Chapter 26
26
P atrick kicked the gas pedal of the Scanguards blackout SUV down, while Ethan sat in the passenger seat, directing him to the address of the incel they’d been assigned to check out.
“You think Cole is right about these incels? That they would agree to be turned?”
“You heard the others. Thomas and Eddie were impressed by the data, and your dad as well as mine are confident that his data will lead us to the rogues,” Ethan replied.
“So, about this Cole… Have you met him?”
“I ran into him before I left the house this evening. Didn’t get a chance to talk to him, but Dad told me he tried to dissuade Nessie from going patrolling, because he didn’t want her to put herself in danger. Of course, he doesn’t know that she’s more than capable of looking after herself.”
Patrick cast a sideways glance at his friend and colleague. “Ahh, the famous protector instinct of a man who’s found his mate.”
“Yep. Looks that way.” Ethan pointed to the next intersection. “Turn right here.”
Patrick followed the instruction. “So, is he a satyr like you? Or just a regular human?”
“According to Dad, he’s a satyr. Envious?”
“Of two cocks? What guy wouldn’t be envious?” Ever since he’d found out that satyrs existed and what their physical attributes were, he’d been just a little bit envious of Ryder, Ethan, and Gabriel.
Ethan laughed. “Sure, once you actually have the two cocks, but until then it’s not exactly ideal when you wanna get a girl to sleep with you. That growth isn’t particularly attractive.”
Patrick had seen Ethan’s growth before—they’d both been young boys, and just like all young boys they’d been curious about their bodies. “You don’t seem to have any problems getting laid.”
“I get a fair amount of rejections.” Ethan shrugged. “But I don’t let that bother me. It’s a numbers game. Besides, I’ve learned how to hide what I don’t want the women to see.”
“Mind control?”
“On occasion. Though I prefer not to use that skill if it’s not absolutely necessary. I often don’t undress fully. A dark room works wonders, and if I fuck them from behind, they’ll never know.”
Patrick shook his head, laughing. “Lucky you!”
“As if you don’t get your share of pretty women. I’ve seen how the girls check you out when we go clubbing.”
“Don’t you get tired of going clubbing and picking up girls for mindless sex?”
“Uh, oh.” Ethan gave him a sideways look. “Don’t tell me you’re ready to settle down.”
“No, of course not!” Patrick protested quickly. Perhaps a little too quickly, because in his own mind, he didn’t believe his own words. “Just saying, I need a little more than just mindless one-night stands. I wanna meet a woman who doesn’t throw herself at me the minute she sees me. You know, a little challenge.”
“It’s a curse to be handsome and rich,” Ethan said, his words dripping with sarcasm.
Patrick slapped him playfully over the back of his head. “Idiot!” He concentrated on the traffic again. “Besides, I’m not rich. My father is.”
“Same thing. And with Grayson running the show in New Orleans, and Isabelle more interested in her mate and baby than in the company, you’re next in line at Scanguards.”
“You know as well as I do that I’m not interested in running the company. I told Dad the other night.”
“And what did he say?”
“That I might change my mind one day.”
“Will you?”
“Doubt it. I don’t wanna be stuck in an office.” He made a gesture toward the street. “This is what I live for: taking down bad guys, getting in on the action, protecting people.”
“Well, you’ll have your chance tonight.” Ethan pointed out the window. “Last house on the right. Park right in front of it.”
Patrick looked at the clock on his dashboard, noting that they had almost five minutes to spare until the prearranged time to strike the rogues simultaneously. He tapped on the SUV’s communication system that was connected directly with the control center at Scanguards.
“Unit 12, Patrick and Ethan. We’re in place.”
“Understood, unit 12,” Benjamin replied. “Mission is a go. Repeat: all units are in place. Execute mission in 4 minutes.”
“Roger that,” Patrick replied and muted the communication system.
“Let’s do this,” Ethan said.
Patrick killed the engine and got out of the car. Ethan was already standing on the sidewalk, looking at the house.
“It’s dark. Little early for everybody to be in bed,” Patrick said, his forehead furrowing.
Ethan let out a hum. “Unless nobody’s home.”
Patrick reached into his inside pocket and retrieved his lockpicks. “Watch my back.”
He walked up to the front door, Ethan on his heels, and listened for sounds from inside the house, but it was quiet. As quickly and as quietly as he could, he picked the lock with his tools. Everybody at Scanguards had to learn that skill during their bodyguard training. While vampires certainly had enough strength to kick in regular doors to gain access to a room or a building, it was a noisy act that would take away the element of surprise.
“It’s open,” Patrick whispered.
He put his lockpicks back into his jacket pocket and pulled out his leather gloves. He slipped them on, then pulled a silver knife from the sheath at his belt, before looking over his shoulder. Ethan was now also wearing leather gloves. But instead of a knife he was holding a silver chain in his hands. The thick leather gloves were necessary to protect their hands from the silver, because just like pureblooded vampires, vampire hybrids could also be injured or killed with silver. In this case, they would only injure the rogue if necessary, and capture him alive.
They’d left their stakes in the car, so they couldn’t be used against them by the rogue, although it was entirely possible that the rogue was armed with a stake too. However, given that this incel had no training in any fighting style, and according to his records was a five-foot-nine weakling, Patrick didn’t doubt they could subdue him quickly.
Ethan gave a quick nod. “Ready.”
Patrick opened the door slowly, then spied through the gap between door and frame to look into the dark corridor. Even with his superior night vision, he couldn’t see anybody in the hallway. He opened the door wide enough to slip inside, when a pungent smell greeted him. His heart sank into his gut, and his body recoiled.
