Turning away from me, he looks long and hard at Isaac. I can see just from the way Ambrose’s shoulders tense under his frock coat that whatever’s going on is upsetting him.
“The abomination… No, I know nothing. He should be put down like a sick animal, only not with kindness,” Ambrose says before he walks away from me. “I shall watch over my mother until this whole unpleasantness is finished.”
Watching his back as he moves up the stairs, then listening to his dancing feet move across the floor, I wonder if I’m giving him more trust than I should.
Allowing him to watch over my Chloe feels like asking a lion to watch over a chicken coop. If there wasn’t blood and a connection between us… I wouldn’t let him anywhere near her.
My mind thinks back, though, to his words on the hunter. Isaac drinks the blood of humans… he’s not natural.
This hunter is an abomination to both vampires and humans. Even the pack knew something was off with him.
Blood-drinking humans.
This is the stuff of nightmares.
Moving to the hunter, I look at where I slashed his chest. The blood is clotting faster than a normal human’s would.
“Chloe’s blood must have given him some of her healing.” I motion to his chest. “That’s not fucking normal.”
“I was going to bring that up with you,” Matthias says. “He’s bruised and bloody but it’s all superficial wounds now. Nothing major.”
That’s incredibly fucking disturbing.
Humans don’t heal like us. They don’t fucking magically get better so quickly.
Magically.
Fuck.
“When was the last time we knew of a witch in hiding?” I ask out loud. “Fuck, for that matter, when’s the last time we heard of a witch even existing?”
The deafening silence around me is all the answer I need.
Grabbing the black bag off the floor, I yank it over the hunter’s face.
Staring down at the bound, gagged, and now hooded figure, I get a creepy-crawly feeling all over my body.
“Don’t ask questions if you don’t want the answer,” Raphael growls at me before slamming his fist into the side of the hunter’s head.
I watch as the body and chair topple over to the side. A small oomph comes out of the hunter’s hood before he starts snoring.
“Matthias,” I say, turning to him, “get on the phones. Be discreet but ask the question around. I don’t want to spook the whole fucking world.”
“Got it, but you should know, Ash, any question I ask about witches still being around is going to cause hairs to stand on end,” Matthias says.
“Just get it done as quietly as you can,” I say.
Matthias nods.
I motion to Raphael. “Secure him to the floor. I don’t want him going anywhere.”
Raphael walks over to the hunter and stares down at him.
Moving to the stairs, I address Andrei. “When Caden gets here, have him go out for clothing and food. He’s still nomadic enough that he shouldn’t be tied to our coven as easily as the rest of us.”
“I’ll call him now and tell him to drop Maddox off a couple miles from here,” Andrei says.
Pointing to Raphael, I say, “You’re off clothing duty.”
Nodding his head, Raphael chuckles. “Thank fuck.”
“After you’re done with the hunter,” I add, “I need you to call Dav and consolidate what we can within in the city. Then arrange for him to come here.”
“So soon?” Raphael asks.
I nod. “Once Chloe awakens and is ready for company. If I’m to ask him about witches, I want it to be in person and just between the two of us.”
“Fucking hell,” Matthias spits out. “I fucking killed a witch four hundred years ago and swore I never wanted to do it again! I almost fucking died for real that time.”
Shrugging my shoulders at the whole fucking mess my large-ass feet have stepped in, I can’t do anything but agree.
Nineteen
Asher
The only heartbeat in the house is down in the basement, and I can already see the guys getting jumpy. Isaac has brought disharmony to the house, and keeping him alive is setting our teeth on edge.
Walking past Ambrose, who is silently waltzing in the hallway, I open the door to see Chloe has yet to move from the bed.
Her body still and motionless.
There’s no heartbeat coming from her chest. No breath rising and falling with her magnificent breasts.
Sitting down beside her, I move with as much care as I can, though it’s not like I could actually disturb her during the turning.
Brushing a couple more stray strands of blonde hair from her face, I tuck them behind her ears. My fingers feel the soft, smooth skin of her cheekbones, and I can’t help but want to feel her lips against my own again.
Leaning down, I kiss her delicate lips, and it pains my chest that they don’t kiss me back.
Pulling away, I run my hand around her stomach. She died with my cock spurting my cum deep inside of her…