Page 13 of Vicious and Volatile (Vengeance and Venom #2)

T here has been plenty of uncertainty in my life. I didn’t know what to expect after my mother and sister were murdered. I didn’t know what to expect when Augustus locked me up. I didn’t know what to expect when Ares told me he couldn’t fake us anymore. I didn’t know what to expect after we found Ophelia.

I absolutely do not know what to expect from today.

Ares and I wait in the back room of a restaurant, one that Augustus owned, but now that he’s dead, I guess Ares owns? All of that mess remains to be sorted. I know there has to be a mountain that needs to be dealt with now that Augustus is gone. Too many things are happening all at once. One thing at a time, and maybe someday it will all be sorted, and life will feel less… dire.

There was a lot to consider when we made this call, about where to meet. We could have gone to them. I’ve never been to Boston before, but I’ve heard it’s nice. But Ares thought there was something to be said for meeting on our territory. It seemed unwise to invite them to our home, though it would have granted us the most privacy. A public place like a park might have made them the most comfortable, but the things we need to discuss shouldn’t be overheard.

So, this is the happy medium we decided to go with—a private room in a restaurant.

My heart jumps into my throat when a figure walks in the door, followed by two others.

A woman with brunette hair and dark, severe brows that match the dark look on her face. A man with nearly exactly the same dark brows, though he looks a lot less like he wants to off the whole world, and a pregnant, blonde woman with a calm and controlled expression.

“Thank you for coming,” Ares says as he stands and crosses the room. He extends his hand to the blonde woman since she’s the one who entered first. “I’m Ares.”

“Nice to meet you,” the blonde says, and I’m surprised when she speaks with a sweet, strong Southern accent. “I’m Elle. This is Duncan and Aleah Steele.”

“It’s nice to meet you all,” Ares says. “And this is my…” he hesitates, and I understand. A few weeks ago, he would have called me his fiancée, because that was the fake title. But now there’s no more reason to pretend. Though, I still wear the ring. Every day. But is girlfriend the right label? “Other half, Lana.”

That’ll work.

“Nice to meet you,” I say, stepping forward and shaking Elle’s hand, then Duncan’s, and finally Aleah’s.

“Wow,” Aleah says, her eyes fixed on me. “You have some supernatural control if you can sleep in the same bed as this one. She smells… fucking divine. ”

I blush instantly. She’s not the first or even the second vampire to tell me I smell good.

“Really?” Duncan says, looking at his cousin with annoyed disbelief. “You can’t just go and tell people they smell like something you want to eat.”

“You want me to lie?” Aleah asks, arching a brow as she folds her arms over her chest and looks at Duncan.

“Or just not say anything?” he suggests with his own arched eyebrow.

“Okay, you two, I think that’s just about enough,” Elle says, scowling at both of them with the patience of a mother. I’ve not really been around pregnant women all that much, but if I had to guess, I’d say she’s probably six months pregnant. But I know for sure she has a daughter already. I remember she’s two. “How about we get down to the reason you called us, Ares?”

“Yes,” he agrees, even as he glares darkly at Aleah. He doesn’t love any other vampires commenting on how I smell. “Will you have a seat?”

There’s something even and calming about Elle. Even though she’s human, she doesn’t feel any less capable than her two counterparts, and she’s actually shockingly delicate in her features and frame. But she doesn’t hesitate as she pulls out a chair at the table and sinks down into it.

As I take the seat across from her and get a closer look, I realize why she doesn’t seem fragile.

She’s wearing a light blue tank top. It’s flattering, and certainly appropriate for the weather. But it leaves all the flesh of her arms exposed—all her scars exposed.

There are a dozen bite marks there. Very clear cuts that could only have been made by teeth have left scars permanently on her skin. And on her left forearm, there is the shape of a cross carved into her. Not tattooed. I could never mistake it for a tattoo. That there was carved into her arm—brutally.

Holy shit. Who is Elle Dawes, really? And what is her story? What nightmares has she survived?

If she notices me observing her scars, Elle makes no indication of it. Her eyes slip to the leather-bound book lying on the table’s surface.

“You said this was going to be an ugly conversation,” Aleah says, staring Ares down as she takes a seat. “I’m not a fan of ugly conversations.”

