Bad Mouth

chapter Fifteen


Kade stood outside the Towers, claws of indecision gripping his chest. He hadn’t called for the car to take him to the Ancients’ mansion. He wasn’t sure he should risk flashing, but he didn’t have much choice. He had to face them tonight.

And Val might return soon. That put a smile on his face, although it didn’t last long. He’d never given lying a second thought before he met her, but he hated lying to her, even by omission. He could only imagine what she’d say if she knew he could flash. He didn’t want to find out.

Then again, he wasn’t sure he wanted answers to the questions he had for the Ancients, either. Nothing they said could justify what they’d done.

What the f*ck could he do, anyway? Kill the Ancients? He was in no way prepared or willing to take the reins of the Dominorum, if he wasn’t strung up by his balls for heresy first. Shit, he could go rogue, but then he’d have to deal with the Legion Trackers as well as the Dominorum’s Enforcers.

A quick glance around indicated the area fortunately clear of unwanted spectators. He braced himself, stilling the respiration Val had sparked earlier, and sprinted. Within seconds, the air shoved at him with tornado-level force. Protective shields slid over his eyes and the scenery blurred, the city lights forming wavy streaks on either side of him. He had no room for navigational mistakes this deep inside the city. The smallest brush against an obstacle, living or not, would instantly end his expedition.

The four-hour trip to the Ancients passed in less than ten minutes. He ended the flash a half mile down the drive and collapsed onto the damp, mossy ground. Good thing he wasn’t breathing or the Ancients and their entire staff would hear him wheeze and huff all the way from the mansion. Flashing such a distance required an enormous risk, especially at his young age, and took longer to recover than it took to make the trip.

After a lengthy respite, he stood, steam curling over his shoulder from the residual body heat of his back. He jogged at a normal pace to the shadowy hulk housing the vampires who had spawned him. It wasn’t in him to wait on the vast stone steps outside, so he let himself in. A faint echo of footsteps came from upstairs, but the creator of the sound wasn’t who he searched for. Their footfalls would not be heard.

It didn’t take long before they came to him. Evangeline found him first, followed shortly by Olen. They looked surprised, but not displeased to see him.

“Sweetling.” His mother’s sugary voice scraped into his brain. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”

Olen said nothing. His father must have sensed something unusual in the visit. Kade barely bowed his head, his eyes never leaving them.

“You can blame yourselves for my interruption to your vile sense of fun.” The scent of blood and sex and other ungodly things made it plain what he’d interrupted. Yet another reminder to decapitate himself when he reached their age.

“You shouldn’t judge. At least our sense of fun doesn’t encompass mutilation.” Something threatening infused Olen’s tone, but it wasn’t a reference to Kade’s newly turned. His father had always seemed amused by it.

“In the course of the VLO’s investigation, I’ve come across something I’m sure you never meant me to find.” He had their attention now. All expression had left their faces, leaving them blank slates—a defensive reaction.

“Continue,” Olen said. His stance widened as he waited for Kade to speak. A moment passed while Kade calculated his odds against his father. Might have been a close draw if it weren’t for Evangeline. He could never take them both at once.

“Why did you allow your staff subjugates to transform rather than execute them as you told me you had?”

Neither Ancient appeared surprised. They’d either expected the question at some point or hid their reactions well. “We could not afford to lose any more vampires. It was for the good of the Legion. Our population was on a decline due to our…conflict with the humans. It was even worse after your foolish emotional blunder.”

“My what?” Kade’s lips tightened against his fangs lest he bare his aggression, a sure invitation to scuffle with the older male.

“You were never skilled at controlling your emotions. Even now you struggle for it.”

“This is the story you expect me to believe? Why did you lie about it? You’re the goddamned Ancients. You could have ordered my obedience to your decision.”

“Oh, darling,” Evangeline cooed. “You’d been brutalized by those hateful humans for so many of your young years. How could we not care how you’d feel knowing they were alive and well and protected by Immortalis protocol?”

He didn’t even know the word care existed in her vocabulary. She was a venomous bitch who’d gut him if he didn’t bow when he entered. Their story sounded weak, but what other explanation could there be? They had been at war against the humans at the time. They’d also overfed themselves into a near famine, and their numbers had diminished faster than an inept gambler’s bank account.

“Forgive us?” Her scarlet lips formed a pout.

Kade barked out a laugh. “How about I take my leave of you instead?” He pivoted to go and then called back over his shoulder. “Do me a favor and don’t call on me for a while. A long while.”

The door slammed heavily behind him as he stormed into the winter chill. It couldn’t make him colder than he already felt inside. He couldn’t decide which was worse, the subjugates completing transformation or that they were allowed to.

With a snarl, he ran and then ran faster and faster until the trees became long green walls surrounding him. A howl ripped loose, taking some of the pain with it as it left his throat. He howled again and again as he headed back to the Towers. No doubt there’d be reports of banshees, Sasquatch, and chupacabra in the morning, but he didn’t give a shit. He wanted to take the world apart and the Ancients along with it. He wanted to rip out his soul and scour it clean. And more than anything, he wanted Val.