Hunter looked at Soren, who ultimately let out an angry exhale. “Sera and Valeria have gone through the pictures Hunter took. The symbols are archaic and require more research.”
Hunter interrupted him then. “And we were right, whoever kidnapped her used her blood to write all over the walls. Soren and I went back there, and our best guess is they kept her there at least three days, but as a vampire, you have a wider experience with blood. Soren couldn’t pick up any particular scent, nothing they left behind helped us to identify them. Soren thinks there were two of them, but we can’t confirm that.”
Hunter continued. “The place is isolated, it’s difficult to control who’s coming and going. However, there’s a farmhouse a mile down the road, and the owners told me they’ve seen a car driving up and down lately, which they said is unusual.”
That bit of information clarified things for Finn. “It’s not vampires then. Vampires would rather run through the land undetected than raise anyone’s suspicions. Maybe they used a car, but they’d never use the same one enough times to be noticed.”
Soren nodded. At least on that they were on the same page. “If they were vampires, they were well hidden.”
“So, we’re back at square one. We need Violet to remember what happened or the girls need to decipher the symbols on those walls.”
Hunter put his hands in his pockets. “That I’ll leave to you guys, but there’s one thing that worries me more than anything else.”
Both Soren and Finn turned to him, and with the dark look on his face, it had to be pretty bad.
“I’m wondering why they let her go. No way she could’ve escaped with those shackles, especially weakened and powerless as she was. So, if their goal wasn’t to kill her, what was the real end game?”
As he returned to the house, Hunter’s words repeated themselves in an endless litany in his mind. Finn, along with the others, had focused on finding the monsters, but it was the human cop who’d pointed out the most troubling point.
Unless they found whoever had kidnapped Violet, the witch was the only one that knew what had happened.
He closed the door and locked it, hating the fact nobody knew where the threat was coming from, or if a mere lock could even stop it.
Before heading to the kitchen to find something they could eat, he took a detour to the living room and stopped in his tracks, his body going eerily still. Violet wasn’t lying on the couch anymore, and panic hit him for a split second until he heard the shower.
Another reason being on constant high alert was a problem, it made him trigger happy.
As his adrenaline dissipated, another and more interesting thought invaded his mind—Violet was naked in the shower.
What happened earlier had been unexpected, and Finn didn’t know what had caused Violet to drop her inhibitions in front of the fire. He wasn’t certain what it meant, apart from the fact that he craved her again, the taste of her kiss still vivid in his mind.
His feet led the way, and Finn had turned the knob to open the door even before his brain had a chance to shout otherwise.
Violet’s breathtaking form stood in the corner shower stall with her back to him. He admired her even through the fogged glass. Her striking red hair looked like an arrow pointing to her enticing, heart-shaped ass.
It was no surprise when all his blood rushed to his cock at lightning speed. For a long time, he’d curbed his attraction, but now he’d opened a door he didn’t know if he was willing to close again.
Finn was walking toward the witch before he realized it, his mouth watering at her heady scent enhanced with steam.
The only thing that held him back from tearing at his clothes and plastering her against the tiled wall and pushing his cock inside her warm body was the delicate balance they both were juggling. She had initiated their earlier encounter—she was tired and scared, and it could’ve been a one-off event. With his previous lovers, often, the fog of lust dissipated in the light of dawn, and people revealed vastly different faces and intentions the morning after.
In the middle of his internal debate, the water stopped, and Violet stepped out of the shower stall, reaching for a towel. He should’ve made a speedy escape, but something caught his eyes.
Violet jumped at seeing him, partly retreating into the shower to hide. Finn knew she was yelling at him for invading her privacy, but that didn’t stop him from advancing on her.
Even with all her beauty on display, sex wasn’t on his mind when he grabbed her arm and forced her out.
“What the hell is wrong with you, damn vampire?”
“That’s a question I should be asking you. What is that?”
The witch followed where he was pointing and frowned, her anger stopped short. Low on her left hip was a black mark, like a drop of paint. She touched it and started to rub. “Must be something I touched.”
Keeping a firm hand on her, Finn took a knee to look closer. “It’s not ink. And it wasn’t there earlier.”
Violet twisted away, but he kept looking at the mark. He traced a finger over it and didn’t detect any difference in texture or scent, something that would’ve confirmed a stain.
“Are you sure you just didn’t notice it earlier?”
Her tone was laced with sarcasm, but he was secretly happy to see the trail of goosebumps his fingers were leaving on her skin and looked up, making sure she saw deep into his eyes and the gleam of his fangs. “I remember every inch of you, every texture, your taste, and the moans that escaped your lips depending on where I placed my hands, my lips, or my cock. If that mark had been there, I would remember it.”
“How do I know
