Page 7 of Vampire Visions

As soon as the call was answered, a woman’s shrill voice pierced the silence around us. We all held our breath when we heard her. “Is it done, Taylor? Did you kill her?” she questioned in a joyous tone.

“Yes, ma’am. The job is done. I shot her in the head, just like you asked,” he informed her.

“Excellent,” she all but cheered before lowering her voice to little more than a whisper. “Now she won’t be standing in my way anymore.”

“What do you plan to do next?” Taylor asked hopefully. “I want to help you.”

“Oh, darling.” She laughed at him, the sound grating against my eardrums. “You can’t help me, but I will tell you this. I’m going to take over. I’m going to drag the vampires out of hiding, and we’re going to ravage the world to take what should be ours. By Saturday night I’ll be the new Queen of Vampyre, and all will bow before me.” She sighed wistfully. “You’ve done a good deed, Taylor. I’ll compensate you heavily.”

She hung up after that. We all looked at each other, and the murderous intent rose through the group as Novak let go of the compulsion he held over Taylor. Kadence asked him to shoot Sloane with special bullets. I bet they were poisoned or something, definitely not regular bullets. We needed Palmer to test them. That she had planned to take over Nathaniel’s position while he was out of town wasn’t as big of a shock as it should be. The shocker was that she was actually going through with her plans. Sloane was standing in her way, but now Kadence thought she was dead. That could work in our favor.

Briggs

Tuesday Morning

I didn’t think I’d ever been as angry as I was while we all glared at Caplin. Hearing him talk made me want to rip his throat out. He was standing in the middle of a group of seven males who were much larger than him, and still, he ran his fucking mouth nonstop. For the first time in my life, I wished I could shift and keep my clothes on. I needed to do something with my hands before I wrapped them around his neck in a nice, tight grip. I needed my pockets, but I didn’t have any pants on.

When I looked at the circle we’d formed around him, I could clearly see everyone thinking the same thing. We all wanted to kill him in a variety of ways. I wished they would call Stone’s necro friend. He could make all our dreams come true. Watching Caplin suffer would make me the happiest male in all the realms.

Huh.

Maybe Barbie’s psycho was rubbing off on me.

Most of Taylor’s comments were directed at Jack. The more he talked, the more furious we all got, but Grim remained passive while Jack argued with Taylor. The shit that spewed from Taylor’s mouth was unbelievable now that he wasn’t being compelled. The man was a fucking moron if he thought he was walking away from this. Even if one of us didn’t end up killing him, I was still going to break his legs before he tried to leave. There was only one person around that could control the rage of my wolf, and she was unconscious at the moment. It was better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right?

“I warned you…” Jack began. His fury rolled off him in nearly visible waves as he took half a step toward Taylor.

“He probably doesn’t remember, Jack,” Vaughn instigated, seeming completely out of character. “Give him another warning.” He shrugged a single shoulder with a smirk on his face. His light blue eyes faded to white as he kept his rage at bay. In all the years that I’d known Vaughn, I’d seen the fae’s eyes ice over once. We’d all regretted the decision to push him about his family and agreed to never bring it up again.

“No.” Jack shook his head. “I think I’ll just make good on my promise. I don’t care if he remembers or not.” He turned his head to face Vaughn. “You heard me. You remember.”

“I can’t believe this is the kind of company Sloane keeps. She’s too good for you, and she’s too good for him.” Taylor pointed a stubby finger at Vaughn while talking to Jack. “She should run with a better crowd.”

Jack laughed loudly at Taylor. “You think she’s too good for him?” He tilted his head in Vaughn’s direction. “But, what? You’re on her level? You just fucking shot her. You tried to kill her.” Jack narrowed his dark eyes, and we all heard Taylor gulp.

“She wouldn’t have been hurt if she was with me,” he sneered.

“She was hurt because of you!” Vaughn shouted before lowering his voice to a dangerous level. Most of us recognized that volume. “If we’d have just killed you the other night, then none of this would have happened.”

Taylor turned and gave Vaughn a slimy smile. “You can’t kill me. People know we don’t like each other. The cops would come at you the moment my body was found.”

Novak chuckled as Vaughn took a step forward. I put my hand on his shoulder to halt his movements. “Not yet, Vaughn. He’s right. You can’t kill him.” I looked to Taylor with a wide grin splitting my face. “Not until Sloane wakes up. I’m sure she’ll want to watch.”

Taylor tried to back himself through an opening between Grim and York, but Palmer appeared in his way. He’d walked out as quietly as the vampire would have, and seamlessly stepped into the gap in our formation. We had Taylor surrounded completely now, without his knowledge, and the human’s mouth was still running despite his circumstances.

“Right,” Taylor smuggly drawled. “Because she’s gonna let him kill me in her home. Yeah, I’ll be going now. You guys are just trying to scare me, and it’s not working, but have fun proving that I shot her. My lawyers will have a field day with that kind of shit.” His back hit Palmer’s chest, and he froze.

“Hey,” Palmer said nonchalantly. “What’s the craic?” I wasn’t sure who he was asking, but the look on his satisfied face said he was talking to Taylor.

Jack sighed dramatically. “You aren’t going anywhere, and no one is calling the cops. When Sloane wakes up, we’ll serve you justice her way. You won’t like it, though it’ll be fun for me.” Jack looked at his dirty nails in disgust before glancing back at Taylor. “I told you what I would do to you when you were harassing Vaughn Saturday morning.” He gave Taylor an apologetic look. “I just hate that you don’t remember.”

Franklin walked out of the basement door and cleared his throat to get our attention. “The good news here is that Novak can still step in and stop Kadence without Sloane there. As long as Sam and Charlie are present, then he’ll have no issues from anyone except Kadence. Although, I don’t imagine Sloane will be out for much longer. Having her mates nearby, even if you haven’t sealed the bond yet, will boost her magic.”

“What’s he talking about?” Taylor demanded, looking around at each of us. “She’s human. She’s not like him.” He curled his upper lip in distaste at Vaughn. We all laughed. Even Franklin.

“Oh, honey,” Jack gave a pleasure-filled smile at the ignorance Taylor spouted off. “She’s not like Vaughn at all. She’s not like any of us. She’s more, and she’s definitely not human. None of us are.”

The blood drained from Taylor’s face when he finally realized his current situation. “You’ve been running your mouth to a bunch of monsters, man.” I raised a brow at him and tilted my head to the right. “You tried to kill our mate. I am not a happy wolf right now.”