I think of the story the Barons told of the Steele family. How they were a huge family, how they kind of ran New York City. But one night, an uncle went crazy and killed the whole family. Except for Aleah and Duncan. Aleah hunted down the uncle and took him out. No wonder Aleah doesn’t like ugly conversations.

“Look, the revelation of the House system and the fact that there are vampire Royals is very new to me,” Ares says honestly. It kind of surprises me that he’s admitting this. He doesn’t like looking out of the loop. “But from my understanding, it’s a House’s job to keep everyone in line. To take care of problems related to vampires.”

“What kind of problem are we talking about, Ares?” Elle asks. She doesn’t sound ruffled. Only prepared.

I think I aspire to be her someday.

Ares places his hand on the book and slides it in front of him. His eyes linger on its surface, a look of disgust in them. “My father wasn’t a good man. He was powerful. He was rich. And I thought I knew exactly how he got rich, but last month, I found out that I only knew part of his operation. ”

Ares’ eyes slide over to me. It’s the whole reason we met. I hate everything about what Augustus did, but without his trafficking operation, there’s no way Ares and I ever would have found each other.

“My best friend went missing in the middle of May,” I say, taking the lead on the parts that I triggered. “She’d gone to this party. It took me a bit, but I found another of those parties two weeks later. That’s when I found out it was a party for vampires to feed on people.”

“Dammit,” Duncan curses, shaking his head.

“Ares and I teamed up because he knew it was his father’s company hosting the parties,” I press on. “He knew something was up, but not what. Three weeks ago, we looked into one of his real estate purchases that didn’t make any sense. We found people locked up in cells in the basement. People who had gone to these parties.”

“You fucking kidding me?” Aleah says. Finally, she seems a little taken off guard. She looks disgusted.

Elle’s face pales.

Ares shakes his head. “He was selling these people. To other vampires.”

Duncan’s eyes flare red, and I hear the wooden arm of his chair crack as he squeezes it.

“He was trafficking people,” Elle says, her voice hoarse. And I see a chip in her calm expression, just a little bit.

Ares nods. “When we uncovered my father’s operation, he knew Lana and I had been there. He took Lana. He sold her to a vampire in Connecticut.”

Elle’s eyes flick to meet mine. Across the table, she reaches for my hand. There’s something a little haunted in her eyes. Something that tells me of the horrors of her own past. Something that makes me think she knows what it’s like to be a vampire’s prisoner.

I remember then what James told me about Elle’s daughter and how she came to be. The former Royal in charge of this area took Elle. He inseminated her against her will, forcing Elle to conceive his Royal child.

Elle knows exactly what it’s like to be a vampire’s prisoner.

Holy shit. This woman is a marvel.

“Ares found me eight days later,” I force myself to continue. My throat feels tight. I’m not usually one who likes to be touched by strangers, but there’s something incredibly comforting in Elle’s touch. “He took care of the man who bought me. Then he brought me home.”

“How’d he find you?” Aleah asks. Finally, she seems invested in the conversation, as if she now understands why they’re here.

“There was a record,” Ares says. He flips the book open to a random page. “It’s coded. It took me a while to figure it out. But I did. Since I brought Lana home, we’ve rescued three other women. But there are dozens more. In total, I’ve counted eighty-two transactions that have happened.”

Shit. I’ve never looked through the record. I never counted.

I’d expected twenty or so. That number alone is horrific, enough to make me feel very unguilty for the end Augustus met.

But eighty-two?

Fuck.

“So, you’re saying there are still seventy-eight people out there who are prisoners to vampires?” Duncan asks. He looks a little green.

Ares nods .

“And the sick bastard that did all this is your father?” Aleah asks, an accusing sneer creeping into her tone.

“Was,” Ares says coldly. He stares back at Aleah with unflinching nerve. He’s not going to let her talk down to him. “I killed him the day after I brought Lana home.”

That statement hangs heavy in the air for a few moments.

“Being a parent doesn’t automatically make you a good person,” Elle says, her voice a little hoarse sounding. When I look at her, there’s a darkness in her eyes that wasn’t there before.

Again, who the hell is Elle Dawes, and what is her story?

