Page 4 of Blood Claims (Garnet Dagger Mafia #2)

FORTUNE RETOLD

TALON

“ A ndras will follow behind,” I told my brother, after slipping behind the wheel of the black Bugatti La Voiture Noire we had only just purchased the month before. An eighteen-million-dollar expense I insisted on driving, seeing as it was clear Victor was not acting like himself.

My brother might have always been known as the cool, calm, collected one in the family, but right now that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Considering two of the most important things had just been taken from us, whereas none would have ever dared try before, I wasn’t exactly surprised.

Hell, out of those two things, there was one we were more concerned with losing for good.

Our empire was one we could potentially win back in battle or if we wanted, could be rebuilt somewhere else.

But as for our Fated mate, now that was something we would never find again.

And seeing as we had not exchanged our blood with her long enough for her to heal naturally should she be injured, or worse, we both found fear for the first time.

A fact that I didn’t want to think about without losing my shit completely and ending this journey in a crumbled mass of black carbon fiber.

Which was why this role reversal we had going on was so unusual. I was the trigger happy, bite first, ask questions to a corpse later one. But one look at Victor and I would say that he was close to killing half of New York if it promised to bring us closer to finding our girl.

“He is at the ready to have the call traced as soon as she answers,” I said, speeding our way back to the heart of the city, knowing she would have done the same.

“If not, we have a roommate to kidnap,” was his dark reply, quickly going back on the unforgivable line we had originally vowed we would not cross.

But then with our Little Peach not giving us much choice, then we were a fuck load out of options.

Of course, Vanessa would have known this was an option as she would be foolish not to.

However, she also believed that after tonight we would just wake from a spell as if from days of dreaming, days filled with thoughts of her that we wouldn’t remember.

Well, she was in for a rude awakening if she thought that shit was going to happen and she could simply go back to her old life. For there would be no escaping us, no matter which city she tried to hide in. For we would conquer them all, if that was what it would take.

“Foolish fucking girl!” my brother growled, his eyes glowing crimson before the darkness we shared swirled in those depths. Something that told me how close to the edge he was.

“Yes, well let’s hope she is foolish enough to answer the phone and when she does…” I let this trail off, making him snap,

“When she does?”

I released a deep sigh and turned to look at him so as he could see for himself the seriousness in my expression as I told him,

“You will have to remain calm.”

He scoffed but when he didn’t reply, I reminded him of the facts.

“You need to keep her on the line for as long as possible.”

“I know how this works, Tal,” he barked again.

“Yeah, that may be so, but you’re not exactly painting me a picture of patience here when it comes to her,” I pointed out, and of course he knew what I was talking about. Which was the reason he took a deep breath and let it out on a sigh before scrubbing a hand down his face.

“I lost my temper,” he admitted.

“No shit,” I scoffed, making him frown, but before he could snap his fangs at me again, I told him, “Look, I get it, and despite what you think, I am not trying to make you feel worse here, brother, nor am I blaming you.”

“Yes, it sounds like it,” he replied wryly.

“My point is that if we push her too hard, it will only backfire.”

“What, and you just wanna let her get away with pulling this shit?” he snapped.

“No, of course not, but until we get her back then we have to play this right. Now once we have her in our grasp, then we can take our time in showing her exactly what it means to belong to us,” I said, already itching to do just that.

“But until then, you need to focus on the why, not the crime,” I added when he remained silently contemplative…

whilst I continued not sounding like myself.

Because had this been just like any other enemy we faced, then I would have been the first one to suggest breaking bones now and asking questions later.

But as for our Fated, then that was different.

Yes, she had stolen from us and committed what was considered the most atrocious act against a Vampire King that could be carried out.

However, the type of punishment she would face wouldn’t ever come with laying a harmful hand on her body.

At least not the type that would bring unwelcomed pain or leave lasting marks.

Yet despite this, she would need to learn her lesson and what it meant to think she could simply walk away from us. Speaking of which.

