Chapter 46

Leo’s favorite bar was my first visit on my trek of making Warren pay. I had decided that he should lose money before losing his life. I wanted him to know that I was coming for him.

When I walked into the dark bar and pulled up a seat, the bartender handed me a drink with a sad look on his face but no words. I gave him a nod of thanks and let him go to other customers while I drank and surveyed who I was trapping inside.

I picked out the humans and told them mentally to leave while I compelled the bouncers at the door not to let anyone else leave. No one seemed confused until their food was completely gone and someone found me drinking from a newborn vampire.

Fire sprang up along the exterior walls and ate its way inward. I have no idea how I controlled the fire the way I did but I was happy with the results. When I finally left, the building was beginning to fall in on itself and firefighters had their hoses filling the space with water.

Full and feeling the buzz of so much power coursing through me, I stumbled back to Leo’s house and into the shower. The water ran in black swirls of soot and ash but pride welled inside me. I was excited to be in trouble when Warren found out I burnt down one of his bars.

Kris woke me the next morning, asking if I had left the house the night before. I wiggled deeper into the blankets to disguise my guilt and remained silent. When he gave up, he told me that Leo’s favorite bar was gone and left me to my solitude.

I went to another bar that Warren owned that night. I had only planned to burn that one but it felt too good to stop so I moved on to a second and a third before going back to Leo’s house. I cried that night but it was less from grief and more from the fact that I could feel other emotions again.

I went out again the following night though I should have let things calm down. The only places left to hit were the market, Warren’s house, or one of the two remaining clubs including Nyctophilia. Security had been increased and Kris knew what I was planning to do as soon as he saw me sitting in a corner booth alone with a full bottle of Jameson.

He slid into the booth opposite of me, wordlessly pouring himself a drink into the glass he had brought with him.

“What are you doing, Raven?” he asked calmly after finishing his glass.

I took a drink straight from the bottle and stared at him silently.

“It was you, wasn’t it? You burnt down those clubs.”

I took another drink without showing any emotion, though it thrilled me to be caught. The thought of getting away with another even though he knew, made me want to laugh out loud but I had my cards held close to my chest and he wouldn’t see my excitement.

“What’s the point of burning bars? You’re only hurting innocent people.”

He waited but I didn’t speak so he stole the bottle from me to take a drink from it and set it in the center of the table.

“Two can play that game, Raven. In fact, I think I’ll stick around and drink with you tonight since you’re not going to tell me to go away.”

He was going to stop me from burning the place down. There was an open threat in his tone of voice and I didn’t like it but I wasn’t going to let him know. I just figured that I could wait him out.

We finished the bottle and another after that before he walked me home. I didn’t speak to him and he didn’t feel the need to fill the silence. Content that I was going to bed, he left me alone to sleep but he was there when I woke up, he was there watching me again, waiting for me to try something so that he could force me to stop and lock me up for killing people. I didn’t give him that satisfaction.

Our silent dance lasted for a week before I re-evaluated my plan of action. He wasn’t going to let me out of his sight until he was convinced I wasn’t going to kill again.

He brought me coffee with blood in the mornings to coax me out of bed but that day I was already busy in the living room. He let himself in and found me making stacks of Leo’s things. A pile to keep, a pile to toss, and a pile to donate.

“I’m going to make a call to get you some boxes. I’ll be just outside. Do you need anything else?”

I shook my head and went back to sorting books.

When he came back, he started sorting through the donate pile, making his own small set aside of what he wanted. By noon, we had the living room and kitchen packed up and I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue. I knew that I had to do it for my plan to work but I didn’t like facing all the things that Leo would never touch again.
Kris had some guys put the donation boxes in the back of a truck that afternoon while I hid in the bedroom, wrapped in blankets and Leo’s smell.

Kris knocked on the door before letting himself in. He knew I wasn’t going to answer. My phone was vibrating obnoxiously on the nightstand but I ignored it, looking up at Kris. In his hand he had a folded piece of paper.

“You haven’t read his letter yet.”

I shook my head.

“I think you should read it. He wanted to make sure you got it. He made me swear on my blood that you would get it when you were ready.”

My phone fell silent and I swallowed, considering speaking but not sure where to start.

“Will you go back to Warren’s after we clean up here?”

I bit my lip. My emotions were threatening to make me expose my plan.

“...I…” my voice was foreign and strangled, barely making it past my lips. “I don’t want to go there.”

Kris smiled and sat on the edge of the bed, handing me the piece of paper. I held it to my chest and looked over at my phone as it began another round of buzzing.

“He won’t stop. He probably wants you at Nyctophilia tonight.”

I shook my head.

“Don’t worry. I’ll cover for you. You’ve had a long enough day. I’m going to let you have your space tonight. I’m trusting you not to burn anything else.”

I nodded and pulled the blankets closer to me. I wasn’t going anywhere. Not when I still had work to do and emotions to handle.

“It’s okay to grieve, Raven. We’re not trying to make you forget him. We just want you to stop hiding from us.”

I thought about apologizing but I didn’t know what I was apologizing for so I just looked at the bed and stayed silent.

“Get some sleep, I’ll be back in the morning with coffee and more boxes.”

