Page 65 of Vampire so Virtuous (Boston Vampires #1)

“Excuse me, sir. I apologize for waking you, but I believe this matter needs your attention.”

Antoine stirred groggily and checked the time. “I’ve had three hours sleep, Marcel, and it’s barely dusk.”

“Technically, sir, dusk fell twenty-three minutes ago. More than enough, given how early you’ve been rising of late.”

Antoine grimaced. “What is it?”

“Reports from our thralls, sir. Attacks in Lower Allston, Longwood, Brighton—”

Antoine was already up, reaching for his jeans.

“—Mission Hill, Woodland Heath, and Chestnut Hill, sir.”

“That’s everywhere.” He pulled his shirt on.

“And all within the last ten minutes, sir.”

“Coordinated,” Antoine said.

“Indeed. But light, according to the reports that have come in. We have sustained minimal casualties.”

Antoine reached for Cally down their link, and it pulled him toward central Boston. He reached for his phone and called Gabe.

Six minutes later, he was downstairs with Noah and Zoey. “Gabe’s sending us some thralls.”

“Nice of him,” Noah drawled, “but so far we don’t need them.”

“Don’t get cocky,” Zoey cautioned. “They have a lot more than we do.”

Noah barked a laugh. “They might have more, but ours are better.”

“Wishful thinking,” Zoey said, scratching at the bandage around her forearm. “Some of theirs will have military experience too.”

“Nevertheless, what Noah says may be true,” Marcel replied. “So far, we have not sustained losses, and the reports are that our thralls are stronger.”

Noah shot a finger gun at Marcel. “Antoine’s stronger than Minh, right? So it makes sense we’re stronger than his thralls?”

“Maybe,” Antoine said. “But Zoey’s correct. Overconfidence breeds mistakes.” He pulled his coat on. “Is there any sign of Minh yet? ”

“No, sir,” Marcel reported, scanning the laptop before him. Then he winced. “A new update. We’ve lost Chestnut Hill. A vampire has joined the thralls there, but it is not Minh.”

“Matteo,” Antoine said. “Then I’ll start there.”

“What about us?” Noah asked.

“You and Zoey aren’t yet at full strength. Stay here.” Antoine turned to Marcel. “Make sure they know how the house works.”

“I already have, sir. They are fully versed in the defenses.”

Antoine gripped Marcel’s shoulder. “If thralls come here, you’re to go straight to the panic room. If you don’t, I’ll have Noah carry you there, and to hell with your dignity.”

“I’m far too old to care about my dignity.”

“We both know that’s not true, so consider yourself threatened.”

He nodded to Noah and Zoey, and headed for the garage.

At least Cally was safe with Gabe. One less distraction.

As he climbed into the Audi, he reached out to his thralls at Chestnut Hill.

“ Tom. Talk to me. ”

“We lost Dan and Liz. Joseph and I are falling back. Nine thralls, and a vamp.”

Merde. “Where are you?” He sped through Fisher Hill and down to join Route 9.

“Still in the woods north of the pond.”

Two miles away. “Be with you in five minutes. Don’t engage.” Traffic was heavier heading in than out. Antoine took advantage, weaving through gaps with the Audi’s sharp acceleration.

“They’ve got silenced MP5s. We won’t last in a firefight.”

“Then get out of there.” He checked the GPS and grinned. “I’m going to come at them from behind.”

“Happy hunting.”

Two minutes later, he swung into the parking lot that bordered Hammond Pond.

It was a simple matter to walk off into the trees—out of sight of the chattel shuffling through their shopping routines—to gather his shadows and disappear. Then he leaped over the lake and was off through the park, heading swiftly for Tom.

“ Update?”

“Waiting in the trees across the railway tracks. Open fields of fire.”

“Pull back. I’m here. ”

There was a sense of reluctance through the bond, then a curt, “Acknowledged.”

Antoine took a look through Tom’s eyes, sensing his movement and the blur of trees. Joseph was near him, running smoothly as he leaped small bushes, jinking as he ran.

Antoine had already crossed the pond, landing lightly in a treetop on the far side. The branches forced him to shorten his leaps. He ran swiftly from one tree to the next, grimacing as his mind pointed out the squirrel similarities.

