'Til Death (Conversion Trilogy # 3)

Chapter 22: No Mercy

Chapter 22: No Mercy

Everyone stopped moving. Everyone that could, stopped breathing. Even the sounds of nature around us stopped. No serpents slithered in the grass, no night animals skittered under the brush, no owls hooted in the air. Everything was silent, either paying their respects for the fallen, ancient vampire, or shocked into silence that my husband had been the one who felled him.

Teren, the only one not shocked and silent, panted as he twisted back to Malcolm. “Now, where the hell is my son!” he yelled, his voice breaking the stillness.

Malcolm’s hazel eyes were wide as they stared as his nemesis on the ground, stone still in death, a true death this time. “Holy shit! I can’t believe you actually did it!” His eyes flashed up to Teren’s, a happy smile on his lips. “That was…incredible! I really didn’t think you’d go through with it, especially when you brought him here. Way to man up!” He shook his head. “And out of nowhere too. He never saw you coming. Wow, and you think I’m cold.”

Teren, obviously done with playing games, blurred over to Malcolm and grabbed him by the throat. As he lifted him in the air, everyone pulled their eyes from Gabriel’s corpse to watch what he would do next. Everyone but Halina that was. She was still staring at the body of her beloved, her face frozen in shock. I had no idea what she’d do when she snapped out of her daze. Family or not, Teren had just killed the man she’d finally let herself love. I couldn’t believe that she’d just let it go.

“Do not underestimate what I will or will not do for my family.” Through a clenched jaw, Teren spat out, “My son…now.”

Malcolm fidgeted against Teren’s hands, prying the thumbs free from his vocal cords so he could speak. “Yeah, yeah, relax. It’s over now. A deal’s a deal. Put me down and I’ll tell you.”

Teren lowered him, but didn’t remove his hands from his neck. Malcolm smirked and shrugged. “Your kid is forty miles up the road. There’s a clump of woods a few miles east of the highway. There’s a car tucked in those woods. He’s in the trunk.”

Malcolm shrugged again and smiled, like everything in the world was all right. My hands flew to my mouth as my eyes watered. My baby was alone in the woods, in a trunk? God, how long had he been there?

Teren eyed his mother and then his grandmother. “Go get him.” His eyes snapped back to Malcolm’s; they were icily cold in the lamplight. “Once I know he’s there and…fine…I’ll let you go.”

Alanna and Imogen instantly blurred away, eager to find Julian. I wanted to go too, nearly more than anything, but I couldn’t leave my husband with this psycho…especially when I wasn’t sure what Halina’s reaction would be. She was still staring at Gabriel’s limp form, her eyes misted over with blood red tears waiting to drop. It was still sinking in for her.

Malcolm, seemingly exhausted now that the tension was over with, sighed irritably. “The kid’s fine and he really is there. You’ll be able to feel him by morning, if you don’t believe me.”

My head snapped over from watching Halina to lock on Malcolm. “What?” I asked cautiously.

Malcolm looked over at me from the corner of his eye. “I had to inject him twice a day to block the bond. It’s a tricky thing to shut off. He’ll pop back up on your radar in a few hours.”

I exhaled a relieved sigh. Teren clenched his hands tighter. “We’ll be able to feel him? So, if you just lied right now about where he is, I’ll be able to find him soon. I don’t need you anymore,” he whispered lethally.

Malcolm’s eyes snapped back to Teren as his hands went to try and pry Teren off of him. Teren was well rested now though, and Malcolm was still exhausted and worn. For the moment, Teren was stronger. “Hey, we had a deal. You lived up to your part, I lived up to mine. I’ve got no further beef with you!”