Page 118 of Scorned
Winnie was by my side in a flash, taking it from my hand. “What the fuck! They have a million dollar bounty on Sage.”
The next portfolio in the pile was mine. It had the same categories, and went into great detail about every tattoo I had. Just like Sage’s, my bounty was a hefty million.
I panicked, thumbing through the rest quickly.
The next three had unknown names and were Ravage, Winnie, and Lynx. Then Carmen’s had a name attached. Each of their profiles only had descriptions of them and semi blurry pictures taken from video footage inside and outside of VRC. A half a million in bounties on each, dead or alive.
The profiles with names and pictures attached were all the ex-Venom members. Lyric, Erik, Marcus, Zeke, Jimmy, Nellie, and Randi were less wanted criminals with bounties reaching two-hundred fifty thousand each, dead or alive.
“Why the hell am I worth more than you?” Winnie asked, his brows tightened. “You’re a damn ex-member.”
Jimmy’s shoulders rose and fell. “I’m assuming because you’re a vampire. Other than Sage, all the humans have a low bounty.”
“Winnie, call Lyric and tell her and Sage to get back here, then call Lynx and tell her and Carmen the same. Jimmy, you go find those two other Venom girls and bring them to the fire pit.” I hopped from my seat and headed toward the door. “I’ll get Ravage and the others.”
“What are we doing?” Jimmy asked, his fear so thick, I could almost smell it.
“Family meeting time.”
The bonfire crackled and roared, its flames dancing high into the night sky. All eyes were on me, filled with curiosity and anticipation.
“We received something important tonight that requires serious attention.” I held the papers in my hands, fiddling with them. “Now, don’t freak out when I tell you this but . . . Venom has bounties on most of our heads.”
Gasps and incoherent words echoed from every direction.
“How many of us?” a young woman asked, her tone low.
My brows knitted together. “Who are you?”
“Oh, I’m Randi,” she said with a warm smile.
“You’re on their list.” I approached her, extending the paper with her information and she took it with a large gasp. My gaze flicked to the other woman I didn’t know. “And I’m assuming you’re Nellie.” She nodded and I handed her paper over. “And so are you.”
Patiently, I went from person to person, delivering the papers to their rightful recipients, until I reached the last two. Mine and Sage’s.
She nodded knowingly. “Just give me it.”
With shaky hands, I reluctantly handed it over.
“They have a million dollar bounty on my head!” she screeched, her mouth stretched wide in a horrified expression.
Winnie snickered. “Mine’s only half of that.”
“All the vamps who went on the mission are half a million. The only ones less than that are the ex-Venom members.”
“Mine’s only a quarter of a million,” Nellie said, shaking her head in disbelief. “I’m not sure if I should be happy or sad.”
“How the fuck am I the most wanted? They must really hate me,” Sage pondered aloud, her words tinged with a touch of insecurity.
“You can’t be everyone’s cup of tea, darling, not when you reside in a well-aged barrel of whiskey,” Ravage stated, holding up his glass and winking.
A hard sigh left Sage, then her eyes met mine. “Wait, what does yours say?” She yanked it from my hands. “Fuck, they want us both more than anyone.”
“That seems to be the case, Princess.”
Small sobs left Nellie, bringing my eyes to her. “How can they do this? If they hadn’t gotten a bunch of us slaughtered, we wouldn’t have left.”
Sage laughed, her expression amused. “They couldn’t care less about any of us. They wouldn’t have led you to a slaughter if they did.”
