Page 29 of Oath of Blood and Joy

Angelo stole a side glance at me, his ancient eyes revealing nothing while the subtle shift of his body toward mine spoke volumes.

My blood froze, fear crystalizing in every cell. The world tilted dangerously as a roaring filled my ears. Every muscle in my body coiled tight, ready to spring.

“What about Joy and the other girls?” I rasped.

“Gone.” Trystan’s eyes met mine directly, carrying a weight of pity that made my stomach churn. “Stalker and one of his men were out on patrols when they noticed the stench coming from the place. Blood and gore splattered the walls. It looked like Simon and his men had gone through a meatgrinder.”

The coppery scent of Trystan’s fear mingled with the phantom smell of carnage he described. I could almost taste it on my tongue—the horror, the brutality. My surroundings became unnaturally vivid, each detail stamped with merciless clarity as my instincts screamed for action.

Angelo frowned, his centuries of control betrayed only by the slight tremor in his voice that only those who knew him well would catch. “Were there any survivors?”

Trystan shook his head, his expression grim. “No.”

The single syllable echoed in the confined space like a death knell. The stillness that followed was absolute—no heartbeats, no breathing from the vampires, only the pounding pulse of the wolf king marking time as my world collapsed around me.

“Dimitri, turn the car around,” Angelo said, his voice carrying that quiet command that had ended wars and toppled kingdoms. The upholstery whispered beneath him as he shifted, his ancient power filling the confined space like an apex predator.

I wanted more answers—needed them like I needed blood to survive. My hand trembled slightly as I grabbed the door handle, the metal warm from the afternoon sun. Without thinking, I flung the car door open, the bright daylight momentarily stinging my eyes as it flooded the tinted interior.

“Enzo.” Angelo reached for me, his fingers grazing my sleeve, but I was already out, gravel crunching beneath my boots as I stepped onto the sunbaked road. If this was Serenity, he’d be out of his mind with worry and rage. It was no different for me. My chest felt hollow, as though someone had carved out everything inside.

“Stalker,” I called as I headed over to him. The heat of the day pressed against my skin, making the world around me seem too bright, too harsh.

Angelo swore behind me, the rare profanity revealing more about his concern than any shouted command. I glanced over my shoulder and saw him straightening his immaculate suit jacket as he headed over to Trystan, his movements gracefully predatory despite the tension evident in his shoulders, sunglasses now shielding his ancient eyes.

Stalker shifted back to his human form, muscles and bones cracking with sickening pops. Naked and unashamed, his skin glistening with sweat under the harsh sun, he gave me a cool look, nostrils flaring slightly as he caught my scent. “Enzo. Did your protégé come back and finish the job after we left?”

I shook my head, a cold dread slithering down my spine despite the warmth of the day. “No. He’s been with us. What has happened?”

“It was a bloodbath in there—looked like a Freddy Krueger party.” His eyes, still more wolf than human, held mine with unflinching intensity, squinting slightly in the daylight.

“Freddy Krueger?” The pop culture reference seemed absurdly incongruous with the horror building inside me.

“The bodies were shredded.” Stalker growled, his wolf barely contained beneath the surface of his human form. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” His throat worked as he swallowed, and from a creature who hunted even in broad daylight, the subtle tell sent ice through my veins.

“When did the cops get here? How did they even know this happened?” The sunlight suddenly seemed too bright, too revealing—a spotlight on a nightmare unfolding in real time.

Stalker’s shrug was almost insolent, but the tightness around his eyes betrayed his own unease. “I don’t know. My team and I barely got out before they surrounded the place. The air was thick with their human stench.” He ran a hand through his sweat-dampened hair. “Someone had to have called them. Maybe Simon did before he died.”

“That doesn’t smell right.” I shook my head, a wave of nausea rolling through my stomach as pieces refused to fit together. The scent of deception permeated the air like dark smoke, acrid and wrong. My fangs itched beneath my gums, instinctively responding to the threat. “No, this is different. We have to find out what happened.” My fingers flexed, muscles coiling with the need to act, to hunt, to find Joy before the hollow ache in my chest consumed me entirely.

I thought about creeping over to Simon’s and observing what the police were doing. Maybe I could figure out what was happening with my vampire hearing. I was an expert in blending into the shadows.

But then I heard another sound that turned my blood cold. I detected the crunch of gravel beneath a car. Someone was heading in our direction.

Chapter Twenty

Enzo

I exhaled a deep breath as the car got closer. Tires approached but not from Simon’s direction—the sound cutting through my thoughts like a sword. It was coming from the opposite road, the distinctive purr of a high-end engine growing louder.

Keir’s gray limousine pulled up, sunlight glinting off its polished surface in almost painful flashes. The vehicle seemed to radiate cold despite the warmth of the day, an otherworldly chill that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. His driver stopped with practiced precision. The scent of winter and something ancient—older even than Angelo—wafted from the interior, making my nostrils flare.

Keir stepped out, the air around him seeming to shimmer slightly as though reality itself bent in his presence. He headed over toward Angelo and Trystan with Lorcan at his side, both moving with that inhuman grace that no vampire could fully mimic. Behind them walked an Unseelie I’d never seen before.

His blond hair was darker than the normal Unseelie, more honey than platinum, though his face remained partly in shadowfrom this distance. Something about him made my skin crawl—like observing a predator disguised as something familiar but marked by subtle wrongness I couldn’t fully identify. Even without clear details, my body tensed, centuries of survival instincts screaming a warning I couldn’t properly articulate.

I wasn’t going to be left out of what was happening. Rage and fear crystallized into action as I drew on vampire speed, the world blurring around me in streaks of color. The familiar rush of power surged through my dead veins like liquid fire, and I was next to Angelo before Keir even got there—the displacement of air tugging at my clothes as I came to a stop. My senses heightened with the burst of movement, every scent more potent, every sound more distinct, the hollow ache in my chest for Joy sharpening to an almost unbearable point.

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