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Wilder scoffed in disgust at Byron’s words but paused when his eyes clocked Bishop. A tell-tale flush crept up his skin as he stared at him.

Fuck, I didn’t have time for this. “I’m going in. Aleksey, you’re in charge. Take the team around the perimeter. Take out anyone you see.”

“What about you?” Aleksey asked as he tied his long hair up in a messy bun.

“I’m going through the front door.” I had to believe that Silas wanted me alive. He wanted to play a game, that meant, he wanted me walking through the front door.

Aleksey gave me a final nod and disappeared into the shadows with the others.

I walked up to the front door, my heart trying to escape up my throat. It was taking all my restraint to keep my pace leisurely. To walk like I had all the time in the world when really, I wanted to fly through the house and slaughter the ghost from my past.

I wasn’t surprised to find the door unlocked. It was barely hanging onto the door frame, but I kicked it in all the same. I could hear the faint thud of Benjamin’s heart echoing from somewhere deep in the house. It was louder than the others but that was only because it was familiar. As I listened, I counted at least twenty other human hearts. Silas was a fool. Those men would be dead in seconds. I was almost disappointed he hadn’t given my men something more worthy of their talents.

Floorboards creaked beneath my feet as I climbed the staircase, following the sound of Benajmin’s heart. It was beating fast, a rapid rhythm that had panic flaring in my chest. Vlad’s was steady and slow, but he was always calm under pressure.

“Come out, come out wherever you are,” I called into the darkness.

“Always so impatient, Damyr,” Silas taunted, his voice as soft as I remembered, and I wondered how much of the quiet, shy boy remained. “Why don’t you come and find me?”

I knew I was walking into a trap. Knew that his plan was for me to lose everything so, as I stepped deeper into the dust filled depths of Morley Hall, I asked myself, what choice did I really have?

The door to Edwin’s old chamber was propped open.

Yep. Definitely all the hallmarks of a trap.

I pushed the door open and struggled to wrap my head around what I was seeing. Two glass coffins lay side by, both positioned on long tables to keep them off the ground. I wasn’t expecting any of this. Benjamin was in the left one, Vlad in the right. Both were bound with black gags over their mouths, and their hands tied to their chests. They looked peaceful but that was probably because there was no room for them to kick and scream.

My heart lurched as I continued to listen to Benjamin’s heart. It raced, panic and fear speeding it up. I never thought I’d ever be so affected by a human, but there I was, staring at him and deciding what was the quickest way to get him out just so I could hold him and never let go of him ever again.

His eyes met mine for a brief moment and a surge of anger ripped through me as I saw the injuries on his face. My beautiful Benjamin, what had he done to you?

“Hello again, Damyr,” Silas said as he stepped out of the shadows at the other end of the room. I was struck by how similar he looked. He still had his boyish features and white blonde hair, but his eyes were different. When he was alive, they’d been the palest blue. Now, they were a bright ruby red. He’d been sired by a Master Vampire. Fuck. That meant he was more powerful than I could probably imagine.

Madness stared back at me from the shadows. Madness and manic glee.

“Silas. It’s been a while.”

He laughed, but there was a harshness to it. “Let’s get started, shall we? Some of us don’t have a lot of time.” He tapped his nails on the glass coffins.

The sound of gunshots filtered through from somewhere deep in the house.

“I see your friends have found the welcoming committee.” Silas walked closer, his red lips pulled back in an evil smile.

“You didn’t think I’d come alone, did you?”

“Of course not. I’d have been disappointed if you spoiled all my fun.”

From what I could tell, Silas wasn’t armed. His charcoal grey shirt and black slacks didn’t exactly leave a lot of room for hiding weapons.

“I’m not armed,” he said, confirming my thoughts. He tucked his hands in his pockets, looking far too at ease for someone who had kidnapped two people and caused havoc.

“Cut to the chase, Silas,” I managed to get out through gritted teeth. “What’s the catch?”

His grin widened. “Catch? There is no catch. I meant what I said, Damyr. You can choose one. Both of them are lying down on a pressure sensor. You move one, the other person in the other coffin gets stabbed with something lethal. For Vlad, there is a solution of tiny silver particles in a syringe poised just beneath his back that will shoot through his ribs and directly into his heart. For Benjamin here, same thing but a syringe filled with potassium chloride. Basically, a lethal injection but without the sedative. You’ve got ten minutes to choose, or they both die.”

I pulled out my gun and aimed it at him. “I could just shoot you.”

Silas pouted. “You could, but then you’re running the risk of losing both. Save one, and I’ll release the other. Kill me, and you’ll lose them both. Tick tock, Damyr.”