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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 
RIVER
After all the testing this morning, Bentley headed off to work and I was left to “patiently go home and wait.”
He assures me the VRC is doing everything, but I feel like I should be doing more. I feel like I’m just sitting back and enjoying life when these vampires are still ruining the lives of others. Have they backed off now that I killed Huang? Are they fearless? Careless?
I head to the small café to grab a book to read when I see someone walking down the street. She looks vaguely familiar, but I’m not sure if it’s from me constantly thinking about everything that I try to connect her to Huang’s group, or if she’s just a regular lady.
Slowly, I move to follow her while wondering if I’m making a mistake. I could be wrong, but she looks like a woman who Corbyn claimed would buy young men, abuse them, drain them, and kill them. If she’d just turn around, I could see if it’s her.
I hesitate because I don’t have my gun or mask or anything to hide myself from her if it is her. This is stupid. I shouldn’t be taking risks like this.
Why am I worried about taking risks now? Is it because of Bentley? Because I have someone I want to go home to? But then again, if I take chances and I end up dead or hurt, I won’t be able to help anyone else.
I’ll just tell Bentley. Maybe he can get the VRC out here and onto the scene? Maybe he can help?
Me: I could be wrong, but I think I see a woman who is known for being involved in the trafficking. She buys young men who she abuses and kills. Can you guys do something about it? Like figure out who she is or something so you can look into her?
Bentley: Okay. Please don’t follow her.
Me: I’ve turned around, and I’m headed back for the little coffee bookshop. Can you do something about it? Please?
Bentley: Get me your location and a description of her, and I’ll get there as soon as I can.
I realize that maybe I could get a picture of her; even if it’s from behind, that’ll help him identify her. So I turn around only to realize she’s gone. Did she turn down one of the alleys?
My anxiety spikes as I realize that I need to quickly head back for the café and wait for Bentley.
Me: I was going to take a picture of her, but she’s gone. Let me figure out my exact location.
I pull up my maps and send him a screenshot a moment before I feel a thick aura behind me. As fear spikes inside me, I freeze and slowly turn around to find the woman mere feet away.
Me: Bentley, she’s following me. I don’t have my gun or anything. I don’t know what to do.
She steps in front of me, moving so quickly I nearly run into her. “Well hello there, little kitten. You’re so beautiful that I’d recognize that face anywhere. I’d ask Corbyn again and again just how much you’d cost, but he’d never budge.” She reaches for my cheek and I smack her hand away.
“Don’t touch me. I have the VRC headed here now.”
This seems to delight her. “Oh? Well then, I’d better hurry up.”
I take off running, but I know it’s futile and she proves it by throwing me into an alleyway. I slam into a trash can, bowling it over before falling onto the hard ground. I notice a flimsy curtain rod tumble out of the trash and pick it up. As she turns on me, I slam it against the side of her face, but she merely backs up, like it was nothing more than a simple pest.
Quickly, I pull it apart so I have two sharp ends and this time when she grabs for me, I ram the rod up under her chin. It punctures the skin before she throws me off, slamming me into the ground. The moment I get myself onto my feet, I’m running.
I feel like I’m in that room again or those woods again with the vampires hunting me down. At least then, he usually gave me a weapon and I didn’t have a flimsy fucking rod that bends every time I try to use it.
She grabs onto me, dragging me down to the ground as I punch and kick her, fighting as hard as I can to just get away before she kills me. I don’t want to die like this. I knew I was just a weak and useless human when this started, and now I’m going to die because I had some hero complex while chasing monsters who will just destroy me.
Suddenly, the woman is torn off me and shoved down onto the ground hard enough I hear bones crack.
I look up as the man holding her down snaps handcuffs on her before turning to me.
“You alright?” the Russian man that works with Bentley asks as he walks over to me. He grabs for me and I jerk back instinctively before he sets a hand on my face. “Calm down. I’m Alexei. We met, remember? I work with DeGray. He knew I was in the area and sent me to help you. We’ll call an ambulance—”
“N-No, wait,” I choke out. “I’m fine.”
He holds up my arm that blood is running from freely. I don’t even remember her cutting me. I just remember the fear… so much fear.
He tilts my head and glances down at my neck where the scars are quite apparent, but I push his hand away.
“Why’d she attack you?” Alexei asks.
“He was stalking me. He started it,” the woman yells.
I don’t know what to say or do as the adrenaline slowly evaporates, leaving behind pain and anger—horrible anger at myself for being unable to do anything when faced with one of these monsters.
“You okay?” Alexei repeats.
I nod. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, but I need to call an ambulance. You’re bleeding badly,” he says as he elevates my arm. “Can you hold it there until I get something to wrap it up with?”
I nod when something catches his attention and he turns just as Bentley rushes onto the scene. He runs over to me and kneels in front of me.
“Are you okay?” he asks as he grabs my face and arms, just touching me all over like he has to make sure I’m still there.
