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CHAPTER 19
AFTERMATH
NERO
No one knows I was with Lara when she found Julian. The news spreads through Midnight City faster than blood in the water. The vampire prince, butchered by necromancers for hire, his body dumped on wolf territory. It all looks like a declaration of war. Someone wants a bomb to go off in this city. Someone wants Marcus at my father’s throat, the Von Battens on their knees, and every monster in Midnight City choosing sides.
I drive the black G-Wagon through streets with Piro tired in the passenger seat and my father in the back. Another business meeting, another room full of suits just dividing the land and money. City lights bleed across the windshield as I drive, and my father starts his rant. I can feel his manipulative rage in the air even from the back seat.
“Well,” he says, voice rough with contempt. “Looks like the young vampire’s situation has been resolved. Only why the fuck did it have to be on our territory! Now Marcus will be breathing down my neck.”
He scoffs, staring out the tinted window.
“If we had enough men, I’d wipe out every bloodsucker in this city and finally get some peace. But good. At least now everyone knows where they stand. The Von Battens know exactly where they stand. Over their son’s grave.”
Me and Piro stay silent. It’s always better that way when Vito goes off.
“Maybe now they’ll understand what happens when you do business with vampires,” he continues. “I’m done wasting my patience on them. Nero, you’ll start negotiations. We have the housing complex project ready with the largest shopping center in the city. That investment will set us up for generations.”
He keeps talking, and his voice turns distant. Julian comes back to me in pieces, skin gray, blood drained. What was left of him. I grip the steering wheel tighter, knuckles turning white, and make myself breathe deeper. I should have protected him, but I failed. He wanted to be more independent. To turn being a monster into something good. I trusted him. Trusted that he knew what he was doing. And now he’s dead. The golden boy with a heart bigger than this city ever deserved.
I look at my father again. Julian’s disappearance is very convenient for him, for us... If he had anything to do with it, he hides it well. Who the fuck did it then?
And Lara. Lara is nowhere to be found. I haven’t seen her in three days. Not once. Not in any club, any bar, any party where she usually appears at night like a pale little ghost to haunt me. She is usually easy to find, and now she is just gone.
My father gets out in front of his office without a word. The door shuts, the guards close around him, and Piro and I drive off.
“Have you seen Lara?” I ask.
Piro glances at me. “No. She’s probably lying low after finding the body. I asked the girls to check on her. Vampires haven’t done anything to her.”
They’d better not fucking try to touch her, or I’d rip their tracheas out.
Piro watches me for a beat too long. “So, what’s with you and her?”
“Nothing.”
“Sure.” He knows I’m lying.
“It’s just play.”
“Maybe it’s enough.” His voice loses its usual grin. “I know you think she’s one of those bitch-ass snobby girls, but she’s not. She’s cool. Quiet, maybe. More introverted than the rest. But loyal, never playing games.”
My foot hits the brake harder than I mean to. Piro’s body lurches forward.
“Did you hook up?” I ask.
“What? No.” His eyes widen. “I mean, not that I didn’t try.”
The growl starts deep in my chest before I can stop it. For a second, I feel an unreasonable desire to murder my own brother.
“She was never into me,” he adds quickly. “I don’t think she likes wolves.”
That is no longer an option for her.
“It was always just banter with Lara,” Piro says. “She used to party more. She was more fun back then. Now she’s... subdued, I guess. She’s been through a lot.”
“What do you mean?”
