“Lana,” my name suddenly reaches my ears. I blink and realize we’re standing next to Ares’ motorcycle, and Ares is staring into my eyes.
“Augustus is an evil man,” I say, my brain suddenly snapping into hyperdrive. “He’s taking people, ignorant, innocent people, and he’s selling them to vampires! And, and he has to be making a lot of money off of it because otherwise, why would he do something so risky? He makes so much money with everything else. Ares, I?—”
But words fail me suddenly.
I can’t process it all.
“What Augustus is doing is unforgivable,” Ares says, locking eyes with me. “Taking humans like this, the kidnapping, the trafficking, there is no good explanation. I will end him for this.”
Those six words instantly still everything in me. I stand a little straighter. Ares suddenly comes into focus. I feel the cool of the night air.
Augustus is a bad man. In this country, bad men go to prison.
But you can’t send a vampire into a prison.
When he gets hungry enough, it would turn into the worst kind of horror movie.
There will be no prison time for Augustus for his crimes. Only death.
“I will end Augustus, Lana,” Ares vows, his hands on my arms. He stares deep into my core, into my very soul. “But first, I have to find the record. We need to know how many people and where they went. And then we have to serve justice.”
It hits me what he means. Ares has vowed to take out all those vampires who purchased a human to feed off of.
Ares has had a mission for a few months now. Something that drove him, gave him purpose. Find out what Augustus was doing, why he was renting mediocre venues when he owned dozens of upscale ones.
As of tonight, Ares has accomplished his mission.
And now he has a new one.
Find the record.
Take out Augustus.
Take out the buyers.
I can already feel my world shifting. The trajectory of our lives has just altered dramatically.
“Okay,” I say, my throat feeling rough and tight. “But take me home tonight. I… I don’t feel… I need a few minutes to process.”
“Of course,” Ares says. He cups a hand to my cheek, concern laced through his gaze. He leans forward, pressing his lips to mine briefly. He then grabs my helmet and gently secures it for me. Finally, he climbs on the bike and rips it to life. I slip on behind him and hold on for dear life because suddenly it seems like my own is spiraling into chaos.
Chapter 18
Isleep fitfully that night. Maybe it’s because Ares tucked me into bed, locked all the doors, double checked the security cameras, loaded the gun he’d given me when we first met, placing it on the nightstand, and then left to go searching for the records. Maybe it’s the fact that I know my best friend has been sold to a vampire. But I sleep some of the worst sleep of my life.
When the sun rises in the morning, Ares has not returned. I check my phone to find a message from him letting me know he is still searching and that he thinks he will be out all day.
I feel numb as I climb out of bed. I kind of feel like my head is in a fog. Maybe this is my brain’s way of protecting itself. The human mind can only take so much.
So, I shut it off. I head into our home gym. I run on the treadmill until my legs nearly buckle beneath me. I hit the weights and max myself out to where I can barely wipe my hair from my face. Which is a mistake. I have classes to teachtonight. But I don’t care. I need to do something, and this is something I can do right now.
The chef shows up just after I finish punishing my body. She makes me the most amazing lunch I’ve ever had and then prepares a dozen or so meals to be put in the fridge for later. As she wraps up, I head into the shower for a quick rinse off before I need to leave for work.
I brush my hair back into a slicked back pony and change into my preferred workout clothes. I text Billings that I need to head to work in a few minutes. He immediately replies that he will be outside in just a minute.
I’m heading into work,I text Ares.Anything yet?
His response comes through almost immediately.Not yet. I’ve gone through his main office, but I know he has other places he keeps work stuff. I’ve got a few more places in mind to look.
