Page 66 of Anger

“What are you thinking?”

“The camera feeds turned off. But I can’t sense her. She’s still there. Simon wouldn’t have killed them. He wanted the world to know he was right. He’s running. I bet anything Alainen has just raised his ugly head and has her, which means we are fast running out of time,” Mac replied.

“The Legends are chasing the van now. They’re fifteen minutes behind,” Ranson said.

“That’s fifteen minutes we are wasting. I think she’s in a warehouse. Which one? I don’t know, but let’s head there, and we’re on hand in case I’m right,” Mac replied. He needed to do something. It had been two days of watching Lanie suffer.

“If you’re sure,” Ranson responded.

“Hell no, I couldn’t be less certain, but I can’t sit here any longer. Lanie and my kids are out there. I got to find them,” Mac replied.

Mac knew Ranson could hear the agony in his voice, and Ranson nodded.

“Come on, Cuz, let’s get your family,” Ranson said.

Vladimir/Vampire

As fast as the van was travelling, it couldn’t out speed the Legends. They were on it as soon as Ranson had called it in. Mary planned to use the van’s wing mirrors to move the Legends, and they could see the sweaty human driving it. Fear rolled off him in waves. It was Simon Clare, and he was clearly fleeing something.

“I’ll go first,” Vladimir said, shifting into Vampire.

Mary opened the portal, and Vampire flowed through it. He landed in the seat next to Simon.

Simon jumped and stared as the van swerved out of control.

Vampire wrenched it to a stop, overturning it down a grass verge and grunted as he landed on top of the human.

Vampire dragged him out of the smashed front window and shook Simon hard.

“He’s pissed himself,” Swamp Creature hissed, appearing.

“Oh God. Monsters are real!” Simon squealed.

“Where is the woman you kidnapped?” Vampire demanded, shaking Simon.

“I knew she was one of you!” Simon howled. “I won’t tell. You’ll have to kill me!”

“Rip his head open, I’ll eat his brain and discover where she is,” Frankenstein roared.

Simon passed out in fear.

“The great hero!” Dullahan sneered. “I’d not even shown him my party trick yet.” The head under his arm caught alight, and flames danced around it. Sighing, Dullahan put it out.

“Can you read his mind?” Frankenstein asked.

“Yeah. It’s foul and a cesspit, and he has an inflated opinion of himself. He’s not certain Lanie is Lamia because she wouldn’t shift. But he really wanted to cut her open. He was going to get off on that. Here, I have it, send this to Mac immediately,” Vampire ordered, reeling off the address.

“What do we do with him?” Swamp Creature asked.

“We’re going to leave him alive and send a message,” Vampire said with a grin.

Frankenstein frowned. “Is that wise?”

“Yes. Lanie needs to die. She will die at his hands. In his head, she’ll go hideous and in pain. He’ll have sliced Lanie open and ripped her human babies from her, which killed her. Simon will be convinced that Lanie was Lamia until the autopsy is done. That’ll prove she’s human. Slowly, doubts will creep in and drive him crazy as he realises he was brainwashed willingly by Alainen.

“Before he goes totally insane, Simon will tell everyone all he knows about the Hunters. He’ll liken them to a cult and name names. He will spill everything he has on them, and they’ll become famous for murdering Lanie. The Hunters will become the hunted. Then and only then shall Simon succumb to insanity for killing an innocent woman,” Vampire said.

“Oh, that is bad. That’s bloody genius,” Frankenstein replied with a smirk. “A healthy dose of Fear will help.”

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