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CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
MADS
Ender is quite restless when he sleeps but it seems like after I woke him, his sleep evened out. He tried to pretend he never fully woke up, though I could tell it took him a while to drift back off.
After that, we both manage to sleep soundly until the door opens around six and Rylee creeps in. She scrutinizes us for a long moment, likely wondering why Ender is in my bed before deciding fuck it and climbing in. She tramples Ender’s body before flopping down, half on top of him.
“Rylee, don’t elbow me,” he groans.
“I didn’t!” she says as she then sets her cat on Ender’s head. Ender looks even less pleased by that, but Rylee is already dead asleep, and he sighs before trying to move the cat so he can go back to sleep himself.
It’s all quite adorable, even if Ender doesn’t seem to think it is… not that I can blame him after the elbowed assault.
When we wake up again, it’s closer to eight. Rylee is still dead to the world, but her cat has wandered off to find food.
“Do you like that hand in your face?” I whisper as Ender wears Rylee’s hand like a face mask.
Ender pushes Rylee’s hand out of his eyeball with a sigh. “I don’t understand why she has to fling her limbs all about when she sleeps. Why can’t her arms and legs just stay close to herself? And why does she flip and flop so much?”
I grin because I found it quite cute.
“You are only grinning because you haven’t been punched in the eyeball,” he says. “Let’s get up. I have shit to murder.”
“You feel up to it?”
“I feel back to normal now,” he assures me.
I slide out and he climbs out on my side so Rylee can keep sleeping. Since his clothes for the day are in his room, he quietly leaves to retrieve them. I grab mine before slipping out so I don’t wake Rylee and because I’d rather get dressed in the same bathroom as Ender. I find him going into the bathroom across the hall from his bedroom, so I slip in after him. Shutting the door behind me, I head over to him as he drops his shirt and sweats. I slide into the perfect place behind him and run my hands over his chest.
“Hmm… dealing with evil guys should be left to others,” I say as I kiss his neck.
“You are partly an evil guy in this,” he reminds me.
“That’s true. But maybe I’m on vacation from being evil?”
“You fit the mad scientist role quite well.”
“Thank you.”
“You live in London, right?”
“I do. But I have no ties to it anymore,” I say. “I left my job. I left my life… after this is all over and I hang up my mad scientist role… I don’t exactly know what I’m going to do.”
“Were you born in England?”
“Denmark, actually. I lived there until I was about seven, then moved to England. My mother got a job there. You?”
“I’ve lived all over Europe and the US, but I was born in Spain before my brother and I left to follow a dream of his. After I escaped Abel, at first I just spent time eluding him. Once I felt strong enough that I could possibly kill Abel, I followed Watson’s trail over here, believing that Watson could lead me to him.”
“Where do you see yourself living after all of this?” I ask curiously.
“I don’t know. It seems so far from reality that it’s hard to imagine where I would live. Maybe I’d let Rylee decide. As long as it’s not in Orin’s house… assuming the VRC doesn’t toss me in prison if I manage to live.”
“I won’t let them.”
“Oh? You’re going to fight for me?” he asks. “I would love to see you brawl Marcus.”
“I wasn’t going to brawl him with my hands, but I am still a council member, believe it or not.”
I set my chin on Ender’s shoulder and close my eyes, really not wanting to let him go. He pushes my head back and I sigh, disappointed until I realize he’s done it so he can turn and face me. He pushes me against the wall and kisses me. “And when I’m done dealing with Abel, I’m going to fuck you. Alright?”
This sounds more than fine to me. “Very much alright.”
“Good.”
“Can I have a kiss while I wait?”
“You’re awfully needy,” he says but doesn’t even hesitate before kissing me. This man can make me go weak from how fucking good his kisses are. I feel hypnotized by it and easily get lost in it before he pulls back, ending that fun.
“Only one kiss?”
Ender eyes me. “You deserve a second one after bullying me into sleeping in the same bed as you last night?”
“Probably not.”
He shakes his head with a grin before giving me a quick kiss and pulling on his clothes. Dressed, we head out to the dining room where Orin is staring at his phone. “Morning. There’s some blood if you need some.”
“Don’t mind if I do,” I say, feeling like I might be overindulging since nearly dying of blood loss. I quickly retrieve some blood and barely make it to the table before cracking it open.
“You two look a bit more alive this morning,” Finn comments as he comes in.