“She chose to walk away,” my brother said bitterly, making me close my eyes for a few seconds, the hurt in his tone mirrored in my own feelings.

Affections I never thought myself possible of having beyond the love I had for my own brother.

Which was what made navigating our way through this all ever more foreign.

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean it was the easy choice, just one that she believed would benefit us,” I argued on her behalf.

His head snapped to mine and again, I was glad I had convinced him to let me drive, knowing the steering wheel wouldn’t have survived from being crushed in his fisted hands.

“She was a fucking fool!” he growled.

“No, she was acting out of love and love makes you selfless… or so I am told,” I added wryly.

“You really believe she loves us?” he asked, now playing the foolish one.

“Ask yourself, why did she feel the need to try and explain herself? Why not just take the dagger and leave? The red mist of fury may have clouded your judgement of her for the time being, but my own was clear enough to see the true pain in her eyes.”

“I heard what she said, Tal, I was there,” he gritted out, thinking back to it.

“Yes, but did you see what those words did to her? The battle she fought within herself? There was no triumph in this… not for any of us,” I added bitterly.

“I know that,” was his curt reply.

“Good, then I suggest you cling on to that knowledge like I do, after all, she believes we have been bewitched into loving her and she will be the only one to cling on to the memories of it being real for her.”

“Then she will soon know the truth,” Victor stated firmly, that knowing tick of annoyance jumping at his jawline.

“That she will, just as soon as we find her.”

My brother’s shoulders slumped after he tried ringing her for the tenth time but without joy.

“She really believes what she did last night was wrong… like some fucking crime against us!” he snapped as it continued to play on his mind, making me grit my teeth.

“She gave in to temptation by giving herself to us last night, and we will soon prove to her that no crime was committed against us with that act,” I argued once more on her behalf.

“I swear if I find this witch, I am going to rip her fucking heart out and make her last few moments of life be to watch as I crush it in my hand!” my brother snarled, making me smile viciously.

“Now there is the twisted bloodthirsty brother I love,” I said, making him scoff a laugh.

“Yes, and speaking of being thirsty for blood, let’s hope the sweetest blood of all finally answers her fucking phone,” he said, tapping on the screen and putting it to his ear. It seemed the patience I had been eager for him to find had finally paid off.

Because our Little Peach was caught in our net as she…

Answered the phone.

I wasn’t sure if my brother felt better or worse after what transpired from the phone call, but it at the very least provided us with what we needed.

Her address.

The net was being pulled tighter around her until we could finally reel her in.

Of course, she only confirmed what she’d already told us when waking to find ourselves prisoner to her foolish actions.

And despite Victor’s attempts at trying to prove our combined fate with the use of our own witch, she still held herself back.

Still made the wrong decision by trusting another.

As for us, the Kings of this dark world we ruled, we knew the danger lying in wait for her. Because she was being used and any enemy against us would know just how valuable she was to us. Therefore, they wouldn’t think twice about using her as leverage or worse…

Revenge.

Hence why we wasted no time in getting to her apartment, one we hoped we would still find her at. However, what we found instead was her door being opened by a confused goth girl who clearly hadn’t been expecting company.

“Er… hey, Nessa’s not here at the moment, but I can tell her you stopped by,” the girl named Stacey said in a questioning tone that was easy to read as being uneasy.

And she was right to be, as this most definitely wasn’t a social call.

Her baggy black and white plaid PJ trousers hung low on her hips, whilst her tight black crop top had the words, ‘Witches don’t do Dishes’ written in white lettering.

A pair of demonic stuffed ghost slippers completed the casual goth look.

Now had this been an average day at the office, I would have had her throat in my hand scaring the information I wanted out of her. But considering this girl meant something to our Fated, then I knew we would need the talents of our second, Andras. He would get the information we needed out of her.

Which was why my brother nodded to Andras, who was behind us, and said,

“You know what we need, make it quick.”