Page 13 of His Retribution

"Havok, brother, I did not expect to—"

Milos cuts him off. "Holy shit, Vok. When was the last time you showered? Or changed your clothes?"

I roll my eyes.

Insolent little shit.

"Since Andrej has taken it upon himself to make sure I feed often enough to avoid the atrocities that can result from not, perhaps you'd like to monitor my hygiene practices? Maybe you can pick out my clothing once you're done scrubbing my balls? I'm sure Casey would love to kiss you once you've licked my asshole clean."

Kai's face twists in disgust.

Andrej scowls impossibly harder.

Karel covers his laughter by repeatedly clearing his throat all while Milos gapes at me.

For about two point five seconds before he barks out a laugh worthy of shaking the windows.

Despite everything, Andrej finding me in the Alps all those months ago probably saved my life, if not definitely my sanity.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still miserable, angry, have a vendetta the size of Jupiter to fulfill, and my heart is completely broken over my loss, but living the way I was had sent me into a madness I may not have returned from and that... that would have dishonored the memory of my love, my light, tenfold.

It's little moments like this that remind me to keep going, though, to continue my search so that I can avenge her as well as hold on to the remnants of the male she vowed to love for all time, in the quiet of her bedroom.

If Andrej hadn't found me when he did, that male would have finally succumbed to his hate, and once I killed my grandfather there would have been nothing left for her to come back to.

I stride toward the door. "Now if you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I have to roll around in some horse shit before my hunt later this evening."

And I need to speak to my love, tell my light that I may finally, truly be close to setting her free. If my thoughts are correct and Ivan is seeking out the vampire king, it will only be a matter of time before I can slaughter him, rip out his throat with my bare hands, and finally bring both of us peace.

I will set us both free.

So Lost

Ashland is a super cute town.

Quiet. Peaceful. Secluded.

The scenery is amazing with all the trees and mountains; a natural beauty that seems to just shoot out of the ground and obviously must be in the drinking water.

Seriously, everyone is so good looking, at least everyone I've met so far, and I can't say it's a total deterrent from that whole planting roots thing. Especially since everyone has been so fucking nice to me.

When I jolted from five minutes of sleep this morning, I decided to venture into town for a cup of coffee. Krazy Kady's was happening, and when I went in I was immediately struck by the prettiest women behind the counter. One with almost orange hair and greenish-gold eyes sitting behind cat-eye glasses—her name tag said Grace—and a blonde with blue-green eyes—Allie according to her tag—and both of them could have been models. They were also ridiculously nice, almost too nice, even with the way they stared at me.

From there I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things and Mrs. Caldwell was working. Apparently, she and her husband own the store as well as a huge ranch on the outside of town, and for a woman I'd peg to be around her early thirties solely based on her gushing about her five kids, she was a total knockout. Definitely wouldn't have guessed she had multiple babies based on her slim build.

After that, I took myself to a local park and just people watched. Everyone smiled and waved. Some people even came up and introduced themselves; like Janet Spruce, the town librarian, and Josh Adler, the superintendent of the schools. And once again, they were both super good looking.

I know it's silly to be so self-conscious, especially when I look like a boho bum totally by choice, but honestly, I dress in a way that is comfortable, and maybe to take the attention away from my face.

Which I clearly need to work on because everyone still stares.

My eyes are strange.

Different. Unique. Odd.

The blue is so intense, so bright that it looks neon, but then I have those rings around my irises and pupils that are actually a powder blue color, but against the electric cerulean they look white. Throw in my jagged pupils that don't dilate normally, and my eyeballs have a tendency to make people gawk.

And that's not to mention everything else that is me.