Chapter Seventy-nine

Bram sighed, “Jen, you’re up. Maybe bring Rose in with you, but I need you to go get Iz, she’s panicking in the bathroom now. Take the phone from her. I need her not to give too much information to anyone. There’s a traitor in our mist, we can’t be too careful right now. Get the safe house address and then hang up. Sarah, grab Gavin’s phone and bring it over to me please. I think it was near the hand you’re laying by, Gabe.”

Half sitting up, Gabe searched for the phone. Bram could tell by the blush on his face that it was uncomfortable for him to be searching a possibly dead, naked man. Looking down, Bram worried. Gavin wasn’t getting any better. Though the wounds were slowly healing, he didn’t know if that meant it was too late though. His body was reacting to Bram’s blood, but despite how much he was draining into him, Gavin’s color wasn’t getting any better, and his heart still wasn’t beating. At least with Gavin he didn’t have to worry about the fact that his body wasn’t breathing. For a full blood, it wasn’t a necessity to keep their brain alive an active. Just the heart. He worried his lip between his teeth. Was there anything else he could do?

“Ah!” Gabe held the phone up triumphantly.

“Great, Sarah, take the phone into the hall and see if you can find Tyler in the contacts. Once you find him, let me know.” Gabe climbed back under the covers, “Guys, can you try rubbing his hands? See if you can get the blood circulating through his arms.”

“Uh, daddy?”

“Yes, princess?” Bram said, biting into his other wrist, he had to be careful not to lose too much blood on his own.

“I… I can’t find him. He has a lot of weird contacts in here. What’s an ‘F’ boy? Or a collar boy? This one says BDSM.”

“Oh… um. Okay, stop reading those. It’s always the quiet ones that are the biggest freaks, I really hope I get the chance to give you a hard time about this later. No wonder Tyler has the hots for you.” Bram brushed the hair off his face, pushing the blood down his arm, letting it trickle into Gavin's mouth. It wasn’t coming as freely anymore, and he could feel himself starting to get woozy. He would have to stop soon. “Hit the call button…” He read off Tyler’s number. Hoping he was remembering the most current number. Though he didn’t make an effort to memorize numbers anymore. “Turn the screen down as far as you can, hit call, and bring the phone over here.”

***

“You’re kidding, right?” Millie asked dubiously.

“Should I not be scared? I find myself thrown into all this and I’m starting to get worried. Gavin’s dying, Tyler’s kidnapped and the kids and I are being hunted. You’re a human living in this world, how have you done it?” Izabella’s voice was thick with emotion, as she wiped at her tears.

The door to the bathroom opened and someone walked in, Izabella turned the phone light on her. When she saw it was Jen, Rose trailing behind her, Izabella finally started to pull herself together. “Gavin’s dying and they have Tyler? What the hell is happening? I’ve never seen them go after anyone with such vengeance! Are you still a virgin? He hasn’t turned you yet then?”

“Was he planning on it?” She hiccupped nervously.

“Izzy,” Jen said, kneeling next to her, she put her hands gently on her knee. Rose wrapped her arms around her waist, hugging her close, “give me the phone please?” Izabella hugged it to her chest for a moment, before letting it go.

“He needs to!” She heard Millie on the other line, “You’ll only be in danger if they think he plans on letting you stay human. If you’re really his mate—”

“I need the address, Millie.” Jen said sternly into the phone. “We need to get out of here and somewhere safe. What’s the address?”

“Who is this now?”

“Listen, that’s enough. No more questions. We need the information and the feeds. The longer we wait, the closer we get to losing Gavin. Do you really want to be party to him dying?” Jen snorted into the phone. Izabella stared down at the girl. She was very serious. Izabella pulled her constitution together and tried to reign in her feelings.

Millie gasped on the other end, mumbled something that Izabella could barely hear, then read off an address which Jen jot down onto a piece of paper using the light from the phone. “Thank you, Millie. Bram will be in touch when it’s safe.” The phone clicked off.

“I’m so sorry, Jen.” Izabella started sobbing again.

