Chapter 26
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Antonio leans over, looking at the photo of the tattoo on my phone.
“That’s him all right.” He raises his eyebrows and sits back. “He overdosed or died from possession?”
“I don’t know,” I tell everyone. We’re crowded around the little round table. I’m in between Antonio and Leo, and Ryder is across from me. Even with the pressing demonic problem at hand, it’s still awkward with him being here.
He’s doing everything I ever wanted. All the things I begged and cried for. How many nights did I spend curled up in my bed, silently pleading with whatever higher power there was out there, asking it to give Ryder the courage to change?
And now he has. He’s just a little too late.
“As soon as I get the M.E.’s report, I’ll let you know.”
“Doesn’t really matter anymore,” Leo says. “The guy is dead and we have proof the Order was there.”
“Let’s be objective,” Ryder starts and it’s all I can do not to roll my eyes just by hearing his voice.
His blind loyalty to the Order is what caused us to break up.
Now I’m here with indisputable evidence that the Order is up to no good and he wants to defend them.
“All we know for sure was that a wooden stake issued by the Order was found. You have no actual proof someone in the Order used it.”
“That is true,” Antonio says, bobbing his head up and down. “There are other possibilities and we need to go over every single one.”
“How did someone get an Order-issued weapon?” Leo asks, looking at me.
“Found it, stole it, was given it by a real hunter,” Ryder goes on. “There are a lot of wannabes out there and we have to step in and save the day.”
“That wannabe killed a vampire,” I say. “They at least knew what they were doing.” The human heart is roughly hand-sized and protected behind, skin, muscle, bone, as well as whatever clothing the vampire had on at the time.
It takes skill, strength, and precision to stab anything in the heart.
Now factor in a vampire’s strength, reflexes, and ability to fight while injured, and staking a vampire in close range is actually really fucking hard to do.
Most of the time, it takes two or more humans to take down one vampire.
“Maybe the vampire was holding the hunters hostage,” Ryder tries and I make a face.
“Why?”
“To feed off of,” he fires back and I shake my head.
“Not if they were high. Vampires don’t like contaminated blood.”
“Yours must be pretty good,” Leo quips, eyes going to the marks on my neck. I have my hair in a side braid today, resting on my shoulder to cover up the still-healing wound from Devon. The little punctures on my neck from Xavier are visible, however.
“Actually, I’ve been told witches’ blood is superior.”
“Gross.” Leo makes a face. “I have questions, but I’ll wait.”
“Good, because I don’t know if I’ll answer.”
“We don’t train much on killing vampires,” Antonio says, steering us back to business. “Which we now know is because of the deal made, but there are hunters who have dedicated their lives to taking down vampires.”
“Like Jonah Voss,” Ryder offers almost apologetically. “He’s in our chapter.”
“I’ll do some digging,” Antonio says. “It’ll be easy to convince the others we want revenge on the vampires who took our sister.”
“Be careful,” I press. “If anyone figures out we’re onto them, it could be really bad. Whatever is going on, the Order is going to some pretty great lengths to keep the focus off them.”
“Yeah.” Leo nods. “This much demonic activity in the area should have already been flagged.”
I scoot my phone back in front of me and pull up a text from Devon. “Is this number familiar to any of you? It’s out of service now, so it’s probably a burner phone.”
“No,” they all say.
“I can find out who it belonged to,” Leo says, taking a picture.
“Thanks. I ran it through just a basic internet background check and came up with nothing,” I say.
Leo, who’s good at anything technical like this, nods again. “Burner or it’s been scrubbed. Nothing I can’t get around.”
“Perfect.” I lean back. “How is everyone?”
“Gia is fine,” Antonio answers, knowing what I’m really asking. “She misses you.”
“I miss her too.”
“She’s with Mom and Dad in Georgia right now. They’re working a job. Aunt Darcy and Danielle are there. Danielle broke her arm a week or so ago so she’s babysitting.”
“How’d that happen?”
“Tripped and fell while going down stairs.”
I make a face. “That’s embarrassing.”
“Right?” Antonio chuckles. “I think she’s telling people it happened while running from ghouls in a graveyard.”
“That’s a better story. And what about Liss?” I suck in a breath through clenched teeth, wincing from my own questions.
“She is out of town. So are Dale and Randall.” Antonio makes a face. “They’ll be out for a while, I’m sure.”
“I don’t think this is a situation where they can wait out. What seems like a long time to us isn’t when you’re seven hundred years old.”
“You can’t work your magic on your husband?” Leo asks and then shakes his head. “Not actually magic, but the other magic you have.” He wiggles his eyebrows.
“Hah. And, uh…” I pull my hands in my lap and look at my coffee cup, unable to make eye contact as I talk. “This isn’t something I can talk them out of. She kidnapped and tortured a member of the family and then it resulted in another family member getting shot and being turned.”
“I’m not trying to excuse what I did,” Ryder starts. “I’m honestly a little confused. Why is that guy—”
“Devon,” I say, still feeling protective of him even though his behavior has made me quite unsettled.
“Devon,” Ryder repeats. “Why is Devon becoming a vampire a bad thing?”
“Well,” I begin, realizing that he doesn’t know the whole story. I don’t feel like telling it. “It just wasn’t part of the plan yet. And he…he didn’t want to be a vampire.”
A text goes through to all of the guys’ phones at the same time. It’s from the Order.
“They’re sending us back to the Midwest,” Leo huffs. “Because it’s so great there.”
“Hey, at least we’re close to Chicago this time,” Ryder says with a shrug.
“The Midwest?” I question. It’s really not that odd to go all over for a job, but there are more than enough monsters in Appalachia to keep us close to home. Right now, I’m on high alert and scrutinizing anything and everything the Order is doing.
