Midnight Marked (Chicagoland Vampires 12)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

THE CLOSER YOU GET

I fisted my hands so they wouldn’t shake, turned back to face him. He watched me the way a man might watch a caged panther. Cautiously, and with great care.

“Mallory probably told you I saw someone outside the House,” I said.

“A vampire who worked for Adrien Reed,” he bit off.

“The vampire who killed Caleb Franklin. He saw me coming, and he ran.”

“And you followed him. Without backup, without weapon.” Without me, I guessed, he’d left unspoken.

“If I’d waited or delayed, he’d have disappeared. I told Mallory to get inside, to lock the gate, and then I chased him to the train. You saw the rest?”

Ethan nodded, just once. “What there was to see.” He watched me for a moment. “And what aren’t you telling me?”

I gathered up courage, held it tightly. “He’s not just the vampire who killed Caleb Franklin.” I paused. “He’s the vampire who attacked me in the Quad.”

Ethan went very, very still. Fury and possessiveness flared together in his magic, spun together in the room. “He’s the one who attacked you.”

I nodded. “I didn’t recognize him at first. But when we were on the train, and the light was better—when I could see his face and, I don’t know, sense something familiar in his scent or his magic—I knew it was him.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know his name. I still don’t know his damn name.” That seemed so important to me right now, so much that my voice trembled, and I shook my head, swallowed hard, as emotions rose.

The wave of anger crested, followed by a flood of sympathy. “Merit,” he said, voice full of emotion, concern.

I just shook my head, held up a hand. I wasn’t ready for sympathy yet.

“He works for Reed. He’d planned to get to me to throw you off. You’re Reed’s real target. He wants to hurt you. To manipulate you. That’s who he is.”

“Fuck Adrien Reed.”

His voice was so sharp, so forceful, I had to look up at him again. His expression held the ferocity of a warrior, a man intent on destroying his enemies.

“Death cannot come soon enough for Adrien Reed, but beyond that, he is not important to me. The only thing that interests me about Reed is the risk he presents to my people, to you. I care about that very much.”

It was very nearly an apology. Very nearly an acknowledgment that Reed had made him do regrettable things—including calling my father.

“What is Reed’s connection to the Rogue?” he asked, before I could bring up that subject. Which was probably best for both of us. And still, he kept me talking. Kept me reporting on facts, rather than slipping back into fear.

“It has to be Celina.”

“How?” he asked.

“She paid the vampire to kill me. She’s been in debt to Reed for years; he was financing her lifestyle. Maybe she got the money from Reed, and that’s how he found out about the Rogue. Or maybe Reed wasn’t just the source of the money. He’s a kingpin. Maybe he supplied the assassin, too. Although, if that’s the case, why wait so long to throw him back in my face?”

Ethan’s gaze darkened, probably as he thought of Balthasar. “Reed is a man who knows how to bide his time.”

I nodded. “He loves the dramatic. No, it would be more accurate to say he loves an emotional mind-fuck. And he has, by God, succeeded. I feel like it’s happened all over again. Like I’m starting from square one. I feel—like everything is in the wrong place.”