Page 15 of The Brave (Black Arrowhead #6)

A tticus prepared two ready-made meals that Joy could pull from the fridge and heat up anytime she was hungry. Shortly before dinner, he received an urgent call from Tak. They’d captured one of the Vampires and needed his immediate assistance.

He was more than obliged to help out.

Leaving Joy alone wasn’t a concern. Even if the lab knew about her, they would never find her here, nor would they be able to enter the home without blasting it apart. The shutters were impenetrable, and earlier, he had shown her a hidden escape route in the wine cellar.

Atticus found her curled up in the oversized chair, knitting what appeared to be a tiny hat. “I’m going to run errands and pick up your medicine. I’ll be gone a few hours.” There was no need to worry her, and it wasn’t a total lie. At least not if you counted interrogation as an errand. “Is there anything you need?”

“I’m fine. I’ll probably turn in early,” she said before yawning.

Since his pilot was off duty, Atticus took the motorcycle and sped to the Arrowhead territory, where Lucian was waiting at the gate.

Catcher charged out of the brush, snarling and barking.

Lucian stepped between them. “He’s with us, Catcher. Calm your ass down.”

After sniffing the air and growling, Catcher trotted to the fence and checked things out while Atticus walked with Lucian up the long driveway. The gate was too far away from the homestead to see it.

“We caught him a few hours ago,” Lucian began. “I got a notification when a security alarm was tripped at the back end of the property. Usually it’s just a wild animal, but I reviewed the footage and didn’t see anything. The camera barely picked up movement since he was shadow walking. We didn’t have time to do anything, but some of us were already in place. Mel shot him.”

Atticus quirked a brow. “She was outside?”

Lucian snorted. “In a tree. You know Mel.”

That he did. He remembered the time Melody slept overnight in a graveyard on a dare when she was a teen. Her father’s wolf tracked her down and chased after her friends, who were sitting outside the gates, waiting for her to come out screaming. Then he trotted into the graveyard, and instead of making her go back home, he stayed with her through the night. She still got in trouble for listening to her friends, but her parents were unconventional and appreciated her spirited ways.

“How did she capture him?”

Lucian picked up the pace while scanning the property. “She has arrows made from impalement wood. Tak stationed the wolves all over, but Mel wanted to sit in a tree all day with her quiver and bow. Fell asleep at one point. When the Vampire got closer to the house, Lakota chased his ass down. We heard his wolf barking, and when I came outside, the security lights popped on.”

“That slowed him down,” Atticus said, pointing out the obvious that Vampires could only shadow walk in the shadows.

“He didn’t notice Mel standing in the tree.” Lucian chuckled. “She took him down with one shot.”

The security lights popped on when they neared the house.

Atticus sharpened his hearing. “Are there more?”

“Nope. Looks like that shithead might be a scout.”

As they ascended the porch steps, Atticus shook his head. “I’m surprised Tak hasn’t killed him.”

Lucian opened the door. “That remains to be seen.”

The house stirred from all corners. Upstairs, someone complained that she couldn’t sleep with a Vampire under the roof. He recognized Mercy’s voice in the kitchen, where she was repeating the same concern.

“Keep the lights on outside,” Atticus said. “If they’re only activated by motion, change the setting. And if you have any dark spots, you need to set up something temporarily even if it’s flashlights or lanterns.” They stopped in the hallway by the back door. “How many are guarding the property?”

“Five,” Tak answered from a doorway behind him. “That’s all I can spare. Catcher, Lakota, Krys, Montana, and Robyn.”

“What about Melody?”

Tak gripped the doorframe above his head. “Downstairs, guarding her prisoner. The rest are watching from the windows.” He locked eyes with Lucian. “I hear chatter in the house. Remind everyone they need to keep their voices down and be on alert. His friends might be coming to get him. Make sure they’re armed.”

Lucian gave a curt nod and pivoted away.

Atticus had never seen as many changes with packs as he had in recent years. Long ago, Shifters ruled the lands and lived in harmony with the wild. Eventually their numbers threatened other immortals, so to control them, other Breeds put them in bondage. Shifters became wary of everyone, including their own kind. Even after they reclaimed their freedom, it was hard to forget the past—hard to trust.

This pack intrigued him. They called themselves a pack, yet they weren’t all wolves. One had three legs, another was a horse. And then there was Lucian, a Chitah living among wolves. Tak came from a prominent tribe under well-respected leadership, so his options weren’t limited. It was clear he had a good head on his shoulders and chose his family wisely. Joy worried they might reject her, but he couldn’t imagine a more accepting pack, if not an unusual one.

