This time when Mary tried to scream, the inside of her throat burst into flames and she choked to a stop, clawing desperately at her jugular to find the source of pain. Until she realized Hadrian had put it there. He’d taken away her only weapon, stripped her of hope and inundated her with horror in a matter of minutes.
Tucker, no. Oh my God, why?
When her sight started returning in degrees a while later, it hardly mattered. She could see nothing of what was in front of her face, only a blur of tears.
Chapter 22
At any other time, Tucker would have been glad as hell to see Jonas.
Or to sit across from Elias and Roksana and marvel at the slayer’s transformation from human to vampire. They were in an empty factory on the edge of Warren, approximately thirty miles from Hadrian’s manor. Tension ruled the air. Vampires from all over, summoned by the king, kept to the shadows on the floor of the abandoned space, even though it was the dead middle of the night. They waited for Jonas to outline their plan of attack.
No one more so than Tucker.
Elias called to him from a few feet away, but his friend’s voice sounded like the buzzing of a fly. Every time he blinked out of habit, his eyelids seemed to take a full minute to lift again. And that lethargy continued throughout his entire body. His knees, his arms, his thoughts.
The lack of sustenance wasn’t doing this to him. Not yet. It was the lack of Mary.
Tucker dropped his head down between his outstretched knees, wrapping his forearms around the back of his neck. There was a spilled oil pattern on the floor and he studied it, finding it reminded him of Mary. Her hair billowing in the wind.
Pain exploded behind Tucker’s right eye and he realized how hard his back teeth were grinding together, but he only applied more pressure, hoping they would shatter. God, anything to distract from the unholy pain in the center of his chest. What was she doing right now? Did she have her sight back? What was she looking at?
“Something beautiful, I hope,” he murmured to himself, the words sound like remnants of a dream.
“Are you even listening to me, bloodsucker?” Roksana demanded in her Russian accent to his left, her hip bumping his on the bench where they sat side by side. “I am trying to tell you about my first fight as vampire. A slayer of all people! I could not believe, Tucker. There I was, taking a leisurely walk through the graveyard and this Svo-lach’ tries to stake me.” She slapped a hand down on his knee and squeezed. “I hang her on the fence by her underpants. Camel toe for days. I took a picture. Here…”
She started to dig through her pocket, but Tucker stopped her with a sound.
Tucker was vaguely aware of Elias and Roksana trading a look. “I was going to work up to this, but seeing as how we are preparing for battle and regrets should be aired…do you want to explain what happened with the fairy?”
“I don’t have any regrets to air,” said Tucker dully.
“What about grievances?”
Tucker raked his hands down his face.
Elias sat down on the other side of Tucker. “The plan was to kidnap her. Not to bring her to Hadrian. What happened? Jonas wouldn’t spill.”
“She stood to gain more with Hadrian.”
“That can’t be true,” Roksana scoffed.
He didn’t want to talk about his pain out loud. No, he wanted to wrap himself tightly around it and let the suffering destroy him, the way soldiers fell on a grenade. He was harboring pain so bitter, it shouldn’t be inflicted on anyone else. But if this was the last time he would see his best friends, he had to give them something. Especially since he would be taking away their right to have his back. If the situation was reversed, he would be eternally pissed. “Elias, if keeping Roksana meant she could never fight again, would you give her up?”
“No.”
“No.” Tucker glanced over at his stoic friend. “Just like that.”
Elias nodded, sending his mate a blistering look that would have made Tucker uncomfortable if he had the ability to feel anything but loss. “I would fight on her behalf,” said his friend firmly. “Whatever she needed.”
“But fighting is what she loves the most.”
“Elias is what I love most,” Roksana said, crossing her arms jerkily, apparently no more comfortable discussing emotions than when she was human. “I could adapt to any changes if Elias is there to strengthen me. And vice versa.”
“Hell if that isn’t right,” Elias growled. “I need her. She needs me.”
“You know, having a decent sulk is pretty fucking difficult when I’m sandwiched between you two horn dogs.”
Roksana breathed a shaky laugh. “I did not know to expect this increased…ardor…after being Silenced.”