Davy Harwood

chapter twenty-three

Gregory came for me. He knocked once and announced his presence through the door.

"I'll... give me a second." I glanced around with a heavy head, drooped shoulders, and my heart was... not in my chest, but I moved my body as if it still belonged to me. Gregory knocked once more before I opened the door. "Okay. I'm ready."

He nodded with that same look in his eyes that I'd seen the first time. They were shrewd and he still looked at me in distaste, but I might've detected a small bit of sympathy. I wasn't sure. I was just happy that it wasn't Wren.

Gregory led me out. As we passed a circular stairwell in the middle of the hallway, I heard the buzz downstairs. The floor shook underneath my feet. The excitement in the air was addictive. I felt their thirst for blood. Every muscle in their bodies was stretched to the fullest from their anticipation.

A war was brewing.

As soon as we hit the outside air, something reeled inside of me. I felt another frenzy of excitement, rage, and carnal desire. Unlike inside, this frenzy was twice as bad. I looked out and saw one thing. I shouldn't have been able to see Roane, but I did. He stood on a hill, a dark figure among the shadows around him. He was a vampire and at that moment, I felt with confidence that he was the best.

There was no wind. The night was still, eerily so, but I felt the frenzy of activity from Roane's Family behind me. I felt it from the oncoming army too. Roane stood between the two armies and I wondered why he stood where he did.

As I got into the back seat, Gregory shut the door. As he slid beside me from the other side, I grasped his hand and shot inside before I realized what I had intended.

He wanted revenge. It was what he thirsted for, almost more than anything, but he'd been given an order. He intended to fulfill that order and I choked back tears as I heard Roane ordering him to protect me, keep me safe, and fulfill that duty above anything else. It cost Gregory, but he intended to see it through.

I almost shot back out of him, but I gritted my teeth and remembered my mistake with Kates. I looked further and saw the reason he wanted revenge. Raitscliff.

I remembered Roane's words. 'Raitscliff has vowed your death since Hartsdale.'

Now I understood.

Raitscliff had turned Gregory's daughter. He sought revenge by murdering Raitscliff's second in command. Both vampires wanted the other's throat now.

I shuddered from the rage inside of Gregory, but I went further and got a rush of memories, emotions, and even worse, I heard his little girl. She laughed softly, delicately when he crooned as a proud father for her to sleep. They were both human in this memory. Then there was another memory where he held his arms out for her as she took her first steps.

She had golden curls and the warm brown eyes like her father. Then I saw when she'd been changed into a vampire for an enemy Family. As I started to pull out of him, I brushed against another thread of emotions. This one was his belief. He believed in Roane. He believed so fully, it brought tears to my eyes.

I gasped again and this time, I was inside of Roane. I saw through his eyes and felt inside his body. I felt his strength and fierce resolve. I didn't stop to wonder how I was inside of him, but I was. I stood on that hill, cloaked in darkness. I felt freed as an animal of the world, possibly the best.

Roane didn't relish his darkness. I felt a surge of sadness, but I didn't search through that. I couldn't, not yet. I looked out through his eyes. Unlike the dark reddish tint that I'd seen through Kates' eyes, his were crystal clear. His vision was magnified to make out a single droplet on a blade of grass. He saw everything.