236

I must have somehow missed Shae’s scent, probably smothered out by the scents of the vampires around her. His chambers were located on the ground floor in the corner opposite the basement. The ten wolves followed me up the stairs and the tingling feeling spreading from my scalp down my back had me turning around to them.

“Open the gates. Now.”

They dispersed and I could feel Abeloth reaching out to Echo. They were close but I had no time to think about how they’d gotten here so quickly. It was just past two am meaning they’d had to leave minutes after I’d left.

I could feel their presence but I had no choice but to go forward and find Shae. My cover was blown in any way but Marcel had underestimated me, I’d already killed almost thirty of his men in the space of an hour.

I encountered five more vampires and one managed to swipe across my throat as we fought and I broke his neck before ripping his throat out. My wound closed as I held my breath and the blood dried as I ran shoulder first into the fortified door.

Shae lay on her side, her arms stretched out over her head and her wrists cuffed with chains into the wall above the bed. Echo roared loudly in my head as I ripped the chains from the wall and picked Shae up. Her head lolled to one side but her heart was beating.

Her eyelids fluttered open for a few seconds and she smiled weakly as I held her closer to me. Her hands gripped my shirt and her eyes glowed silver as I felt her trying to push through whatever was in her system.

“The cuffs, Wynter …”

I lowered her to the bed again and touched the first cuff, smelling the Dragon’s Lily they were coated in. It kept her weakened without them having to inject her every few hours. I didn’t feel the burn of it and I pulled the cuffs open.

“You okay, wild child? Did he hurt you?”

“Not more than was necessary to keep me quiet.”

She seemed to have regained some of her strength and I handed her my extra pistol. Ryder had trained them as well, not as rigorously as he trained me and Milo but she knew how to shoot. Her clothes were intact and I felt better knowing she hadn’t been assaulted.

“The house is triggered with Dragon’s Lily bombs. I heard them talking when they thought I was still unconscious. They’re expecting you to come for me, they know exactly who you are, Wynter, and some prophecy about me with a vampire that I’m supposed to marry.”

“I know, Shae. Your bonded half’s on his way.”

“Well, what the hell took him so long?”

I grinned as her true nature emerged and looked at her as she gave me a grin. “Let’s get you home, wild child.”

“You are a target as much as I was. They want you dead.”

“I’ll get you out of here, I promise. No matter what happens you keep running, you get on Chusi and you fly. You’ll find Dad in the air. Promise me, Shae, you won’t look back, you just get away.”

“I’m not going anywhere without you.”

“I’ll be fine, I heal, Shae, you don’t heal like I do. You run.”

“I promise.”

I squeezed her hand once and then made my way carefully back up the stairs with Shae following close behind me. The scents were still the same as when I went down to the basement but now that I knew he planned to poison me, I was on high alert.

“On your left.” Echo’s voice was soothing and I didn’t hesitate. I aimed to the left and shot, the thud of a falling body letting me know that I hit my target.

Five more shots with five more dead bodies happened in swift succession as we made our way through the downstairs area. I could hear a ruckus outside in the open area and grabbed the vampire that appeared before me as Shae lifted the pistol and shot him point blank in his face.

As we made our way outside I could see fighting all around us. My father and the rest of our group had descended on the compound and Maxim stiffened as he caught Shae’s scent. She wasn’t even looking in his direction as the softer pops of her pistol fired out next to me.

“Get to, Dad.” Shae nodded her head once and as she ran a vampire jumped from the roof onto her and amidst the scuffle, she lost her gun as he picked her up and held her in front of him as a shield. It was Marcel and the bloodlust in his eyes told me he was capable of killing her if he felt threatened.

My gun was aimed at his head, my eyes glowing yellow as the fighting around us simmered down and Marcel chuckled dangerously low. “Marcel!”

His head snapped towards mine as his claws dug into Shae’s neck, rivulets of blood already making their way downwards. “Wynter Grey, the slayer of dragons and hunter of vampires.”

“You forgot to say something about the wolves and fae I’ve killed.”

“I’m surprised you had the balls to come here, running away from Mintia like you did. You’re a coward, Grey, and I’ll relish in killing you!”

“You can have me, Marcel, but you’ll need to let her go.”

“She was just a means to get you here. The prophecy was just that, a little game to mess with everyone’s heads.”

I looked Marcel in the eye, keeping his attention focused on me. “I don’t care about some prophecy. You’re men came after my son and that’s something I won’t forgive.”

“I’ll send your head to your father to burn.” Marcel laughed again as he moved closer to me.

I felt the gun at the back of my head and dropped mine on the ground as Marcel reached me and pushed Shae to the ground. “How do you plan on getting out of here alive, vampire?”

“Move slowly backwards, back into the house. One wrong move and I’ll blow this whole place up.” I nodded my head and moved slowly backwards, the gun never leaving my head. Inside the living room Marcel clamped the laced cuffs around my wrists and then he opened a wooden trapdoor under a rug and pushed me down.

I relayed a message in my head to Ryder, telling them all to get out before Marcel really blew up the whole place. He wasn’t lying, he was too confident in the way he had said it. We were in a dark tunnel and I was pushed forward with the gun prodding my back.

