Chapter Twenty-Eight
“I would have heard about this,” Beckham snarled later that night, back at headquarters.
Reyna paced agitatedly. Beckham, Gabe, and Tony had recounted what had happened to Sydney and Washington. She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. Couldn’t fathom how it was possible. How Harrington could get away with it. How he thought that everyone would just allow this to happen.
“You’re on the outs,” Gabe said. He almost sounded satisfied at the insinuation.
“Which means we’re blind,” Sydney snapped at Gabe. “Without Beckham in the know within Harrington’s inner circle, we’re blind.”
“I don’t think Everett’s lying,” Reyna spoke up. “He was shaken. I saw all his acts in that room. This wasn’t one.”
“And you’re an expert on spy tactics, are you?” Sydney asked dryly.
“It sounds like William,” Washington said. “It’s in line with his basic philosophy in life.”
“Philosophy again, Roger?” Sydney asked with a sigh. She massaged her temples and sank into a seat at the head of the conference room.
“We know William works within a certain set of core beliefs. Human subjugation is fundamental among those. The blood type cure only facilitated that goal—a means to an end. It would make sense, then, that he would want to push forward with his own agenda while he’s in power. A conqueror claiming more territory.”
“Will he overextend himself? Will Rome fall?” Reyna mused.
“Wishful thinking,” Gabe said.
“Let’s say this is Harrington’s endgame,” Sydney said. “How is he going to structure it? He’s not going to come out to the public and say he’s starting feeding farms. He’s going to cache it in something the people find permissible.”
Everyone was silent as they thought about the million scenarios Harrington could possibly use to make these camps work.
“It could be anything,” Gabe said. “He’s just as likely to commandeer the military and march people into the camps as he is to kidnap them or offer them a job in some new factory he owns. Who knows what’s going on in his twisted mind?”
“That’s precisely why we have people here who know him,” Sydney snarled.
“He’ll do it out in the open,” Beckham finally said. “If he can make Visage seem like a savior, then he can make people want this, too.”
“I agree,” Washington said. “Easiest way to hide is out in the open.”
Sydney sighed. “Perhaps Penelope has some inside information. She might know if something is coming up that we need to direct our attention to.”
Reyna couldn’t suppress her cringe. She’d forgotten about Penelope. The argument they’d had this afternoon felt like a lifetime ago rather than a matter of hours.
“I’ll get in touch with her,” Beckham said.
“Good. Let me know immediately if she has any idea what might be coming,” Sydney said, standing.
“Otherwise, I’m going to have to reach out to Tye to organize a group to scout the camps.
I need someone on the inside to verify Everett’s information.
I won’t act until I know for sure what we’re up against.”
Sydney strode out of the room, dismissing everyone. Reyna felt a wave of exhaustion hit her. She’d thought today would be a fun day of wedding dress shopping, but nothing could be that simple. It never was.
Beckham tilted his head toward the door, and she followed him out into the empty hallway.
The idea of feeding farms was so outrageous that all she could feel was disbelief.
She wanted Sydney’s people to find out Everett had lied to them.
That it wasn’t possible for even Harrington to stoop that low.
She had firsthand experience with how low Harrington would stoop, though.
She and Beckham returned wordlessly to her room. She flopped back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. “Are you going to Penny’s?”
“Yes. Our conversation needs to be had in person.”
“She’s going to love that.”
Beckham crossed to the bed and hovered over her. She could feel his dark shadow looming over her, but she didn’t look at him.
“Why didn’t you pick me up?” Reyna asked quietly instead of talking about Penny.
Beckham tensed. “Why?”
“Because you were supposed to get me, and then you weren’t there. Penny didn’t know where you were, either.”
Beckham glanced away from her when he said, “I must eat.”
“Oh.”
Beckham tugged her off the bed and deposited her on her feet. “I must eat and eat regularly. It is a necessity. Before, I could go a week, sometimes two, where I didn’t need to eat anything unless I wanted to regain strength. Now I must eat anytime I am going to be with you.”
“Why?” she asked.
He clenched his jaw and then released it. “If I did not, then I could not be around you as I am. The bloodlust would be overwhelming. Even eating as I do, I want you. To taste your blood and drain your life force and take from you all you will give me and more that you won’t.”
