“No!” Cora yelled and fought against his arms. He restrained her, and I had to hold back every urge to tear him apart limb from limb. His disgusting, pasty ass hands needed to be off of her.
Melanie took a deep inward breath. “I’ll walk to your side. Willingly. But Cora and I meet halfway,” she declared. “That way it’s fair. You get me and they get her.”
The Master’s face managed to be speculative, yet somehow blank. “No tricks?” he asked.
“I would never do anything to put my cousin’s life in danger. She means too much to me.”
The girls shared a heartbreaking stare. I hated this for them. I detested that this prick was in control and we had to play by his rules.
“Is it a deal?” she asked.
There was no expression on his face as he thought this through, and then with a curl of his lip answered, “Deal.”
The agreement came almost too easily. I didn’t trust it.
The Master nodded his head to Veronica and watched as she approached the gate, unlatched it, and slowly swung it open. The three of them then retreated several feet to keep a good distance between our groups. In front of us was a narrow walkway, but it was enough for us to charge through and fight them. I just had to play it smart.
Melanie stood there for a moment and collected herself. Her gloved hands were stretched at her side, working out the tension and nerves in her body before she took the first step. Once she did, I immediately felt Dana’s hand on my arm. “Max,” she said, her voice breaking. “How can you let her do this? This wasn’t supposed to happen…”
I wanted to calm her down and assure her we would handle this, but I had to keep my mouth shut. The more freaked out she was, the better. It meant the vampires would believe I had no intention of murdering each and every one of them.
Melanie approached the open gate, and Dana sniffled at my side the entire time. I felt for the girl. Seeing Melanie leave our group and inch her way to the vampires was tearing her apart, and I knew exactly how she felt. My heart was on the other side of that fence, too.
But we’d get them back. I wouldn’t leave this yard until I had them both.
The Master’s grip on Cora was still tight, but when Melanie stood at the entrance of the gate, she stopped moving completely and said, “Now let her go.” I could tell he didn’t trust this arrangement by the way his eyes narrowed and his expression soured. He didn’t strike me as stupid enough to trust us. It was more like he was testing us to see if we would stay true to our word. We would. For now.
He released Cora, and for a moment, she was confused. She had to be thinking what I was: this seemed too easy. Her hand rubbed her sore upper arm where he had had a grip on her, and then staggered her way through the snow toward us, constantly looking over her shoulder to see if they were following her. Master, Veronica, and Molly remained still, though Molly swayed back and forth like a caged animal. I kept my eye on her, because I knew she had it out for Cora. No agreement on our part or order on her master’s would stop her from fucking up the trade just to hurt Cora. It’s why she had to be dealt with. Even if we completed this exchange the way The Master wanted, Molly would hunt us for years to come. It’d never end.
I watched with a held breath as Cora continued her journey back to me. It was the most excruciating thirty seconds of my life, because I could do nothing but wait. Wait, and watch these goons like a hawk. Melanie crossed through the open gate so they would meet at the halfway point, and instantly my body tightened up, because they had the upper hand with both of them on their side of the gate.
Just as Cora and Melanie were within a few feet of each other, The Master dashed forward and put his hand on Cora’s shoulder to hold her in place. I moved forward to attack, but his nails dug into her skin. It was a threat. “Not so fast,” he warned. “I’m gonna need more of an offering on your part.”
My brow furrowed. “Excuse me?”
What more could this fucker want?
“Twenty-four hours ago, I had four vampires. Now, I’ll have three. Two, after the night is over…it appears as though I’m losing more than I’m gaining.”
“The fuck you’re not. You’re getting exactly what you came for.”
“I’m getting back what I already had, but without Tiffany. Your girls took her away from me. Permanently. I’ve been hearing a lot about making the trade fair, but from where I’m standing, that’s just not possible. Unless, of course, we go an eye for an eye.”
I knew exactly what that meant. “You’re not killing anybody else,” I seethed.
Melanie turned to The Master, and through tears said, “This isn’t what we talked about. We made an agreement. I’m doing what you wanted!”
“And you’re paying your debt with your sacrifice. Things between us will be settled, but just us.”
“But I’m the one that killed Tiffany! It was me! Take it out on me!”
“I am,” he said plainly. “And moving forward, your little group will know there are consequences for the obscene things that they do.” Like a malfunctioning robot, his head slowly turned away from Melanie and to us on the other side of the gate. “You took one of mine, so I’ll take one of yours. Who is it going to be?”
The muscles in my neck tightened. “We’re not playing this game,” I said.
“This