“I feel alive,” I say as I chug the blood.
“You know we can get you more, right? Like there’s a whole fridge full. You don’t have to choke yourself,” Finn assures me.
“Ah. Ha ha. Right. Going days with little blood has made me a bit… gluttonous.”
“I bet.”
Marcus walks in just as I’m restraining myself from licking the bottle clean. “This one time Finn missed dinner and he acted like he was going to expire right there. There was some ‘I’m not going to make it’ and also some ‘Just because I’m your portable juice box, you think you can starve me to death.’ I mostly liked how he acted like it was my fault, even though it definitely wasn’t.”
“Right?” Finn says, not at all refuting this.
“What are our plans for today?” Orin asks.
“Did anyone manage to get me more supplies? If so, we can go back to the university and I could make a few more… things?” I ask.
“I feel like, as the police, we’re not supposed to encourage you to make a few more… things?” Finn says. “Antidote is fine but ‘things’ might not be fine.”
“I’m okay with it,” Marcus states.
“Of course you’re okay with it. You were going to murder Grady inside the prison while on camera with multiple eyewitnesses. You’re the very last person I would ask about anything pertaining to legalities.”
“Understandable,” Marcus says as Alexei and Claude join us. “Ask Alexei, then. Alexei, would you permit Mads to make more bombs?”
“I don’t see why not.”
Finn throws up his hands. “‘Why not’ is because we’re the police!”
“Oh. Right…” Alexei thinks for a second before shrugging. “Yeah, seems fine to me.”
“We’re heading into the VRC. You two should stay here. Mads, are you close to anyone else on the council? Someone you could guarantee is on your side and not swayed by Abel?” Finn asks.
I hesitate, but honestly, the only one I ever interacted with was Vivian. And half the time I couldn’t tell whether she was working with me or using me. She wasn’t a bad woman, but it was clear she had her purpose and would do whatever it took to reach it.
“I don’t know that there is anyone I would trust, no… like… Leona is nice, but she’s obviously out to do what Callum wants. Callum is very self-centered, but that makes me think that he likely isn’t working with Abel. I really don’t know, though. I will reach out to them and see what comes of it.”
“What about Arrington? Have you interacted with him much?” Finn asks.
“Very little. He’s always kind of… there. My guess is out of anyone, he’d be the one feeding information to Abel.”
“He did try to make us feel like you and Vivian were up to something.”
“I mean… we were, but yeah, if he wanted to get you to look deeper into me in the hope of finding me, that makes sense.”
“Don’t agree to meet with any of them without us being there,” Finn says as Marcus’s phone begins to ring.
He answers it, but the way he stills tells me that something is wrong. “We’re heading there now.” Marcus turns to us. “There’s been an attack at the VRC. We have to go now.”
Though every person’s help matters, we leave Orin here with Rylee, feeling like that’s the safest place for her. If Abel took Rylee… he might get a hold of Ender, who adores her enough that I’m afraid he’d do something stupid to get her back. And without Ender, we might not win this fight.
Marcus drives as fast as he can to the VRC, having lost the call with DeGray, the person he’d been talking to. I can tell that everyone is tense, and I remind them again of what to do with the antidote if they have to use it. When we arrive, he drives right up to the front door and rushes out as we quickly follow him, but I’m wondering if whoever was here is already gone.
The moment I’m inside the door, I can smell blood and it makes me feel uneasy. I’ve done things I’m not quite proud of, but I’m not sure how long it’ll take me to get used to death.
Finn hurries over to a human woman lying on the floor. She’s bleeding excessively from a gash on her side and looks visibly relieved when she sees us enter.
“They just attacked us. They just…” She grits her teeth and holds her side as a whimper escapes her. “They just fucking attacked us.”
“Are they still here?”
“I don’t know.”
The sirens are sounding from an ambulance, so Finn assures her they’ll be in to help her shortly before moving on with Marcus. I know she doesn’t want any of us to leave her, but we have to stop them if they’re still here.
We hurry into the main part of the department and see that it has been torn apart. There are two bodies near the door, desks overturned, and a vampire has been staked to the wall with what looks like part of a chair driven through his heart.
“Marcus!” DeGray yells from across the room.
“Where’s Brooks?” Marcus asks after looking around without finding him.
“He got shot. He’s… he’s not doing well,” DeGray says.
“Where is he?” I ask as I head toward DeGray.