“Follow me.” Tak turned around and ducked into the storage room. The hatch doors on the left revealed a staircase that descended to an underground tunnel. Food filled the wooden shelves on either side, most of it provisions they’d canned themselves and bulk items of rice and flour.

After turning right, Tak ducked beneath a door that opened into a small room. By the looks of the safe and desk, they managed their finances down here.

Melody was sitting cross-legged on the desk with a dagger in her hand. Her green eyes flicked up. “Hey, Atticus!”

Atticus frowned. “He’s paralyzed. What’s the knife for?”

“He tried to hurt Lakota.” She squeezed the handle. “Did they tell you what happened?”

“Some.”

She hopped off the table and kicked the Vampire, who was lying face down on the floor. “Lakota caught up with him and bit his arm. This idiot threw Lakota’s wolf fifty feet before he struck a tree.”

Tak suppressed a grin. “Lakota exaggerates. I’m certain it was ten feet.”

“I don’t care if it was only one foot.” Her lips pressed into a mulish line, and the young girl Atticus remembered was almost gone.

Tak put his hand on her shoulder. “I need you guarding the house. If his friends come looking for him?—”

“I’ll shoot them in the ass,” she finished while stalking out the door.

Before she made it out, Tak pivoted and snatched the blade from her hand. He gripped the wooden handle, the backward hook on top of the dagger promising more pain when it was removed.

Tak sheathed it. “How do you want to do this?”

“We have to remove the stake first. I’ll charm him.”

“Will he let you?”

Atticus gripped the man by his neck and hoisted him to his knees. “I’ll cut off his eyelids if he doesn’t comply.”

Tak grabbed a handful of the Vampire’s black hair and glowered at him. “Remind me to tell you a story about how my people once found a Vampire trespassing on our land. Did you know that Vampire blood makes excellent fertilizer?”

Atticus had done this work for years and knew how quickly a Vampire would react the second impalement wood was pulled out of them. Scratching his jaw, he asked, “You wouldn’t happen to have any heavy chains, would you?”

“That’ll hold him?”

“No, but it’ll slow him down from knocking your head off.”

Tak pursed his lips and gave the Vampire a critical gaze. “Don’t start without me. I have something that might work.”

After Tak left the room, Atticus squeezed the Vampire’s throat and lifted him so they were eye to eye. This one had an exceptionally narrow nose, which made his nostrils appear even larger. Atticus scratched his fingernail across the man’s forehead. When a bubble of blood formed, he swiped a drop and licked it. Vampires could gather information from blood. Emotions, memories, core facts—the skill level of blood reading varied from person to person.

Fear coated his tongue, but what gave him pause was the amount of violence and rage churning through the man’s veins. They needed to be careful with this interrogation. Angry men were unpredictable. Atticus brushed his tongue against the roof of his mouth, pushing the flavors around.

Hmm, he’s insecure. Not as strong as other Vampires, but fast.

“I see you had garlic toast this morning for breakfast. Quite the cliché breaker, aren’t we?”

Heavy footfalls drew closer, and a chain rattled.

Entering the room, Tak said, “Will this work?” He produced a heavy-duty chain with padlocks.

Atticus gave a curt nod.

Tak dropped the chain and then retrieved handcuffs from his back pocket. “Archer found these in Krys’s room.” After cuffing the Vampire’s wrists behind his back, Tak wrapped the heavy chain around him as tightly as possible before clicking the last padlock closed. “Do you want to charm him before or after I pull out the stake?”

“Before.” With one hand gripping the Vampire’s throat and the other lifting his eyelids, Atticus commanded, “Focus on me and listen closely to what I’m about to say. Cooperating is in your best interest. When we remove the stake, you’ll stand very still. Do not blink, and look at nothing else but me.”

Their prisoner remained under a trance. It wasn’t always easy to know with certainty since a Vampire’s pupils were fully dilated, but Atticus had charmed enough Vampires in his lifetime to know how to do it right.

“Don’t break the arrow,” he warned Tak. “That would be messy.”

Tak gave a sinister grin. “Needn’t worry. If that happens, we can dig it out with a garden shovel.”

If any large splinters were left behind, the Vampire would remain in a paralyzed state. But after a look at the smooth polish on the arrow, that wouldn’t be an issue.

Tak gripped the arrow and looked at Atticus. “Ready?”

Atticus lowered his hand and braced himself. With a hard thrust, Tak unexpectedly pushed most of the arrow through the front, causing Atticus to jump back a step.