“I’m fine,” I say as he tears his shirt and presses it against the wound, making me hiss as pain spikes up and down my arm.
Alexei walks over to us and looks down. “It’s awfully strange how after the night you were taken, his house was just around the block; how his neck shows the same signs as Huang’s victims; how he was conveniently at the club where Huang hung out; and how he’s being chased by a vampire who is already suspected in a kidnapping case,” Alexei says, arms crossed over his chest.
Bentley draws very still as he looks up at Alexei. “I don’t get what you’re implying,” he says, voice cold and sharp, like it’s clear he knows exactly what Alexei is implying.
“The others will be here soon. You better get him off the scene and get this blood cleaned up. And then we’re going to be having a talk, DeGray.”
“Yeah, thank you,” Bentley says.
“If he doesn’t confess there’s the possibility that she won’t get arrested.”
“I’ll find something to get her arrested, I promise,” Bentley says before helping me to my feet. He hurries me after him as I look back at Alexei, who is watching me closely. He knows my secrets, but he doesn’t even know me. Why would he bother to keep them to himself?
“Keep your arm above your chest.”
“I can’t go to a hospital.”
“I know,” he says as he messes with his phone before we reach his car. He ushers me into the passenger seat and then gets into the car and starts to drive.
I’m quiet as I lean against the car door, kicking myself for being pulled into that situation. I should never have done that when I had no way to defend myself or fight back if I needed to.
“Were you following her?” he asks.
I feel like an idiot as I nod. “Only for a moment… I just wanted to see if it was her. But then I thought better of it and turned around. I had turned around by the time I texted you. I didn’t…” I don’t even know how to get the words out. It’s like my brain is short-circuiting or something as thoughts swirl around and around in my head. I fucked up. I fucked up.
Bentley sets his hand on my lap, making me jump before I realize it’s just him. It feels so wonderful having someone here to comfort me and I find myself wanting to lean into him, to have him tell me everything’s all right and he’ll never leave me.
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m sorry. I was just anxious, and I shouldn’t have sounded so sharp with you,” he says as he holds his hand out. “I’m sorry.”
I instantly take it and squeeze it as he rubs his thumb against the back of my hand. “Don’t apologize. I was the one in the wrong.”
“You did nothing wrong. That woman went out of her way to hurt you. She must have recognized you?”
I nod. “Corbyn would interact with a lot of people and she was one of them.”
“And he’d wear his mask all the time?” Bentley asks, his question slamming into me.
“What?” I ask like I’m confused.
He sighs. “Let’s get you cleaned up, and we can talk about it later. You’re safe now, you’re okay.” He squeezes my hand, making me thankful he’s here for me, even if he’s trying to unwind my secrets.
When we pull up outside of a house, I’m confused. Even more so when I’m ushered inside and into what looks like a medical room.
A vampire comes in who gives me a soft smile. “I’m Dr. Watson, and you must be River?” he asks.
I nod as I realize that this must be Finn’s doctor. The one who does the prosthetics and who DeGray thinks might be able to help me. What a joke. Nothing can help anymore.
“Looks like you got in a bit of a scrap there, let’s see what I can do for you. Did you get the scans done this morning?”
“I did… but I don’t think it’ll help,” I say before I can catch myself.
The doctor smiles at me and gives my uninjured arm a squeeze. “You never know, but we’re not going to give up before we even run through every option, alright?”
I nod, knowing that Bentley is hopeful about this, so I can’t just crush his hopes immediately. I have to give him the benefit of the doubt. So I smile and nod and hope.
OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 
BENTLEY
“What do you mean I’m suspended?” I ask as I look to Brooks who won’t catch my eye. I arrived at the department without any idea that there was an issue until Wren cornered me.
Wren stands before me, his arms folded over his chest. “While we review you, you will be suspended. You were removed from the case, yet instead of working on the case you were assigned to, your computer shows you’ve been working on our case. And on top of that, you were found disrupting police procedure on the arrest of Tabitha Herald.”
“A friend said he was being followed by a vampire because he knew I worked for the VRC and could help. Karsyn was in the area, so I sent him out to assist.”
“Without permission,” Wren says.
“I don’t need your permission to keep my friend from being killed by a vampire,” I growl. “We don’t even know if she has anything to do with the case because you guys haven’t even gotten a word out of her.”
I know I shouldn’t raise my voice. I know I should just nod and agree and move on but I can’t. I turn to Brooks who finally looks my way, an expression of exasperation on his face.
“You should always get permission,” Wren says. “And when you don’t, you suffer the consequences.”
This is fucking ridiculous. “So if I’m walking down the street and I witness a vampire killing a child, I should just step back and go ‘hold on a minute. I have to call the department first to see if I’m allowed to help’?”
Wren’s getting pissed, it’s clear by the way his jaw is clenched. “It’s different.”
Brooks sighs loudly. “The order is from higher up. I can do nothing about it, but I’m going to fight for you, DeGray. I’ll get you back into work by tomorrow.”