She trembled at the dark words and the force with which he delivered them. This was her predator. The one who could destroy her with a flick of his hand. And yet, he spent so much time actively trying to keep her fragile body alive.
“I don’t believe you would do it,” she told him with her chin tilted up.
“Believe me. I would.” His fangs flashed. “I desire you even as we stand here. I can feel your blood pumping through your veins. I can scent you. I want nothing more than a taste. But I won’t stop at a taste. Especially not after I saw you take down Everett.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Oh yeah? You liked that I was able to hold my own?”
He brushed her hair off her face and knotted it in his hand.
He tugged her head gently to the side and trailed his lips down her throat.
“I enjoyed watching you stand your ground. You are not quite as fragile as when we first met.” Then he moved.
Infinitely faster than a human. Before she could even blink, he had her body laid out on the bed, her neck bared, while he straddled her hips.
Then he came down on her as if he was about to devour her.
“Do not think the same moves would work on a vampire. It is best to allow me to protect you instead of constantly putting yourself in danger.”
Her core heated despite his harsh words. She knew getting turned on probably wasn’t the right reaction, but her body didn’t seem to care. Nor did she. He was on top of her. So close to biting her. She ground her hips in circles against him, begging for whatever he had to offer.
“Little One, look what you do to me,” he groaned, releasing her gently.
“Don’t stop.”
“I threatened to kill you, and you beg for more. What manner of creature are you?”
“One who is not afraid of the monster lurking under the surface. One who desires the monster and the man equally. I’m not ashamed to admit it.”
“This monster chose to work with Harrington. I chose to work with him. For nearly fifteen years.”
Reyna swallowed. “So? You changed your mind.”
“He kidnapped and tortured you. Do you think that’s the worst I’ve done?”
“I don’t care what you’ve done.”
Though she was curious. How could she not be? Especially after the hints Penelope had thrown out.
“I can see it in your eyes.” He rolled off her and stood by the edge of the bed as if he needed space to think.
“What you see in my eyes is the unknown,” she told him, following him off the bed.
She refused to give him that space. “It’s you telling me you’re this horrible monster, other people saying you’re a scary motherfucker, and even Penelope saying I’m just like all the other girls and will be dead soon.
It’s hearing over and over again that I should fear you, but I don’t. ”
They met each other, stubborn stare for an even more stubborn stare. Beckham would not win this. She wanted answers, and she’d wait however long it took. He must have seen it in her face. He released a breath and looked away.
“I was what we called a lord when I met Harrington,” Beckham said.
“Washington used that term. Sounds antiquated.”
“Yes. Well, the name has been passed down for many generations. Vampires are kind of stuck in our ways,” he said wryly.
“The term lord is reserved for the most powerful vampire rulers. They traditionally have a court, though by the time I was a lord, it had evolved into an army.” He gauged her reaction to see if he should continue.
“There are only two ways to become a lord: rise up in the ranks and eventually unseat the ruler, or raise an army big enough and lethal enough to take down the current lord and all their minions.”
“Which did you do?” she breathed.
“Rising up from within is easier. Unseating a ruler can be done if you can assess their weaknesses and then gain the support of the other vampires already within the organization. Building a force big enough to contend with the lord’s army and then slaughtering hundreds of well-trained vampires is nearly impossible.
” He paused and met her eyes. “I did the latter.”
She shivered. “Wow.”
“And I did it in five years. Here. In this city. In territory that had been ruled by a lord for three centuries longer than I’d been alive.
I was the youngest lord to ever rule a territory of this magnitude.
I was thirty when I was turned, and it had only been another twelve years when I became a lord.
I ruled on high like that for a decade before it all fell apart fifteen years ago. ”
She did some quick math in her head. Thirty when he was turned. A dozen years as a vampire before becoming a lord. Ten years as a lord. Fifteen years since being a lord.
“You’re sixty-seven?” she gasped out.
He nodded resolutely. “Thirty-seven years since I was turned. Relatively young for a successful vampire. I was extremely young for a lord.”
“How did you do it, then?”
“I was a ruthless murderer, and I gained the loyalty and respect of every single person who worked under me from my second all the way down to the lowest dreg. No one was ever going to turn on me. Not in my organization. Not the way I worked.”