Page 86 of This Ravenous Fate
Elise didn’t even look at him. Her attention remained, alarmed and concerned, on Layla, who couldn’t seem to focus on her. Her brown eyes were glazed over and she stared right through Elise. “What did you do to her?” She looked past Layla and down the hallway, expecting to see Mei, but it was empty. “Where is Mei?” Elise demanded. She glared at her father.
“Your darling reaper friend killed her,” her father said strongly. He pushed Elise back so hard, she stumbled. “Do not try to defend her. I know where your loyalties lie now. I was a fool to believe you would ever do anything good for this family. You’ve never gotten over whatever infatuation you have for her and all that she represents.”
Air seared Elise’s chest and throat as she struggled to breathe.“No.” Her eyes flickered down to Layla, hoping and begging for some sign of that usual fire she had in her. But the young reaper’s eyes remained dull and lifeless, as if her flame had been snuffed out. Elise looked to her father once more. “You’re the one in the wrong. You have been wrong for years. You just cannot stand it when anyone challenges you. So when Genevieve and Daniel Quinn suggested working with the reapers all those years ago, you snapped. You’re not interested in relinquishing power and sharing anything. You’re built on lies. Just like thiscure.” Elise pushed her hands into her father’s chest. He hardly shifted under her shove.
Her father’s hand gripped her wrist. He leaned so close to her, she felt his breath on her face when he hissed, “You knownothing. If you knew what was good for you, you would shut up and do as I say.”
Elise yanked her arm free. “I’ve been doing what you said since I was born. I refuse to listen anymore,” she snapped.
Something lethal lit her father’s eyes. For a moment, true fear struck Elise, and she almost considered backing off. He was a terrible father and a liar, but he was still one of the most powerful men in New York, and Elise was nothing compared to him. Mr. Saint gripped her chin hard. “You promised me. You kill the Quinn girl. You are still to do that. And, fine, you no longer have to listen to me after that. I remove you as my heir. Sterling will replace you.” He released her so aggressively, Elise hit the wall as she fell back.
“Sir?” Sterling asked.
“You heard me,” Mr. Saint barked. He gave Elise one final dirty look, then gripped Layla’s arm and pushed her into the hotel. Weeksago, had her father done this to her, Elise might have cried until she could no longer breathe. But now, she stood against the wall, trembling with a rage she wasn’t sure was possible until now, after seeing him drag Layla away from her.
Mr. Wayne, who had hardly moved since the altercation began, thrust his open hand toward Elise. In it was a vial. “You made me a promise, Elise.”
39
The syringe felt strangely light in Elise’s hand. Standing in the middle of the Hotel Clarice foyer, Layla seated in a chair in front of her, Elise tightened her grip on the syringe. Her father watched from a balcony above the room, Sterling and Mr. Wayne by his side. Some of Layla’s clan members looked on from a few yards back, murmurs few and far between. Elise had no doubt that the substance in the syringe was not a cure. Per her father’s agreement and strict guidelines, she was to kill Layla, not make her human. Even on the off chance that it could be a true cure, Elise had already decided that she no longer trusted a word out of her father’s mouth. It hurt more than anything now to see Sterling still standing by his side, staring at her with disappointment deep in his eyes.
Elise pursed her lips. She dropped her gaze to the slope of Layla’s neck. One puncture of this needle and maybe everything would be over. But Elise knew better than to take her father at his word. Shehad done so years ago, thinking he would end the growing reaper problem that Layla was trying to fix with her parents. But he had only assured her with hidden lies and hollow promises.
“Someone please hold her down,” Elise said quietly. “I won’t be able to if she struggles.”
Sterling descended the staircase and placed his hands on Layla’s shoulders, pushing her down into the seat. Elise waited, wanting Layla to stir, to show any sign of her usual self. But she remained quiet and unmoving.
Tears brimming in her eyes, Elise positioned the needle in place at the edge of Layla’s neck. “Layla,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. For everything, I’m so sorry.”
Then she pushed the needle in.
Elise hesitated with her thumb on the plunger. She took a deep breath and yanked the needle from Layla’s skin, shoving it into Sterling’s hand. Elise plunged the drug into him.
Sterling pulled away from them with a shriek, tearing the needle from his skin.
Layla finally blinked as blood pooled in the juncture between her neck and collarbone. She looked up, confused. Sterling stumbled away and roared as the needle clattered to the floor. Harlem reapers braced themselves, fangs emerging while Sterling approached them.
Elise clamped her hand over Layla’s wound and stepped in front of her.
Then Sterling lost control. With his eyes red as blood and his veins bulging, he tore around the room, knocking chairs over andshrieking. Elise covered her own mouth as she watched reapers throw themselves at her best friend. But even as they clawed at him, hissing and snarling like frenzied beasts, Sterling threw them off. To Elise’s horror, his nails had grown into the size of monstrous claws, and they pierced the reapers’ flesh, leaving deep scratches behind.
Something dug into Elise’s arm and she jumped at first seeing Layla on her feet, fingers clamped around her wrist. “We need to go,” Layla hissed. Her clanmates scrambled, some running for the door, others facing the scene in frozen shock. Mr. Saint and Mr. Wayne went unnoticed by the unfolding frenzy, still watching from above. Elise noticed a slight smile on Mr. Wayne’s face, and she recoiled at the sight.
Elise headed for the door, but Sterling stumbled closer as one of Layla’s clanmates charged him, blocking the exit. Layla tugged her back and quickly found an alcove beneath the grand staircase, away from the chaos. She shoved Elise in first, pressing her body into the remaining space while they watched the carnage unfold.
One clan member tried to help his fallen comrade at Sterling’s feet, but he was no match for this newly evolved Sterling. It was as if all humanity had been sucked from him. His cheekbones protruded beneath sagging, hollowed-out skin and his eyes bled red, as if every vein in his skull had burst and coated his eyeballs in the scarlet substance. He stepped toward the reaper charging him and, with one swipe of his clawed hands, sent him slamming against the wall. The reaper’s shirt fell off in bloody tatters where he was hit.
But only moments after going down, the reaper’s eyes flew open,scarlet just like Sterling’s. His hands extended into claws as well, and he released a deafening growl, purely demonic and deranged. Then he turned on his own clanmates.
One by one, they each began to turn. Elise watched in horror as reapers tore through each other. But only minutes into the destruction, they jerked upright and, with their claws still clinging to dripping flesh, crashed to the floor. The rampage ended almost as soon as it began, leaving nothing but blood and bodies littering the foyer. Sterling was the only one left standing, his chest heaving as he stepped over the fallen reapers, finally calming down.
In that moment, something whistled through the air and Sterling jerked back, having been shot with something.
“Sterling.” Mr. Wayne’s voice rang out around the room. He turned to Mr. Saint, lowering his own gun. “The antidote will start working in a bit. Just give him a few more moments. In the meantime, he can search for the girls while he’s still craving blood.” Mr. Wayne grumbled and looked around the room. “I intended for Layla to do all the destruction. But it seems your daughter has more of a brain than we anticipated. Wherever the hell she is.”
Elise whimpered and Layla clamped a hand over her mouth.
Mr. Saint was eerily quiet. “This is no cure, Stephen.”