I nodded and he left. I slid the piece of paper under my phone and let myself fall asleep, soaking in what I knew would be my last night with Leo’s smell.
I woke up early the next morning and began my preparations.for my plan. I bought several plane tickets to several destinations all leaving at about the same time from Heathrow Airport and packed my wardrobe into a duffle along with some things of Leo’s that I couldn’t part with. With those out of the way, I continued with the boxes and didn’t worry when Kris didn’t show up. It gave me time to keep my plan in motion.

Warren called me as I knew he would and I answered to his surprise. He needed a show of force from me. He practically begged for me to come to Nyctophilia and I accepted. My last parade would be one to remember.

I dressed myself in black leggings and a loose fitting red blouse with Leo’s leather jacket over top and boots that rose to my mid-calf on bottom. I was dressed for comfort and ease of movement unlike the body-hugging dresses that Warren liked me to wear. His opinion was of little consequence to me now. If I was going to end it, I would end it wearing what I wanted.

I wrote Kris an apology note and to let him know what he should do with Leo’s things. I couldn’t take them with me and I would hate to leave his house closed up for eternity.

I tucked the apology note into one of the outer pockets of the leather jacket before turning my attention to the note Leo had left me. I still couldn’t bring myself to read it but leaving it behind felt like leaving behind half of my heart. With one quick movement, made without a thought, the note was snatched off the nightstand and tucked inside the jacket near my heart.

Duffle in hand, I folded myself into a cab and headed to Nyctophilia for the last time. I asked the cab driver to wait for me, promising to pay him for his time and he agreed to wait. So I went up to the front doors of the club, heading straight for Kyle; my favorite bouncer.

“Will you do me a favor?” I asked him.

“Of course, Raven. What do you need?”

I handed him the note for Kris and the keys to Leo’s house. “Can you make sure Kris gets these when he arrives. I may leave before he gets here tonight.”
He nodded his understanding and agreement and in return I gave him a tiny smile before heading up to the lounge.

Warren was entertaining a member of parliament that night. His face was somewhat familiar but I didn’t stay there long enough to remember his name or exact position. I went straight to Warren and towered over him in his chair with murder in my eyes waiting for him to acknowledge me and my threat.

“Raven, darling, what are you doing?” he mumbled nervously.

“Stay,” I commanded in a growl as soon as he met my eyes.

I turned, knowing that having compelled Warren, he wasn’t going anywhere. The parliament member was looking at me, eyes wide in fear, muscles tense ready for fight or flight to finally kick in. I smiled the most wicked smile I could muster and locked our eyes.

“You’re going to stay right there and be my witness. You will not leave that spot until I allow it.”

“But I…” he began to protest but I shushed him with a finger to my lips and the other hand taking Warren’s collar in my fist.

“Not now. Be quiet while the adults speak.”

Then back to Warren.

“Raven, if Leo fed you, this isn’t your fault. We can make an arrangement…” Warren tried quickly, his fear of me oozing to the surface of his now sweaty brow.

“You will not speak his name, you murdering bastard. You complete and total idiot. Are you even aware of how many times Orin, the leader of Russian vampires and your best pal, has compelled you to do exactly what he wants? Why haven’t you ordered his execution? You probably have no idea what you let him do to me because of your weak pathetic mind. This whole time I called you father, but you are nothing to me.”

“Raven, I love you like my own flesh and…”

I laughed before he could finish.”If that was true, if you even cared about me, you wouldn’t have me parading in front of your business partners, like the little fuck sitting behind me. After hundreds of nights at your disposal, I’m done playing your puppet and I’m taking your empire from you.”

“Raven, we can fix this…” he sputtered. “I’ll give you more control. I’ll give you whatever you want, sweetheart.”

I took him by the throat with my right hand; left hand still holding his collar. “Your time for bargaining left when you killed the one person who mattered to me. He was never a threat to you or your cowardice. He let you kill him instead of fighting your stupidity and you thought it was a triumph. Things are going to change. From now on, the rules will be different. It’s just too bad you won’t get to see what happens.”

In one quick jerk, I broke his neck. Letting go of his collar and taking his head in both hands with a boot to hold his midsection to the chair, I yanked his head from his body. The parliament member let out a horrified yelp as I placed the head of the deceased on a side table and started a fire in the lap of the rest of his body with a snap of my fingers.

Turning my back on the fire that I knew would go no further than the body, I moved to pull the parliament member from his seat by his shirt. I stood him up and fixed his shirt, brushing off the wrinkles while he trembled, wondering if he was to be my next victim.

“You are going to run out of here and straight to your car. I want you to spread the word to everyone you know who did business with Warren. Tell them that the rules are changing and that they have been warned. If there are any problems, this is what I will do to them. Understood?”

He nodded vehemently.

“Then get out of my sight.”

He tore out of the room as if he were being chased by wild dogs and I went to the bar to help myself to a drink before leaving. When I arrived at the door, Kyle looked at me curiously.

“What’d you do to the parliament guy? He took off like he saw a ghost.”

“You’ll want to call Kris if you haven’t already and make sure he’s on his way. Warren has a situation up in the lounge,” I replied heading to my still waiting cab.
Kyle had no idea what to do or say. He was still confused but he pulled out his phone obediently as I thanked the cab driver for waiting.

“Where to now, miss?” the driver wondered.

“Heathrow Airport, please.”