Page 13 of Vipers and Vendettas
He purses his lips. ‘Did I teach you nothing?’
‘Relax, Jack. I don’t owe the vamps. It’s for a … friend.’ I choke on the word, but regardless of what I said on camera, I do want to help Daemon. I need to.
He sighs. ‘I can have it delivered. Who’s it from?’
‘Daemon Mackenzie.’
‘Helluva friend to give up this kind of cash for,’ he remarks, his eyes boring into me. ‘He the father?’
I’m not surprised Jack knows. He can probably sense it vampire style, or something.
‘Not your business, Jack.’
ChapterTwo
Maddox
It’s been twelve weeks. Three months since Jules stole the family diamonds and used a link key she’d been hiding to flee the estate.
My fists clench as they always do when I think of her, how I’d love to get my hands on her or, more specifically, around her throat. I won’t kill her, though. That’s too good for her. No, I’m going to make her stick to what she agreed to. She signed on the dotted line, and she’s ours. She’s going to spend three years being fucked by us every which way, anytime we’re hungry.
Almost automatically, I open the file on my laptop and watch her come into the library that night, easily getting into the safe with the combination. I can’t even blame any of the others this time. This was wholly my fault. When she signed, I thought it was over. I thought she was ours. I put the code in in front of her. I wasn’t thinking, or maybe I was, just with the wrong part of my anatomy. I keep the video on mute. I know her vile, flippant words by heart. I’ve watched this, tortured myself with it, for months.
The worst part is that she was right. We can’t find her, though we’ve been looking. Oh yes, we’ve been looking.
I get up, taking one of the link keys, and putting it in my pocket. I open my other safe, all of the jewels back safe and sound. They were found on the black market not two days after she left, and I was able to procure most of them back with a combination of money, threats, and violence. Our coffers are, once again, practically empty because of it, though, forcing us to put our fingers back into some unsavory pies to get us back into the black.
I take my gun out, check it’s loaded, and put it in the holder inside my jacket. Tonight, we go to the fight and make a ton of cash. Hopefully, that’ll put us in good financial stead for the next few months. After that, we need to go to the club to feed. We daren’t leave it any longer.
Feed.
I snort. That’s a joke. I haven’t fed properly since before the Mountain. Before Jules. I’ve tried, but the thought of being with any woman, supe or otherwise, fills me with revulsion. All I can do is snack on others’ arousals. I think the rest of the clan are suffering the same affliction, though they haven’t come right out and said it. But none of them have disappeared to private rooms, and all of us look a little worse for wear at the moment.
Maybe that’s the worst part of all of this. That we seem to be somehow bound to a female like Julia Brand, and no other will do.
Krase enters the room, and I look him over. He seems himself, but I’ve been wrong before. Will he even tell me the truth if I ask?
‘How are you?’
He shrugs. ‘The same. The demon and I are still separate, but we’re in a balance of sorts. He wants control, but only because he doesn’t think we’re doing enough to find her. He’s definitely getting stronger again as well. Any news?’
‘None. The bitch disappeared into thin air.’ I frown as I think about his words. ‘What does he want to do when he finds her?’
‘Not kill her.’ Krase lets out a mirthless laugh. ‘He also doesn’t like you calling her ‘the bitch’.’
‘What doyouwant to do with her?’ I ask quietly, ignoring his dark side’s apparent distaste for my calling the thief nasty names.
He gives me a real smile. ‘I don’t want to kill her either, but she’s been a very naughty girl. I agree that her antics can’t go unpunished, and so does he.’
‘Antics?’ I ask. ‘She almost bankrupted us.Again. And what about all the things she said?’
Krase shrugs. ‘We got it all back. And words are just words. She needs?—’
‘What she needs is to learn that crossing us comes with worse consequences than a slap on the wrist,’ Daemon snarls as he saunters into the room. ‘We’re going to find her soon. We’re close. I can feel it.’
I don’t say anything. After Jules’ revelations, I’ve hardly been able to stomach looking at Daemon, let alone speaking to him. I didn’t know that he’d gotten in so deep with the vamps that they’d made him sign away his freedom. I didn’t know.But that doesn’t help with the shame of what I did. My mercilessness caused it, and it’s my fault. I can’t even blame Jules the way that he does. I should never have let my rage get the better of me. I let him down. I let all of them down. But I don’t know how to make it right.
When the others arrive in the library ready to go, they’re subdued … as I suppose we all have been since Jules left. How I can possibly long for such a vexing female, one who has been nothing but trouble to us all, I have no idea, but I’ve come to the conclusion that what I’m feeling is … bereft.
