Bad Mouth(40)

“I think she was succumbing to the vesania.”

She snorted. “Well that explains a lot.”

More tight silence passed while they swayed with the van’s movement. Graham had to have been desperate for something in order to stoop as low as he had. She’d known him for years and never suspected he’d be capable of what he’d done.

“I didn’t think it’d be a big deal if she had the records,” he said. “What good would they do her? What harm would it do us? It didn’t seem like much of a payment.”

She glared her displeasure at him. “I’d rather not listen to you justify your actions.”

“Val—”

“Just tell me why, Graham. Why would you transform? That’s what I don’t get.”

“I told you. I did it for you.”

“You knew how I felt about vampires.”

“And I saw how you looked at Rollins,” he snapped. “For years, nothing I did caught your attention, and all it took was an Immortalis—”

“Don’t you dare blame me for your mistakes. It’s not his immortality that I love, Graham.” She stood, fighting a wave of fury so sharp she had to leave before she physically assaulted him.

When she headed toward the cab’s window, he called after her. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t tell me it was about love because I know now what love looks like. Nothing you did was about me. It was all about you.”

He shook his head helplessly. “I don’t know how to fix this.”

“You can’t change anything now, and I’m not sure it matters anymore.” Her shoulders drooped. The pain on his face was almost too much to bear.

“If Will had waited just a little longer, none of this would be happening. I never thought I’d say this, but I hope they kill him when he gets out of the cellar.”

“Where is he?” Her hand froze on the barred cab window.

“They were punishing him and buried him in the cellar two nights ago.”

“Graham, he could be free by now. He could be loose in the house!” She pounded on the cab until one of the officers slid the window open. “Go back. We need to get back to the mansion now.”

They slowed the van and swung back around without questioning her. The roads were winding out here, and it took too long in her mind to get back to where they’d started, every minute stretching her patience toward a breaking point. She tried Kade’s cell several times, but the weak signal refused to connect her calls. When they finally arrived, she jumped down from the van and ran full-speed toward the mansion. She hadn’t quite reached the door when she heard that dreadfully familiar enraged shriek.





Chapter Thirty


Ezra was making a disaster zone of the Ancients’ files, but Kade didn’t give a shit. The Ancients were dead, and there were plenty of subjugates to clean the mess. He only wished for the night to end. He wanted to crawl in a hole somewhere and mourn privately. His friend must have sensed his despair because, for once, Ezra said nothing, not one inflaming remark. If Val didn’t contact him soon with information, he’d call off the search for the night, track her down, and drag her into his hole with him.

She loved him. His mind reeled at that euphoric knowledge. In all the centuries he’d existed, he’d never been loved. His soul sizzled with new life, firing each synapse. He’d absorb her into his spirit if he could. He’d never regret the absence of the sun another day of his miserable life because he had her to light him up. But for how long? Dammit, he couldn’t think about that now. He had too many other problems to deal with.

He needed to find Will so the VLO could wrap up their blooding cases, and there was still the question of the throne to deal with. He was too young to take over the Dominorum, and therefore the Immortalis as a whole. No way in hell he’d leave the vampire nation open to chaos, which would happen with a headless Dominorum.

Dammit, Olen, why’d you have to go and off yourself? But he knew the answer. His father might have been obligated to execute Evangeline, but no vampire could live on without his lifelong mate. Olen had known what he was passing off to Kade when the man gave up his blood, had known it would bring him death. A Rex was forbidden to give of his own blood other than to his mate, not even to create another Dominus. Not even to save the life of his only son, a son he’d said he was proud of.

The memory of Olen’s praise burned and eased his mind at the same time. Why had Olen never told him this? His father had left him in fetid isolation, an island in a perpetual typhoon surrounded by a sea of evil and lies. The man deserved to be dead, but justice didn’t relieve Kade’s grief. Funny how he didn’t hold the same grief for Evangeline.

Clearly, she had never been his mother. It had been Annette. All those centuries ago, Olen had impregnated Annette the old-fashioned way. Suddenly much of Evangeline’s behavior toward Kade all his life made sense. He hoped wherever Annette was, she knew his gratitude for all she’d sacrificed and for all her love.

“Find anything?” Ezra asked. Kade snapped back to his purpose. He’d been standing at the window gazing over the tops of the Douglas firs encircling the mansion.

“Nope. I doubt anything’s here,” he said. “Evangeline wouldn’t have wanted Olen to find any sign of her treachery.”

He’d sent Luc and Guns home. Ian and Declan were pumping the Dominorum Enforcers for information, but he predicted they wouldn’t have any luck. The Enforcers were all useless dipshits, a bunch of royal meat puppets. He’d make the overhaul of that organization the first matter on his agenda, modeling them after the Legion Trackers.

“Know what you’re going to do yet?”

Kade laughed. “Hell no, but I’ll figure something out.” He glanced out at the darkness again. “Dawn’s not far off. Enjoy what’s left of the night. We’ll pick up tomorrow evening. Guns and Luc can search during the day.”

“I’m sure you’ll enjoy your night.” Ezra waggled his brows. Kade gave him a shove. “And I thought such a night might never come. You’ve chosen well, brother. She’ll make a fair and perfect queen.” With that, Ezra opened the windows wide and leaped two stories to the ground outside. A moment later, he was gone. His friend made flashing look easy. Show-off.

Kade closed the windows and left the office. The click of the door shutting was like a death knell. He’d never step foot in that office again. He’d never step foot in this mansion again. He might even have it burned and leveled to the ground. Nothing good had ever come from here.

He started down the hallway when a shriek vibrated along the cold stone walls. That could only be the wail of one of the deranged. With the wolfish grin of the battle-hardened, he jogged toward the stairway landing when he heard a woman’s scream. Val!

He barreled to the foyer and found two subjugates on the floor, one with her throat torn to a single fleshy strand and the other with his abdomen ripped open. Against the wall, Val slumped to the ground with Will standing over her. Kade’s vision went blindingly red.

He lunged into Will, taking the vampire to the ground. The deranged was fast, the man’s bestial reflexes far advanced for a new vampire. Will rolled to his feet. Mud and blood splatter coated his ragged clothes. He smelled like a corpse. Will’s hands came up, curling like talons with the fingernails missing. Wherever the man had been, he’d had to claw his way out, which would make him a dangerous adversary.

The deranged came at Kade hard and fast, but lacked finesse. Kade dodged and responded with a vicious blow that sent him sprawling. Will jumped to his feet, shrieked, and charged again, but Kade met him head-on. The vampire’s fangs bit through Kade’s shoulder, tearing muscle and tendon. The pain wasn’t new to Kade, nothing compared with the pain of seeing Val lying limp on the floor, possibly near death or worse.

With a desperation he’d never known, Kade threw himself full-bore into transformational change and countered Will’s attack. The deranged couldn’t fully change and posed no match for Kade in this state. His fangs at full-length, Kade sank them deep into the young vampire’s throat, pulling back as he’d done a thousand times with his subjugates. A gurgle bubbled from the deranged’s foul lips, and then the man sagged against him. He bit down repeatedly, only releasing when he was certain Will was dead. With a swipe of his sleeve across his mouth, he dropped the dead weight and changed back to his more human appearance.

He rushed to Val with his heart in his throat. She was pale. So f*cking pale. He scanned her body but saw no wounds, only bloody handprints on her sleeves, but she wasn’t moving, and he couldn’t see her pulse. Panic seized him in a vise. His eternal winter flashed through his head, a vision of a future more hollow than any void. No fae eyes to gaze into at sunset. No lilacs in the desert of his life. No angry punches when he’d pushed too far. No vases flung at his chest.