Blood and Revenge: Under the Skin Serial Part 4 Read online

  I shouted in surprise when Claudia reared her fist back and delivered a solid punch to Vex’s nose.

  “Claudia! Don’t! He’s my maker!”

  Vex held his nose while it gushed blood, not looking in the least bit upset. In fact, he looked rather amused. Claudia shook her hand out and looked up at me with wide eyes and her mouth gaping open and closed like a fish.

  “W-what? Wait. Maker?” She said, pointing at Vex.

  Sloan’s shoulders were shaking with silent laughter at Claudia’s face, handing Vex some tissues to wipe his nose.

  “Yes! He took me because he thought he was protecting me from his maker, the real bad guy in all this.” I took Vex’s face in my hands to inspect his nose, but it was already healing and the blood was stopping. Thank god, he was an older vampire. A broken nose took at least a few hours to days for younger vampires like me.

  “Oh! Well. Whoops. Sorry maker dude,” she said with an embarrassed shrug, her tone apologetic.

  “It’s fine. That was a good punch,” he said happily, tossing the soiled tissue into the trash and wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

  Hollis cleared his threat, gaining our attention. “Lucy, you and Claudia should go to rest. We’re going to start figuring out where Bellamy might be heading to set off his vampire army. That is, if you don’t mind staying up for a bit to help us, Vex?”

  “I could do that,” Vex responded. He leaned down and kissed my temple. “Go rest, pet. You need it.”

  I bobbed my head and gave him a quick hug before releasing him. Hollis walked over and kissed my forehead. “See you in a couple of hours, baby. He’ll be fine with us.”

  “Yeah,” added Sloan as he slung his arm around my other side. “We’ve gotta indoctrinate him into the Lucy Love Nest we’ve got going on. Just some manly banter, maybe some arm wrestling and light hazing. No biggie.”

  I elbowed him with a grin. “Play nice, fuzz butt. No hazing!” I said pointedly with my finger poking at his chest.

  “Alright, fine! Just take the fun out of everything!” He smacked his lips to mine in an obnoxious kiss and followed the other two to the debriefing room.

  Claudia looped her arm through mine and started leading me to where the extra coffins were that the vampire STF agents used when they pulled longer shifts.

  “Sooooo …” she started, her voice playful and accusatory. “Lucy Love Nest, huh? Is Vexie now part of your harem of hotties? Cause if so, I want all the details of how this happened so I can go back to pretending to hate you for it.”

  I laughed and shook my head at her. “It’s a long story.”

  “We’ve got time! I’m still awake enough to push my coffin right up next to yours and have this be my bed time story.”

  “Alright, but no interrupting!” I scolded her.

  “Yes! My lips are sealed!”

  There was a good chance I’d get no rest today. Claudia not interrupting was about as likely as vampires no longer needing blood to survive.

  She’s lucky I loved her.

  Chapter 24

  I ended up resting the entire day, not realizing how tired I’d actually been.

  When I stepped from the coffin I was using, the one Claudia had slept in was empty. She awed over the story of what I’d been doing the whole time I was gone, completely blown away as much as I was about how I came to be a vampire and why Vex had to leave me behind. While some of my stay there would probably haunt me for many rests to come, the memories of getting to know Vex was enough to keep the nightmares at bay.

  It amazes me how much had changed in the dynamics of my life within such a short period of time. It felt like forever ago that Sloan and I were sneaking around, screwing each other’s brains out for fun. Since Hollis came into my life – well, our lives – it was like everything was falling into place. Having Vex here with me now as well, put those pieces together, holding them firmly in place. I’d never felt so whole and loved before, and it was an amazingly exhilarating feeling.

  I walked into the briefing room to see Vex and Hollis huddled together at one of the tables with some of Hollis’ men. Sloan was passed out in one of the chairs in the corner, his head lulled to the side and drool escaping from the corner of his mouth.

  I chuckled at him and made my way over to the table with the others, Hollis immediately wrapping his arms around me when I stepped between him and Vex.

  “Hey beautiful. Did you rest well?” He asked.

