Chapter 17
Jason
Iwatched as Ciara made her call. Thank fuck she’d listened. For a couple of moments, I thought she might fight me on this, but whatever her argument would have been, it had obviously given way to sense and logic.
And for that, I most definitely was thankful. I’d have abandoned Francois to run Ciara to safety, and that would have required some fast explanations to Nic.
I kept my gaze on Ciara, but my thoughts were on Francois. Holy shit. Francois was as old as Nic. Could probably be equally as powerful in the right circumstances, but I had no idea if the treatments Nic was giving him were also keeping him docile and controlled.
But those Ancients. They were like nothing I’d ever seen. I needed to talk to Nic again or get to Seb. We needed to ensure the safety of civilians and figure out how to reclaim Francois. I didn’t think of it as a rescue so much.
We just needed him back.
Except…why did the Ancients want him? Had they found out he was helping us? Was Temple next on their list? I needed to get Kyle to talk to Temple. My to-do list was growing longer by the second, but I wouldn’t get around to any of it until Ciara was safe.
I glanced out of the alleyway. The entire area was crawling with police and fire personnel, but there was no sign of a regency French vampire clawing his way toward the ground in thin air, and there were certainly none of the paper ones lingering anywhere that I could see.
It was like they’d popped out of the area or into thin air, leaving no evidence they’d been here, and certainly none of the human first responders were acting like they’d seen anything like magic or that they couldn’t explain.
For such fragile-looking beings, their compulsion over humans appeared strong.
Paper vampires.
I smiled a little at the name Ciara had given them. But although they appeared as flimsy and fragile as paper, these guys were so much more dangerous. Maybe simply because they appeared so ineffective and almost vulnerable themselves.
But I’d just seen them take down a powerfully old vampire, the heir to a royal line, and the Ancients hadn’t physically touched him at all. They’d used magic.
Shit. I needed to talk to Kayla, and I hoped to God Nic or Leia would find something in their Book of Gray.
“He’s coming,” Ciara said after she hung up. Then she rolled her eyes. “And knowing Conri, he won’t be alone.”
“Oh?” Although that made sense. The wolves were our allies, after all.
And if Conri did bring backup, maybe that was preferable to dragging more vampires down here to be bound in invisible shackles by the Ancients. We needed to find out their purpose before being able to get close enough to stop them.
Any more vampires in the mix—especially those of another royal line—might simply be sacrifices. Perhaps they were even using Francois to draw Nic out.
I rested my chin in Ciara’s hair as I held her close to me. I wouldn’t be able to focus on my other tasks until she was safely with Conri. Although, even with the current tense situation, Ciara’s scent had an effect on my body, and my cock twitched in answer. Damn vampire instincts.
A truck squealed to a stop at the end of the alley and as I whirled Ciara to run, a second truck blocked the other exit.
Fuck.
We were trapped. I’d gotten us trapped by trying to keep Ciara safe.
The driver’s side door of the nearest truck flew open and Conri climbed out, his face a map of fury. “What the hell?” His voice cracked off the walls of the buildings either side of us. “What the hell are you fuckers doing?” He beckoned to Ciara. “Come here so I can keep you safe.”
But Ciara didn’t step toward him. Instead, she seemed to relax against me. “I’m safe right here,” she called back.
A muscle worked in Conri’s jaw. “How can you trust him?” He countered. “There’s obviously a whole lot of shit the vamps haven’t been telling us.”
“Like?” My reaction was childish, but I couldn’t help it as I held Ciara and faced down her brother, who suddenly seemed more like a threat than an ally.
Cara was my mate, and she belonged with me.
Conri’s face reddened at my question. “Like the fact there are new vampires here. New vampires who are causing destruction and exploding things. I thought your king liked to fly under the radar of the human population.”
I stood a little taller as I continued to face him down, and I ignored the question about Nic. “It wasn’t my place to inform you of anything. I performed my role exactly as requested.”
Conri scoffed, and moved closer still, until simply his sheer bulk in my personal space was intimidating. “You put my sister in danger.”
Ciara moved against me, more of a twitch of a body as she reacted to her brother’s words. “No, Conri—”
But I’d already started speaking, too, and my voice was louder or my will stronger. This fucking piece of shit dog wanted to talk to me about putting Ciara in danger?
