Page 77 of Call of the Blood

“Vampires with control issues either join a nest willing to help them or they suffer the consequences.”

“And those are?” Evia gave him a big, alien-eyed stare, blinking several times. It might have been charming or seductive to anyone else.

It just annoyed Alexius.

“Vampires with control problems are an exposure risk. Any vampire who willfully acts in a way to expose vampires to humanity forfeits their lives. Before you wonder anymore, understand that I am the executioner. The best one.” Alexius leaned down, making sure his eyes were fully level with Evie’s. “And on most nights, I don’t like my own kind enough to make said deaths pleasant.”

Evie sank in her chair with every word.

“Mark the map. Then we’ll continue the conversation.” Alexius wasn’t here to coddle children, not anymore. Evie’s defiance had thoroughly pissed him off enough to lose the notion of trying. It was the uncanny valley of it all. This was Henry’s idea of Everly.

Alexius wanted to skin Henry alive and burn him in pieces in the sun. He couldn’t, even if he was there or had Henry in front of him.

It’s better Everly deals with her uncle. It has to be Everly.

30

CHAPTER THIRTY

Idrove recklessly. Every passing minute felt worse. Every passing minute made me more paranoid. I kept kicking myself, wondering what I was supposed to have done sooner. Wondering if there had been a way to see that Henry was the one who made the vampires or that he was stalking me and Declan for long.

I slammed my hand on the steering wheel several times, causing it to bend.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Stalking us, making vampire replacements, lying about his identity with the help of fae magic to escape his past—he was literally all the problems. Every single one. We’d all missed it, and it could be Declan who paid for it.

I could have been riskier. I could have hacked him and let him realize he was getting looked into. Would he have had time to disappear if I had? Would Alexius and Maria have stopped what they were doing to capture the vampires to help me catch Henry instead?

How did it get here so quickly?

I should check on them.

“Call Declan Abbott,” I said, pushing my finger to a microphone button on the steering wheel. It pulled up his number and started calling, the ringing coming through the speakers.

And no one picked up.

“Call Declan Abbott,” I repeated.

Feeling sick, I finally made the last turn toward my brother’s condo. I slammed the gas and slid through traffic.

The phone kept ringing, haunting me as no one answered again and again.

I got into the parking lot, jumped out of the car, and started running.

Maria could wipe the security footage of me later.

My heart was beating hard, thumping in my chest from the stress. Hoping I wasn’t too late. Hoping my uncle wasn’t one step ahead of me.

My heart stopped entirely as I reached his door. Literally. It took thirty seconds of staring, seeing the reality of how bad the night was, for it to thump again. It was that thump that finally made me go through his wide-open door.

“Lexi? Declan?” I called out, heading inside. There had been fighting. The first thing I noticed was that the glass patio door was shattered. Tables were pushed or knocked over. The TV was on the ground. Holes were in the wall.

I could smell blood.

“Lexi!” I called out louder, knowing the wild scent well. “Lexi!”

“Everly?” I heard a long groan. “Oh fuck. My head…”

I spun and rushed toward the kitchen to see Lexi on the ground, a bloody knife next to her and a hand over her ribs.