  I yawned, sighing with a smile before I answered. “Yeah, I think so. Where’s Claudia?”

  Vex’s hand started rubbing circles on my lower back. “She went to fetch a change of clothes for you and her when the sun went down. Said something about getting a broom, too. Why on earth would she need a broom?” His nose crinkled in confusion.

  The look was so damn cute on him that I laughed and reached my arms around him to hug him at the waist. “She probably said Abraham. That’s her maker.”

  “Oh! Well that makes a lot more sense.”

  Everyone laughed at poor Vex’s expense.

  “What are you guys doing?” I asked, looking over all the scattered papers on the table.

  “You guys can go take a break. We’ll go over this more in a few hours,” Hollis said to his team. They filed out of the room after a round of the usual “Sir, yes, sir!”

  Hollis pointed to one of the papers on the table that looked like a map, but wasn’t one with roads on it. “Vex says that Bellamy planned to start the siege around the Central Park area right at sundown two days from now. The problem is, he didn’t specify to him how they would start from there if there are no buildings to hide hundreds of vampires right up until sunset. It got me thinking that they weren’t necessarily going to need buildings to start from there.”

  I wrinkled my brows. “I’m not following.”

  Vex pulled the map Hollis pointed at closer, tracing his fingers along some lines. “These are the sewer lines beneath the park. The sewers are the perfect hideaway for the mass he has waiting. They’re dark, interconnected between each other underneath the whole city, and have many exit points. It’s the perfect plan, yet it’s one we can foil. That is, if he hasn’t changed his plan. We may have the advantage if he thinks either you are dead and I’m back to his obedient servant, or I am dead and you know nothing of his plan. In his mind, he’s probably already won.”

  I stared at the map, understanding what he was getting at. Bellamy still had no idea what happened with us in the compound. He’d never see us coming if we attacked before he did.

  “That’s brilliant!” I exclaimed excitedly. “You guys have really been thinking this through.”

  “We haven’t stopped since you went to rest,” Hollis explained. A loud snore came from the corner Sloan was sleeping in. “Well, Vex and I haven’t. Sloan was falling asleep standing so we made him take a nap. Took a good hour of convincing him, though.”

  “Yes. Your wolf lover is a stubborn. He doesn’t listen very well.” Vex said, eyeing Sloan over his shoulder.

  “You’re just mad because he tried sneaking that damn hammer of yours out of your pocket while you weren’t looking,” Hollis added with a smirk.

  “Betty is not something I’ll share with either of you! Lucy? Yes. She loves you and that damn wolf too much for me to be selfish enough to try and take her away. But Betty is mine!”

  I giggled at how territorial he was getting over his prized weapon, standing on my tip toes to kiss his cheek. “Yes. She’s all yours. I’ll have a talk with Sloan about leaving her alone.”

  “I knew I made a good choice when I made you, pet. You may be the only one I’ll ever let touch her.”

  I smiled wide, knowing that if he was willing to share that stupid hammer he’s obsessed with, he must truly care about me.

  “You two are strange,” Hollis said with the shake of his head.

  “You love us,” joked Vex.

  Hollis pointed at me. “Her? Yes,” then pointed at Vex. “You? I like, but don�
��t think that means I’ll cuddle with you when Lucy decides to have a Lucy Love Nest sleepover.”

  I threw my hands in the air. “Who the hell decided that that was going to be a thing? Lucy Love Nest? Come on!”

  “Well seventy-five percent of us in it are vampires. Vampires congregating together make a nest. You’re Lucy and we all love you. I think it fits.”

  “You would,” I groused at him. “You’re just as bad as Claudia with the weird necessity to nickname everything.”

  The doors to the briefing room crashed open. Claudia entered the room with her hands out wide to her sides. “Did someone say my name? Cause I have arrived!”

  Sloan jolted awake with a snort and fell out of his chair, jumping to his feet the second he hit the ground.

  “I’m up! I’m awake! What’s happening?”

  “You got a little something there,” I motioned to the drool on his face, trying my best not to laugh.

