“You alright?” she asks again.
“No,” I say as I turn from her and disappear into the night.
When I step into the VRC, the entire room goes silent. It’s not surprising when I’m currently one of the most wanted men after the whole council bullshit. Like the council hadn’t unjustly arrested me and held me for information while they were over there slaughtering their own. They shouldn’t be so killable if they didn’t want me to kill those who went after me.
“E-Ender!” the irritating human says in surprise when he sees me. “Hey, buddy! It’s okay, everyone. Ender and I arepals.”
There’s so much emphasis on that word, it’s like he thinks the harder he emphasizes it, the better chance everyone has of making it out of this alive.
Before Finn can even get close to me, his vampire partner slides in front of him. The man is taller than me and does a decent job of looking menacing, but I’ve bested him in every one-on-one fight we’ve ever been in. He doesn’t worry me, and he’s not the person I need or want.
I push him out of the way and go for Finn, but when I do, Marcus snatches my wrist and half of the damn vampires wraparound Finn like some protective bubble. It’s quite irritating when I just want to talk to him.
“What are you doing here?” Marcus asks. “Are you asking to get arrested?”
I turn to face him, eyes narrowed as I fixate on the man I’d love to smack down. But I’m also positive that if I begin smacking people down, no one will help me.
“Just calm down, everyone please calm down,” Marcus’s brother, Claude, says.
“Calm down? I’m not fucking calming down. This asshole tried to kill you,” the man with a Russian accent snarls as he joins Marcus. Rylee has informed me that this “second scary vampire” is called Alexei. He has no intention of allowing me to get any closer to Finn than Marcus does, and is also trying to keep me far away from Claude.
Obviously, it was an absolutely foolish idea to even waste my time coming here.
“Fuck this,” I snap as I head toward the door. “I don’t have time for this.”
“Guys, please. Just one second,” Finn says to the others before he slides in front of me so I can’t leave. “Something had to have happened to Rylee since there’s absolutely no other reason you’d have come here. What happened to her?”
I stare at the human for a moment before deciding he really is the only help I’ll get. And when it comes to Rylee, I’m willing to do anything it takes to get her back to me safely.
“Rylee’s missing. She left the apartment while I was out. When I came back, she was gone. Some vampires seem to have chased her under a bridge before grabbing her and putting her in a vehicle, based on what I scented. It was likely that fucking council and if it was, I’m going to destroy them.”
Finn shakes his head while looking thoughtful. “The council is in shambles. There’s barely anyone left in it. I’m not surethey’d stage some attack at this point, right?” he asks. “Marcus, you just came from a meeting with them literally minutes ago. Was everyone accounted for?”
“Yes, as well as some new faces. People they’ve pulled in from international councils to help figure out what’s happening and what should happen going forward,” Marcus says. He acts like someone is slowly ripping his fingers off as he talks, it seems to be paining him so much. Honestly, I can’t help but enjoy it a little bit.
“If they took her…” I hesitate, feeling like I shouldn’t verbally explain what I would do to them if they did. Honestly, if they took her from me again, I’m very prepared to dispose of them. I would shred them into the smallest of pieces and ship their heads to the rest of the council members as a warning to stay away from Rylee.
I think it’s a beautiful plan, and even if others think it’s a bit morbid, it would surely get the point across.
Finn puts a hand on my arm, causing me to warily look down at it. Is it his robot arm, as Rylee likes to call it? Does he plan to crush my bones with it or something? I can’t think of any other reason he’d be reaching out to me.
He gives it a gentle squeeze, confusing me even more. “We’ll find Rylee. We can go now. The faster we work, the better. Where is the last location you scented her?”
I look up from his hand as I comprehend that he’s willing to work with me. So I quickly tell him her last known location before leaving the department with the plan of meeting them there. There’s no way I’m taking a slow car when I can run.
When the others finally pull up, I’ve extensively looked over the area, but I’m at a loss for what to do. If they really believe it wasn’t the council, then who would have done it? The council could have been meeting Marcus as a show while sending someone else out to collect Rylee.
Honestly, they’re not going to be of any use at all?—
“Alexei, could you show Ender what you found?” Finn asks.
“I refuse to speak to him,” Alexei snarls. Rylee told me he was scary, but honestly, I just think he’s pissed. “I fear that if I spoke to him, I would merely tear his head off.”
“You could try to tear it off,” I growl.
“That is not an appropriate response for someone trying to help you, Ender. Imagine if Alexei tried killing Rylee? How would you feel about him?” Finn asks. “Claude nearly died. Icouldhave died because of you. Because of what you did. You cannot evenactpissy with him, understood?”
I stare at them, not quite sure what they want me to say. There’s not anything I can say that will fix any of my former actions. “I did not trust any of you,” I say, knowing I had good reasons not to.