I wish I had her for three whole days so I could ask her all the details, so she could tell me everything about her from start to finish.

“No,” Ares says, the coldness in his voice matching Elle’s. “It doesn’t.”

“Is there anyone else involved in the operation?” Aleah says, moving past the heavy moment shared between Ares and Elle. “Anyone who might continue it?”

Ares shakes his head. “He had a couple of guys who worked for him, but neither of them are smart enough to continue this on their own. I’ve been watching them. One has already left Manhattan. The other doesn’t seem to know what to do with himself for the moment.”

“I’d like a name,” Aleah says calmly, coldly.

“Toby Masters,” Ares condemns his father’s employee without hesitation.

She doesn’t write it down, she simply nods.

Ares looks from her to Duncan and then to Elle. “I don’t have the manpower to go location to location rescuing these people,” he says. His fingers slide over the pages of the book. “But none of these people deserve to be in the situation they’re in.”

“We have resources,” Elle says. I love her already. She’s direct, to the point. There’s no bullshit with her. But she isn’t hard. Not like I am. Not like Aleah is. “Our situation with our House is unique. Our Royal might not be ready to take her rightful place, but we still have the full backing of King Cyrus. I can round up the help we would need.”

King.

That word came out of her mouth like it was nothing. Like she was simply talking about a mayor or the head pastor of the church down the road. She’s also said things like Royal and House , rightful place . We might both be human women wrapped up in the lives of vampires, but Elle and I live very, very different lives.

Ares’ eyes fall to the record. I see a moment of hesitance there. Can he give up this control? He doesn’t know these people. He’s only so recently learned that there is another organization out there, outside of the Barons, that deals with the affairs of vampires.

But something in me is sure he’s taken pictures of all these pages, or made a copy of each one.

Ares pushes the book across the table toward Elle.

She accepts it, pulling it in front of her. Her eyes scan the pages, taking in the information. But she closes the book and holds it to her chest.

And I know we’ve done the right thing. She will take this seriously. With her House, she will track down all those people and set them free.

“This is the cypher,” Ares says, sliding a piece of paper across to her as well. On it is the explanation about the dates, the coordinates, that the first letter indicates male or female. He explains that he never figured out what the rest of the letters mean.

“Thank you, Ares,” Elle says as she accepts it as well. “I appreciate you calling. Not everyone would take action to make the sins of their parent right.”

Ares simply nods but doesn’t seem to know what to say to that.

“It was nice to meet you all,” Duncan says as he stands, pushing his chair back as he does. He extends a hand across the table, and Ares takes it. “We will keep in touch as we make progress through the record.”

“Yes, please,” Ares says.

Aleah stands as well, and she eyes Ares up and down. I wonder what’s going through her mind. Then again, maybe I don’t want to know, considering the cold calculation there.

“It really was nice meeting you all,” Elle says as she too stands. “You did the right thing calling us. It’s what the House is meant for. I hope we can get together again sometime. Maybe you can come to the House of Marshals’ Christmas party this year.”

“I’d like that,” I say, surprising myself. But it sounds nice. And wildly fascinating.

Aleah and Duncan head out the door, but Elle lingers. She looks up at me with those blue eyes, and I see… something there. Evaluation. Sympathy. Consideration.

“You should take my number, Lana,” she finally says. “Being a human in this world, it’s… complex. And hard for anyone else to understand. I want you to call me.”

A smile works its way onto my lips as I take out my cell phone. I pull up a new contact card and extend it to Elle. “I’d really like that. Thank you.”

Elle types in her information and hits save. She hands me back my phone. “You actually kind of remind me of my sister-in-law. She led the House of Conrath when she was still human. Tough as nails and incredibly smart. But don’t let this world make you hard, Lana. The danger that always comes with the Royals, the Born, even the Bitten, it can get to a person.”

I can tell there’s some serious history there. I can tell there’s pain and darkness. And my fascination with her world, her story, grows deeper.

“I’ll do my best,” I promise her, truly wanting to keep it.

She offers a warm smile. For a second, she looks like she’s debating giving me a hug, but something tells me she’s not much of a hugger either. “Take care,” Elle says as she turns and follows after Duncan and Aleah.