Chapter 23 Dimitri
dimitri
. . .
Others crying unsettled me, but seeing Mary Bloodkin cry after she and her mate had been saved from the cult shook me. Perhaps it was because she’d been the only other being I knew who knew exactly what it was like to have our lives decided for us by our parents based on vampiric bloodlines.
Her mate held her tightly in his arms as if she might fall apart if he loosened his grip even a fraction. His eyes flicked to me every few breaths, gratitude and terror mixed in equal measure after what they’d gone through.
“They were going to kill him,” Mary sobbed, fingers curled in his shirt. “Dimitri, they had him chained! They said he was an impurity just by being my mate!” Her voice cracked. “Thank you so much for saving him.”
Her mate tucked her closer, whispering into her hair to soothe her.
I swallowed hard. “I know. You don’t need to thank me for doing my job.”
“I do,” she argued. “They were going to take the kelpie first and then my mate. And they said they’d kill me after for bonding with him.” She shook her head violently. “If the Supernatural Council’s agents hadn’t intervened…”
I forced a breath in. “You’re welcome.”
Mary nodded, wiping her face. “Your mate is the basilisk, right? Rune? She’s terrifying, Dimitri. Terrifying and amazing. I saw what she did to the vampires who came at her. To Tye.”
I didn’t argue.
The thought of Rune in that ritualistic chamber, surrounded by cultists, and pretending to belong to them while Zara was being fed on made my entire being hum with rage.
I’d been seconds away from bursting in myself, ignoring Jesper’s command to keep position.
I had been seconds from tearing throats out.
My parents were in that room, taking pleasure in Zara being killed for not being a pure-blooded vampire. But Rune handled it well. She maintained her position when it was close to impossible.
She did much better than I would’ve.
Jesper’s voice carried from behind us. “Dimitri, you’re with me. We need to move.”
Mary startled slightly, but her mate held her tighter, and she relaxed into him.
Jesper stepped closer, and his expression softened. “You two are safe now. Go home. Stay together. Your parents are locked away for life, so the estate is yours. If anyone gives you trouble, you call the Council’s line immediately. Understood?”
They both nodded.
Jesper turned, motioning for me. “Dimitri. Let’s go.”
I inclined my head toward them before I followed Jesper, Jesse, and Tobias down the stone corridor of the estate. Once we were outside in the Apex Capital, the three of us headed toward the academy, feet crunching on the frost-coated path.
I couldn’t wait for winter to be over.
Jesper waited until we were far enough away from the estate to talk freely.
“I know I’m the squad lead and should be the most professional, but,” he said casually, “we should kill Tye.”
Tobias didn’t even blink. “Good.”
Jesse nodded. “He’s a sick fuck. Good plan.”
I exhaled through my nose. “Let Zuko play with him.”
Jesper smirked. “Obviously. I said kill, not dispose.”
Tobias grinned. “If he so much as looked at my sister again, she would’ve snapped his neck herself.”
“I saw the way he looked at her,” Jesper muttered darkly. “I hated it.”
“He was already dead,” I told him. “The moment he kissed her hand in greeting, he was going to die. We’re just choosing the timeline.”
That earned me an approving look from Tobias.
We walked in silence for about an hour. The academy’s wards were glowing faintly ahead of us within Basilisk Forest, blue walls from the wards pulsing through the perimeter.
Jesper’s tone shifted. “How are you handling the arrests we just made?”
“My parents?” I asked, expression flat.
“Your parents. The Bloodkins. All of them.”
I shrugged. “They got what they deserved.”
Tobias blinked, surprised. “No hesitation?”
“What is there to hesitate about?” I asked. “They were partly responsible for Rune being taken last year. They manipulated me my whole life, and they were funneling money and resources into a cult that would’ve used my mate’s blood for a ritual if given the chance.”
Jesper nodded. “You don’t consider them family.”
I shrugged. “I consider Rune my family.”
Tobias gave a short laugh. “Honestly? Good. I’m glad your head is screwed on straight. I’m also glad you’re part of my family now so you can see how one is supposed to act.”
