“Sorry, but what the fuck were you thinking?”
They walked down a long corridor, through a set of double doors, then down a flight of stairs. “I was thinking that I wanted to fucking tear Peter limb from limb because he killed Callum and has ruined every potential relationship I’ve had since then.” He glanced over at her. “He’ll never stop, Lys. If they don’t kill him, then no matter how long he spends in here, it won’t change anything. He’ll get out and it’ll start all over again. If the VLCD won’t kill him, then I have to.”
She walked in silence beside him until they entered a huge room with a tall ceiling and gym equipment around the outside. But that wasn’t what caught Jesse’s attention. In the middle of the room was a large training mat, maybe for self-defence training or something. Guards surrounded every side, guns pointed inwards.
“Fuck’s sake, it looks like the whole place is in here to watch.”
Jesse grunted. “I guess two vampires fighting to the death isn’t something you get to see every day.”
Lys clasped his hand and squeezed tight. “Just make sure it’s not your death that they get to see.”
“I’ll do my best.”
JESSE TOOK HIS place at one corner of the mat and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. The room was awash with of humans, and he searched for the familiar scents of his coven members. Lys stood behind him, her presence a wall of strength at his back. Raph was a little harder to detect, surrounded by VLCD officers, but Jesse eventually singled him, along with Liam and—
His eyes snapped open, head whipping round, searching the room until his gaze landed on Ian. He sat between Liam and Raph, iron collar around his neck and hands shackled together. “What the fuck?” Jesse hissed. Ian was supposed to be back at the coven, safely away from here. “Why didn’t you go back?” He pitched his voice low enough for only vampire hearing.
Ian looked startled to hear his voice, but his eyes never left Jesse. “I couldn’t leave here knowing what you were about to face. Couldn’t sit alone in your room waiting for a phone call telling me whether you were dead or alive. I needed to be here. With you.For you.”
Jesse’s hands curled into fists. “I didn’t want you to see this,” he whispered. “Seemelike this.” Although Jesse had to do this, had to stop Peter from hurting anyone else, he didn’t want Ian to see the monster he was about to become.
“Don’t. Whatever happens Jesse, my feelings for you won’t change.” Ian’s voice held a conviction that Jesse clung to. “I promise. I already know who you are, and you’re nothing like Peter.”
Jesse closed his eyes again, wanting so badly to believe, but... “If I want to beat him, I’m going to have to—”
“Do whatever it takes,” Ian hissed back. “I mean it, Jesse, nothing you do today will change my mind about being with you. Nothing. Do what you have to do, and don’t you dare fucking die.”
Jesse’s lips curled up into a smile at Ian’s words. “I won’t.”
Their conversation came to an abrupt end as Peter entered the room and took his place in the opposite corner, Michael by his side. He looked over at Jesse, expression the most open Jesse had ever seen. “You can still stop this, Jesse. I don’t want to kill you.”
“Goodbye, Peter.” Jesse cracked his neck from side to side, the sound loud to his ears.
Peter stared at him for a moment longer before his gaze hardened. “As you wish.”
THE IRON AND silver bands around Ian’s neck and wrists stung and irritated his skin, but he barely noticed them, mind solely focused on Jesse. “They took his collar off,” he muttered to Raph.
“Can’t fight if his strength’s inhibited.” Raph gestured to the room full of armed VLCD guards. “I think they’ve got it covered.”
The sight of so many guns was unnerving to say the least, but neither Raph nor Liam seemed unduly bothered. Ian gripped the edges of the bench seat they were sat on, nervous energy coursing through him. He wanted to ask Raph if he thought Jesse could beat Peter, but the risk of Jesse hearing kept the words from coming out.
He would win.
He had to.
The guards who’d brought Peter in took their place at the edge of the training mat, guns raised. Watts walked into the middle of the mat and the room fell eerily quiet. “This is a fight to the death, according to vampire law. There are no rules of combat, but should either of you present a danger to the rest of the room at any point, we won’t hesitate to shoot.”
Fuck, this is it.
Ian felt both Raph and Liam tense beside him as Watts stepped back, well out of the way. The whole room seemed to hold it’s breath as he asked both Peter and Jesse if they were ready, then raised his hand. Four clear barriers rose up out of the floor, effectively caging Jesse and Peter in.
Ian stared. “What the...?”
“Toughened glass,” Raph murmured in his ear. “You didn’t think they’d let them fight out in the open, did you?”
Yes.
Ian hadn’t thought for one second that a glass cage would rise out of the fucking floor. Just what sort of training did they do here?
