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The blond turned his attention to me. His mouth opened to speak, but he shut it, obeying the king. A minute rolled by, and then two. When Fernand appeared, his paled features were damn near ghostly.
“Who the hell is that if not you?”
One of Marko’s eyebrows rose. “Who do you think it is?”
“No, tell me. I …”
“Who was it?” Adam’s impatience was thick in his tone. “Fernand, who?”
“I was there when they put him in the memorial. I saw him with my own eyes. He was dead.”
“Our leader was never dead. It was me you all put in the memorial, and it was all his doing.”
“Aetas?” Adam’s head cocked to the side. “Are you saying the king we believe to be you is indeed our prior leader?”
I forced myself forward, not able to stop the anger dwelling within. “He fooled us all. Even me. What he has done cannot be ignored. Aetas has to pay for his crimes. He is killing us off.”
“But why?” Fernand rushed out. “I see what he is doing, but why deplete our numbers? Why destroy all that we have worked for? We’ve come so far.”
Marko shrugged. “Because he can? Because he grows bored and wants to start over? I search through the blood he and I share and all I feel is his need for destruction. For death and meaning of something I don’t understand. And I don’t think he understands it either. All I know is he has to be stopped or else more of our kind will perish. Already our numbers die by the hour. I feel them. I feel us fading into nothingness, and the stronger I grow, the harder it is for me to remain here. Aetas needs to be stopped. I will stop him. But I need your help.
Chapter 33
Hunter
Pitch black was all around as Marko led us through Dallas’ underground city. Where I thought it impossible for us to get in, he’d been here before. His powers grew frighteningly stronger by the hour and he was far from the weak state he’d been even a day ago.
After the vampires and enforcers left, he’d turned to me and Tessa, his eyes darkening all over again. “We must be sure before we leave this place.”
With that one sentence, we were suddenly here, surrounded by cement walls. Marko’s motivation left him racing forward with no explanation. We knew nothing of what went through his mind. And there had to be a mass of information he was picking up on with his growing intuition. He was distant. Driven as he moved at a speed Tessa and I could barely match.
The eerie emptiness left my pulse skittering as we went deeper into the tunnels. If anyone was here, they were hiding their powers surprisingly well. We took a left and I felt Tessa’s adrenaline slam into me.
“There’s humans ahead.” Her hand jerked out, barely able to touch Marko’s arm as he stayed a step ahead. Her breathless voice had him slowing and coming to a stop. “Will we kill them or stay hidden?”
Marko turned to look back at both of us. With how dark the area was, it was almost impossible to see him clearly.
“I will keep us hidden like before. We stay quiet and we go fast.” He paused, and I knew he sensed our unease. “Humans aren’t the only ones here. A former member is waiting out his time until they leave, but they have no plans of going anywhere. We need Nico alive. Hunter.” Marko stepped in closer. “This vampire will trust you more than me. We don’t have a good history, but he knows of you, and the plans meant for your future. You must use authority with him. You have to tell him to go to the others and wait for us.”
“Me? What if he doesn’t listen? You said he’s a member. I am no one.”
“Yet. You hold great power, Hunter, your mind just refuses to acknowledge the truth. You must remove the barriers set on by the tragedies of your past. You are not human anymore.” He glanced at Tessa, only to come back to me. “You’ve won that battle. You have her and she loves you. The fight is over. Now embrace the new war you’re in and be the vampire our kind needs. The vampire she and I need. We can’t do this on our own. We’re running out of time. With each word I speak, Aetas gets closer to finding a way to take her away from us. His motives are my own, even if I can’t hear his thoughts. He wants her. If he succeeds … what then? How will you fight when you won’t embrace all of what you are? He will kill you when you attempt to save her, and then she will die. And then so will I, because without her, I have nothing left to live for. Our kind will fall and it will be all on you. Rise. Be the leader you’re meant to, right now. You don’t have the time or the choice.”
My mouth shut and I tightened my fists. I felt like a soldier getting my ass handed to me from a superior. It’s what had driven me to the top. I always led and I didn’t question my judgment. Yet, that’s all I had done in this new life. My instincts were there, as was the power in my blood, so what was I waiting for?
“Will he manage to take her?”
Marko’s face turned impossibly harder as he stared at me. “I feel as though he won’t stop until he finds a way. Like I said, every second that passes, he grows even more desperate. My blood is driving him crazy. She, is driving him crazy.”
“Because of your love for her …”
“Tessa is everything to me,” he ground out, stepping so close his face was but inches from mine. “Aetas is finding out firsthand the depths love can go, and while we’re talking about it, you should know, too. There is more to the emotion than the good side. People die for love. They kill for it. Just because you have her, too, never forget about the man whose love goes as far as obsessive madness. She’s what flows through my bloodstream. She’s my life source—my entire fucking existence. I allow this because I love her. You ever cross me to keep Tessa to yourself, the powers above better help you because no one else will be able to.”
“Don’t fucking threaten me. Who the hell do you think I am?”
“Enough,” Tessa hissed. “There will be no backstabbing between the three of us. We are one. That is never-ending from this moment on. You both have love for me, but I asked that you love each other. That is what I want. We don’t stand a chance unless you do.”
Marko and I held stares for only a moment before his expression softened and a grin pulled back the side of his mouth. “You see that, Hunter? Tessa is the calm to the chaos. She’s also the storm that ignites it.”