“Are they gone?” Finn asks since I don’t see any vampires lingering.
“They just moved out. They haven’t been gone long.”
Without warning, Ender rushes for an open window and leaps right out as I realize he must have seen something.
“Ender! Fuck!” I hiss, well aware I can’t stop him if I’m going to be able to help Brooks in time.
Marcus turns to follow, but Finn’s hand halts him. “Marcus, you don’t know if it’s a trap, please don’t go,” he begs.
“The three of us will go after Ender. We’ll be fine,” Alexei assures him, but it’s plain Finn hates the idea as he watches them disappear. It does make me feel better that Ender isn’t going alone, though.
I don’t have time to focus on that—I have to worry about Brooks, and I know that every second counts. I rush past the bodies, past the blood, and into a room where Brooks is lying. I already have the syringe out and quickly stab the antidote into his arm. “We need blood so he can begin healing. Get blood,” I say as I start examining him to ascertain whether the bullet is still inside him and causing the poison to leak into his system. He’s bleeding from so many spots that it’s hard to tell where the bullet struck him.
Finn nods as he moves toward the door. “I’ll get it. Bentley, please help Marcus and the others.”
DeGray gives a nod and rushes for the window the others had left through. Finn leaves as I check Brooks’s color, but even with the antidote, he’s not looking good. The wounds aren’t healing and he’s not responding to me at all. “Come on, fight it. Come on… the antidote just needs time to work.”
I rip his shirt and finally find another spot blood is seeping from. Examining it, I verify it’s the entry wound, and when I push him up so I can see his back, it becomes apparent there’s no exit wound. I try not to feel too bad as I dig my fingers into his side, using my nails to break through the skin since I don’t have a knife handy to make a clean cut. I can feel the bullet, but it’s in deep and all I’m doing is hurting him worse.
Brooks groans, which is a good sign since he hadn’t made a noise before now, and it tells me that the antidote is working enough to bring him at least slightly back to consciousness. I manage to hook the bullet and pull it out as Finn runs in.
“I got the bullet. If it’s not too late, he should start to…”
Hair stands up on the back of my neck, and I whip my head around to find Abel standing in the doorway. I hadn’t even heard him walk up, reminding me again just how weak I am compared to this man.
He gives me a cruel smile, eyes fixating right on me. “I do not take kindly to people fucking up my plans. Grady was mine… and you murdered him and took some of my people from me. You had to have realized that killing him would mean I’d come for you. Is it possible you were jealous he was getting all the attention?” Abel asks as he steps into the room. “Because now there’s only one fucking person who has what I want. And it’s you.”
Chills wash through me as I beg that there’s some way to get out of this.
Finn lifts his gun, but the vampire laughs, like the very idea of Finn believing he could hurt him is nothing more than a joke. And when he fires, Abel moves fast enough that the bullet doesn’t strike him. Instead, he rushes for Finn, moving so quickly that I barely have time to react. I shove Finn back, but now all I’ve done is put myself right into his path.
Abel shakes his head, and it’s such a cocky move that it reminds me that he has absolutely nothing to fear from us. “Come on, Mads. Stop pissing me the fuck off.” He throws me so hard that I’m not expecting it. I’d assume if anything, he’d grab me, not chuck me, but I think he wants me well aware that I can do nothing against him. I hit a conference table that breaks beneath my weight, the wood and metal falling to shambles from how hard I was thrown. Finn shoots at him two more times, but even though he has precise movements and an ability to fight, he’s not fast enough.
Abel grabs his arm, jerking him forward with so much force that I see Finn wince, and I’m over here unable to do anything to stop it from happening. I shove myself up but before I can reach Finn, he grabs the arm Abel is holding and must do something because it releases the prosthetic, giving him time to start running for me.
“Mads, go, quickly,” he says as he shoves me through a doorway, reminding me that I’m really not good at this when I should be the one shoving him through the doorway. I am the vampire, after all, but I don’t know how the hell to fight! I don’t know how to survive this. Still, I run, but Abel is right behind us. I grab Finn, hoping to get us away faster, but I’m like a toddler compared to this man who is like a predator playing with his prey. He slams into me so hard that I lose my grip on Finn and hit down hard on my side. What kind of vampire just face-plants from a shove? I scramble up to my feet, but he’s already got Finn, and this time he has him by the throat with no way for Finn to get free.
