Page 26 of The Vampire's Storm

Still, he knew Ari was the right man to do the job in Brayden’s absence. Ari at heart was a soldier. He understood hierarchy.

He had served his own brother for centuries.

And, after being absent from their family for hundreds of years, they were now building a strong foundation of trust.

This was him testing that trust.

Vincent might not be a warrior like his brother and uncle, but he was a leader. His gut said Ari could be trusted.

“Then that’s what we will do. While you sit on your damn throne and keep yourself alive,” Ari ground out, then walked over to the door.

He’s worried.

“I have no intention of picking up a sword,” Vincent said. “Unless it comes to that.”

“It won’t,” Ari said, fierce determination in his voice. “War it is, then. I’ll finalize our strategy and get the troops out the door.”

“Keep me informed.”

Ari nodded. As the door closed behind him, Vincent leaned back in his chair.

Brayden, get the fuck back here.

Telepathy had a distance restriction, so he was unlikely to hear him. If he could, he wasn’t answering anyone.

I know you need to get your girls, but you can’t do this on your own. I’ve sent Craig. Let him in.

He turned his chair and gazed out the large window to the dark of the night.

So many times in recent history, they’d almost exposed their entire race to humans.

It truly could happen now.

In a way, Vincent was ready. Perhaps more so than any other vampire on earth.

He’d planned to prepare the announcement to take the power away from Nikolay. The gangster planned to manufacture the serum and profit from eight billion humans, who would be in a state of fear and alarm when they learned vampires existed. However, the president of the United States, James Calder, had asked him to wait.

The UN leaders were not comfortable with the shock it would create, along with the state of the world right now.

Many nations were at war.

Vincent was over six hundred years old. There had never been a time in their history where one region of the world or other wasn’t trying to destroy another. But he'd agreed.

That was before Nikolay had taken Willow and Isabella.

They’d found video footage of the human confronting her in the hallway, then slipping out the side door to the waiting helicopter.

It was well executed.

Vincent was shocked the Russians would attempt to take on a household of vampire warriors. It came down to one thing: they’d hidden their power.

All because they were still trying to remain unseen by the human race.

It was becoming a hindrance.

Vampires were fast. They were strong. Their own well-executed plan could see them eliminate the Russian mafia and any of their partners.

So that’s what they would do.