We rounded the corner and a steel door was pulled closed behind us as lights flickered overhead and I heard the distinct humming of a fan somewhere. The earth on top of us shook and Marcel laughed again. Ryder and Shae’s bonds were still intact and I knew without a doubt that somehow he’d gotten them out.

Stories from my childhood flashed before my eyes, stories Ryder had told me about this underground bunker where he’d found Felix. He’d never gone into much detail only that the layout was strategic and that surviving there for an indefinite period of time was possible.

I was pushed into a cell and the door clanged shut and locked. It was very basic in that it had a cot, a toilet and a basin, all bolted down to the floor. There was no pillow and no blanket, just the steel base and I sat down, stretching my legs out in front of me and leaning back against the wall.

I tried reaching out to Abeloth and even Chusi through Echo, but I came up blank. The bond was still there so I knew they were alive but something down here was blocking any connection I tried to make. I hoped that Ryder would return to Mexico and try to gather intel from there.

The compound was built over the tunnels so Ryder might not know where we were but he’d know that this time I was still alive. I knew he wouldn’t stop looking for me, until our bond snapped at least. I sat quietly, preserving my energy for what was to come.

A few hours later the cell door opened with a loud creak and I opened my eyes. Marcel stood with four other vampires, all packing semi-automatic rifles aimed at me. I hadn’t realized what a big threat I was to them and stood up.

“It’s time for some entertainment.” Marcel chuckled as I walked towards the open door and two vampires fell in behind me, the rifles at my back.

I followed them down two winding corridors and into an open area with bolted down tables and chairs, all filled with vampires, watching me with interest. I was being led to my own slaughter and for one insane moment, I made peace with that fact.

I didn’t want to die but we all had our allotted time here. I had fulfilled my destiny, I’d loved deeply, seen the birth of my daughter and found a son. I’d saved our kind from tyranny and I blinked my eyes as I thought of Luciana. Her face was replaced by my family and then I thought of Alexis.

I willed myself not to be mad at her, hard as it was, but I didn’t succeed. I would’ve done things differently if I’d known about Hunter. I would’ve gone to look for her after I left Mintia with Riley, I would’ve been a father to him but she never gave me that choice.

“Vampires of my coven, I bring before you the man I promised. The man solely responsible for destroying our future and today you’ll witness his torture and demise!”

Cheers erupted from the vampires that filled the open area as I was chained to the wall. My shirt was ripped off and my legs were fastened with cuffs and chains as well. I stood perfectly still as they jeered lewd comments and laughed at me.

“The great Wynter Grey chained to my wall like a toy.”

“Really? This is your big reveal?” Marcel glared at me as I placed a mask of bored indifference on my face.

“You don’t even know do you?”

“I guess you’re going to tell me whether I care or not.”

“I shared a deep bond with Gustav de Haviland. We had a plan too, a good one. We’d orchestrate the killing of Florin and Nicu, leaving Gustav as the only living heir to take the throne. After he took the throne he’d back my claim on my own throne, marching off to war against my little brother.”

“So you’re pouting because I killed Gustav?”

The punch landed on my ribcage and I heard the bones break but I didn’t even flinch. Nothing registered on my face. “You killed my only opportunity to gain back what is rightfully mine!” Spittle flew from his mouth as he screamed out his frustration.

“Besides the fact that you killed the woman I loved.”

“Which one? I’ve killed plenty.” That comment earned me another punch, this time to my jaw and my head snapped to the side with the force of it. Blood pooled in my mouth and I spat it out.

“Maya de Haviland. I would’ve spared her life and made her my chosen mate, instead you pranced in there and ruined years of planning!”

I started to laugh then because things couldn’t have gotten any weirder. “She sucked my dick every single day and couldn’t get enough of it. She loved it, she swallowed as much of me as she could like the little whore she was.”

His punches rained down on my face and I felt myself lose consciousness but held on to one fact that kept me awake. His anger overshadowed everything else in him and I used that to my advantage. Maya was his weak spot but if I wasn’t careful his weak spot would cost me my life.

I willed myself to stay awake as they stabbed me and at one point branded me with a hot iron poker, sticking it inside my ribs with relish. The torture did nothing to add to their pleasure because I didn’t scream once, my wounds healed and frustrated them just more.

“Why isn’t he dying?”

I listened in to their conversation, their minds baffled that I healed after being stabbed with knives laced in dragon venom and the fact that nothing registered on my face just irked them all more. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes as I focused all of Echo’s strength in me. I knew it was only a matter of time before they put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger.

I strained against the restraints around my wrists, the steel cutting into my flesh but I didn’t stop. Marcel turned to look at me with humour in his eyes. They widened when the first link snapped and the five vampires closest to me took a step backwards, disbelief flashing through their eyes.

I pulled with all my might and when the chains finally snapped against the restraints of my wrists, blood was pouring freely from my wounds. I grabbed Marcel by the throat just as a ruckus came from behind and gunshots rang out around us.

He blinked and gasped as my clawed hand went into his chest and he looked down, blood dribbling down his chin as I pulled his heart out and let him fall to the floor. Dead bodies lay all around me and I went down to one knee.

“Wynter!”

I looked up into Ryder’s eyes, a rifle slung on his back and blood spattered across his face as he gripped my hand and pulled me up and into a hug.

“Dad … you came for me.”

“Always, Wynter, always.”