“Mads, you’re going to willingly come to me or I’m going to simply crush his throat.” It’s all said with so much calmness that I can’t help but feel defeat. I’m over here, panic flooding through me, and he’s going for a Sunday stroll.
“Please. I will go with you. Please,” I beg as I rush right up to him. “Please don’t hurt him.”
“Are you going to try to fuck with me again?” he asks.
“I’m so sorry. Please. Just let him go.”
He throws Finn hard enough that he hits the ground and doesn’t immediately get back up. I want to run to him to make sure he’s okay, but Abel already has me by the throat. He draws me in, grip tightening.
“I’m going to keep killing everyone who doesn’t listen to me. You don’t want that, do you?”
“Please don’t hurt Finn. I’ll go with you.”
“Then he should fucking listen, don’t you agree⁠—”
He looks down at the blade sticking out from his stomach. Blood hits me as I realize that not only had I not heard the attack, he hadn’t either. His brief surprise stills him long enough that the blade is twisted and jerked down, slicing him right open, before Abel drives me away from him so he can focus on what’s caught him off guard.
“Of course it’s you,” Abel says as he holds his intestines in, but he heals too damn quickly for it to be of any consequence.
Ender is standing in the doorway where he flicks the blood off the sword he holds. He must have stolen it from a vampire because he sure didn’t have it earlier.
Abel’s expression is hard to read as he stares at his creation.
“You created me to slaughter the vampire race,” Ender says. “I’m just doing what you taught me to do.”
“Don’t you dare come into this room and spout your bullshit. You know what you were made for.”
“What are you going to do? You’re not going to kill him. I wasn’t good enough, but Mads might be. There’s no damn way you’d risk losing another of your plans,” Ender snarls as he rushes forward. Abel has to step away from me to deal with Ender, so Ender grabs me and throws me toward the door leading out of the room. I know he wants me to flee, but I need to get to Finn. The issue is, how the fuck do I even get to him? Abel is faster than Ender, but Ender is ruthless. Even as Abel tears into his chest with his claws, Ender doesn’t let up. He drives the sword into Abel’s arm, cutting it open before taking the moment Abel needs to heal to dart forward. I use the distraction to run across the room and grab Finn, who seems dazed as I drag him out of that room and into another.
Thankfully, he grabs on to me when I do, telling me that he’s not so hurt that he can’t.
The sound of vampires moving in from behind me makes anxiety swell inside of me as I turn, coming face to face with Abel’s men who cluster around us.
“Please don’t hurt anyone else. Please,” I beg. “Please just take me and go.” But my pleas fall on deaf ears when it’s clear Abel and Ender aren’t going to stop until one of them is dead.
Two vampires move in to help Abel, and while Ender dodges them easily, it leaves him in Abel’s path who tears into his chest. Ender falls back as blood hits the ground, and I realize that there’s no fucking way out of this.
“Does your gun have the special ammunition in it?” I ask Finn.
“Y-Yes. But there’s only one left.”
“Okay,” I say as I pull his gun from him. “Abel, draw back or I will shoot myself. I’ve already proved to you that I will do whatever it takes for this to not get out.” I switch off the safety on the gun.
I’ve gained Abel’s attention, which should have helped Ender, but instead, he looks even more anxious than Abel.
“Leave now,” I say, hoping it comes out more demanding than a plea.
“Mads, run,” Ender begs, but how does he think I’ll manage to run surrounded by Abel’s men?
“You will not shoot yourself,” Abel says, almost like he’s bored of the whole thing as his attention fixates back on Ender.
“I would rather die myself than have everyone I care about die. I’ve lost people I love once; I’m not doing it again,” I retort.
“Mads, put the fucking gun down,” Ender orders, all thoughts of Abel gone.
Because Ender is distracted, Abel throws him hard enough that the wall breaks down when he hits. Then Abel rushes for me, evidently deciding that having me is really what matters more than killing Ender.
I lower the gun to my chest and pull the trigger.
The pain hits me so hard that I immediately lose my grip on the gun.
“Mads, what the fuck,” Finn cries as he tries to catch me before I hit the ground. He only has one arm, though, so he struggles to keep me from hitting and I land on my back as pain blossoms around the bullet. It radiates up and down my body, eating through me as I gasp.
So… this is what it feels like to be shot with this fucking drug.
Definitely not one of my best ideas.