Allison sits on a chair, hugging herself. I check her over to make sure she wasn’t hurt.
“Draven, we can talk about this,” Rao says, rising from his seat on the couch.
“Sit the fuck down, Rao,” I roar, standing within an inch of his traitorous face.
“Draven,”—he holds his hands up in a surrender—“you have to understand. We’re worried about her powers, about her wiping out our race.”
“Who told you?” I start thinking about everyone I’m close to, everyone who knows Allison has powers, and try to think of who could have betrayed me.
“I would never wipe out anyone,” Allison whispers.
“Rao, she’s under my protection. You betrayed me by taking her.” It would satisfy me immensely to rip his head off and watch him bleed out, but I know I can’t kill a leader of another clan without backlash. I pull out my phone, texting Viggo to meet me here. Then, I text my sister, asking the same thing.
“She needs to be dealt with,” Rao says. “We can’t have her running around loose.”
“She’s not loose,” I yell at him, my anger so fierce Allison flinches. “I have her here, safe with me.”
“You know what I mean. What happens when word gets out that she can destroy our vampire race?”
Allison doesn’t speak, only stares at Rao with fear in her big blue eyes.
“Are you working with Bogdan?”
Rao blinks at me, and I hover over him, making him appear small in the room.
“Are you working with Bogdan?” I ask again, my voice raising with each word.
He shakes his head. “No, Bogdan has his own plans.”
“What are they?” I stand to my full height, making sure Rao knows he fucked with the wrong vampire tonight.
Now, he’s my enemy.
Viggo rushes in, and his eyes bounce from me, to Allison, to Rao. “What’s going on?”
“Rao kidnapped Allison,” I say. “Says he and Bogdan know Allison has powers.”
“Kill him,” Viggo offers, with no thought.
I rub my hand on my chin. “I’ve thought about that, but I’m not sure if killing the king of the Tavian Clan is in our best interest.”
“I could turn him,” Allison says, her voice barely audible.
We all face her. The more her idea bounces around in my head, the more I like it.
Once he sees I’m not shutting down her offer, Rao falls to his knees. “No, please. I need this. It’s all that I am. Bogdan will kill me if I’m human. If I betray him.”
“Thought you said you weren’t working with him.”
“We’re all going a little mad here,” he says. “Let’s all take a step back, breathe, reconnect, find a better solution.”
I scoff at him. Pathetic. “What would Bogdan think of you begging for your life like a coward?”
“We can figure things out,” Rao continues.
“What did you plan on doing to her?” I ask, knowing damn well I won’t like the answer he gives me.
His gaze moves to Allison with disdain. “I was going to kill her.”