Surrendering(93)

No. He could not tell his closest friend, his brother, of his unique ability and now he was glad for that. It would make his surprise all the sweeter when he figured it out for himself. For how could a lone vampire slaughter an entire village? It wasn’t possible. But…oh it was.

His plan to make his traitorous brother watch his family be slaughtered had been thwarted. Xavier waited for hours…until close to dawn. Finally he couldn’t wait any more. It wasn’t quite according to plan, but at least when Devon returned from whatever whore he was buried balls deep in, he’d discover his family, dead. He knew Devon well enough that guilt would suffocate him for the rest of his life. And for now, that would have to do.

The agony on Devon’s face as he stood outside his—their—burning cottage was incomparable. This revenge was enough for now, but Devon’s punishment was far from over.

Xavier’s sinister smile grew. “It’s time, brother,” he mumbled, readying himself for tonight’s battle.





Chapter 59





Dev





Ren was displeased with him, but he couldn’t give two shits. This was personal and he wasn’t going to stay back like some pussy while everyone else had all the fun killing a bunch of rogue vamps. And Xavier.

Fuck that.

He was a Vampire Lord, one of the strongest vampires in the world. Besides, his unique skill of making illusions seem real was going to be critical to their success and Ren knew it. Dev appreciated his concern, but it was misplaced. While he was torn between wanting to stay to protect Kate or fight, he knew this was the place he was most needed.

So Ren was pissed at him and in turn, the women of his household were incensed with him as well. Giselle was fuming because she’d been tasked with the assignment of staying back to keep Kate safe. And Kate was furious because she said she didn’t need a ‘goddamn babysitter’. Yeah…he was their least favorite male at the moment.

While Kate’s skills had improved quite a bit over the last couple of weeks, she was still far from her full vampire powers and she needed protection 24/7. Elle didn’t need more reasons to resent Kate, but Dev simply could not leave her without protection. Who was he kidding? She would always have protection. So when he couldn’t be around to protect her, he’d already decided that person was going to be Elle, but he’d spring that on them later.

Much, much later.

Right now there were roughly thirty vamps on the outskirts of the rundown Washington Island property, all indications leading them to believe Xavier was here. Most were Devon’s men, but several of Damian’s and Rom’s most experienced fighters were here to help.

And he was very concerned. Because of the shrouding none of them, except Manny, should have been able to see a thing but fields. However, each and every one of them could see the faded, single-story, broken down white shack in front of them and the rusted, weatherworn windmill in the background. The house was so small that it looked more like an outhouse than something that a human would occupy. Let alone a hoard of rogues. Something was very wrong and they needed to proceed with even more caution.

On Dev’s command, the vampires surrounded the shack, weapons drawn, with Ren and Dev taking the lead to enter the premises first. For now, four men were to remain outside of the house, unless they needed them.

Empty, as suspected. They walked through the small structure, quickly finding a stairwell leading down. Flashing into unknown territory was dangerous, so they agreed to use that only as a last resort.

They quietly made their way down the rickety wood stairwell, only to enter what appeared to be a spider infested, dirt-floored basement, complete with rotted wooden shelves lined in canned goods. Every one of them could feel the unease in the air, likely another trick of the witch to deter vagrants from the property. It only reinforced to him they were in the right place.

He looked around the small space. Not a door in sight.

But Dev knew better. The door was simply hidden. He gave a single nod in Ren’s direction.

Ren closed his eyes, releasing his unique power. He could sense any living vampire or human being within a half-mile radius and pinpoint their exact location. That was one of the reasons he was Dev’s personal bodyguard. He was better than any electronic motion detector.

“The door is behind the shelves, my lord. There are ten humans in single rooms directly to the right. There are eight more directly to the left. Those are probably the women. There is a large cluster of vampires, roughly fifteen or so, in a single room at the end of the right side hallway. There are several more humans one level below, some in individual rooms, some in a cluster in a single room, as well as another fifty or so vampires.”