  He wiped at his mouth in confusion, a look of embarrassment crossing his features when he saw what it was. He turned a glare on the approaching Claudia, who currently had a large duffel bag slung across her shoulder. She set it down by my feet when she got to us.

  “Brahm is on his way up. Had to deal with a call from one of his managers at the club in Las Vegas,” she explained. “There’s a change of clothes for everyone. Especially you.” She said that last part to Vex.

  I was so out of it from finally being back with my guys and needing some rest, it hadn’t occurred to me that Vex had yet to change out of his clothes from the night before. He was still wearing the same jeans and leather jacket, both of which were torn up in some places and the jeans were stained with blood.

  “Why didn’t you change into something while I was resting? The STF has extra sweats you could use.” I motioned at the ones I was wearing. They were a bit too big on me considering they were Hollis’, but at least they were clean and my ass wasn’t hanging out.

  He gave me an affronted look. “Pet, as beautiful as you look in just about anything, do you really expect me to wear those hideous things? I’m a leather and jeans man. Not sweats. I’d sooner walk around naked than wear those.”

  “No!”

  “Don’t!”

  “Yes, please!”

  Hollis, Sloan and Claudia all said in tandem. It wasn’t hard to guess who said what.

  Vex’s face fell in disappointment. “Well, fine. Ruin my fun.”

  Claudia leaned down and unzipped the bag, handing everyone something to change into. When she got to Vex, she had clothes in her hands that looked similar to what he had on, plus a shirt, though.

  “Don’t worry, Vexie,” she said with a wink. “I had a feeling you wouldn’t wear just anything. Abraham had these stashed in his wardrobe, so I nicked them.”

  “For God’s sakes woman, I don’t know whether to strangle you for the infernal nickname, or kiss you for giving me decent clothes!”

  “I vote just a nice hug,” I said innocently with my hand held up.

  “Make that two votes on that one,” a voice said behind us.

  I pivoted to look around Vex’s hulking form and saw Abraham walking towards us. I smiled and stepped around Vex to envelope him in a hug. He responded with one of his familiar bear hugs I hadn’t had in a while, his expensive cologne flooding in through my nostrils.

  “Hey, Brahm. How are you?” I asked as we pulled away from each other.

  He gave me a megawatt smile that I had no clue how Claudia resisted. The man was a walking symbol of sex.

  Abraham always wore finely tailored slacks, white button up shirts with the top buttons undone and Italian leather dress shoes. My favorite detail was his suspenders, though. Something that was usually hidden beneath a suit coat or on old men looked positively seductive on his slender, yet muscular chest. His hair was a rich, chocolate brown, cut in a way that gave him a fifties vibe, which apparently was one of his favorite eras. His jaw was lined with a six o’clock shadow and his piercing red eyes were shadowed by long dark lashes.

  It amazed me how Claudia could deny a man like him, when not only did he obviously love her, but practically worshipped her and would get on his knees if she asked. One day, that best friend of mine would stop being stubborn and just take what was so blatantly offered to her.

  “I’m quite well, Lucy. Glad to see you’re around causing mischief again. I was starting to worry Claudia would never get a full night’s rest until you were found. Are you well?” He palmed my face turning it side to side, checking me over like a mother hen.

  I laughed and pulled his hands away. “I’m fine. I promise. Turns out I wasn’t taken by someone who meant me harm.” I looped my arm through his and pulled him over to Vex, who had a strange look on his face.

  When they were facing each other, simultaneously they shouted and pointed at each other, “You!”

  Vex instantly grabbed me and pushed me behind his back, guarding me from Abraham like a damn dog.

  “What’s going on?” I tried shoving out from around Vex, but he wasn’t having it.

  “I’d like to know the same thing!” Claudia said, throwing a shady look at Vex.

  “Get your hands off Lucy, Vasiliy! You should not be here!” Abraham hissed at Vex, his stance ready to pounce.

  “You two know each other?” I asked, still uselessly trying to get around Vex.

  “I should say the same for you!” Vex sneered back.

  Both men were almost chest to chest, staring each other down with death glares.

  “Hold up just a damned minute!” Sloan bellowed, he and Hollis coming between them to push them away from each other.

