AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He was gone.
Richards watched him. “Nothing to say?”
“Why?” Nick asked. Somehow, his voice came out quiet and calm.
“Faye wanted leverage over Brett. He won’t dare to defy Samuel if he thinks the old man’s life is on the line. Right now, he thinks Faye has his father as a hostage. And you wouldn’t risk attacking her if you thought you still had a chance to protect your old man.”
Nick didn’t speak.
Richards walked to the door. “Come on, man. I’m bored. It’s not fun when he doesn’t fight back.”
Dixon took another look at Nick, but whatever went through his head, he didn’t say anything. He followed Richards out of the room, leaving Nick alone with his father.
Silence filled the house as their voices and footsteps faded, and Nick stood there. His hand was still on Henry’s arm, but he forced himself to turn and look. He looked at his father’s face, and something inside him broke. Nick reached out, touching Henry’s face, and a single tear rolled his cheek.
His lungs burned and his stomach twisted, and his throat was on fire, but he didn’t let himself break down. The void offered an escape, and Nick took it. He turned away from the emotions that threatened to consume him. The void was cold and smooth and inviting, and Nick let himself sink into those waters.
His pounding heart slowed, his stomach stopped cramping, and he felt like he could breathe again. The crashing waves of grief hid in the back of his mind, almost out of sight. The void kept them at bay, and it offered Nick something else. Anger, rage and the promise of revenge.
Nick felt it happening. He could have fought it, but he didn’t. It didn’t matter anymore.
The void roared in his chest.
It filled him, fueled by the pain that he could barely feel, and he let it grow. He didn’t try to stop it. Not this time. It grew until he could feel the dark power filling his mind, conjuring images of revenge and justice, twisting his thoughts and giving him strength.
Cold fire burned in his chest, and he knew what to do.
***
Chapter 52 - Nick
Nick didn’t look at Henry again, but he lifted a blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over him. The dagger was still on the couch where it fell from his hand, and Nick picked it up, turning it over to examine it. He slipped it into the sheath on his belt and walked out of the room.
Nick left the house with Henry’s keys and unlocked his car. The studded mace was still lying where he left it, and he locked the car and walked onto the street. The weapon felt good in his hand.
The two vampires were moving slowly. They didn’t rush.
Nick couldn’t see or hear them, but the void lines crossed his skin, and he felt the undead energy in the air. It smelled like smoke, just like the power he pulled out of Jackson. It trailed behind the vampires, and he followed it. The void drew that energy into his body, and he let it give him strength.
It was a cold evening. His light t-shirt wasn’t enough, but his jacket was back in the house, forgotten and unnecessary. The void kept him warm. Now that he had opened himself to it, it was starting to make sense. The vampiric energy was fueling him, warming him against the cold.
Soon, he drew closer to them, and he heard their voices drifting through the quiet street. They laughed and joked, discussing their plans for feeding this evening. They spoke of their innocent victims with casual indifference, and the void fed on Nick’s anger.
“It’s too bad we have to throw them back,” one of them said. It sounded like Richards.
“Not for long,” Dixon said. “The boss is going to take control of this city soon, and the witches won’t be able to stop us. We won’t have to hold back, then.”
“It can’t come soon enough.”
“Yeah, I- Do you hear that?”
Nick didn’t bother to slow his footsteps. He didn’t care if they heard him.
“I hear something. Someone’s following us.”
Nick walked through a pool of light beneath a streetlamp, and the vampires hissed.
“Fool,” Dixon hissed.
