Lustre of Twilight (Love Bitten)

I told them where to meet me, and one by one, they appeared beside me. In the few minutes I’d been watching the house across the street, I’d counted at least six minions patrolling outside, and I’d spotted three more inside when they passed by a window. The master was obviously paranoid. He fucking should be.

“I’m going to see who’s available to back us up,” Braeden whispered.

Over the next minute, our cousin Kieran and his brother Athan arrived. Followed shortly by another cousin, Cian, and his twin siblings, Aura and Abel. They brought a belt for each of us, ones specifically made to hold the tools we needed to take down nightwalkers. A stake, a cross, holy water, and garlic.

Braeden and Abel went to take care of the guards. Kieran and Aura crept around the front of the convenience store to take care of any vamps from the nest we missed last time or new ones they’d created since then. Cian, Athan, and I would be going inside the house to save Narkissa.

Two blurs went up the porch, where two guards stood by the front door. They circled the vampires and then came back down, disappearing behind the house. All that was left of the guards were two piles of ash.

“Let’s go,” I told Cian and Athan in a low tone. We teleported to the porch and waited to see if any trouble showed up. After a minute, I tried the doorknob and rolled my eyes when I found it unlocked. Minions or not—people should keep the fucking doors locked if they didn’t want someone to come inside and kill them.

I pushed the door open to just a slit and sighed when water splashed my face. Idiots. Since I couldn’t see my attacker, even after the water cleared my eyes, because of the angle, I had to retaliate on instinct. I wiped at the wetness on my face and, quick as lightning, reached through the opening and grabbed the arm of a leech while shoving the door open all the way. He tried to scream in agony as his flesh burned, but he barely uttered a sound before my stake went into his heart, and he burst into flames.

The sound had been enough to draw two more minions from a dark hallway behind the stairs, right in front of us, that led to a second story. Athan and Cian handled them while I sprinted up to the next level. I didn’t know for sure where he was holding her, and the basement would usually be my first guess. But something about this asshole made me think he wasn’t going to do the obvious.

Clearly, he was obsessed with the idea of walking in the sun, and I was willing to bet that he kept his room above ground because of it. If his plan worked, he’d be able to walk to the windows and throw open the curtains.

My stomach lurched at the idea of Narkissa in another man’s bed, but it was the most logical plan, so I forced myself to keep it together by focusing on nothing but finding my consort.

Upstairs, the hallway was lined with two doors on one side and a single door on the other. At the end was a set of ornate double doors that looked as if they’d come from a fifteenth-century building. I suspected the inside of the room would be just as gaudy. The master must have thought becoming a daywalker would essentially make him royalty. Stupid asshole.

A board on the stairs creaked behind me, but I recognized Cian’s scent, so it didn’t cause my focus to waver. I had to be slightly more wary when dealing with a master. Minions were usually a pretty easy kill, but masters fed from both humans and the vampires under their leadership. The combination made them stronger, a little faster, and more deadly.

Not that this asshole was any match for a Bancroft. We grew up learning how to fight and defeat nightwalkers practically from the cradle. Still, arrogance could get you killed.

Athan appeared at my left and Cian at my right. They gestured to their respective doors, and I nodded. I removed the vial of holy water from my belt and twisted off the cap. Then I gripped my stake in my free hand.

Cian held up his fingers indicating three, two, one. Then he and Athan kicked open the doors while I rushed into the end room, sweeping my eyes around to find the undead son of a bitch who’d taken my consort.

When I didn’t see him, my gaze landed on the bed, and I roared with rage at the sight. Narkissa was in her bra and panties, tied spread eagle by thick rope. She gasped, though the sound was muffled by the gag in her mouth.