“I know where your mind is going,” Antonio starts. “And yeah, I’ve noticed it too.”
“Noticed what?” Leo asks.
“There’s hardly anyone from our chapter in the area right now.”
“They don’t want you here.” I look around at everyone. “They don’t want me here. Guys, please be careful.”
Antonio puts his hand on mine. “Don’t worry, sis. Whatever they’re doing, we’ll figure it out. And then we’ll stop it. Together.”
“According to the internet, these work really well.” Mabel carefully smooths a silicone patch over my neck. “Wow. It really makes it harder to notice.”
“Yeah, that helps a lot,” I tell her, looking in the mirror. “Thanks.”
“Of course. Now we can go live and do a Q&A while I do your makeup.” She puts her phone on a tripod and pauses before hitting the button to go live. “I think I am going to stick to only doing live streams from home for a while. And wait a day or two between capturing content and posting it.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” I say, sitting in the makeup chair at her vanity. “I think it’s smart and then you’re not rushed to edit anything.”
She smiles. “Right, that’s a good way to look at it.”
“Zeke and I are going to dinner and a movie while you do business stuff. We’re talking Devon. I think getting out of the house will be good for him.”
“It will. Where are you, uh, going to dinner?”
She shrugs. “Somewhere downtown. I’m not eating. Zeke is. Probably Devon too. I’ll feed the ducks while they eat. I love feeding the ducks. I used to go all the time with a bag of stale bread.”
Should I tell her there probably won’t be any ducks out at night? Nah, I don’t have the heart for it
“Okay, ready?”
“Yeah,” I tell her and straighten my shoulders.
She starts to livestream and we both smile and say hi.
People join in droves, asking us questions while Mabel does my hair and makeup.
About an hour later, the livestream has ended and I’m getting in the car with Xavier and Theo.
We have a business meeting tonight, much like the first one I ever attended.
We’re downtown again at another high-end restaurant, seated in a back room that’s served just for us.
All the usual players are there: the alphas from the Charlotte and Raleigh packs, reps from the VC, the same older man from the Morris family, a couple cops, and a couple guys who have to be from the 704 Reaper gang.
“Florence,” Larkin says with a smile when she sees me.
“Crown Alpha,” I reply, giving her a curt nod. Hey, I got the greeting right this time. “Pleasure to see you again.”
“Likewise.” She pats my shoulder. “Thank you,” she says quietly.
“Of course,” I say back. “I’m a witch of my word.”
Larkin eyes Xavier. “She’s out of your league.”
Xavier’s large hand lands on my lower back. “I’m very well aware.”
We’re seated and the first course is served to the humans almost right away. I’m starving, and I devour half my salad while Xavier and Theo talk business.
“Yo, Xavier,” one of the Reapers says. “I heard something really interesting.” He leans back, flashing his gold-covered teeth.
“One of my guys says two chicks were sniffing around my territory yesterday. Going to one of my business establishments and then later these clowns show up.” He motions to the cops. “We had a deal, did we not?”
“I fail to see the problem,” Xavier replies.
“Yeah, I thought ‘cha might. The funny thing is, my guys saw your ol’ lady there and say she was the one who snitched.”
In the blink of an eye, Xavier is across the table, and the guy’s fork has been stabbed right through his hand, pinning it to the table.
Holy shit. My heart skips a beat and my mouth falls open in shock.
The guy screams and one of his buddies jumps up, pulling a gun from the waistband of his pants.
“I already said my wife is to be treated with respect,” Xavier says calmly. He steps behind the guy and takes a fistful of his hair, pulling his head back so he’s forced to look up at him. “Calling her a snitch isn’t very respectful is it?”
The guy holding the gun cocks it, and the click reverberates through the now-silent room.
Theo speeds over and has the gun in his hands in just seconds.
He unloads it and takes the bullet from the chamber, dropping it on the floor.
Then he takes the pistol in both hands and bends it so the muzzle is against the frame.
“Please, be civil,” he says and puts the gun on the table, smirking. He knows his display of strength is terrifying to all the humans but me.
“Apologize to my wife,” Xavier tells the guy, hand still gripping his hair.
“I--I—I’m sorry,” he stutters. “My guy was mistaken. I’ll gouge his eyes out for it.”
“They will be delivered in a box to show your sincerity,” Xavier says, holding him spellbound. “By tomorrow morning.”
“Yes,” the guy says, staring blankly. “Hand delivered.”
The last thing I want is someone’s eyes in a box, but I know better than to say something right now.
Xavier lets go of the guy’s hair and smooths out his jacket.
Both he and Theo take their seats and the meeting carries on as normal.
I watch, somewhat entertained, as two guys scramble to pull the fork from the table.
The second course of our meals comes, and I shouldn’t feel so squishy inside when I’m brought out a big plate of veggie risotto when everyone else has meat, which means that Xavier made sure to tell the chef I am a vegetarian.
It’s the little things like this that mean a lot to me, and I think women in general.
And it means even more since Xavier doesn’t eat food himself.
I excuse myself to use the bathroom once I’m done with my pasta, which was absolutely delicious. The feeling of a cold finger touching the back of my neck makes me stiffen as I’m washing my hands, and I turn. I’m alone in the bathroom. I turn the water off, dry my hands, and shake my head.
I fluff my hair and try not to give in and pick at the silicone scar-patch on my neck. It only bothers me when I’m thinking about it, and really, it’s not that uncomfortable at all. Hopefully, it works as well as the people on TikTok told Mabel it does.
“Hey, vampire whore,” a male voice booms behind me. I whirl around, ready to be annoyed with some obviously small-dicked man. He has a small penis all right, and he’s compensating for it with a bomb strapped to his chest.