Bleu smiled darkly. “May the best elf win.”
He teleported. Loren followed him, appearing outside the Archangel facility. Bleu stood a short distance away across the wide square in front of the tall curved glass building.
Loren looked up at the towering height of it and then at his surroundings. There were other buildings similar to it nearby, and smaller buildings beyond them in a mixture of styles. Many of the lights in the buildings were still on, but others were off, speaking of the late hour. The square was empty too, not a single human moving around.
The city hummed around him, a thousand noises blended together, from vehicles, to electricity wires, to humans socialising. He could hear it all but couldn’t discern anything from the jumbled sounds.
A gated park stood beyond a road, the Archangel building facing straight onto it. Tall trees swayed in the darkness on a gentle breeze and animals moved around in the safety of the night, free to roam without fear of humans.
Loren felt drawn to the green swath of land tucked amongst the tall harsh glass, steel and concrete buildings. A small slice of paradise amongst so much cold soulless architecture. Did Olivia visit the park? Did she enjoy nature and the feel of sunshine on her skin?
He had caught her look of fascination when he had announced that he had taken her from her world to his. She had wanted to see beyond his walls and take in the beauty of his kingdom. It was a small slice of paradise amongst so much fiery black unforgiving terrain. Vail had seen to that. It had been his ingenious idea, but together they had made it real, bringing light into Hell and allowing their barren land to bear seed and grow green and beautiful.
Vail.
Loren stared at the trees. Vail had been here. He had brought him to this place, unconscious and weakened, leaving him in this very square for Olivia. He had known she was Loren’s fated female and had planned for Loren to bond them. Both Loren and Olivia had played their parts to perfection, doing exactly as Vail had expected, giving him a chance to have his revenge.
His brother wanted him to suffer as he had, bearing the pain felt by his ki’ara, and he couldn’t allow that. He wouldn’t allow it.
He would find a way to protect Olivia from his brother’s sadistic game.
“Come. It has been many years since you’ve hunted in this world. Let me reintroduce you to the fun of slaying vampires.” Bleu beckoned him and Loren shook his dark thoughts away and crossed the square to him.
Bleu led the way, no doubt tracking Sable’s scent to discover her hunting route.
“We should not kill him immediately.” Loren palmed the hilt of his sword and stretched his senses out to monitor his surroundings, unwilling to give a vampire any chance to sneak up on them. They were wily creatures, bent on killing, and often preferred to track their prey from the shadows before swiftly attacking, using speed to their advantage.
“You desire to toy with him?” Bleu glanced over his shoulder at him and Loren shook his head. He wasn’t interested in playing with the vampire.
“I desire to speak with him.” Loren scanned the lower brick buildings around them. Cars passed along a road ahead, little more than blurs of white and red lights. He had seen reports on everything of importance in the modern world, although sometimes those reports were lacking to a certain degree. For example, he had not known about computers and their importance in modern mortal society. When he had time, he would speak with those in charge of keeping him informed and would request they do a better job. It was imperative that he keep up to date on things, in case situations like this arose and he had to venture out into this realm.
“Then we kill him?” Darkness tainted Bleu’s voice. Elves never had liked vampires, but vampires were related to them whether they liked it or not, born of elf blood and darkness. His second in command would do well to remember that, if only to guide him on his path through life and stop him from becoming a shadow of that creature.
“If we can get him to talk, then perhaps we could gain access to the demons and fae who live in this world. We could infiltrate the social places they have in this city and question people there about recent activity in the area.”
Bleu looked back at him again, his dark eyebrows knitted together. “You mean to track your brother using this vampire?”
“I do.” He wanted to question the local fae about Vail and whether they had seen him. Most fae travelled between this world and Hell, and many would know of his brother.
The mad elf prince.
Bleu nodded. “A good plan. I like it.”
He stopped at the end of the road where it joined the busy four-lane affair that had cars whizzing along it and sniffed the air. People moved around on this street and those that passed eyed them with curiosity.