CHAPTER 5 #2
“Are you sure about that? If you don’t, your business is done for.
” Both my hands find his desk as I lean forward, feigning surprise.
“You don’t think I’ve come here alone, do you?
You really think they’d let me out of their sight?
After what happened tonight? There’s a team waiting for me outside, Viktor.
There are teams all over the district, and they expect me to deliver on what I told them.
That I can get that list in return for not being asked further questions.
If anything, you should be thanking me.”
A flicker of unease crosses his face. Good.
“You’re bluffing,” he tries.
I straighten up, pulling the dagger out as I go. “If you say so.”
With deliberate slowness, I turn and walk toward the exit, counting silently in my head. One. Two. Three.
“Wait.”
I don’t turn around yet, wanting him to sweat a bit. I take my time to adjust my coat, then turn to face him again. “I want names, dates, origins. Everything.”
Viktor’s laugh is bitter and short. “You think I keep records? That’s how people like me end up dead.”
“I think you keep very detailed records,” I counter, returning to his desk. “Because you’re too smart not to have insurance.”
His face pales to match the white of his knuckles as he grips the edge of his desk. “You’re insane. You know as well as I do that leaking such information can get me killed.”
“And refusing me won’t?” I threaten.
Viktor studies me for a long moment before opening a drawer. He retrieves a small metal object—a flash drive, unmarked and inconspicuous. “Every illegal entry in the past six months. I give you this, I stay off your radar.”
“You’re in no position to make demands,” I say, reaching for it.
He pulls it back. “What makes you think tonight’s attack and these turnings have anything to do with my clients?”
“Because the vampires that orchestrated this could have only gotten past security the way they did if they had help from inside the city.” I hold out my hand, palm up. “The drive, Viktor.”
With visible reluctance, he places it in my hand. As my fingers close around it, he grabs my wrist. “You didn’t get this from me, dhampir.”
I wrench my arm free. “Understood.”
The flash drive feels heavy in my pocket as I leave the den, retracing my steps through the butcher shop and back onto the street.
Viktor may be a snake, but having an informant in the underground proves to be valuable at times. Especially when it involves unsolicited murder.
The general examines the drive in his hands, his expression unreadable as he inserts it into his secure tablet.
Data floods the screen, all of it meticulously cataloged by Viktor’s criminal enterprise.
“This is… extensive,” he says, scrolling through the information. “How did you obtain this?”
“With my sparkling personality,” I deadpan, then start pacing the length of his office, restless energy coursing through me. “These vampires need to pay for what they did to Max and the others.”
The general’s office is sparse but purposeful, with tactical maps of Penn City covering one wall, surveillance feeds flickering on another. The smell of coffee hangs in the air, strong and bitter.
“These illegals,” he says, tapping the screen. “You know we can’t do anything past arresting them until further notice, right? There is a difference between not having official documents, and sabotaging security. One is a mere transgression, the other a felony.”
I nod, determination burning in my chest. “I’ll take care of it.”
He closes the tablet, then holsters his weapons. “There’s no need for you to get involved. I’ll dispatch my teams immediately.”
“I want to be involved,” I say, stepping in front of him.
He sighs, handing me a comm unit without objection, knowing I’ll be going anyway. “Where do you think you’ll be most useful?”
I take the device and clip it to my ear. “The eastern perimeter. If they try to flee the city, that’s their most likely exit point. You get your teams to search inside the city limits.”
“Alright,” he says, checking his watch. “We have three hours until dawn. Let’s make them count.”
The general reaches into a secure drawer then, retrieving a compact pistol and placing it on the desk between us. Its matte black surface gleams under the office lights when I pick it up, testing the weight in my palm.
It’s heavy, as expected, loaded with tungsten bullets. Good for a wallop, not killing. It is inadequate for what I’m planning to do.
“I’ll need something better,” I say, my gaze drifting to the weapons cabinet behind him.
Following my line of sight, he shakes his head. “No. Those aren’t standard issue.”
“Neither am I,” I insist, “nor are these vampires.”
Without me, he wouldn’t have known about these illegal citizens at all. By the time he found out, the ones complicit in the attack would’ve likely already fled. There’s no good reason to be denying me right now.
The general studies me for a moment, his weathered face revealing nothing.
Then he sighs, again, reaching beneath his desk to unlock another compartment, this one requiring both a key and his thumbprint.
He withdraws a remote, and with a single click, the protective glass barrier shielding the weapons slides open.
“I’m bending a lot of protocols for you, Seraph.”
“I’ll return everything.” I scan the variety of equipment until my eyes settle on a lumen-tipped bow. “Just this, actually.”
I slip the bow from its rack, testing the tension of the string. Perfect.
“Just be careful,” he says, moving to close everything up. “That bow isn’t registered to you. It’s Redmoore property. If you’re caught—”
“I won’t be,” I assure him, braiding my hair tight against my scalp to eliminate any handholds an enemy might grab. “And if I am, I’ll say I stole it.”
“Pragmatic to a fault.” His mouth twitches in what might almost be a smile.
I glance down at my torn skirt and impractical stilettos. “I could do with a change of clothing too.”
“This way.”
He leads me down a narrow corridor into a utilitarian changing room. Metal lockers line one wall, while benches bolted to the floor line the other. Its harsh lighting leaves no shadow unexplored.
The general unlocks one of the lockers with another code, revealing a variety of outfits designed for different types of combat scenarios. He holds up a pair of black cargo pants with reinforced knees and a lightweight vest with a protective turtleneck. “These should fit.”
I only take the pants. Those vests, though great for preventing vampire bites, only restrict my movement. “Thank you.”
The general nods, turning his attention to coordinating his teams through his comm unit. I change and clip the bow to my back.
As I follow the general out, my mind isn’t on the illegal vampires and their violations—they’re just a means to an end.
All these years, I’ve been chasing ghosts, collecting fragments of information about the massacre that claimed my father and dozens of others.
Every lead has gone cold, every trail vanished into nothing.
But tonight feels different: Revenant showed himself. He spoke to me. After a decade of hunting, he let me get close enough to see his face.
The general wants justice for thirty-seven innocent victims. I want answers about what happened that day, about why my brother chose them over me, about why I’ve spent a decade with this hole in my chest where certainty should be.
“Remember, we need them alive for questioning,” the general says as we are at the point of parting. “The priority is information.”
I nod, but he knows as well as I do that I’m after a different kind of information.