Hunter's Heritage (Sterling Hunter Series Book 2)

Chapter Thirty-Five

Tabitha closed her eyes, breathing evenly as she replaced the constant replay of Sebastian dying with an image of Alistair dying. The same expression Sebastian had had on his face. Him falling to his knees and collapsing. Tabitha watching as the life left his eyes forever. The image brought a smile to her face. Soon enough though, the car came to a stop and the vampire roughly dragged her out of the back of the car and toward the back door of a lavish hotel. Of course, Alistair would stay in one of the nicest hotels in New Orleans. No one saw them as the vampire took her up a flight of emergency stairs, shoving her every couple of minutes to make her move faster.

Tabitha gritted her teeth together at his rough handling but said nothing. He pushed open the door to floor ten, the top floor where all the super expensive, fancy suites were. They went down a carpeted hall and he knocked on room 354. A minute later the door opened, and they all filed in. Keller shoved Emilio to the side of the room while Emmeline going to stand next to him as a guard, even as tears continued to stream down her face. Tabitha wanted so badly to kill her for what she had let happen to Sebastian. She didn't deserve to mourn her brother. All she had ever done was betray him and work against him.

Emmeline was part of the reason Sebastian was dead. And there she was, acting like she deserved to grieve him. Tabitha's fingers itched to grab her neck and strangle her, but she held back, forcing herself to keep a cool head. Alistair first and then Emmeline.

Tabitha stumbled the rest of the way into the hotel room. It was lavish with an open floor plan. Two of the walls that met into a corner were all windows, showing off some of the best views of New Orleans. The room was decorated sparsely in cream colored couches and a flat screen TV hanging from the wall. And lounging on one of those couches was Alistair, looking all pleased with himself. Between them, on the glass table was what Tabitha assumed was the box her ancestor had died protecting. It wasn't like anything she had expected. The box looked like it belonged in a steampunk novel, the exterior made up of gears and cogs. There was no key hole where the lid met the rest of the box, just a solid silver circle.

When Alistair saw Tabitha, his mouth widened into a smile and he got up gracefully from his seat. "Tabitha Sterling, at last we meet again," he purred, in his silken, dark voice.

Tabitha got to work on unbinding her hands from their restraints. When he got close enough she would make her move. Keller remained next to her, watching with a smug smirk on his face.

"Alistair," she whispered, an undertone of a growl in her voice.

He smirked at her, folding his arms several paces away. "I am sorry for your loss. I know how much Sebastian meant to you. And really, I am upset at his loss as well. He was a friend and Keller will be punished severely," he said, glancing over his shoulder at Keller who stiffened, "for his crime."

Now that Tabitha looked closer there were also bite marks on his neck. Looked like his punishment was to be a vampire blood bag more so than usual for Emmeline and Alistair. Served him right. Not that it would last long. As soon as Tabitha killed Alistair, she would put him out of his misery. Her hands were nearly free from their bonds.

"Don't ever say his name again," Tabitha growled. "He was never your friend. Not really. You ruined everything. You should never have let Keller come to the club. He's dead because of you."

Her anger threatened to bubble over, her blood running hot in her veins at the sight of him and Keller. She itched so badly to kill them. Rip them apart. And the small Alistair gave her only made her anger turn to rage. "I understand. This is a difficult time of emotional turmoil for you dear girl, but I can assure you, Sebastian will be properly avenged. For now, though, why don't we get to the matter at hand. The thing that everyone has been fighting over: the box."

He gestured extravagantly at the box on the table. Tabitha narrowed her eyes, not taking her eyes of him. Alistair gestured to the vampire who had kidnapped her, and he reached out to shove her forward. At that moment Tabitha broke free from her bonds. Alistair was close enough now, wanting to see her face as he taunted her. This was her moment. This was it. Alistair would die today. Right now.

In one swift movement, Tabitha crouched down, grabbed the silver dagger from her book and lunged for him. His eyes widened slightly in surprise, but he recovered quickly. Tabitha could feel the rage, the adrenaline rushing through her veins, giving her the strength, she needed to kill him. The dagger almost made it to their target when suddenly Alistair's hand reached out and grabbed her wrist. He twisted the dagger out of her grip and grabbed it with his free hand. Tabitha gasped, her eyes widening in horror. Her whole plan had hinged on that one moment and now it was gone. She was weaponless, powerless to stop him.

In that moment as Alistair turned her hand palm up, sneering at her Tabitha realized she should have listened to Toulouse. He had been right. She shouldn't have gone out halfcocked and ready for a fight. She was an idiot. Alistair sliced her palm open with the dagger, making her seethe.

"Now let's get this over with, shall we?"

He yanked arm so hard she was sure it would pull right out of its socket. She let out a small gasp of pain as he pulled her to the couch and shoved her down. Then he shoved her hand onto the silver circle locking the lid to the box. Tabitha gasped as her red blood swelled up from her skin and coated the silver.

The box clicked, and her eyes widened as the gears and cogs whirred, coming to life. Alistair let go of her hand and Tabitha held it close to her chest, gripping her wrist as she watched the lid pop open. All of them, her, Keller, Alistair and Emmeline leaned in close to see what was inside this box that was worth dying for.