Page 61 of Taste of Blood

“Anything you say.”

Dante calls out to his senior guard, Roland, who’s waiting outside the door. He pokes his head in the room.

“Yeah, boss?”

“Gather the men. That means everyone. I don’t care what they’re doing. This is top priority.”

“You got it, boss.” He ducks back out and Dante turns his attention back to me.

“You trust this intel?”

“Asher does, and that’s good enough for me.”

Regardless of our personal issues, Asher has never steered me wrong when it comes to my personal safety. He insists Elaine is the best at what she does, so I’m taking him at his word. I’m assuming she’s a hacker of some sort that Asher brought into his fold. I always knew he played it loose when it came to business, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he had criminals working for him. He believes in using any advantage he can get. I find it ironic that he looks down on Dante when they’re cut from the same cloth.

“I thought you and Asher were over.”

I shrug; so did I. “It’s complicated.”

He nods. “It usually is. Still, I’m glad you had him to look after you.”

I still haven’t come to terms with why I went to Asher when I was injured, or what exactly is our dynamic now. I’m not going to deny I crave him sexually, nor will I dismiss the fact that he’s gone out of his way to accommodate me. Twice now he’s taken care of me without asking for anything in return.

Well, other than a good fuck, but I got as much out of that as he did.

But I’m still not ready to let go of my suspicions. It could all be an act.

It takes Roland about an hour to locate everyone and get them back to the warehouse. I spend the time doing mindless shit like sharpening my knife and helping Zeke prepare the bolts for the crossbows. We may not be going in yet, but we still want to be ready in case things go sideways.

When all the men are finally present, Dante lays out the plan and gives everyone their assignments. Those who aren’t in the vans, on the roof, or patrolling the streets are to remain in the warehouse on standby. No one goes solo, and under no circumstances is anyone to engage the Outliers without backup.

“I want full communication,” Dante insists. “Use the comms and check in every fifteen minutes. And report anything suspicious, no matter how trivial it may seem. This guy could be anyone.”

That’s the part that’s been bothering me the most. We have no idea who the Python is, what he looks like, or how much power he wields. What if he’s not a vamp at all? What if he’s a mage? Those men we fought in the alley were not your typical Outliers. Unlike the two clowns we picked up outside Giovanni’s, these guys were trained and disciplined, like they had been doing this for a long time. Makes me wonder how long the Python has been planning this. Has he been operating right here under our noses for years? Or did he come from somewhere else?

Gio rides in the first van with two of Dante’s personal guards. I’m assigned to the second van with Zeke and Uno, who I’ve never worked with before. Apparently he’s a chemist, an expert in coming up with creative ways to incapacitate a vampire. It was his concoction we filled the crossbow bolts with before loading them.

“It’ll take them down immediately and keep them out for hours,” he assures me with a chilling smile. “Plenty of time for some quality torture. Now if you want something more permanent, I have that as well.”

“What do you mean?”

“LTS3.0. Lifeblood Termination Serum. It’s a chemical that will incinerate them from the inside out.”

“You mean, like burn them?”

He nods. “Better than fire.”

“You’ve killed vampires like that before?”

“I have. It’s not pleasant.”

No, I don’t imagine it is. And the fact that he talks about it so casually gives me the creeps. At least he’s on our side. When I ask Zeke about him, he tells me he recently transferred here from a Guild in Japan. I’d heard about some of them experimenting with various forms of torture. I imagine Dante saw his arrival as a coup.

“This Guild,” I ask Zeke. “Was it like a death squad?”

“Not sure. He doesn’t talk about it much.”

“Have you worked with him before?”