Page 85

Story: The Vampire's Soul

The king wore a white shirt with his sleeves rolled up, his Moretti tattoos on display. It was tucked loosely into his suit pants, and his hair was tousled.

Ari was in a pair of black Moretti sweats and Nike T-shirt. He looked like he’d finished a workout. Or been interrupted.

Both stared, waiting for him to catch up.

This was good news. They knew where he...wait...his brain cells rearranged themselves and the dots began to join.

Jesus fucking Christ.

“Fuck. He’s making a deal with the Kremlin!”

“Hasdone.” Vincent turned and punched his fist through the walls.

Woah.

The king didn’t anger easily—the females putting up Christmas decorations aside—so Brayden knew there was more.

“Who called you?” Ari ran a hand through his hair.

“POTUS. James Calder.” Vincent shook the plaster off his fist and cursed. “Volkov has already gone live on Russian TV saying they’ll be producing a serum to immobilize vampires. And begin distribution in three days.”

He bolted out of his chair.

Fuck.

This was bad.

Really fucking bad.

“There’s no goddamn way they can have production up and running so quickly.” Brayden growled.

“It doesn’t matter. This is modern day warfare.” Ari shook his head. “He can just delay the launch—”

“Forget the fucking manufacturing,” Vincent yelled, flinging out a hand. “All the superpowers are arming up.”

No.

Fuck.

No fucking way.

The blood drained from Brayden’s face, and he felt physically ill. Now he understood why his brother looked terrified for the first time in his life.

One glance at Ari, and he did too.

“They’re preparing for a nuclear war. The world leaders can’t let Volkov have that much power, and for Russia to control the Western World.”

Brayden dropped his hands on the desk and let out a stream of curses while Vincent shared more details about the call and how grateful he was that POTUS had rung.

“Fuck, our ancestors could never have imagined this.”

“We didn’t,” Ari deadpanned.

Oh, right.

One of them was standing right here.

“Well, if it wasn’t for Nikolay, this eventuality would never have occurred. Jesus. I swore I’d fucking protect this race—”