Chapter Eighteen
“The Consortium”
“If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”
- William Shakespeare
Private Island off Italy…
“Are you done fighting against us?” Sophia asked scornfully. “Because from what we have seen, you have done nothing but undermine our efforts.”
“Do not talk to me as though I’m answerable to you or anyone else,” Malachi snarled. “Alexandra is my great-granddaughter, and it is my right to do with her as I wish. You don’t get to tell me what to do with her!”
“Well, she is now a Petrov mate.” Sophia cackled. “Great job re-establishing your family ties.”
“Listen, you bitch—”
“Enough!” Adam growled. “We don’t have time for this!” He looked out at his remaining allies around the conference table. Since Warren’s death, his successor, Cedric, had finally agreed to join their ranks. The absolute, lethal strength that the Petrovs had displayed in the Chamber, even without their immortal powers, had turned the tide in the immortal world. Now, more of their numbers were finally realizing the threat to their existence the Petrovs had become. Never mind that Alexi and his sons had never abused their power. The simple fact that they could and would probably succeed if they did was enough incentive for most of the immortal world to want them exterminated.
Nickolai Antonov, the oldest and most powerful among the demons, had also joined them. Now that Adam had killed Vincent, Nickolai had stepped in and was fully on board with ridding the immortal world of the Petrovs.
“The last Petrov brat is mated! There will soon be more Petrovs if we don’t kill them now!” Adam lamented.
“They are at the Petrov castle in St. Petersburg,” Sophia reminded everyone.
“We can’t attack them there,” Adam cautioned. “They would love for us to attack them there, but it’s a deathtrap.”
“Haven’t you been after them for centuries?” Malachi asked sardonically. “So, maybe you’re not the best person to lead us in ridding the world of the Petrovs!”
“I’m with Malachi on this,” Nickolai drawled. “The Petrovs have been kicking your ass for centuries. Perhaps you should be benched.”
“Kiss my ass!” Adam snapped. He scowled, hating the repeated reminders of his failures.
“If you boys would stop measuring your dicks, you will realize that we have them right where we want them,” Sophia said slyly. “We have to hit them at their weak point.”
“I love a wicked stone-cold sorceress,” Malachi said drily.
“We are usually forced to fight our battles in secret and not draw undue attention from the human world. But because the arrogant Petrovs have grown their human family members, their mates’ families, we have viable options now. We don’t have to restrict our attacks.”
“We tried that also,” Adam said in irritation.
“You took one relative,” Sophia said darkly. “I am proposing we take all of their relatives.”
“And you think that the humans won’t notice?” Adam was getting tired of these assholes thinking that he hadn’t thought of all this shit before. Sure, he had wanted to destroy everything associated with the Petrovs, right down to every human employee of Petrov Enterprises, but the risk of involvement from the human authorities had been too high.
“Oh, they will notice. The humans and the Petrovs,” Sophia said gleefully. “However, just as they discounted Covid as a virus, they will consider our attacks in the same light.” Sophia cackled, obviously delighted at her own cunning.
“What are you proposing?” Nicolai asked, blatantly and eagerly intrigued.
“Mass eradication that looks like illness with no human cure!” Sophia revealed dramatically.