Bad Mouth(26)

“No,” Killian said. Her relief was so great Val sank onto a sofa, unable to keep her legs under her. “That was me.”

She stared at him in disbelief. He’d just admitted to involvement in the murder of a human. She glanced around at the others.

“Who were the humans with you?” But she suspected the answer.

“That would be me,” Guns said.

“And me,” Luc added.

She went light-headed, and the room spun for a moment. How could any of this be possible? “You’re peace officers. Why were you involved, and why didn’t you call it in?”

“Because we killed the victim.” Luc said it as if it were no big deal.

“And the other victim at Gas Works?”

“Same,” he said.

“I know you’re giving me answers, but it’s only generating more questions.” She threw up her hands. “Why would you do this?”

Kade finally turned away from the window. He looked drawn and pale, his eyes shadowed. “The Ancients will never understand this, Val. To them, it’s fine for vampires to harm humans, but when humans victimize a vampire, it will only end in war.”

“What do you mean by victimize a vampire?”

“These deranged are being created by enslaved vampires.” He stepped closer to her. “Did you notice the bloodings have dwindled over the past few weeks?”

She thought about the dates. “We haven’t discovered a known blooding in the past seven days, and they had been decreasing in frequency before that.”

“Nearly all of the deranged you’re searching for have been destroyed, Val. We took care of that.” He sat on the sofa across from her. “As well as the humans creating them.”

She frowned. “How can humans create them?”

He heaved a sigh. She startled at the movement—he was breathing. She bit her lip. She’d made his heart beat again, which sent a sweet bliss through her limbs she shouldn’t welcome. She caught Ezra’s knowing smirk and chose to ignore it.

“There’s a gang known to us as Slavers. This is how Ezra and I first met Guns.” Kade glanced at his teammate, who nodded in reply. “Gangs use anything to put money in their pockets, drug trafficking, theft, sex trade, and abductions—which is where Luc came into this.” Luc sent her a short wave. “Humans pay exorbitant amounts of money for transformation. Their desperation to turn is beyond reason. The Slavers saw a market and found a way to meet the demand. They enslave adjuvants and force them to perform transformations.”

She didn’t know that was possible. “How did you find out about this?”

“By chance. Adjuvants have an unspoken bond, innate, but unlike telepathy with other vampires.” He shrugged. “I went for a walk, passed by an old, empty building, and felt the pull of an adjuvant. It was distinct, and it was anguished. It takes a lot to make a vampire, an adjuvant at that, go against the Dominorum. What I discovered inside…” His eyes closed, and she knew he had to be thinking of his own suffering as a child.

“Kade freed the adjuvant and contacted me,” Ezra said. He sat next to Kade. “We brought in our trusted friends and began fighting back. Of course, this had to be kept secret for the reasons Kade already told you. No one could know. No one can know, human or vampire. Arresting the Slavers would bring it into the light. Do you understand the implications if this became public?”

She sat back in her seat. If Olen Rex and Evangeline found out about the Slavers, they’d go ballistic. They each had an explosive nature and weren’t the most rational beings. Historically, they had started and ended wars over much less.

Her eyes went to Kade. “I would have thought you wouldn’t mind putting humans in their place.”

Kade’s intense gaze held hers. “There are rifts among us.” He leaned forward in his seat, strain lining his features. “There are those who resent the restrictions the Rex has put on the Immortalis. They want the freedom to hunt and kill, freedom to transform whom they choose, freedom to feed from anyone they choose. Then there are those who are so young, they’re still closely attached to their humanity, those who will permit no harm to humans. And then there are those of us who know balance is the key to survival, who have been around long enough to see the results of gluttony, who know it’ll only lead to our own ruin.”

“And where do you fall?”

A ghost of a smile crossed his lips. “Where do you think I fall?”

She considered his brutal reputation and then considered what she knew to be true of him. Despite his deceit, she couldn’t see him as anything other than honorable. “You’re not a cold-blooded killer, Kade.”

A flicker of emotion came and went in his expression before she could identify it, and then he sank back into his seat with a single nod. “I’m not overjoyed with the bow and scrape the Ancients do with humans, but restrictions are necessary. There was a time we nearly wiped ourselves from the earth because of our greed. Some of us learned our lesson.”

She had to do something about the fake bloodings. The public believed the killers to be rogue vampires, and she had to maintain that perception. No humans or Immortalis could be connected to any of the bloodings. But the evidence was already documented. Whatever route she took, it would be illegal. What kind of person was she to cover up a murder, no matter the justification?

It looked like she had no choice, just as Kade hadn’t any choice but to act as he had. She understood why they hadn’t taken the Slavers to the authorities. He wasn’t only protecting the Immortalis, but humankind as well. This was a complete disaster, all the more problematic because of complex Immortalis politics.

“Our labs showed the victims weren’t bitten. Why make them look like bloodings?”

“Someone,” Kade shot a deadly look at Killian, “decided the body would be easier passed off as one of the blooding victims than a gang slaying.”

“And it was easier.” Killian returned the look. “If your sorry arse hadn’t found the only smart blond on the planet, no one would have known those two vics didn’t match the others.”

“No one? Right. I’d agree with you, Ian, but then we’d both be wrong. Could have at least bitten the bastards.” Kade rubbed the back of his neck. “There’s no use arguing. It’s done.”

She glanced at the wary faces around her as her distress mounted. She didn’t like being lied to. She didn’t like not knowing what to believe or what to do. “I don’t know how to proceed.”

Kade stepped over the coffee table and knelt in front of her, his hands cupping hers. “That’s all right, Val. We’ll figure something out.”

She melted inside all over again and wanted her lips on his so badly. Instead, she carefully pulled her hands from his. His expression shuttered, he stepped back and eased onto the couch across from her again.

He had repeatedly lied to her and he would do it again. He was honest now, but only because he’d been backed into a corner. He could so easily deceive and manipulate her when it suited his purpose. But he’d also revealed Immortalis secrets to her. He’d gotten Immortalis witnesses to truthfully answer her questions about the murders. He’d exposed all of his men’s identities knowing she could ruin him. There was nothing selfish in what he’d done.

She needed time to think, needed more information. Val stood and headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” Kade had asked the question, but all of the men had risen from their seats, their collective tension radiating nuclear force.

“I have some things to look into,” she said.

He jumped the couch and stalked toward her. Her heartbeat kicked up several notches despite the calm she tried to convey. Was he trying to intimidate her? No, a hint of alarm lurked in his eyes. “You think I’ll sit back and take your word for it? I have no reason to trust you.”

“No, you don’t, but trust this. You hold the fate of nations in your hand right now. Millions of people. Think long and hard before you make a move. You may hate vampires all you wish, and you may hate me all you wish, but this has more damning consequences than only for us. If the Ancients catch word of the Slavers, humans will have no chance. We’ll annihilate you.”

“You’ve never been able to before.”

He recoiled as if she’d slapped him. “This is what you want?”

She blinked. Of course she didn’t want things to go that direction. She’d pushed legislation opposing transformations, but never with the intent to cause a war. “No, I don’t. I only want space so I can think about this and what has to be done.”

“Well, think about this. How many transformations were approved sixty years ago? How many were approved last year? Look at your statistics and then tell me we don’t have the capability to turn humans into cattle.”