Then he carefully extricated himself from her, rolled off the bed, tugged on his jeans, and moved silently to and through the door.
He walked five doors up the hall, stopped at one, and knocked.
It was opened in thirty seconds by Poncho, who was like Abel, wearing nothing but faded jeans, his hair a mess, his eyes alert.
“Everything okay?”
“Not really, but there’s nothing new that isn’t okay. Just need a chat,” Abel replied.
Poncho kept his eyes sharp on Abel and guessed, “My auntie.”
“Yes, and no,” Abel told him. “See, found out today that the vampires killed off a bunch of witches a long time ago.”
“Fuck,” Poncho mumbled.
“Right. So it’s likely they’re not hip on helpin’. The thing is, it wouldn’t hurt to have one on our side. So yeah, I need you to get in touch with your aunt. But I need you to be cool about that. I need you to see where she’s at with this supernatural shit before you tell her you’re neck-deep in it. Only when you know she isn’t gonna fuck us will I talk to the others and see if we can make an approach.”
“Consider it done,” Poncho stated instantly.
“Poncho—” Abel started.
“No.” He shook his head. “Don’t need to say more. I dig this has to be handled. You got my word I’ll handle it.”
Abel looked into his eyes and nodded.
Poncho jutted his chin down the hall. “Get back to our girl.”
“Right, later.”
Poncho gave a short salute and a “Later, amigo.”
He was closing the door before Abel turned down the hall.
As silently as he’d left their room, he returned, carefully gathering Delilah in his arms after he pulled the covers back over his body.
Unconsciously, she snuggled deep and relaxed in his hold.
That was when Abel took a breath and let it go. He did this hoping Poncho could handle it and hoping Delilah would get some ability, and not only so she’d quit bitching. He also did it letting the sheer brilliance of all he’d learned that day wash through him (and there was a fuckload he’d learned that day about who he was and the fact it was far from monstrous).
Then he closed his eyes and went to sleep, doing it further hoping a dream would come.
Not like the dream come true he held in his arms.
Any dream they could use to help them stop evil so he and Delilah could live wild, free, happy…
And forever.
* * * * *
Gregor
Gregor sat at the desk in the compound’s study, tapping his fingers, his eyes to edge of the desk, his mind filled.
“It’s impossible,” Yuri said from his seat in a chair across from him.
“I know,” Gregor murmured.
“His senses are acute, wolf and vampire. It’s impossible he hasn’t run across at least one of our kind in two hundred years.”
Gregor lifted his eyes to his son and stopped tapping. “I know, Yuri.”
“He’s been protected, and not by a family of loyal Chinese,” Yuri declared.
Gregor sighed.
“He was saved from that witch,” Yuri said quietly.
“He was,” Gregor agreed.
“We can trace her. We have a date and a place. We can find out who she is. We might also find her.”
Gregor kept his eyes to his son. “Do you think another immortal would happen upon a witch attempting to dispatch the only known hybrid and she’d survive?”
“No,” Yuri replied. “Especially since it wasn’t just another immortal. It was his mother, or his father, or both. There’s no chance they allowed her to survive. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look for her. She might have people. People who may know things. People who I can make talk.”
Gregor’s attention on his son became acute.
Yuri was hotheaded. He was also passionate. It was uncanny since it was not vampiric nor was it inherited from his father or his mother, who showed less emotion than even Gregor.
He was almost like a wolf.
But he was not wolf. He was vampire, a vampire with a variety of skills he’d honed over his centuries so that he was uniquely gifted in using them.
“Find who you can find,” Gregor said quietly. “And make them talk.”
He watched his son’s slow smile.
Then he watched his son straighten from the chair and move to the door.
Only when he had it opened did Gregor call, “Yuri?”
Yuri turned back and lifted a brow.
“Be careful,” Gregor whispered.
Yuri nodded once.
Then he disappeared.
Chapter Fifteen
Destiny Fuckin’ Loves Me
Delilah
I walked down the street cautiously, my stomach roiling with nausea, blood and bodies everywhere. On the streets. In the doorways to the shops. Necks gashed open. Throats ripped out. Limbs ripped away.
They were all gone. Every last human.
Save me.
This couldn’t be right. This couldn’t be what they wanted. This was worse than we’d expected.
They needed humans to survive.
So why were they killing them all?
“This is a warning.”
I whipped around at the voice and saw him standing in the middle of the street.
A vampire. Handsome. Proud.
Evil.
“This is what we can do. This is why they will submit,” he went on.
“Where’s Abel?” I asked.
“He will sacrifice himself for you.”
I felt my insides freeze and it was agony.
The vampire smiled like he knew he’d caused me pain and liked it. “You won’t have forever. You won’t even have tomorrow. You will only have a lifetime of mourning.” His head cocked to the side. “Don’t worry, it won’t last long. It’ll only be a human lifetime.”