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CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

MADS

Ender is quite restless when he sleeps but it seems like after I woke him, his sleep evened out. He tried to pretend he never fully woke up, though I could tell it took him a while to drift back off.

After that, we both manage to sleep soundly until the door opens around six and Rylee creeps in. She scrutinizes us for a long moment, likely wondering why Ender is in my bed before deciding fuck it and climbing in. She tramples Ender’s body before flopping down, half on top of him.

“Rylee, don’t elbow me,” he groans.

“I didn’t!” she says as she then sets her cat on Ender’s head. Ender looks even less pleased by that, but Rylee is already dead asleep, and he sighs before trying to move the cat so he can go back to sleep himself.

It’s all quite adorable, even if Ender doesn’t seem to think it is… not that I can blame him after the elbowed assault.

When we wake up again, it’s closer to eight. Rylee is still dead to the world, but her cat has wandered off to find food.

“Do you like that hand in your face?” I whisper as Ender wears Rylee’s hand like a face mask.

Ender pushes Rylee’s hand out of his eyeball with a sigh. “I don’t understand why she has to fling her limbs all about when she sleeps. Why can’t her arms and legs just stay close to herself? And why does she flip and flop so much?”

I grin because I found it quite cute.

“You are only grinning because you haven’t been punched in the eyeball,” he says. “Let’s get up. I have shit to murder.”

“You feel up to it?”

“I feel back to normal now,” he assures me.

I slide out and he climbs out on my side so Rylee can keep sleeping.

Since his clothes for the day are in his room, he quietly leaves to retrieve them.

I grab mine before slipping out so I don’t wake Rylee and because I’d rather get dressed in the same bathroom as Ender.

I find him going into the bathroom across the hall from his bedroom, so I slip in after him.

Shutting the door behind me, I head over to him as he drops his shirt and sweats.

I slide into the perfect place behind him and run my hands over his chest.

“Hmm… dealing with evil guys should be left to others,” I say as I kiss his neck.

“You are partly an evil guy in this,” he reminds me.

“That’s true. But maybe I’m on vacation from being evil?”

“You fit the mad scientist role quite well.”

“Thank you.”

“You live in London, right?”

“I do. But I have no ties to it anymore,” I say. “I left my job. I left my life… after this is all over and I hang up my mad scientist role… I don’t exactly know what I’m going to do.”

“Were you born in England?”

“Denmark, actually. I lived there until I was about seven, then moved to England. My mother got a job there. You?”

“I’ve lived all over Europe and the US, but I was born in Spain before my brother and I left to follow a dream of his.

After I escaped Abel, at first I just spent time eluding him.

Once I felt strong enough that I could possibly kill Abel, I followed Watson’s trail over here, believing that Watson could lead me to him. ”

“Where do you see yourself living after all of this?” I ask curiously.

“I don’t know. It seems so far from reality that it’s hard to imagine where I would live. Maybe I’d let Rylee decide. As long as it’s not in Orin’s house… assuming the VRC doesn’t toss me in prison if I manage to live.”

“I won’t let them.”

“Oh? You’re going to fight for me?” he asks. “I would love to see you brawl Marcus.”

“I wasn’t going to brawl him with my hands, but I am still a council member, believe it or not.”

I set my chin on Ender’s shoulder and close my eyes, really not wanting to let him go.

He pushes my head back and I sigh, disappointed until I realize he’s done it so he can turn and face me.

He pushes me against the wall and kisses me.

“And when I’m done dealing with Abel, I’m going to fuck you. Alright?”

This sounds more than fine to me. “Very much alright.”

“Good.”

“Can I have a kiss while I wait?”

“You’re awfully needy,” he says but doesn’t even hesitate before kissing me. This man can make me go weak from how fucking good his kisses are. I feel hypnotized by it and easily get lost in it before he pulls back, ending that fun.

“Only one kiss?”

Ender eyes me. “You deserve a second one after bullying me into sleeping in the same bed as you last night?”

“Probably not.”

He shakes his head with a grin before giving me a quick kiss and pulling on his clothes. Dressed, we head out to the dining room where Orin is staring at his phone. “Morning. There’s some blood if you need some.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” I say, feeling like I might be overindulging since nearly dying of blood loss. I quickly retrieve some blood and barely make it to the table before cracking it open.

“You two look a bit more alive this morning,” Finn comments as he comes in.

“I feel alive,” I say as I chug the blood.

