Page 41 of Fated In Blood (Nocturne Vampire Clan #1)

41

BLAKE

T en minutes later I crouched in the shadows of the trees, white-hot fury spreading through me like caustic poison.

They had Evangeline staked out in an open field, dried blood crusting her shackled wrists, an open gash on her forehead, and a black eye blooming beneath her tangled hair.

She’d either fought like a demon or they’d beaten her, and my anger coalesced down into a dark, pulsing seed of hate. I was going to paint this entire fucking compound with their blood.

I ground my teeth together. “We have to get her free.”

“That will take time,” Rohr’s sharp eyes scanned the field again. “They’ve used iron to chain her and those rods are driven four feet into the ground. We can’t break the shackles without hurting her more than she already is. You go charging in and neither of you will survive.”

Solid advice, but I didn’t care.

There also were a dozen snipers in the tree line, equipped with long-range rifles and silver bullets, likely filled with a cocktail of chemicals to eat us from the inside out in case they missed the headshot. We were a quarter mile away, but I sensed another twenty pairs of eyes watching, waiting for us to take the bait.

“There’s someone—something--else here.” Riordan sounded worried. “But I can’t get a read on what I’m sensing. They aren’t human, that’s for sure.”

“I feel them, too.” I blew out a shaky breath. The presence moved quickly, staying well outside the perimeter. Possibly unrelated, but…I didn’t believe in coincidences.

Her family did this. If Silas was capable of such depravity against his own child…how much pain had Evie endured before her mother had gone on the run? Another wave of shame hit me, that place beneath my heart twisting like I’d been flayed wide open.

I smelled the reek of Silverwoods all around us, along with a shit ton of human testosterone and gunpowder. They’d hired mercenaries for backup. Thirty, maybe more.

“We need help, Blake.” Riordan gazed at the scene, his face wiped of all emotion, eyes clear and steady. “With only two of us, I can’t buy you enough time to get in and out. Those snipers will pick you both off before you free her from those shackles.”

Evangeline’s head lolled to the side, fresh blood running down her neck and soaking the collar of her shirt beneath the leather jacket.

“You’re not wrong, but I’m going in anyway. We can’t wait, Rohr.”

She was fading, her heart pumping slower and slower, eyes closed, every freckle visible against her white skin. I was going to lose her. I’d fallen for her, rejected her, and made her my enemy, all within the space of an hour. I’d wasted a week despising her, and now I was about to lose her forever.

I didn’t think I could hate the Silverwoods any more intensely, but seeing what Silas had done to his own daughter… loathing solidified into violence, vengeance screaming in my veins.

“Do you think she managed to find the dagger?” Riordan wondered softly, staring across the field at Evangeline, eyes narrowed in concentration.

“I don’t give a good goddamn about the dagger.” I growled, flexing my sweaty hands, dying to wrap them around Silas’s scrawny throat.

Rohr surveyed the scene once more before shaking his head. “What we need is a distraction.”

Evangeline . When I spoke, her eyes fluttered and my heart raced in fear, wondering if she’d wake back up.

Little slayer, stop pretending you’re asleep . I put a twist of amusement into the name and her bruised lips twitched. Riordan and I are here. We’re going to get you out of there, but we need to pull your father’s attention elsewhere. Any ideas?

Silas would do anything to protect his precious house. Just past those trees. Her voice was dull, every word slurred.

Good. That’s good. Hang on, Evie. While Rohr works his magic, I’ll get you out of there.

Burn it down. If you do anything for me, burn that fucking house to the ground.

A picture flashed through my head of a regal mansion with eight pillars and a massive Doric roof. The same roof looming just beyond a grove of hickory trees.

“You heard the lady.” I said viciously. “Torch that fucker.”

The words were no sooner out of my mouth than Riordan vanished, leaving me to watch Evangeline sag against her bonds, those cruelly sharp shackles slicing deeper into her wrists. There was so much blood dripping off her body I didn’t see how she could still be alive.

Seeing her helpless…

I shuddered, uncut, merciless fury charging through me.

My magic bucked and roiled, clawing to escape. To ravage. To purge. I yanked the darkness back, forced it to heel .

My power did not distinguish between friend and foe. Yes, I could decimate this field—this entire area—with a snap of my fingers, but no one would escape the brutal frenzy.

And I would rather die than harm a hair on Evangeline Silverwood’s head. I’d nurse her back to health, then fall on my knees to beg her forgiveness for being a complete and utter ass.

Above the trees, a plume of dark gray smoke rose from the roof of the house, the exact color as the sun-drenched morning clouds. Hang on, Evie. Another minute and I’ll have you out of those shackles.

Faster than should be possible, billowing smoke turned to consuming flames, and every eye turned away from Evangeline and toward White Chapel as the house exploded into a roaring fireball that shook the ground beneath me.

I closed my eyes, smiled, and sent a mental image to Evie.

Your wish is our command. Riordan’s gone above and beyond.

Men dropped from trees and raced toward the fire, streaking across the grass and hopping fences, weapons bouncing erratically, but I still felt a singular presence…there. A dark form waited, half hidden in the shadows opposite me.

I sensed infinite patience, like a spider waiting for the fly to flounder into his net.

Silas, most likely, or Alistair, was still watching, waiting for his prey to appear, despite White Chapel turning to ash five hundred feet away.

I ground my teeth together. They were the ones who killed Cassmira.

Who murdered my sire and dam. And they were right fucking there.

Some feral part of me demanded I hunt them down and settle that score, but even that vengeful urge became secondary as I focused on the female before me, whose fate seemed intrinsically tied to mine.

My heart softened, my soul splintering into a thousand pieces as I watched her head sink lower, her heartbeats fading by the minute. I couldn’t lose her.

Revenge could wait for another day.

Evangeline was all that mattered.

A horrific crack broke the morning silence as the roof collapsed with a thundering crash, sending up another shower of sparks and flames. Thick black smoke threaded through the trees, rolling across the field and straight toward Evangeline. Sirens blared in the distance, too far away for human hearing to pick up, but they were coming.

If I knew Silas—and I did—there would be at least two snipers holding their positions with orders to drop me but not kill me. No, Silas Silverwood liked to take his time with his victims, drawing out their agony, much like Evangeline had done with Spencer.

The thought sickened me, imagining her as a child, twisted and corrupted by these pathetic monsters who imagined themselves as crusaders.

Choking black smoke tore across the grass, obscuring my vision.

I swallowed, wet my dry mouth, and gathered my resolve. One jump to her side. Break the shackles free of those anchors, scoop her up, and we’d be gone. Three, five seconds at most.

I prayed the smoke was too thick to give the snipers clear line of sight, prayed they needed longer than five seconds to line up their shot. but even if they took me down, she still had Riordan to save her.

Blake.

Her voice was weak, like a whisper in a storm. The dagger.

I don’t give a shit about the dagger. Once you’re safe, we’ll sift through the ashes if we have to, but right now ? —

Left it by the house. South side. Buried. Don’t let my father get it back.

I rolled forward onto the balls of my feet, gathering my magic, a sweep of cold wrapping around me as I prepared to dematerialize. Purpose flooded through me in a rush of adrenaline and hope. I’m coming, Evangeline. I’m getting you out of there .

I thought I would be her hero.

But Malachi got there first.