Page 40 of Craving Darkness

“Well, hello there, boys. Don’t you know it isn’t polite to visit one’s home without an invitation?”

Standing there, like the coward I knew him to be, was the man who I should have killed almost three hundred years ago. My poor decision that day to leave him for dead instead had cost countless women their lives and dignity. I had a lot of things that haunted me on a daily basis, but allowing him to keep living was one I would rectify tonight.

“Raymond Hanover. You’ve been a very naughty boy.” Crispin sounded bored as he stood next to me, looking completely relaxed. I could see the signs of anger radiating from him, though, as he looked around at the group of young women. I, on the other hand, was visibly seething with rage. Kallista wasn’t in the room, which meant he’d hidden her somewhere else.

“Where’s my mate?” I growled through clenched teeth. I made to move forward, ready to grab the man by his disgusting throat, but he grabbed the nearest girl, yanking her in front of him as he produced a knife. A drop of blood appeared on her neck as he dug in the blade.

“Ah, the lovely Kallista Hargrove.” He made a show of looking around the room, then shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t see her here. Oh! That’s right!” He grinned, his sagging jowls wobbling with his movements. “She’s gone.”

“Where is she?” Ice had replaced the burning fury, and different reasons for her to be gone ran through my mind. I glanced down at my wrist, reassuring myself that she was still alive. “What did you do with her?” I demanded in a deadly tone that had several of the girls whimpering. I couldn’t take the time to worry about them, though. Someone would come and take care of them later. I needed to find Kallista now.

“Well, I suppose that depends on what the man I sold her to does with her. But me? I did nothing but house her for a few hours.”

I looked at Crispin, and he gave me a short nod. I returned his nod, then turned back to the monster. Without lifting my hand and without causing harm to anyone else in the room, I allowed my ability to seep out of me and into him.

It happened too quickly for my liking. He deserved to be tortured for hours, his pain drawn out as punishment for all the atrocities against women that he had committed over the centuries. Instead, I did what I was created to do. It may be quick, but it was going to be agonizing. It was the best I could do in the short amount of time that I had.

The woman screamed as she saw the boils growing on the arm that held her. It was her scream that had alerted him something wasn’t right. He looked down at the woman to tell her to shut up, but his words cut off abruptly when he saw his arm. As he stood there in shock, his arm loosened around the girl. She immediately shoved away from him and ran to the group of women, flinging herself into their arms.

He looked up at me with fear and anger blazing from his bloodshot eyes as a boil popped on his fleshy neck. I grimaced at the sight of him. I had to admit, it was pretty disgusting. “What did you do to me?” His voice was hoarse, and he seemed to get weaker by the second. He staggered to the side and tried to catch himself on the back of a chair, but his hand slipped. Fluid from the erupting boils was dripping down his arms and onto his hands, making them too slick to catch himself. He groaned as he fell to the floor.

I heard one of Crispin’s Sentinels enter the room right before he gagged. The vampire moaned on the floor as the boils began to form and pop at a much more rapid pace.

“Oh, man. That’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen.” The Sentinel gagged again.

Crispin stepped forward, walking toward the dying vampire. He turned his head to the women. “Look away.” Some of them did immediately, but a couple of them stared down at the man with hatred burning from their eyes.

Crispin lifted his sword and brought it down swiftly, slicing cleanly through Raymond Hanover’s neck and ending his reign of terror forever.

Chapter 27

Valen

Islammed my fist into the wall repeatedly, feeling the skin tear and repair itself with each strike. I needed the pain to make me feel anything other than hopelessness.

Crispin was pacing back and forth with his phone to his ear, speaking to someone on his team who was supposedly a tech genius. He had promised that if anyone could figure out who Kallista was, it would be him. I had no choice but to stand there, not even trying to fight back the despair that my mate could be lost to me forever.

One of his Sentinels came rushing in, his hand around the back of the neck of another of Hanover’s rejects. He looked terrified, his eyes darting around the room, looking for an escape. I snarled and stomped over towards him, ready to rip him apart with my bare hands, starting with his arms so I could make his torture last longer. The Sentinel raised his hand to stop me, making me turn my glare in his direction.

“Sorry, Valen, but you are going to want to hear what this guy has to say. I found him hiding in a closet upstairs. I didn’t even have to make any threats before he was spilling every secret the nest had.”

We all turned to look at the vampire, who was cowering pathetically. The Sentinel gave him a harsh shake, and the guy let out a whimper. “Tell him about the girl, now!”

“I-I wasn’t involved. I swear it! I just wanted a place to live, you know? I didn’t know it would be like this!” He turned to the Sentinel with tears and snot slipping down his face. “I just want to be human again.”

Crispin let out a sigh and told his caller to hold on while he stepped over to the young vampire. “Look, you’re a vampire now. There’s no going back. If you want me to end your existence, I can do that for you. But, you see that demon right there who looks ready to shred your flesh and eat your bones?” The guy darted a glance my way and paled dramatically. He looked back to Crispin, pleading with his eyes. “We need information on where your Master sent his mate off to. Do you know who bought her?”

The vampire swallowed and then nodded his head reluctantly. “If I tell you, will you kill me?”

Crispin frowned as he studied him. “Do you want me to kill you?”

“Y-yes,” he stuttered out.

“Fine, I will grant you that wish, but only if what you have to say is helpful. If it’s not, I will lock you in my dungeon and make you live the rest of your existence with only rats for sustenance. Do we have an understanding?”

His crying picked up in earnest, but at least he began to speak, even if I had to strain to understand him through his sobs. “The M-master sold her to some politician. Everyone was talking about it because this politician runs a big campaign on family values.” He swallowed, then chanced another glance my way as I took a step forward.

“Who was it?”

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