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All I could do was watch as the hooded figures trashed my cabin, the one place I’d managed to keep secret from nearly everyone. There was no way an enemy could know about it. Unless—was that what Delilah needed to talk to me about? Had she told Eli about the cabin? Why would he have saved my life if he were going to send his minions to trash my home? None of it made any sense.
Unless it was all a plot to fool me into trusting him so I would let my guard down. If that was the case, what were they looking for? What did I have that Eli would want bad enough to attempt murder?
I let my imagination wander as I watched the three thugs destroy my cabin. I might as well text Delilah back and see what she wanted.
We need to talk? That sounds ominous.
A moment after I sent the text, one of the thugs stopped and pulled out a phone. I couldn’t zoom in enough to see what they were doing, but it looked as if they were texting. What a strange coincidence.
I got Delilah’s response as the thug pocketed their phone. Are you still at the hospital? We heard the alarms. Eli said it’s not safe there.
Curious, I dialed her number. The thug pulled the phone out again, drug the ski mask off her head and tousled her dark curls. She answered the phone just as I heard Delilah’s voice.
“Viktor? Is that you?”
I hung up, shocked that Delilah would be involved in destroying my home. I had nowhere to go, and no one to help me, since my men had all been instructed to follow Eli. I rubbed my eyes and looked again. That’s not Delilah. My eyes were playing tricks on me. It had to be the lack of blood. It was so hard to stay focused. My mind was playing tricks on me. I had to get away from here. I put my phone away and scrambled deeper into the woods. There was a cave a couple of miles further. It was obscured and no one knew about it. I could hide there until I was certain these people had finished searching my cabin.
If I’d been stronger, I would have barged in and demanded answers. I knew that running was a cowardly move, but I was more interested in self-preservation at the moment. I could feel my phone vibrating in my pocket. There was no time to stop and answer now. I could hear movement behind me. The footsteps seemed to be getting closer. Only a few feet to go, but it felt like an eternity to get there.
I ducked inside the mouth of the cave and held my breath as two of the masked figures crept past. They had obviously been tracking me. I was lucky to have made it. I wondered how long my luck would hold.
When I was sure they’d moved on, I pulled out my phone and headed a little deeper in the cave. I didn’t want to get so far away from the entrance that I couldn’t see the path outside, but wanted to hide in the shadows.
When I pulled my phone out again, I had six missed calls. Five were from Delilah, and one was from Eli. It seemed strange to me that they would call as they were trying to hunt me down. At this point, I was too tired to focus on why that seemed odd.
My burns weren’t healing as quickly as I wanted. I would have to deal with that before I’d be able to sleep. I put my phone away and crept back to the opening of the cave. I heard a rustling and prepared for an attack. I took a deep breath and realized that the person hunting me was human. And I was hungry.
I waited a beat, then dove out the opening and tackled the thug who was walking past. I punched him hard enough to knock the guy unconscious, then dragged him back into the cave. I made sure no one was following me, then pulled the limp body further into the cave.
Once we were a safe distance inside, I sat down on the dirt with my meal. It didn’t matter to me that this was a person with a family. It should have, but right now, survival was key. I had to eat to survive. In my mind, it was him or me. I wasn’t ready to give up yet. I drained him, making sure not to spill a drop, then shoved him off to the back wall of the cave.
As my burns healed, the pain of self-loathing took their place. I spent my entire after life fighting against vampires who did what I had just done. I just became the monster I was trying to defeat.
Chapter 47
Delilah
“I can’t believe he called and hung up. What is going on?” I ranted at Eli, even though I knew he didn’t have any more answers than I did.
“I’ve got Jones trying to track him, but the signal keeps cutting out. We’ll find him. At least we know he made it out of the hospital before things got crazy,” Eli offered. We’d been watching the news since Jones texted about the hospital being on lockdown.
“Do you think he was responsible for those murders? He couldn’t have done it, right?” I was certain Eli was getting tired of me asking the same questions, but I needed some reassurance that this wasn’t Viktor.
Eli shook his head and shrugged. “I’m not sure. Trust me, I don’t want to believe it either, but he’s done things like this before. The only way to find out is to find him.” He turned back to his phone. He must be talking to Jones again.
I pulled my phone out of my hoodie pocket and texted Viktor again.
Please answer me. I need to know that you’re okay. I’ve been trying to call.
He didn’t answer right away, so I put the phone back in my pocket. There was no sense in getting worked up about something that may or may not be true. Either way, I had to help him. To do that, I had to find him. I wasn’t getting anywhere by sending texts or calling. I would have to let Jones do his job.
I looked up to find Eli staring at me. “What?” I asked, suddenly feeling self-conscious.
He chuckled, “You’re sexy when you’re worried.” Eli licked his bottom lip and nodded for me to come closer.
I slid into his lap and snuggled into his arms. I knew he was going to try to take my mind off Viktor. I wasn’t convinced that he’d be able to do it.
“Why don’t we watch some TV and relax a bit?” Eli turned on a movie and pulled me closer.
