Page 15 of All Your Deadly Truths (The Filthy Duet #2)

Kairhyse

I ’m unsure of how long I’ve been sitting here, hot water cascading over me like a heavy downpour of rain.

Nothing physically ails me, but I ache, and am furious with myself that it has come to this. Come to me failing her, even if she wouldn’t see it that way. I do, because I swore that no one would hurt her ever again.

I just keep thinking of the last moment I saw her. Tears streaking down her face.

“I l ? —”

I’m the only one who should bring her to tears. Only me. Tears of pleasure, tears of laughter, and yes, even tears of pain—because who am I to deny her that? It’s what she wants. It’s what she deserves. Not this torment these bastards keep putting her through.

Leaning my head forward between my spread legs, my elbows resting against my knees, I grip my short hair right at the roots.

Regrets.

It’s all we take into the darkness of eternal sleep—regrets and unspoken words. If I die before I find her, I’ll regret not telling her I love her. I’ll regret going to pick up Sydni alone. I’ll regret every moment I ever put anyone before my girl, even if she would have had it no other way.

Them killing Tyson, and the thought of my butterfly being found slaughtered in the same way, sends fractures through every bone in my body. Not just because she deserves to live, but because of what it would do to my little demon.

I blink rapidly, forcing myself back to the present, and clawing my way out of the depths of my fractured mind. I’m on the tile floor of one of Alaric’s showers. Pieces of my flesh are scattered across the floor, my hair littered everywhere like the remnants of a storm.

My body’s healing incredibly fast, and I am at a loss for words. The white haired bitch’s comment about feeding off of Xera is at the forefront of my mind. I’ve never recovered this quickly.

Bones heal relatively fast since they’re constantly supplied by our blood, but to have my skin regenerate nearly instantly is… not normal. It grew back almost immediately after it was torn from my flesh.

Sighing, I shake my head. I’m no idiot. When I think about it, I know exactly why my healing is so accelerated. I’d completely overindulged on her every single day, for weeks.

I removed most of my tattoos—my neck, arms, face, hands, and my chest are now bare. But I couldn’t bring myself to touch the piece on my back.

I don’t know exactly what it means, but it meant something significant to Xera, and I refuse to touch it. Plus, I don’t plan on walking naked in front of anyone.

It’s been eight days since I lost her, and with each one, I feel myself slipping further into the Beyond. I know I need to get myself together, not only for Xeraphine, but for Sydni. I’ve left her too much already, and I can’t keep doing that.

After pulling myself off the floor and stepping out of the shower, I stand before the mirror. The steam clings to the glass, hazing my reflection. But even if it were clear, I wouldn’t recognize the person staring back at me.

It’s not the short hair that needs lining up, nor the absence of the tattoos I once wore.

It’s the red bleeding from my irises into the whites of my eyes, which isn’t from the mutilation I just inflicted on myself, nor from killing Mrs. Farella yesterday.

It’s the gnawing truth that another second has passed, and we’re still no closer to getting her back.

Groaning, I get dressed in simple black jeans and a white shirt. It’s just as I’m finishing brushing my teeth that I hear screaming coming from the hall outside.

“You are so fucking hard-headed!” Niyla’s voice carries through the bathroom door I’m stepping out of.

Just as I’m about to make it into the living room, Sydni is charging toward me. “We are leaving!”

My eyes widen as I see Brice, head back and hands on his hips, growling loud enough that it vibrates my skin.

Fucking Werewolf . I release a frustrated groan just as Syd meets me in the hallway.

“YOU HAVE TO FEED!” Niyla shouts once more, and I look down at my butterfly, who has her head down, speeding right past me. “I’m not trying to be overbearing, you little brat!”

“HEY!” I raise my voice equally. “Watch your fucking mouth?—”

“Or what?! She will wither ! Then, when we get Xeraphine back, what will be left of her but bones!” Throwing her hands up she turns to Alaric, who has his eyes square on me.

“You know she needs to feed,” he says at me.

There’s something off about this guy, and while I want to call him a freak, it’s more than that. I don’t like the feeling I’m getting—that as soon as I get my girl back, he’s going to try something stupid. Like he thinks he stands a chance of fighting me for what’s mine.

“Kairhyse, there are bags of blood?—”

“He doesn’t command me! No one does! I want my Phiny back and we are wasting time!” When I release a heavy breath, I turn my gaze over my shoulder, watching her thrusting on her sneakers. “Fuck all of you.” She looks up to me. “Not you, Rhyse.”

I wet my lips and nod, giving her a silent confirmation that I’m neither hurt, nor offended by her comment.

Brice, with his large frame and hefty footsteps, charges down the hall to me. “Syd, can we talk in private?”

I raise my hand just as he tries to pass me, halting his movement. He jerks his head to the side, his eyes beginning to glow their signature shade of yellow.

When my nostrils flare, his mirror the action and a thunderous growl rolls from his throat. “I am trying to rectify this situation. Move, Vampire.”

“You will not touch her,” I say, just as I hear Sydni shuffling around behind me.

“As that girl in that classic Vampire movie once said, ‘You don’t have some wolfy claim on me’!” I have no idea what she is referring to, but it gets a snort from Niyla. “You all are fucking snakes! I have so many questions, and so does Kai, and you refuse to answer any of them!”

“Ask,” Brice interjects before she can go further. “Ask the right questions, not the ones that won’t get us further than where we are.”