My heart warmed at that.
We were almost at the barrier when Jesper slowed. “Wait.” His hand lifted. “Do you smell that?”
“It’s blood,” I muttered. “It smells fresh…familiar.”
Tobias cursed and broke into a run.
Jesper and I followed, feet crunching over the frost as we approached the small clearing just outside of Basilisk Forest, where the wards flickered just ahead.
Kyle lay sprawled near a tree trunk, unconscious but breathing. Dried blood covered his face.
Tobias and Jesse dropped to their knees beside him. “Kyle! Kyle, hey, what the Fates happened?”
Kyle groaned, eyelids fluttering. “Mikael…he took Zara…dragged her up into the trees…”
Jesper’s eyes went black with rage. “Where?”
Kyle weakly pointed toward the forest. “He can’t enter the academy’s wards, so he must be close.”
I didn’t wait.
I sprinted forward, catching Zara’s scent easily. Branches tore at my suit as I leapt over fallen logs, following the scent trail. My fangs dropped, and my heartbeat pounded faster as adrenaline pumped through me.
When I reached a thick underbrush, my vision tunneled. Zara was on her knees, head lolling, Mikael’s fangs in her throat as he sucked her blood greedily.
Rage obliterated any thought I had.
I didn’t notice how pale Zara was or the fact that she was no longer breathing. I launched myself at him, and he barely had time to look up before my fist cracked against his jaw, sending him flying back into a tree trunk.
Bark shattered under the force of him.
Zara collapsed forward, and I caught her before she hit the ground.
“Zara,” I breathed. “Open your eyes.”
She didn’t. She was cold. Too cold. It made me wonder if she had any blood left in her. I doubted it.
I gently set her down and turned in time to see Mikael pushing to his feet, blood smeared down his chin.
“You should’ve stayed home, unclean vampire,” he sneered as he noticed Rune’s mark on my throat, over the siren’s failed mate mark. “You don’t deserve to be a pureblood. A siren and a basilisk?” He spat at me. “Disgusting.”
I blurred across the clearing, slamming him back into the tree. The bark cracked under the force again. “You think you get to shame me?” I growled. “My parents did enough of that. It does nothing.”
He laughed, spitting blood. “Your parents failed you.”
My vision went red.
I punched him again, and again, and again. Until his bones were broken in his face, shattered.
Mikael’s limbs hung limp. His smile was fucked up, but it stayed curved. “You’re weak,” he rasped. “You can’t even finish a kill—”
Someone pushed me out of the way, and I rounded on them with a hiss until I recognized them as Jesper.
His fist hit Mikael’s temple, and he hit the ground unconscious.
Jesper stepped back, dusting his hands. “We need him for questioning.”
I stood there, chest heaving, fists still trembling with the need to tear something apart.
Tobias rushed in seconds later, gaze snagging on Zara. “Shit. We’re too late?”
Jesper rested a hand on my shoulder. “None of us knew he would follow them.”
I exhaled hard, fangs still out. “Zara didn’t deserve that.”
“He will be punished for her murder,” Jesper said simply. “But we need him alive for him to take the punishment.”
Tobias glanced over his shoulder. “For how long?”
Jesper smirked darkly. “Not long.”
Thank Fates Rune was okay. If Mikael had gotten his hands on her instead…
My chest tightened painfully.
No.
No, she was safe tonight. With Zuko and Slater. Probably being spoiled and kissed and—
Pleasure so intense it wracked our bond made my cock strain, and I barely stifled a moan.
Jesper straightened, clearly just as affected as I was. “Alright. Tobias, take Zara to HQ. Jesse, grab Kyle and take him to the infirmary at the academy. Dimitri, you and I will take Mikael in.”
I nodded, and for the first time in my life, I knew my parents no longer had any hold over me. Not just because they were outed as cultists, but because their crimes for being involved in the murders put them to death.
I didn’t even care enough to attend their deaths. Instead, I would embrace my new family because Rune was my life now.