Chapter 49
Rafe
No matter what I did, Damian seemed to know two steps ahead. He had his men in a thick formation around himself.
“Is that what this is?” I laughed mechanically. “You start a war and then you’re too afraid to finish it?”
He was about to answer when a commotion behind me had us all pausing. Trees fell down in the wake of a little child. Except that little child wasn’t just a human. She wasn’t even considered that much of a child. She was Valentina. Her eyes were lit with anger and revenge. They practically glowed in the storm raging around us. Damian actually looked frightened too.
“Is a child going to bring you to justice?” It was my turn to grin. “A child that you have stolen everything from it appears by the look on her face.”
Damian’s men shifted. They were now afraid of this little witch. This could work in my favor. Except it never came about. Jade came barreling in behind Valentina but behind Damian came another foe no one had expected.
“Damian Crimson, you are under arrest.” A man in a black suit said from the trees. There were a few others with him but no one I recognized. There was a scent that was familiar though. “It seems like your crimes are very high.”
Damian had the audacity to laugh. “Oh? Who is going to arrest me? You have very few men to be making such accusations while I’m in the middle of something entirely bigger than you.”
The smell hit me then.Vampires. I took a step back. This wasn’t something I wanted to get in the middle of but I did want to make sure he was tried for all of his crimes.
The man in the suit came out of the shadows. His eyes were molten red and his long blond hair was well past his waist. “Damian,” he sighed. “I am the last creature you want to mess with. But if you should know- and I’m only informing the pack here- I am Ambrogio.” I could hear the slight Italian accent then. The highest vampire lord. I had heard stories of him. Based on the way the color left Damian’s face, he had too.
I bowed my head in respect and acknowledgment. “What has brought the highest vampire lord here to my humble Pack Lands?”
“Damian Crimson has been experimenting on not only my kind, but also many other supernatural races. This is the highest offense to my race. I see your Pack Law hasn’t gotten a whiff of this yet, which is fine. I will take my prisoner and be on my way.”
“Yes, but how did you know he was here?”
“Because of me,” A familiar man in a matching suit exited the shadows next.
Ambrogio smiled. “I didn’t want to give away my human friend unless he wanted to be known.” The highest vampire lord bowed his head and backed up.
“Father?” Jade shouted across the space between us. It all clicked into place then. No wonder his scent was familiar.
Mr. Rivers bowed his head. “Yes, I brought them here. I have spent my entire life knowing the highest members of the supernatural communities. It was probably what drew me to this little town in the middle of nowhere, besides the fact that my daughter got accepted to the college here.”
Jade stumbled up the hill through the rain and the mud. Her mouth was agape as she struggled but somehow, through all her shock she got to my side. “Dad?”
“Hello, Jade.”
Ambrogio grinned from the shadows. His canines on full display. They were much longer than the wolves. “The beautiful Jade Rivers, it is so nice to see you again.”
Her brows creased in the center. “Mr. Ambrogio. You haven’t aged a day. But I guess this explains it all.”
Jade’s father looked uncomfortable but also extremely confident. “Call off your men, Damian. We have over two hundred vampires waiting around the perimeter here. You will all die a very violent and painful death.OrAmbrogio here loves to have a few snacks handy all times day or night.”
Damian paled further. Jade simply watched the exchange with horror and appreciation. “I have so many questions.”
Mr. Rivers’s lips curled into a little smile. “Later. We have much to discuss later.”
The men surrounding Damian dispersed quickly. Ambrogio grabbed Damian around the neck with ease as he looked at the rogue wolves. “You are free from your binds and your duties. Whatever he has against you has been resolved. All children have been freed and all families have been liberated. You must choose a new pack, though you will need to find a way to make it up to the community you tried to destroy. Think about how you will redeem yourselves. This will not be an easy road for any of you.”
“No!” Valentina screamed down the hill. The rain had stopped and her hair fell in thick clumps around her face. She marched with her fists thrown down with each step. “I will not accept this! He will die! He will die at my hands.”
Ambrogio took Damian by his neck and hauled him away. Mr. Rivers knelt in the mud and came face to face with the little demon. “I know you would like your revenge. I would love to get revenge against those that have wronged me. But alas, it doesn’t always happen the way it should. You are a strong girl, Valentina Charles. You always have been. We have been watching you and your mother for some time now. You would have made her proud today.” He brushed a tear away from the child’s cheek. “Supernatural prisons are unlike anything you ever want to experience. I promise you he will suffer there for a very long time. He will not get out of this easily.”
Valentina’s face softened but I could see it in the way her shoulders were set that she wasn’t content with that answer. Someday she would probably hunt the man that had taken everything from her.
He looked at me next. “Thank you for taking care of my daughter all this time and thank you for the window replacements. There was a role I had to play and forgetful dad is a big part of that.”
He straightened up, dusted off his suit, and kissed his daughter’s temple. “We will talk soon.”
Then they were gone and everything hit us full force. The bodies were littered and scattered around the Pack Lands. There were more than I thought there would be. I raked my fingers through my hair and grief hit me square in the chest. How many of our men had fallen? How many were waiting for their final resting place?
I was surveying the damages with Knox when Archer came staggering from the woods. Blood was splattered across his face and his clothes were torn but that wasn’t what held my attention. It was the man thrown over his shoulder. The man that was quiet but powerful. The man that had always worked behind the scenes for me. He had his own impact on this family, in this pack. A branch the size of Mav’s arm was protruding from his back and I knew immediately what Archer was going to say when we made it to him. I scrambled over the bodies and the muck to get to my two brothers. Sadness washed over me as my fingers searched for a pulse. A pulse I knew wouldn’t be there but tried to find anyway. My shoulders shook as a sob wracked through my body.My brother. Jade’s touch on my arm was gentle but I barely felt it. All I could feel was pain and sorrow. Losing my father was the only kind of pain that could compare to this. But when Tracey carried Granny from the woods next, my entire world felt like it had been turned upside down. All I hoped was that Damian got everything he deserved in the prison he would spend eternity in.
