Page 68 of Sundowners
“You need to say goodnight, Creed.”
“What the—”
“Guardian or not, Creed, your soul is innocent,” Mark said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “You need to let us handle this.”
“Is this the kind of scenario where I’m going to be expected to return the favor?”
Cross rolled his eyes. “I’m not the damn Godfather. Just get lost, all right? We’ll be in touch when it’s all done.”
Creed felt wrong leaving it to them, but more than that, he was struggling with taking a life. “What if they’renotlike us? What if they’re not…vampires, they’re just bullies? Can we just let the police handle it?”
“You can’t deny they’re vampires. You felt their energy just as we did. Besides, would you really want to take the chance that Roman’s uncle is the one to arrest them?”
“I—”
A black SUV rolled up to the house and parked in the driveway. Mark pulled us back into the bushes where we were out of sight but could still see what was going on in the living room.
Four people dressed in suits climbed out of the vehicle, and my stomach churned as I watched Stephen hold out a hand to someone inside.
“Dear goddess,” I murmured. The attacks, the negative energy…it all made sense now. Stephen was here.
All three of us gasped as a figure draped in red gauzy material stepped down from the tall vehicle. A wave of power came barreling across the street and nearly knocked us off our feet. Streetlights popped and the lights in the house went off, followed by shouts from the four men inside.
“You guys feel that?”
Mark squeezed my biceps. “I haven’t felt that in fifty years,” he whispered.
The figure’s head turned toward where we were hiding, and we sank back and held our breath.
“If we felt that, do you think…”
Stephen led them forward, and the other men walked into the house. The last man let the others in before him, squeezed Stephen’s shoulder as they passed, and then turned to survey the area before he shut the door.
“Holy shit. Creed, did I just see that?” Mark’s eyes were huge, but I couldn’t stop shaking.
“That was Leader Caleb. But I saw him. On the ground that night…”
“Shhh.” Cross put his hand over my mouth and stared at the house wide-eyed. “We can’t be seen.”
“Do we chance getting closer?” I asked when he removed his hand.
Cross shook his head and ran a hand over his face and tugged on his beard.
“I can’t believe it. I thought for sure The Source was gone. Dead. I hadn’t thoughtanyonesurvived that night, and then I find you guys. And fucking Caleb. And that horrible piece of shit Stephen.”
“I think I knew,” Cross said. “Deep down, I think I knew The Source had survived. Because in the aftermath, I still felt…different, like I had after my initiation.”
A couple of faces were illuminated by phones inside the house, and the dim light from the kitchen allowed us to see what was going on.
One by one, the four men had their throats cut, and the Source placed a hand over the wound and something nuclear occurred. I’m sure there was some scientific name for the process we’d just witnessed…maybe it was merely processing.
Until the brilliant flash of light and the screams.
The bodies were gone, and as they led The Source from the house, now glowing, we once more felt a wave crash over us.
“Well, Creed, you’re the one who was so hot on being absorbed back into The Source. I guess we know how that looks now.”
I held a hand to my mouth, not sure if it was to hold in my own scream, or just from shock.
