Wrath

Two vans from the safe house waited for us in an underground garage near the target location with Amadis vampires as their drivers. As soon as the bikes were parked and we dismounted, one of the vamps handed us some silver spikes.

“Once they state their desire to convert, and you get them near the vehicle, they’ll need to be staked,” Charlotte said, and the blood drained from my head. “It’s the only way to get them safely back so we have more time to work with them.”

My stomach clenched. I couldn’t help but be reminded of plunging my dagger into Sonya’s heart to keep her knocked out while Tristan drove us to the Captiva safe house the first time we tried to convert her. That had been way worse than cutting the stone out of her. Blood had spattered over my face and all over the backseat of Tristan’s truck. But it had effectively kept her out for the rest of the drive and up until we removed the dagger from her heart once we were ready to begin the conversion. We’d have to do the same thing over and over again today. Ugh. Maybe this would be a real distraction.

“Tristan, you stay with Alexis, and Vanessa, you stay near me,” Charlotte ordered. “Sheree and Jax, you two keep watch between here and there, and be ready to morph if necessary. A shield will attract that mage coven four blocks over, but if I do need to throw one up, Blossom, I need you ready to hold it. You come in with us so you can watch and learn. You might need to jump in. If so, just follow orders.”

The witch nodded her understanding. Although Mom and Char had worked with her on the Island, this could be her first real attempt. Nothing like trial by fire—that’s how I had learned, first with Sheree and then with Sonya and Vanessa.

The two vamps from the safe house would stay by the vans, keeping watch on this end. My mind would be kept busy as I tried to stay connected to each of the guards while we did our thing.

A few minutes later, Tristan, Vanessa, Blossom, and I followed Charlotte around the corner and into an alley that ran through the middle of the block. We were surrounded by apartment buildings, most of them rundown and empty. Char shook two fingers in the air, signaling a second floor apartment in the first building to our right. I directed my mind up to it and found a dozen mind signatures. They all felt Norman . . . almost. They were still going through the transformation, and their signatures came faintly, almost dead, but with a hint of vampire lacing through them. If we accomplished this before dusk, not only would they be weak from the sun, but also from the transition. Once night fell, however, their transition would be basically complete, and they’d wake up all kinds of pissed off. And thirsty. Very thirsty.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t simply sweep them away unconscious so they woke up at the safe house. They had to want to keep the goodness still inside them. So we crept upstairs and into the apartment, finding them all out cold, scattered on the living room floor. Charlotte and Vanessa grabbed a woman and Tristan and I grabbed a man, and we carried them outside before forcing them awake. These first two were easy—they were boyfriend and girlfriend and attacked without warning. They still had so much love for each other, making their decisions easy. After I checked with Sheree and Jax that the coast remained clear, we took them to the vans where they sat and waited. They didn’t even have to be staked.

The next two weren’t quite as easy, but not difficult either. Charlotte and I had to talk to them for a while, Blossom listening closely, as we tried to explain what had happened to them and what their choices were. Eventually—finally—they agreed to come with us, but as we came closer to the vans, one started freaking out, which caused the other to flip out, too. Tristan plunged a stake into our vamp’s heart, but Vanessa hesitated over hers. Before the newborn could get away and alert the Daemoni of our presence, Charlotte staked her with the silver.

“Sorry,” Vanessa whispered. “I remembered what it felt like.”

This excuse of hers tumbled around my mind as we rushed back to the apartment. Was that compassion she felt? Or remorse for herself? I tried not to worry about it as we pulled the next two out.

And then things went bad. In a hurry.

Chapter 13

Charlotte’s guy started screaming like a woman giving birth as soon as he roused from his slumber and saw us, which woke my guy up fully. Mine had a small build for a man, so he’d nearly completed the transformation. Which meant he was thirsty. He dove for my neck without hesitation.

“Stop!” I ordered as I pushed him off and he tried to fight me.

He didn’t stop. His hands flew out in front of him and grasped onto my shoulders, and he yanked me towards his face, his fangs out. I kneed him in the stomach and shoved him off of me for the second time. He tried to dive for me again, but Tristan paralyzed him.

Char’s newborn saw this and started screaming again. Then he sprang upwards. Whether he knew what would happen or not, we’d never know, but his new force flew him to the top of the building. He barely landed on the edge and tumbled off. Not knowing any better, he only screamed as he plummeted to the ground and landed with a loud crack on his back. When he discovered he hadn’t died, he sprang to his feet and ran off yelling in a panic. Char and Vanessa ran after him.

“It . . . it worked?” the new vamp in front of me asked after witnessing the circus-like scene. His eyes widened and filled with malice as he answered his own question. “It really worked! We’re vampires!”

“You wanted this?” I asked, my stomach sinking.

“Hell yeah! Who wouldn’t?” He tried to move against Tristan’s power but was unable to. His eyes narrowed as he glared at my husband. “What the hell are you doing to me? I’m gonna fuck up your girl if you don’t stop.”

Tristan simply rolled his eyes.

“Shut up and listen to me,” I said. “Did you really want this? Do you understand what it means?”

“I’ve been wanting something like this since I was a kid—a chance to get back at all those bullies. They’ll never see it coming. I’m not exactly, well, him.” He nodded up at Tristan’s imposing figure. “But now it doesn’t matter.”

I tried to talk him out of it, tried to convince him that what he had to give up for his revenge wasn’t worth the time he’d give those bullies, but the idiot refused to listen. We went round and round, but he’d made up his mind long ago, as soon as he thought vampires might truly exist. And he became more and more irate as the pain of the thirst filled his eyes.

“We can’t force him,” Charlotte said, appearing by my side. “Let’s move on. We don’t have much more time. That dumbass out there will be bringing their creators down on us any minute.”

“Good! You all deserve to fucking die, keeping me like this, and I can’t wait for it,” the guy in front of me said. His tongue darted out and swiped over his lips. “I bet you taste good, sweetheart.” His gaze slid down to my hips. “Can’t wait to bite into that thigh—oof.”

The guy’s head swung back, smacking against the brick building. Tristan’s fist had darted out so fast, none of us had seen it coming.

“Guess we’ll have to take care of you first,” the newborn snarled as he glared at Tristan.

Tristan chuckled, and then he leaned over, his face only inches from the vampire’s. His voice came out in a low growl. “You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into. Don’t think for a minute that you’re truly at the top of the food chain now.”

Uncertainty flashed in the vamp’s eyes, but only briefly before the orbs hardened into marbles. I scanned his mind to make sure he didn’t want to come with us. He really didn’t know anything about this world he’d become a part of, but he believed wholeheartedly the lies he’d been told. I shook my head at Charlotte.

Maybe eventually when he realizes the truth, I told her, but not now.

“Hold him here, Tristan,” she said, “for as long as we can get.”

“Glad to.” Tristan lifted the side of his mouth in a smirk. The new vampire hissed, but could do nothing else.

After checking the area again and finding no new mind signatures, Char and I went in for another pair, but they woke up before we managed to drag them out of the room. They broke free and took off. The others began