“It’s okay, Izzy. It’s been a long day, and we’re all scared. Come on, lets get out of here.” She pulled Izzy up into her arms, walking her out of the bathroom, Rose toddling after. “We’re done, Bram. We have the address.” She said, but he didn’t respond. He was glaring at the phone that Sarah was holding up for him, though there was no glow emanating from it, they could hear a man’s voice on the other line.

“Those are our demands. If you want to see this guy alive again, we expect that you’ll adhere to them within the next five days. We’re not heartless enough to not allow you the time to say goodbye, but we won’t allow this kind of folly from you. Five days. And you can stop trying to revive him. He spent hours crawling through that apartment to get to his phone with that hole in his heart. We ensured that he wouldn’t be able to be revived. You’re wasting your own precious blood right now. You might want to be careful, or you’ll find yourself in bigger trouble.” There was a harsh laugh on the phone, before it clicked off.

Bram stood, “Let’s go everyone. It’s not safe here anymore.” Bram wrapped Gavin tightly in the blanket and looked over at Gabe. “Can you carry Gavin out?”

“I can try.” Gabe nodded, throwing his shirt back on. Taking Gavin from Bram, he swayed under the weight a little, and though Bram looked at him with worry for a moment, he clearly didn’t believe it was better to carry him on his own. Izabella grabbed Rose and ushered the children out behind Bram and Gabe. He stared at the elevator.

“We’re only on the fourth floor, I think it would be best to take the stairs.” He turned, looking at the children. “I’ll take Gavin down them, but you stay close and be ready to grab him if I throw him at you, understand?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Wait.” Jen stepped forward. “They don’t know all of us, right? I could run down and make sure there’s no one waiting? If I see anyone around, I’ll text you from the lobby once I get down there.”

“No way—” Gabe started, but Bram put his hand up, narrowing his eyes at her.

“If they know about you, you would be taking a huge risk.” He sighed. He didn’t want to put her in danger, but knowing what they were about to face, especially in the condition he was in at the moment could be invaluable. He was beyond donar status, and already knew it would effect him negatively if they did come up against any rivals.

“I understand. But, they took Tyler. If they know me well enough to know I’m yours, they won’t do what they did before, right?” Jen wrung her hands and Izabella grabbed her them, holding her tight.

“Please, lets just stay together. If they get anyone else, they’ll just run you ragged until you can’t continue. We need to stay together. It’s the best way to protect everyone. Isn’t, Bram?”

Bram nodded, opening the door to the stairwell. “Izabella’s right. They’re going to want to separate us. It’s the best way to pull me in too many directions. If I start making mistakes, that’s when they’ll have me. If that happens, not a single one of you will be safe.” His brow pulled down as he looked at the stairs ominously. Listening for anything noise. The right assassins wouldn’t make any anyway.

“Maybe the elevator is best?” She asked.

“No.” He shook his head. He wasn’t going to explain to her that a vampire could easily jump down, sever those cords, and from four stories, none of his family, nor Gavin-considering the state he was in-would survive. He also couldn’t explain that right now, there were three people he needed to protect more than the others. The only person who could possibly understand that sentiment was currently passed out in his arms. Or Tyler. He should never have let Tyler leave to come back to the city alone. He knew better. But with them both having found their mates, and finally being able to get somewhere where they could both be happy, they’d been foolish.

What the hell were the chances that they would both find their lovers in the same week, after hundreds of years? They’d both gone freaking mad in the head. Mate or not though, Tyler was still his dearest and most loyal friend. He had to find him. And he had to save his mate, their mates. “Devon.” Bram said, taking a deep breath. “Stay close to Izabella. Do not let her go. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand, father.” Devon nodded, returning the glare his father had on. Izabella was holding Rose, so rather than grabbing her hand, he positioned himself right behind her. His hand went into his pocket. “I will go wherever mom goes.” Bram’s eyes narrowed for a moment. He didn’t like where they were at right now, but he was so damn proud. “That’s a promise.”