While still maintaining eye contact with the prisoner, Atticus muttered, “I wasn’t expecting that.”

Tak reached around the man and gripped the tip. “It’s a broadhead. I don’t want blood all over Mercy’s office, and it comes out cleaner this way. The fletchings will hurt though. What happens if one of them breaks off inside him? They’re plastic.”

“His body will push it out. Eventually.”

Tak yanked the arrow, and it made a sickening sound when it pulled free.

The wound slowly sealed up while the Vampire maintained a catatonic expression.

Tak shivered. “I’ll never get over how creepy that is.” He then pressed the tip of the bloody arrow against their captive’s neck in case the charming magic didn’t hold.

Atticus wasn’t comfortable with Tak’s proximity, but it was pointless to argue with an alpha. While maintaining eye contact with the Vampire, he began the interrogation. “What’s your name?”

“Randolph Clay,” the man replied, his voice flat with a suggestion of an accent.

“Why were you trespassing on this land?”

“To kill the Shifter who goes by the name Salem Lockwood.”

The accent was definitely British but too muddled to pinpoint.

“Why?” He stared even deeper, holding the Vampire in his thrall.

“Because those are our orders.”

Atticus leaned closer. “No, I mean why not scrub his memories instead? Wouldn’t that be less dangerous and easier to accomplish?”

“The boss doesn’t want him alive. No one leaves alive.”

“What was his crime?”

“He worked at the lab. They want him dead for releasing the test subjects and fleeing.”

“He’s just a runner,” Atticus said to Tak without breaking eye contact with Randolph. “Men like him don’t make the decisions; they follow orders.” Then he redirected his words to the Vampire. “Randolph, how many men accompanied you on this mission?”

“Two.”

“Do you report back to anyone?”

“I don’t.”

Pressure built in his fangs as his temper rose. “And where are your companions currently?”

“Because I didn’t return, they would have gone back to the cabins and given me until morning to see if I completed the job.”

Tak rubbed his chin. “What cabins?”

Atticus heard the Vampire’s heart rattling like a panicked bird in a cage. Though he had no control over his actions, the Vampire realized he was divulging sensitive information.

Atticus considered what was in the area. “Do you mean Wildflower Cabins?”

“Yes.”

Atticus shifted his attention to Tak. “I’m familiar with them. It’s a bed-and-breakfast five miles south. Do you know where that alpaca farm is?”

Tak nodded. “I rode out that way once. The road forks, and all those weird critters are on the left. They spat at me and Luna.”

“The bed-and-breakfast is a mile past that and to the right. It’s Breed only, so there aren’t any signs except Private Property . How do you wish to handle it?”

“I’ll send my wolves.”

“Do you have any friends you trust who can back you up?”

Tak scoffed. “For two Vampires? Nothing we can’t handle. Plus we have Mel with her bow.”

Atticus leaned in closer to question their captive. “Were you given any other orders?”

“Kill the Shifter.”

“No one else?”

“And anyone who gets in the way.”

Atticus breathed a sigh of relief. They weren’t aware of Joy, but as long as this organization kept hunting Salem, it was only a matter of time before they found out. “If you plan to act, better do it now,” he told Tak. “I’ll finish up here.”

Tak stared daggers at the Vampire, who was oblivious to his presence.

Atticus stroked the chain with his index finger. “Do you need him alive?”

“He trespassed on my land to kill my pack. That gives me the right to decide punishment.”

“Are you thinking of turning them in?”

Tak adjusted his braid. “I don’t want anyone focusing on Salem’s history. It would ruin his reputation in this town. I can protect my pack from enemies but not town gossip. I have all I need.” He leaned down and narrowed his eyes at the Vampire. “I’d like nothing more than to gut you with my tribal knife, but I have work to do, and you’re going to give us more information. Aren’t you?”

Atticus tilted his head, still holding the Vampire’s mind. “Might I borrow your knife?”

Tak removed the dagger affixed to his belt and turned it around, offering the handle to him. “Don’t get blood on Mercy’s desk. There’s a roll of plastic just outside the room on the right-hand shelf. Let me know when you’re done.”

Atticus raised his hand to get Tak’s attention before he stepped out. “You might want to turn the music on lest you frighten the women.”

“I’ve got just the song.”

Atticus planned to extract as much information as he could before finishing the guy off the way he deserved. Tak’s heavy footfalls ascended the steps and crossed the house. Moments later, a male singer whispered, “Let the bodies hit the floor” and then screamed through the speakers, rattling the ceiling.

Atticus tuned out the music and carved a bloody trail in the Vampire’s cheek. “Now, where were we?”