“Fuck,” he hissed under his breath, glancing over his shoulder at Ethan, who wrinkled his nose in disgust.
“That bastard,” Ethan murmured.
Patrick indicated where he was heading, and Ethan nodded in agreement. Like they’d been taught at Scanguards, they went from room to room, covering each other, until they reached the kitchen in the back of the house. There, the stench was worst, and his suspicion was confirmed. The aroma of decaying human flesh filled the room, its origin the older woman on the linoleum floor, her clothes torn, her eyes wide in complete terror, her throat ripped out, and blood splatter everywhere he looked. She’d been savagely attacked.
“His mother?” Ethan asked in a low voice as he bent down to her.
Patrick looked around the kitchen and saw a handbag on a counter. “Most likely.” He reached into the handbag and found the woman’s wallet. Her driver’s license confirmed his guess. “Yes, she’s his mother.”
“He must have really hated her to kill her so brutally.”
Patrick tightened his jaw, and tried not to breathe too deeply. Nevertheless, the scent of decomposition was impossible to block out. “Looks like she’s been dead for a few days.”
“Yeah, my guess is three to four days,” Ethan agreed. “We’d better call it in. We need a clean-up crew.”
“Let’s check the rest of the house first.” He tipped his head up toward the ceiling.
“I can’t hear anything from upstairs,” Ethan whispered.
“Do you remember from the info we got if she has a husband?” Patrick asked, wishing he’d had more time to go over the information that had been sent to his and Ethan’s cell phones. He’d barely glanced at it before jumping into the car to drive here.
“She’s divorced,” Ethan replied. “But there was no info whether she had a boyfriend.”
Walking swiftly, but without making any noise, they headed for the stairs to the second floor. Upstairs, the corridor was dark too, but from underneath the door to one room in the back of the house, a faint light shone through. Patrick pointed to it, and they crept toward it. Patrick put his ear to the door, but there was no sound. With a quick glance at Ethan, he pushed the door open, his silver knife ready for attack.
But the room was empty. Only a lamp on the bedside table was switched on. The bed had been slept in. While Ethan checked the closet and the bathroom, Patrick approached the bed. He dipped his head to the sheets and inhaled. The scent was human, and though he couldn’t tell whether it was the mother’s scent because the scent of her decaying body smelled entirely different, his best guess was that she was the one who’d slept here.
“Nothing,” Ethan confirmed. “The other rooms?”
They checked the other two rooms too, and they were empty as well. One was used as a sewing and craft room, which smelled similar to the aroma Patrick had smelled in the bedroom. The other room was a kid’s room with posters of Spiderman and other superheroes. But the bed hadn’t been slept in, and the air smelled musty. Nobody had been in this room for a while.
“This house doesn’t have a basement,” Patrick said, feeling discouraged. The bird had flown the coop.
“No, but it has a garage,” Ethan said. “And the car is parked in the driveway.”
Their eyes met, and Patrick realized that they were thinking the same thing. All wasn’t lost yet. Without another word, and walking on tiptoes now, they went downstairs. Patrick tested the door to the garage, turning its knob gently. It wasn’t locked. With a nod, he ripped the door open. Within a fraction of a second, he assessed the interior of the garage. It looked like a man cave complete with an old sofa and easy chair, a large TV mounted on the wall, a computer in one corner, and heaps of dirty clothes on the washing machine and dryer. The makeshift room was messy, which fit with the profile of the rogue. So, where the hell was he?
“I can smell him,” Ethan said from next to him.
“Me too.”
The sound of a key scraping against a lock drifted to Patrick’s ears. He whirled around and drew the door to the garage closed, then he pressed himself against the wall next to the door, several brooms and cleaning mops hanging from hooks on the wall hiding him partially. Ethan pressed himself to the wall on the other side of the door, where he would be hidden from view once the door was opened.
The entrance door opened, then slammed shut. The man entering grumbled something unintelligible. Footsteps came closer, then retreated toward the back of the house. Patrick exchanged a look with Ethan, when the sound of footfalls became louder again. A moment later, the door was opened loudly, and the man flipped a light switch in the garage. Patrick remained hidden until he could see the aura of the person. There was no doubt: he was a vampire.
Patrick pushed himself away from the wall, his silver knife at the ready. The rogue whipped his head in his direction, his eyes flaring red, his fangs instantly descending to full length, ready to attack.
“Don’t even try it,” Patrick said calmly. “You’ll lose.”
The rogue growled. “Fuck you!”
The vampire lunged, but was instantly jerked back by the silver chain Ethan had slung over his head and around his neck in less than a second. A painful cry issued from the captive, who—stupid as he was—reached for the chain with both hands, trying to pull it off him. Instead of achieving his intended goal, his fingers and palms burned from the acidic metal, and he cried out like a wounded animal.
“Gotcha,” Ethan said from behind the rogue. Forcefully, he tugged on the chain, and his captive fell on his ass.
“Well done,” Patrick praised his colleague. “Though I would have liked to use my knife on him.” He stepped over the vampire and looked down on him. “But unlike you, I don’t hurt people who can’t defend themselves.” He spit in the guy’s face. “Killing your own mother. That’s low, man. You’re gonna pay for that.”
Patrick met Ethan’s gaze. “Let’s put him in the trunk. They’ll be happy to see him at HQ.” He tapped on his iWatch to connect to the communications system and brought his wrist closer to his mouth. “This is unit 12. We’ve got our guy. Alive.”
Benjamin’s voice came from the watch a second later. “That makes you officially number one. See you back at HQ. The interrogation room is ready for you.”
Patrick grinned at his colleague. “I love my job.”