“If the local is under Nikolaos’s sway?” Raphael asks.
“Find one that isn’t,” I answer.
Raphael nods and moves away from the lines.
“Meet us inside when you’re done with the call,” I order.
Then I look to Matthias and Andrei. “Let’s get in there.”
Taking the lead position, I move only as fast as a normal human. Unlike this stupid fucking building, I have zero plans on advertising myself.
I don’t like the idea of any of this.
“Matthias, any chance the safe house we have set up is compromised?” I murmur as I look at the long line of humans practically begging to get in.
“I highly doubt it,” he murmurs back. “Aaron assured me it’s completely off-the-books.”
“Good,” I say. “I don’t want any interruptions once I have her.”
Andrei nods. “Understood. Do you feel her inside?”
“Yes.” I take a deep whiff of the air.
I smell all types of shit right now.
Dirt, piss, alcohol, blood… even cinnamon. Someone’s been masking here.
Masking around a blood den.
Fucking wonderful.
Andrei learned a couple decades back some of tricks the Order has been using against us. Masking is one of the more clever ones. Cinnamon oil all over the body can easily repulse a vampire. The odor is just too damn strong to the unsuspecting. It can be quite overpowering to our heightened senses.
My coven has been training ever since Andrei’s discoveries, and we haven’t shared them either. No reason to give other covens the information when it could be the difference between our survival and theirs.
“Cinnamon too,” Matthias growls loudly.
“Someone’s masking, but it’s faint. They’ve probably already entered, or it’s been worn on the skin for too long,” Andrei says.
Pushing through all the blood bags standing at the door, I feel like puking up my last meal. The reek of desperation sliming out of their pores makes me nauseous. I’ve never been fond of blood dens. Sure, it’s fast food, I suppose, and for those of us who can’t beguile, it’s okay.
But for me, the desperation of these simple fools just ruins the enjoyment of eating. They want to be turned so badly, and they have no clue it’s not going happen.
We keep our numbers in the thousands across the whole planet. Population control is a must. Too many vampires means there’s not enough food for us all. It’s also a peace of sorts with the large governments. We police ourselves so they don’t try any shit.
Our numbers are small for those reasons, plus the need to search for one’s fated. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like if there were millions of vampires in the world and they were all trying to find a marked woman.
The Marked just aren’t born every day.
Standing in front of the doors to the den is a giant motherfucker that is almost twice my size. This big bitch makes Andrei look small.
“Open the fucking door,” I snap at him as I push the last of the humans out of the way.
Looking down at me, the bouncer frowns. “Who are you?”
I can feel Andrei vibrating beside me and staring lasers through the side of my head.
Turning my head to Andrei, I say, “No.”
Focusing back on the big fuck in front of me, I move faster than he can react. I grab his balls in my left hand and his throat in my right. Lifting him off the pavement, I stare into his bulging eyes.
“I’m your elder, pipsqueak,” I snarl as I use his body to thump against the front doors of the building a few times.
Whatever the fuck this guy’s name is struggles against my grip, but he goes quiet after I slam him into the brick wall beside us.
Dropping his unconscious body to the ground, I look to Andrei. “Behave.”
Matthias begins to laugh loudly as the humans around us scatter for safety. Even if they want eternal life, they know better than to be near a fight when it breaks out.
The doors slam outwards and two vampires stalk out toward us.
One is named Derek… and I think the other one is called Vaughn.
“Asher, what the fuck, man?” Derek frowns.
“You were supposed to be here a half hour ago,” Vaughn says.
“We thought so too, but when your ghoul decided to fucking circle the city a couple times, we figured it best to find our own way here,” Matthias answers for me, his precise enunciation of each word showing the world just how he feels.
Moving through the two, I yank the door fully open. My eyes instantly adjust to the pitch-black room they have set up right inside the entrance.
This is supposed to be for our protection and to hide what goes on from the humans. If the humans could see what happens in the den, I have no doubt a good seventy-five percent of them would run for their lives.
Blood is thick in the air but thankfully none of it belongs to Chloe.