“Why were you tailing us?! If you knew what Xeraphine was, why didn’t you make yourself known, Alaric !?”

With a heavy sigh, the Werewolf turns his gaze away and back toward his people . I lower my hand, step back, then turn and move to Sydni’s side.

She continues her tirade. “If you had good intentions, you would’ve told her who you were at The Golden Macro that night. And again at The Beast! Instead, you tried to put your dick where it doesn’t belong, even when she clearly told you to fuck off! ”

“She never told me no?—”

My eyes pierce in his direction, and he throws his hands up.

“You are a bullshit liar, all of you,” Sydni shouts, and when she grabs onto my forearm, I turn back to her. “And you, stop leaving me…” Even though she whispers, it’s not like the entire house can’t hear. Maybe Alaric can’t, but Brice and Niyla definitely can.

“I’m sorry…” I put my hand to her cheek, giving it a gentle pat. “I didn’t want you to see what I was going to do, and it was dangerous.”

Before coming back after killing Mrs. Farella, I went past my place. That was another reason I couldn’t bring Sydni, because I knew what awaited me.

Xeraphine’s blood was everywhere on the floor; the pearls she had worn that night broken and scattered across the floor. I’d barely kept myself from burning the apartment, along with the rest of the building, down.

I also searched for Mister, but he was nowhere to be found.

I hadn’t imagined being hurt more, but not even the remnants of him were left behind.

Had he gotten out? Had they taken him? That seemed unlikely, but who knows.

The worst thought was that I hadn’t looked hard enough, and he was lying there dead because he could have witnessed what happened to his owner.

Had he died of a broken heart…?

I force myself away from that thought, settling on the idea that he got out and is searching for her—just like I am.

Hearing footsteps, I shift my gaze over my shoulder and watch as Alaric pushes off the wall, sauntering down the hall toward us.

“The answers to those questions waste time. While you throw this tantrum, she is getting further and further away from us.” He stops only a few feet from us, and I turn to face him, forming a barrier. “You need to feed, Sydni.”

“I will when I have my Phiny back.” I hear her choke back a sob. My little butterfly is fighting so hard to stay strong, but I can hear her throat tighten, trying to keep her emotions in check.

It’s then Alaric looks at me. “Make her feed, or Niyla will.”

My nose twitches, knowing exactly what he means. Because she is Sydni’s creator, all she would need to do is command her to do so, and it’s done. Upon creation, the creator’s blood is given to the dying, and the moment the heart stops, their blood is what pumps them back to life.

They are connected, and I know Xeraphine will kill Niyla the moment we get her back. This Vampire has to know that. Maybe that is why she is trying to take care of Sydni. In the hope that she’d see that she isn’t a bad creator. Not the master, but a… concerned acquaintance.

Unfortunately for her, that is not my girl. When it comes to her princess, there’s no forgiveness for anyone or anything that hurts her.

Nodding, I demand, “Fine, but you will answer two questions, and this senseless back and forth will cease.”

I can see in Alaric’s eyes the hesitation, but he must understand that lying will only cause more delays, because he nods.

“Why were you tailing me?”

He takes a deep breath. “ We weren’t. Brice was watching Sydni?—”

“Creepy asshole!” Sydni hisses.

Without much pause, Alaric continues, but I don’t miss the way her words hurt the Werewolf. The uplift of his nose and the downturned gaze speak volumes. “He smelled something weird on Tyson’s car.”

“Pause,” I cut him off and look at Brice. “Why were you following Sydni?”

“I was concerned, after Xeraphine was taken—and before you can even ask, yes, we knew about her abduction, and yes, were actively looking for her as well. You two were just a step ahead of us.” He clears his throat.

“Back to your question. I was concerned that they would try and hurt her through Sydni. She had been with you both at your place for several weeks, but when she went back to work, I just wanted to make sure. And that’s when I smelled the leaking of fluid from the vehicle. ”

Returning my attention to Alaric, I nod for him to continue. “Brice called us the moment your car stalled. Nothing a Werewolf can do against a thirty-five-thousand-pound semi.”

His concern lies with Xeraphine, and part of me wants to be pissed off that he didn’t go for her instead. But I’m not, because if he had saved her, that somehow terrifies me just as much as Lars taking her.

It feels like he’s going to try to do the same; take her from me.

I shake the thoughts away and ask my second question. “What are you, Alaric?”

“Is that a pertinent question to our situation?” He narrows his eyes, the already slanted shape now even more pronounced.

“Yes.”

He blinks and looks to Niyla, then to Brice, and then back to me. “I will answer what I am, but then we need to get moving. Eldritch makes the most sense to start at, and now with the understanding that Xeraphine herself is connected to the same mental facility her mother is at?—”

“What?” I cut him off.

Sydni puts her hand onto my forearm, and I look down as she steps to my side. “We missed it… I don’t know how I didn’t make the connection.” Pu lling a piece of paper out of her pocket, she hands me the same toxicology report we found while looking for her when she was first taken from us.

“EHA. Eldritch Haven Asylum.”

My lips part, but I’m slightly too stunned to speak. Why would the toxicology have come from an Asylum?

“Lars’s mother stated he spent about a year in Eldritch seeing a woman...” I fold the piece of paper and put it in my pocket. “It’s at least a good place to start. Now…” Returning my attention to Alaric, I urge him, “My answer.”

Licking his lips, and after clearing his throat, he says, “A Fallen.”