then.
“Let’s go rob a vampire,” Viktor muttered.
They moved quickly across the garden toward the manor’s entrance. Behind them, Claudius made a sound - fury and desperation mixed together - but Able growled, and the vampire went still again.
Viktor kicked open the already-damaged front doors.
Glass crunched under their feet as they entered the main hall.
The ward collapse had done serious damage inside as well.
Some of the portraits hung crooked, chandeliers swayed dangerously overhead, and several pieces of antique furniture had toppled over.
“The study is in the west wing on the second floor,” Viktor said, pulling Ant toward the grand staircase. “Claudius’s private rooms. No one goes there without permission.”
“It helps that you remember the layout.” Ant kept pace beside him, despite his exhaustion.
“Yeah, well.” Viktor took the stairs three at a time, keeping his grip on Ant’s hand. “I lived here for long enough, and I did do a spot of snooping when we first arrived, remember. But the wards around the safe were too strong then.”
They reached the second-floor landing. The west wing corridor stretched ahead, lined with closed doors. Viktor’s memory supplied the layout - guest rooms to the left that were barely ever used, donor quarters to the right where Claudius’s flavors of the week were held, and at the very end…
Claudius’s study. The door was heavy oak reinforced with iron, probably warded to hell and back under normal circumstances. But the ward collapse had stripped away the magical protections, leaving it vulnerable.
Viktor smiled grimly. “Time to see what he’s been hiding.”
“Three minutes, forty seconds remaining,” Ant said calmly.
Viktor released Ant’s hand, stepped back, and kicked the door with enough force to splinter the wood around the lock. The door crashed inward, revealing Claudius’s private sanctuary.
The study was as pretentious as Viktor remembered, but he ignored the décor and his attention went straight to the back wall, where a painting of some long-dead Raven ancestor hung slightly crooked from the ward collapse.
“Behind the painting,” he said, already moving.
“That’s where he kept the safe. I saw it when I did my snooping, and we both saw it when Ronald found it, although it was a wood panel covering it that time.
Claudius is probably too damn cocky to change the location now, especially when he didn’t expect you to leave here breathing.
” And yes, Viktor was still pissed about that, but according to his mate, they had a job to do.
Ant followed, eyes scanning the room. “Any secondary defenses we should anticipate?”
“Not anymore. You blew them all to hell.” Viktor grabbed the painting’s frame and pulled it aside, revealing a wall safe built directly into the stone.
It was older than the manor itself - heavy iron with an intricate locking mechanism and faint runes carved around the edges. “Magical lock. Can you open it?”
Ant studied the safe, head tilted. “Yes. Though it will require more precision than force. I don’t want to damage the contents.”
“How long?”
“A minute, maybe two.”
Viktor checked the hallway. It was still clear, but he could hear movement downstairs now.
Some of the guards were recovering faster than Ant had predicted, probably riding the adrenaline of seeing their master defeated.
They’d be coming to check on Claudius’s study soon, looking to secure evidence or destroy it themselves.
“Do it,” Viktor said. “I’ll watch the door.”
Ant placed both hands on the safe, fingers spread across the cold iron. His eyes unfocused slightly. Viktor felt a slight surge of power - nothing like the explosive force that had shattered the ward matrix.
He’s completely controlled even when he’s running on fumes.
Footsteps echoed in the corridor outside. Viktor moved to the doorway, positioning himself where he could see both Ant and the approaching threat. Three guards appeared at the end of the hall - younger vampires, maybe a century old each, looking determined but wary.
“The study’s off-limits,” one of them called. “Lord Claudius’s orders.”
Viktor bared his teeth. “Lord Claudius is currently eating dirt in the garden. This place is under new management.”
They hesitated, exchanging glances. Viktor could practically see them weighing their options.
Every instinct they had would insist they obey their master’s standing orders, but unless they’d suddenly arrived from outside the estate, they already knew what Viktor and his mate had done.
They were also likely considering that Viktor might do the same to them.
“The Justiciary’s on the way,” Viktor added helpfully. “Do you really want to add ‘obstruction of justice’ to the list of charges you’ll be facing? Because I promise, they won’t be gentle about it, and neither will I.”
Behind him, Ant made a soft sound of satisfaction. “I’m in,” he said as the safe door swung open with a soft click.