  “How do you two know each other and why shouldn’t either of you be here?” Hollis asked calmly, looking back and forth between them.

  “He is Bellamy’s lap dog! It’s been a good hundred years since I’ve seen him, but none have made me ashamed of being a vampire quite like him!” Brahm shouted, angrily gesturing at Vex.

  “You’re one to talk! I don’t share blood with the monster behind the minions!” Vex replied angrily.

  They began shouting back and forth at each other, none of us able to make out what they were saying since they were speaking a language I wasn’t familiar with. I’d finally had enough of the warring testosterone, pulling myself out from behind Vex while he was distracted. I stuck my fingers in my mouth, letting out a loud, high pitched whistle. They both went silent.

  “Enough!” I yelled. “You two! Corner chairs. Now!” I pointed my finger at the chairs set up in the corner of the room.

  Claudia and Sloan silently giggled at my treating them like four-year olds. Surprisingly, it worked.

  They each say in a chair, leaving the one between them empty and crossing their arms as they glared at each other.

  “This is how it’s gonna go!” I put my hands on my hips and stood before them. “One at a time you both with explain to me how the fuck you know each other!” I pointed at Abraham. “But first, I wanna know what Vex meant by you sharing blood with Bellamy. And for the love of God, please do not tell me he means that in the drinking sense!”

  Brahm threw one last leer at Vex before answering. And boy was it a fucking doozy that none of us were expecting.

  “Bellamy is my brother.”

  Shit, meet fan…

  Chapter 25

  “Hold on. Back the hell up! Bellamy is your brother?”

  I was stunned. In the few years I’d known Abraham, I’d never heard any mention of a brother. And now, suddenly he was telling us his brother was not only a psychopath that made Vex look like a damn kitten, but was the cause of all our problems right now.

  “Half-brother, technically. I haven’t seen him since I saw Vasiliy here at least a hundred years ago. We don’t get along that well because of his insatiable need to be more powerful, more violent. We stopped interacting with each other at least six hundred years ago.”

  “This world just keeps getting smaller and I’m not sure I like it,�
� Claudia said with a sigh and sitting in the empty chair between our feuding makers.

  “Did you know he was the one behind the shit storm that’s been hitting the city?” Sloan asked.

  Brahm looked surprised. “He is? I had no idea, whatsoever. Though, if I’m being honest that doesn’t surprise me. He’s a malicious bastard that always has to come up with some way to dominate over the humans. It’s not his first attempt. He’s had a hand in a lot of the wars that have plagued humans within the last two thousand years.”

  “I find that hard to believe,” Vex muttered insolently from his seat.

  “Behave, Vex,” I said to him, palming his cheek in my hand to comfort him. “He is Claudia’s maker and a dear friend to me. If you can’t trust him, at least trust me.” I could understand why Vex immediately felt distrust towards Brahm. The hell that Bellamy put him through all these years would make anyone act the same in his position when confronted with his enemy’s brother.

  Vex sighed and pulled me to sit on his lap, leaning his forehead against my temple to whisper, “I’d trust you with my life, pet. You know that.”

  “Now that I’ve answered your question, how about you answer mine, Lucy,” Brahm said to me, his eyes flicking back and forth between Vex and I sitting in this intimate fashion. “Why is Vex here? He has just as much a body count behind him as Bellamy and is twice the psychopath.”

  “Long story short, Vex is my maker. He changed me and left me to avoid Bellamy finding out about me. He was the one who took me that night. He thought Bellamy was getting too close after those vampires attacked me in the alley and decided I was safer under his nose.”

  Abraham’s jaw dropped. “This is truth?” He looked at me and then at the others, all of who were nodding. “Small world, indeed. Can you trust him, though?” Brahm asked me seriously.

  “Yeah, I can.”

  “And you three?” He asked Hollis, Sloan and Claudia.

  “He could’ve handed her over to Bellamy or killed her at any time. He didn’t,” Hollis answered. “His information on what Bellamy’s planning is invaluable. We’d never have figured it out without his help. So, yes. I trust him.”