“You know we can get you more, right? Like there’s a whole fridge full. You don’t have to choke yourself,” Finn assures me.

“Ah. Ha ha. Right. Going days with little blood has made me a bit… gluttonous.”

“I bet.”

Marcus walks in just as I’m restraining myself from licking the bottle clean.

“This one time Finn missed dinner and he acted like he was going to expire right there. There was some ‘I’m not going to make it’ and also some ‘Just because I’m your portable juice box, you think you can starve me to death.

’ I mostly liked how he acted like it was my fault, even though it definitely wasn’t. ”

“Right?” Finn says, not at all refuting this.

“What are our plans for today?” Orin asks.

“Did anyone manage to get me more supplies? If so, we can go back to the university and I could make a few more… things?” I ask.

“I feel like, as the police, we’re not supposed to encourage you to make a few more… things?” Finn says. “Antidote is fine but ‘things’ might not be fine.”

“I’m okay with it,” Marcus states.

“Of course you’re okay with it. You were going to murder Grady inside the prison while on camera with multiple eyewitnesses. You’re the very last person I would ask about anything pertaining to legalities.”

“Understandable,” Marcus says as Alexei and Claude join us. “Ask Alexei, then. Alexei, would you permit Mads to make more bombs?”

“I don’t see why not.”

Finn throws up his hands. “‘Why not’ is because we’re the police!”

“Oh. Right…” Alexei thinks for a second before shrugging. “Yeah, seems fine to me.”

“We’re heading into the VRC. You two should stay here. Mads, are you close to anyone else on the council? Someone you could guarantee is on your side and not swayed by Abel?” Finn asks.

I hesitate, but honestly, the only one I ever interacted with was Vivian. And half the time I couldn’t tell whether she was working with me or using me. She wasn’t a bad woman, but it was clear she had her purpose and would do whatever it took to reach it.

“I don’t know that there is anyone I would trust, no… like… Leona is nice, but she’s obviously out to do what Callum wants. Callum is very self-centered, but that makes me think that he likely isn’t working with Abel. I really don’t know, though. I will reach out to them and see what comes of it.”

“What about Arrington? Have you interacted with him much?” Finn asks.

“Very little. He’s always kind of… there. My guess is out of anyone, he’d be the one feeding information to Abel.”

“He did try to make us feel like you and Vivian were up to something.”

“I mean… we were, but yeah, if he wanted to get you to look deeper into me in the hope of finding me, that makes sense.”

“Don’t agree to meet with any of them without us being there,” Finn says as Marcus’s phone begins to ring.

He answers it, but the way he stills tells me that something is wrong. “We’re heading there now.” Marcus turns to us. “There’s been an attack at the VRC. We have to go now.”

Though every person’s help matters, we leave Orin here with Rylee, feeling like that’s the safest place for her. If Abel took Rylee… he might get a hold of Ender, who adores her enough that I’m afraid he’d do something stupid to get her back. And without Ender, we might not win this fight.

Marcus drives as fast as he can to the VRC, having lost the call with DeGray, the person he’d been talking to.

I can tell that everyone is tense, and I remind them again of what to do with the antidote if they have to use it.

When we arrive, he drives right up to the front door and rushes out as we quickly follow him, but I’m wondering if whoever was here is already gone.

The moment I’m inside the door, I can smell blood and it makes me feel uneasy. I’ve done things I’m not quite proud of, but I’m not sure how long it’ll take me to get used to death.

Finn hurries over to a human woman lying on the floor. She’s bleeding excessively from a gash on her side and looks visibly relieved when she sees us enter.

“They just attacked us. They just…” She grits her teeth and holds her side as a whimper escapes her. “They just fucking attacked us.”

“Are they still here?”

“I don’t know.”

The sirens are sounding from an ambulance, so Finn assures her they’ll be in to help her shortly before moving on with Marcus. I know she doesn’t want any of us to leave her, but we have to stop them if they’re still here.

We hurry into the main part of the department and see that it has been torn apart. There are two bodies near the door, desks overturned, and a vampire has been staked to the wall with what looks like part of a chair driven through his heart.

“Marcus!” DeGray yells from across the room.

“Where’s Brooks?” Marcus asks after looking around without finding him.

“He got shot. He’s… he’s not doing well,” DeGray says.

“Where is he?” I ask as I head toward DeGray.

“Are they gone?” Finn asks since I don’t see any vampires lingering.

“They just moved out. They haven’t been gone long.”