AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lucas and I glanced at each other. We waited until the others were all inside, because we’d need to make an entrance.
“I’m not much of an actress,” I murmured, “but it won’t be hard to act upset.”
“Angry, angry, angry.” Lucas was talking to himself. “Okay, let’s do this. Ready?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
Together we ran toward the harbor station. When we came in, Milos turned, saw us, and scowled. “Your girlfriend going to run off crying again?”
Lucas snapped, “Bianca and I have some business to resolve.”
Milos looked surprised, but he took a step back.
Lucas pushed his way toward the front of the crowd; I lagged behind. I wasn’t a player in this scenario; honestly, I was more of a prop, there to look stricken and weep. Though I hated pretending to be so helpless, I’d have to take comfort in the fact that this was my plan.
Then I saw Balthazar, and there was no comfort to be had.
His flesh was striped with lines of raw skin from the streams of holy water. Both his eyes were swollen and dark, and his jaw was lumpy from repeated blows. His lips had cracked open and bled, as had his wrists. He looked worse than I knew anybody could look. Balthazar’s bloodshot eyes met mine, dull and incurious, like he was past even imagining that help could come.
“Back up, Mom,” Lucas said, pulling her away. “It’s my turn.”
“Like hell it is.” Anger seemed to illuminate her from within, like a candle in a leering jack-o’-lantern. “This thing killed Eduardo. I’m going to have answers, and then I’m going to have its hide.”
“He didn’t just kill Eduardo.” Lucas swaggered up to Balthazar, who didn’t react. “He went after Bianca. You know that. What you don’t know—what I didn’t know until today—is how far he went. How close he came to hurting her to get his way.”
My crying wasn’t an act. I backed away, body shaking, as if I were somehow afraid of the bloody, broken figure chained to the railing. The hunters parted for me, respectful of what they thought I’d suffered at a vampire’s hands.
Lucas grabbed Balthazar by the hair. I winced—but there was no other way to do this next part. He growled, “You tried to screw my girl.”
“Well, you know.” Balthazar’s mutilated smirk might have been genuine. “I figured she needed somebody to show her how it was really done.”
Lucas backhanded him, hard. A few of the hunters made approving noises—not cheering, but muttering “yeah” or “that’s it.” I hated them so much I wanted to scream.
“You listen to me.” Lucas panted. His green eyes blazed, and he looked utterly wild. When he got like this, gave full rein to his hot temper, sometimes he scared even me. “You know how bad I hate you. You know I’d never get tired of hurting you. So you better tell me what it is we want to know, and you’d better do it now, or they’re going to turn you over to me for the remainder of your existence. I promise you, you’d rather go fast. So what’s it going to be, Balthazar?”
Under my breath, so low that nobody who wasn’t a vampire could possibly have heard me, I whispered, “Make something up. We’ll take care of the rest.”
Balthazar hesitated, confused. Lucas kicked his leg.
Come on, Balthazar, you can think of something! Anything! Just trust us!
Lucas shouted, “Spit it out! What was Mrs. Bethany after?”
“You!” Balthazar said. “She was after you.”
“Lucas?” Kate stepped forward in alarm. “Why do they want my son?”
“Mrs. Bethany blames him,” Balthazar said. Could the others tell he was making this up as he went along? Apparently not. “And I think she—she thinks Lucas might have gone through her records. She’s scared he knows too much. Mrs. Bethany’s never gotten over the fact that you planted a spy at her school. It drives her crazy. I think the burning of Evernight pushed her over the edge.”
Kate lifted her chin. “So she’s scared, you’re saying. Desperate. Lashing out at my son because she doesn’t know what else to do.”
“She knows exactly what to do,” Balthazar said. “As long as Lucas Ross lives, she’ll be after him. After anybody who’s with him. So maybe you want to think twice about how tightly you stick to this one. From now on, anybody who’s standing next to Lucas has a decent shot of ending up just as dead as he’s going to be.”
Coolly Kate glanced at her son. “Do you believe him?”
“Yeah,” Lucas said, drawing a stake from his belt. Then he slammed it into Balthazar’s chest.
I heard Raquel stifle a small cry. Balthazar gasped in pain, but he immediately slumped forward, unconscious and paralyzed.
