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Narcisa pales, her usual tawny skin tone turning chalky. “I don’t understand.”
“You don’t have to. As long as you stay true to your word and don’t try any bullshit, you won’t face her wrath.” Knox looks at me. “Though, it might be a good idea for you to do a little test. Ensure she’s being truthful.”
Narcisa frowns, but she doesn’t get a chance to do anything else because Knox grabs her by the shoulders and holds her over the seat. She snaps her fangs, trying to bite him in self-defense, but he holds her too tightly, and she won’t try anything that would hurt him. I can see it in her face. She knows that if she even so much as scratches him, I’ll bite her head off.
I turn in my seat to capture her gaze, reaching back as I rest my stomach against Sawyer. I pinch Narcisa’s chin, getting as close as I can to her face. “This will be your one and only chance to prove yourself. Are you lying about wanting the leadership dead and proving that you no longer will stand in your position of power?”
“No. I have no reason to lie.” Narcisa tightens her mouth, pursing her lips with her words.
“What is in it for you? You’re giving up a lot on the chance that we will keep our word and spare you, giving you The Whiskey.” Sawyer strokes his hand over my back, not looking at Narcisa with his question.
“Answer him,” I say, staring into Narcisa’s solid silver eyes.
“Knowledge. I want to learn more about dhampirs and how they affect our world. It’s obvious that change is coming. I don’t want to be destroyed because of it. I want to adapt like I always have.” Narcisa flares for nostrils.
I break my gaze away from her, the truth of her words clear. “You think you’re going to learn about dhampirs from me?”
Narcisa blinks a couple of times and rubs her temples. “This is unbelievable.”
Of course it is. I still can hardly believe it.
“And you won’t tell anyone. You won’t remember this at all.” I say the words as I capture her gaze one more time. “You won’t ask about or look into dhampirs. Do you understand? Your life will be just living at The Whiskey, treating humans as equals, and helping that town flourish.”
Narcisa nods her head in silence, her eyes sparkling silver once more with my manipulation. I just hope it sticks. Because the idea of a powerful vampire controlling a city in such a way is what I want out of La Vega. It’s what I need to happen.
“I got in. Narcisa, I need your code. Give me your fingerprint as well.” Monroe interrupts my thoughts, pulling me back to the present and out of my ideas of the future.
Narcisa holds her hand out to him. “We will only have a few minutes before the rest of the leadership is alerted. So we need to make this fast.”
“Is your coven ready, Cicero?” Sawyer asks, looking at the vampire in the backseat.
“They are.” He keeps his gaze away from mine.
Monroe pushes the door open and exits the car first. Cooper and Knox follow his lead, and Govan and Mya materialize next to Sawyer, opening the door for us. They have Narcisa’s vehicle and have been trailing behind us.
“Hayley, command Cicero to go in first. He’s going to be the distraction.” Sawyer pushes the seat forward and grabs Cicero by the front of his shirt, dragging him from the vehicle. He restrains him, making him look at me.
“They’ll kill me,” Cicero argues, struggling against Sawyer’s hold.
“Narcisa will assure they don’t. Now look at Hayley.” Sawyer holds his head still.
I get into Cicero’s face and touch my fingers to his cheeks. “You need to trust me. We won’t let them hurt you, but we need you to put up a fight to get their attention. We need that distraction. You will obey me.”
“Yes, dhampir. I will be your distraction.” He growls with the words.
I break away from his stare and look at Narcisa. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this, but Alexander’s heart is mine. You may take anyone else’s from the leadership. I expect you to. If you want an alliance, you’re going to have to work hard for it.”
She surprises me by holding out her hand. “You have my word, Hayley. You have proved yourself and exceeded my expectations. Alexander has truly failed you, but I do wish you the best with Misters Noble.”
I nod my head, keeping my thoughts to myself. Because I don’t need her best wishes. I don’t need her affirmation or approval. Her opinion doesn’t matter to me. She is only here because she asked to be. When it comes down to it, this fight isn’t hers anyway. It’s humanity’s. It’s the Bella Crew’s. It’s mine.
Monroe checks the security feeds, looking over the visuals of the tunnels under the city. I’ve never seen anything like it. I didn’t even know they existed. I knew that some of the renegades lived underground, but this is different. This is exclusive to those that control La Vega, and now I can understand how they get around so quickly and unnoticed. I understand how the leadership has been so elusive. If we had known about the tunnels or an access point to them sooner, things could’ve changed a lot faster. And now, we can really set them up.
“I’ll open all of the access points at your word, Sawyer,” Monroe says, turning his attention to us. “We can have someone at every location to ensure that the leadership and their covens along with their hotel heads within the city can’t escape. We can capture them for the right division, and Hayley can manipulate them.”
Just the thought of facing every single one of the vampires and using my ability on them both exhausts me and sends my stomach flipping. Is it weird that the baby has such a reaction to my thoughts? It’s almost as if it plays on my emotions. But maybe that’s all a part of the bond we’ll have as mother and child.
Fuck. Considering myself a mother... We have to do this now. We have to take care of it. It’s the only way I’m going to survive even the next few hours. I can’t live my life like this with uncertainty. I just want to live. I can’t stop thinking about it so suddenly. It’s as if feeling the baby more and more and knowing that labor could be as little as a couple weeks away makes me realize how much I do want the same as the guys, but just slightly different. I don’t want power. I just want freedom. I want the same as every other donor. I don’t want to be a blood slave to the vampire masses. I want to be an equal. And right now, with the Bella Crew, I am. And now it’s our time to solidify it for everyone else.