But it paid when he found the first of Matteo’s thralls. The woman sensed nothing. Antoine dropped on her, twisted her neck with a sharp crack, and was gone before the others noticed. He wedged her sightless body in the vee between trunk and branch, and paused to listen.

Two more to his left. Both froze, weapons raised, scanning for the source of the noise.

Antoine dropped down between them, twisting the first one’s head with a crunch.

The second was fast, raising his silenced machine gun—but Antoine was faster, vanishing behind him just as it went off.

He snapped the thrall’s neck. The weapon kicked, bullets thudding into the trees with a muffled, sharp, thump-thump-thump.

Three .

“Behind us!”

“Group up—now!”

The shouts came swiftly, then another voice—calm, quiet, touched with an Italian lilt. “Is that you, Antoine?”

Matteo .

As far as Antoine knew, the other vampire was about his age, and should’ve been close to his power. But that was before he’d fed on Minh… and Cally.

Still, armed thralls couldn’t be ignored. He wasn’t bulletproof. He’d heal—eventually—but the damage could be debilitating. Likely what Matteo was counting on.

Antoine swept up the dropped machine gun, regarding it with distaste. Yet it could help level the field. Then he noticed the grenade clipped to the dead thrall’s belt, like a dark green apple with a raised, thick stem, and ‘M67’ stenciled on the side.

Once more, he leaped into the trees, trusting to the elevation and his shadows to keep him obscured. Even trained thralls rarely checked above them .

It was easy to find those who were left. A group of six, fanning out around Matteo who stood in their center, weapons aimed outwards. Flattering, really. And almost too easy.

It had been decades since he’d thrown a grenade, but muscle memory—and Hollywood—would do the trick. Pull the pin, flick his wrist.

The lever sprung free with its distinctive plink .

Matteo’s head snapped up. The grenade was already airborne.

Antoine brought the machine gun to his shoulder, but the other vampire had already moved.

He let loose a spray of bullets, cutting through the thralls, not trying to kill but only to distract long enough for the grenade to arrive.

An instant later, the weapon was yanked from his hand, Matteo beside him in the tree.

Antoine let it go, bracing himself as his branch swayed. “Shouldn’t you be keeping my domain tranquil?”

As if to punctuate his question, the grenade exploded with concussive force in the center of the grouped thralls, shredding them with shrapnel. Two screamed in pain, the others silent, but neither vampire spared them a glance.

Matteo bared his fangs in a snarl. “The Curia should’ve let us clean house long ago. No one will miss you, Outcast.”

Hmm. Minh’s ally indeed .

The only warning was a slight tensing of his legs, then Matteo leaped forward, arms reaching out.

Yet for all the vampire’s age, his speed still wasn’t Antoine’s match.

Balanced on the branch, there were limited options, but he ducked beneath the other vampire’s flailing hands, grabbed two fistfuls of his clothing, then spun behind him and used the momentum to throw Matteo hard into the nearest branch.

The vamp struck with a sickening crunch, bouncing off to fall to the forest floor below, and Antoine was on him before he landed.

He rode Matteo down into the soft ground with a knee in his back, the impact enough to stun even the strongest thrall, but barely an inconvenience to either vampire.

Yet Matteo was pinned, unable to gain the leverage he needed to throw Antoine off.

Matteo bucked, twisting beneath him, and Antoine hit him with his mind-stun. On Minh, it had worked for a second or two, but Matteo just growled and shook it off.

Still, it gave Antoine the opening he needed. He yanked Matteo’s head back by his hair, slid an arm beneath his throat, and squeezed.

Matteo snarled, fingers scrabbling at Antoine’s face.

Antoine ducked his head, eyes squeezed shut, and pulled harder.

A snap like a gunshot echoed through the trees as Matteo’s neck gave way, and his body slumped.

But Antoine knew better than to think he was dead.

It was just another wound—one that would heal like any other.

Gritting his teeth, he braced himself for what needed to be done, and pulled, even as he forced his knee into Matteo’s back. With a sickening squelch, the vampire’s flesh tore, and then his head came away with a sudden jerk.