“No.” The word rang out loudly. “She’s in danger every moment she spends on those pack lands.
What the hell are you doing? Teaching a human to fight like you think she stands a chance?
Your pack isn’t good to her, Conri. They don’t even tolerate her.
They’re downright fucking abusive. So who’s endangering her again? ”
As I spoke, anger wound tightly inside me, turning into tension. My fangs popped out as I finished speaking, and a growl rumbled through my chest as I leaned closer to Conri. If he wanted to fight me on this and who wanted the best for his sister, let him.
I fucking knew what was best for my mate and it wasn’t to live in fear with a pack that refused to accept her—especially if her brother was turning a blind eye to that.
“And what the hell, man? You let her think she’s strong enough to fight any of you and actually win?” My voice emerged thick around my fangs, and Ciara gasped.
I glanced at her, at her wide eyes and face pinched in fear, and I swallowed, closing my eyes as I attempted to regain control of myself. Last time this had happened in front of Ciara, it had been her who’d helped me find myself again.
But that made it twice that I’d let my anger rule when I perceived a threat to my mate. That was a very dangerous instinct to be guided by.
I pushed my fingers through my hair, raking it back as I focused my thoughts on Ciara and the calm she brough me, trying to dial my temper back down.
“We’re setting up a perimeter to keep the humans safe,” Conri ground out. Although he seemed to ignore everything I’d just said, I had no doubt my words were ticking through Conri’s brain.
He was far from a stupid man.
I nodded. “Okay.” I wasn’t going to disagree with him, but if the Ancients came back, I didn’t think eight to ten shifters could take them.
“But if you want my advice, you run. You see those guys, you get far away. And make sure Ciara is far away now.” I pressed a kiss to her temple although I longed for far more.
If the wolf wanted a fight right now, he was looking in the wrong place. I didn’t have time for him. Others were in danger, and I needed to talk to Sebastian.
“I’ve got everything here. Don’t even worry about it.” Conri’s smile wasn’t even friendly, but I still couldn’t afford to stay and rearrange his thoughts—or ideally, his face—for him.
“You gonna be okay?” I looked at Ciara, making sure I met her eyes as she answered.
“Yep. Always am. And we still need to talk, so neither of us gets to die any time soon, right?”
I chuckled. “Right.” Then I left in the kind of burst of speed that I rarely displayed in front of her.
Humans were easily spooked by vampire powers, and Ciara seemed to have something against vampires anyway, or at least that was the vibe I’d gotten when I’d first met her. Hopefully, she was changing her mind if it was important to her that I didn’t die, though. Plus, the kissing.
But the Ancients could certainly change my life status if I wasn’t careful, and that thought drove me most of the way to Sebastian’s house.
Usually, I would have taken my car, but the streets were still such chaos that if I was careful, I could move fast enough that only an occasional human would catch a glimpse of me out of the corner of their eye and dismiss the strange sight as a trick of the light.
I rang the doorbell at Sebastian’s place, and he must have had a sixth sense it was me, because he answered the door himself.
Usually, the butler did that part. I almost rolled my eyes.
Even now, I could hardly believe I’d moved from this luxury into the apartment with Francois—the apartment that was now destroyed.
“What’s up?” He didn’t even greet me, just asked after the problem.
But that made sense. I never just showed up here. And I’d come without even a call.
“You spoke to Nic?”
“Yeah. He said something’s going down.” Sebastian stepped away from the door and I walked into the wide hallway, my gaze immediately taken by the grand staircase that curved to the floor. “You got more detail?”
“The Ancients have Francois.” There was no point in delaying telling him. Better to get straight out there with it.
“Fuck.” Sebastian ground out the curse. “How did they do that? Doesn’t he have minders when you’re not there?”
He asked both parts like a question, as if I’d maybe not fulfilled my duty properly, not looked after Francois in quite the right way.
I opened my mouth to protest. That was ridiculous, right? I lived to serve the Duponts. Fuck— I had lived to fucking serve them. It had been my purpose. It was the reason I was sold to them in the first place.
And now… I’d let them down.
Francois had been taken on my watch.
“Why Francois?” Sebastian didn’t even wait for me to answer his other questions, to confirm that yes, Francois had minders, before his thoughts had moved on.
I shrugged. “I have no idea. But they exploded the side of the apartment building to get to him. They didn’t care who saw them or what they saw.”