Page 57 of Blood Revealed

The problem is Vlad lives the next county over on the Horde compound. I’m scared to enter the Horde compound and not exactly sure they’ll let us on the property, but we have to try. The drive takes us about a half hour through the rocky Kentucky back country, and when their compound comes into view, it makes me unbelievably happy that Raif, Boss, and Chaos were the ones to find me all those years ago.

What if it’d been a Horde instead? The state of this place—uh, no.

Our entrance is blocked by the guard at the gate, which I expected. “Frankie, call Vlad.”

She pulls out her phone. “Tell the guard at the gate to let us in,” she says instead ofhello, which leads me to believe he’s got her programmed into his phone.

Even Brin and I hear the “What?” screamed in her ear. “The fuck you talkin’ about?” he asks, still yelling.

“You can yell all you like, but Hannah, Brinley, and I are here to check up on you,” she says calmly. We’re all used to dealing with irate bikers. Vlad might be Horde, but he’s not that different.

She hands the phone to the guard. “Vlad wants to speak with you.”

The guard looks confused but takes the phone, putting it up to his ear. After tossing it back to Frankie, he kind of blows my mind by opening the gate. Most of the Kentucky Horde chapter are currently in lockup after the meth lab debacle. That doesn’t mean it’s safe here, though.

“Go in through the second door, down there.” The guard points us in the right direction. “Don’t go nosing around if you know what’s good for you. Never seen you here before,” the guy says. “Leave it to Vlad to have three hot bitches comin’ to take care of him. Lucky son of a bitch.” The asshole looks at my sister like she’s the juiciest steak in the county and he’s been on a month-long hunger strike. “You done with him,” he says, “come on back out here to me. I don’t mind sloppy seconds.”

My sister blushes the brightest shade of pink. I step on the gas to get us through the gate. “If things don’t work out with Hero,” I say, almost unable to get the words out, laughing too hard. Frankie bites her lips for a second before descending into a fit of giggles.

The Horde compound is missing all of the homes that make the Lords compound a warm place to live. Though seven years ago, I never thought I’d utter the wordswarm place to livein regards to the Lords. They were a party club, not a bunch of family men. How things have changed. The building is made of white block. It’s utilitarian. There are maybe two windows in the place. I’m not sure what it started its life as.

I park close to the door we were directed to enter. If I thought the Lords clubhouse needed updating… Here, I think Frankie, Brin, and I should’ve brought hazmat suits. “Brin.” I grab my sister’s arm. “You’re pregnant. You might not want to go in there. I’m afraid you’ll end up with hepatitis or something.”

She shoves my arm playfully. There are a few men inside when we enter. They obviously look up at us. One stands. That’s when I get the courage to speak up. “Vlad?” I ask.

The bloated, greasy biker on his way to us stops. “Fucker’s injured and still gets three at once. Man’s got a legendary dick.” He points us in the right direction. The bar is in the front room. It’s set up differently from home. Though I wouldn’t sit on that furniture to save my life.

The man starts to follow us. “What’re you doing?” Frankie asks.

“Why does he get three bitches at once?” he asks. “One dick, one mouth. That leaves one of ya with nothing to do and I feel like fuckin’.”

I put my hand up to stop him. “He likes a show while he’s fucking, but he likes asingleshow if you get my meaning.”

He looks confused.

“Vlad doesn’t want to see your ugly ass while he’s fucking. Girl on hand action, bud,” I say knowing I’m taking my life in my hands.

The guy grunts.

“And with a dick like his, you give him what he wants,” I finish.

He grunts again and grumbles, “Fuckin’ fine.” Then he stomps back over to the bar and I grab my sister’s arm, scurrying down the hall to Vlad’s room with Frankie following close behind.

I rap once on Vlad’s door and can’t help but to laugh when his response comes immediately through the door. “Christ. I don’t gotta explain to you or any-fucking-body who did it or what happened. Go the fuck away.”

“Sorry, can’t do that,” I say, busting through the door with the women filing in behind me. His eyes narrow on us showing he’s pissed.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” he bellows, but softly. Like a bellowed whisper. I never knew that was even possible. “You walk your ass into a Horde compound? Are you daft? All of you’re fucking out of your minds.”

“Look at you.” Frankie throws her hand out to him. “You’ve been injured and none of the fuck-faces around here are gonna help you. Since you don’t have a woman, you now have sisters who’re here to make sure you don’t die of sepsis or some shit.”

“Really,” I say. “Look at this place? If you don’t have Hep A-E now, mark my words, next blood test, the doctor’s going to have some bad news for you.”

His face softens as a snicker escapes his actually very handsome lips. “How’d you get in here without getting fucked up against a wall?”

My sister speaks up. “You have a legendary dick.” And that’s it. We descend into hysterics.

“They call him ‘Vlad’ because he impales her,” Frankie finishes, and I stop being able to catch my breath, wheezing instead of laughing.

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