Antoine grimaced at the sensation, then tossed the head away, his hands and leather jacket warm with the vampire’s blood.

The weight of Matteo’s head in his hands had felt different.

The blood, too—darker, richer. He wiped his palms on his jeans, but they didn’t quite feel clean.

The Code was still there, a whisper in the back of his mind, even as the body lay still beneath him.

Rules had always been so easy, when you never questioned them.

“Because, my pet, rules are just rules.”

Yeah. And the Curia had changed them, with merely a wave of their hand.

“ Tom? It’s done. ”

“ We heard the explosion. Are you all right?”

“Fine. We’re going to need clean up here and fast—chattel will have heard the noise.”

“What of the vampire?”

Antoine pushed himself up, wiping his hands on his jeans, as if that could ever sufficiently clean them. “Dead, and in pieces.”

“Okay, Boss. Joe and I will take care of it.”

Antoine switched his focus. “Noah? Update?”

“Wait one.”

Antoine leaped back into the trees, heading for his car, and was by the pond when Noah spoke again. “Marcel says we’re holding in the other territories. No immediate threats.”

Antoine frowned. “It’s too easy.”

“Don’t know what to tell you, Boss. It’s quiet here. Worst was near Mission Hill, but the attacking thralls pulled back into Roxbury.”

“No sign of Minh? No other vampires?” Antoine leaped the lake, letting his shadows fade away as he reached the edge of the parking lot.

“Just the one at Chestnut Hill.”

He climbed into his car, still frowning. The thralls had pulled back into Roxbury? But that was Gabe’s territory .

Matteo’s voice came back to him. ‘No one will miss you, Outcast’— who was there to miss him, other than Gabe?

Antoine punched in his number as he spun the Audi around, speeding through the lot. A chattel leaped out of his way, hurling curses after him.

The line rang, echoing through the car, but there was no answer. He let it ring, pulling back onto Route 9 heading toward the city.

“Antoine, bit busy. What’s up?” Gabe sounded tense, and wind whistled down the line.

“There’s no threat in my territory,” Antoine said bluntly. “Minh isn’t here. Is he at yours?”

“No sign of him, but we’re getting our asses kicked.”

Damn. “We’ve been played, Gabe. I was the diversion. You’re the real target.”

“I could’ve told you that.”

“Where are you?”

“Top of South Tower.”

“What, South Station?”

“No, mine. Avery street. Above my penthouse.”

“Too many damn towers.” Antoine checked his GPS. “Half an hour away, but the traffic looks heavy.”

“It’s Boston, my friend. Of course it’s heavy. Try to get here within the hour? Maybe you can mop up the blood.”

The line went dead.

“Noah? Get all the thralls we have near Gabe’s territory to make for Avery Street. The rooftop.”

“Sure, Boss.”

His pulse quickened and he reached for the bond, confirming what he already knew as it pulled him east: Cally was at Avery Street. Gabe had said he was on top of the building? His mind rushed, tangling with images of her—vulnerable, exposed.

They couldn’t know. Could they? If someone went after her… It made his stomach twist in a way he hadn’t felt in decades.

He cursed, his teeth grinding as he forced himself to relax his grip on the wheel.

She wasn’t just his responsibility. Without her, he would not survive—but it wasn’t only that.

The thought of them taking her, using her against him, sent a sharp, unbidden anger through him.

That made her a weakness in more ways than one.

If they got to her, it would change everything.

It couldn’t be Belle. Could it? Belle would’ve killed them both by now if that was her goal. No, it was Minh—Minh and his damn schemes. Cally was just another piece. But no… she was more. She always had been.

Whatever trap Minh had planned, it had been triggered, and Gabe was exposed. If he fell, Cally would die too, whether or not she was the target.

How the hell had Minh learned they’d allied?

But the answer was obvious—they’d been careless at the meeting with the Curia.

Antoine wove through the traffic, ignoring the blaring horns. A car jerked aside to avoid him, triggering a four-car pileup in his rearview mirror.

The roads were too busy to make it in less than an hour, but darkness had fallen. He’d go as far as he could, then he’d abandon the car and take to the rooftops.