Page 82 of Vipers and Vendettas

I ignore the clan as I open the salt box and take out the one that’s inside it. This one’s made of silver and iron. With a deep breath, I open that one as well and stare down at the item I managed to procure so that I could take my revenge. I’ll be using it to get Jules instead of to kill the vamps, and I’ll probably lose my chance to get payback on the fuckers for all the shit they did to me in that basement. But none of that matters. I’d trade revenge for Jules in a second, and I will.

I grab a bag from the alcove and slam it down on my desk. The others pause, but I don’t even spare them a look.

‘You do what you want,’ I say, opening the bag and grabbing a few stakes, ‘but I’m going in, and I’m getting her out of there no matter what. And I’m doing it now. She’s not staying in that house for a second longer than it takes me to get to her.’

‘How are you even going to get in?’ Iron snarls.

He’s usually the one who plans these things, so I know he assumes I haven't thought this through.

I take the link key out of the box. ‘With this.’ I stare the clan down. ‘I know the layout. I know their numbers, and I’m leaving in two minutes. Are you coming or not?’

Krase strides forward. His lips curl at the stakes in my bag, and he demons up. ‘We don’t need those,’ he snarls in theothervoice, his claws flexing. ‘We will feast on their hearts for taking our female!'

Jayce is nodding behind him, as is Axel. Iron regards me in stony silence.

‘Are you sure you can pull this off? After what happened to you there, what if you freeze up?’

I give him a derisive snort, pretending his fears don’t have merit.

But the truth is, there’s a very real possibility that I’ll lose it in there. I just need to find Jules before I do.

I laugh mirthlessly. ‘You better come with us then, GI Jem.’

‘Fuck you,’ he snorts as he comes forward, eying me as he grabs a couple of stakes and puts them in his jacket. ‘Let’s go save our girl.’

I take the link key out of the box and put it on the closet door.

‘Ready?’

Before I can open the portal, Maddox comes through the office door. It bangs behind him, and I brace myself for him to tell me to stop, that we’ll find another way, but he doesn’t say anything as he strides into the room, grabs a stake, and looks me dead in the eye.

‘No survivors.’

I nod and tear open the door, demoning up and going through the breach with a roar I hope they hear coming.

We’re going to kill them all.

* * *

Jules

The room they’ve put me in smells of rot and death. It’s decorated like a bedroom, but we’re in the basement. The walls and floor are cement, and there’s a drain in the middle.

Two vamps led me down here, pushed me in, and closed the door.

I’m keeping my shit together, but I don’t know how I’m going to get out of here.

Dropping the name of my former master wasn’t something I wanted to do, but if I hadn’t, Jellybean and I would certainly be dead or well on our way.

I sit in a chair in the corner, facing the door and the camera that’s above it. I wonder how long I have before his soldiers get here. He won’t delay. Once he knows where I am, they’ll come, but McCathrie won’t tell him until he gets paid. He’s been around a while. He knows you never trust the fae unless you want to get fucked three ways from Sunday.

A bang from the hall shatters the silence and has my heart ratcheting up a few notches. I stand and make a final inspection of the room for anything I can use to cave someone’s head in that I may have missed from the other five times I’ve looked, but there’s nothing that isn’t bolted down.

There’s a muffled yell from the other side of the thick, metal door, and it bangs into the frame hard as if something hard has been thrown against it. My arms wrap around my stomach, and I wish I had control of my glamor.

‘Come on,’ I whisper. ‘Change. Do it for Jellybean.’

Nothing happens. I hear the key in the lock, and my nostrils flare as I start breathing faster. I’m trying to come up with some kind of plan for how I’m going to escape the High Fae asshole, but I’m coming up with diddly.