“Leave your badge,” Wren says as he holds his hand out while Foster awkwardly stands by his side.
“Maybe if you were doing your job, I wouldn’t have to do it for you,” I say as I refuse to hand it to him. I set it on Brooks’s desk then shove through the door, knowing that the last thing I said definitely wasn’t going to help me with this, but it’s a load of bullshit. I storm through the office and go over to my desk where I start grabbing my shit.
“What happened?” Alexei asks.
“I hope I didn’t get you in trouble,” I say.
He shakes his head. “Not at all. You’re in trouble?”
“Suspended.”
He gives me a look of shock. “Wait… what?” he asks.
Finn pushes around the corner to look at me as Marcus stands up. “What the hell do you mean suspended?”
“Until they can review me, I’m suspended,” I say as I pack everything I need into my bag.
Marcus growls as he turns to look at Wren who is coming through the doorway of Brooks’s office. Seeing Marcus stare at him, Wren immediately stops moving. “For?” Marcus asks.
“I was supposed to ask them for permission to save someone who was being attacked by a vampire. Then, if they happened to answer or felt like getting back with me, it would’ve been okay to save him.”
“This is bullshit,” Marcus growls as he rushes after Wren.
Wren gets a slightly horrified look on his face. “I’ll suspend you too if you complain!”
“Just try,” Marcus growls.
I turn my attention to Finn. “Please keep Church from getting in trouble. I’m heading for home. Sorry I’ve caused more of a hassle for everyone.”
“Don’t apologize. They’re the dicks,” Alexei says.
Finn squeezes my arm in a reassuring manner. “We’ll get this straightened up, I promise,” he says as he rushes after Marcus who has Wren cornered. Before everyone on our team ends up suspended, I feel like I’d better leave.
I go and visit Dorothy for a while, then head over to River’s place. When I’d asked if I could come over, he’d given me a short: “Sure.” I want to talk to him about everything that’s happening and see what we can do together, but when I arrive, he doesn’t answer the door.
I knock again and wait as I get anxious that he’s run off to do something ridiculous… or what if the vampires have found his house? My knocks become more hurried before the door swings open and River looks at me. I can instantly tell something’s wrong.
“What happened?” I ask, ready to do whatever I can to help.
“What?” he asks, sounding confused. “Nothing. Why?”
“You look like something’s off.”
He looks tired and it shows as his shoulders droop. “Oh. No, I just have a headache. I get them occasionally. I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” I anxiously ask.
“Yeah,” he says. “I was about to make lunch… wait… why are you here during lunch? Shouldn’t you be at work?”
“Yeah, I have the afternoon off,” I say as I smell something horrible. “What’s that smell?”
“It does smell weird. Ah fuck, I forgot I was making lunch.”
He rushes over to the stove as I follow him. I would apologize for distracting him long enough to burn the grilled cheese he’s making, but it’s apparent it’s been burning for quite a while—well before I made my appearance.
He just slides it off the burner and stares at it for a moment. “Today’s not a good day. I’ll call you later when I feel better.” Then he turns and heads to his bedroom without another word. My eyes linger after him, even though the bedroom door is closed and I can’t see into it.
I grab a different pan and set it on the stove before buttering some bread and putting some cheese on it. It reminds me of all the meals I’d made for Dorothy when she was growing up and again when she started to get confused. But now, someone else takes care of that for me. When the grilled cheese is finished, I put it on a plate and carry it over to his bedroom. I knock quietly, not wanting to make loud noises that would further upset his aching head.
“You don’t have to stay. I’m just going to lie here,” he says as he looks over at me.
“Can I come in?”
“If you want.”
I walk in and carry the grilled cheese over to him before setting it down. “Do you think you could eat?” Even though the room is completely dark other than the light peeking in through the blinds, I can see just fine.
“You didn’t need to do that for me. Thank you,” he says as he turns a dim light on and sits up. “You’d be such a cute little househusband. Where’s your apron and why do you have clothes on?”
I’m sure I look amused. “Would that have made you feel better?”
“It would, though my head hurts too much to even understand what I’m looking at.”
“Alright, where’s an apron?”
He grins at me. “Wait, are you serious?”
Right now, I feel like I’d do just about anything to make him feel better.
“I don’t have a cooking one, but I have one for when I paint. It’s hanging on my easel in the living room closet. I literally can’t wait,” he says as he takes small nibbles of his grilled cheese.
I walk out into the living room and grab the apron before wondering why I’m doing this. Why am I letting myself get sucked into something so ridiculous? But I strip my clothes until I’m naked in his living room—Banshee judging me—and pull the apron on. I get him a glass of water since I feel like I have to be carrying something.
When I step into the room, his face lights right up, and I realize that this is why I did it. This is why I fell into the idea of doing something so foolish.
“Oh, I love it,” he says. “Do a twirl.”
Holding his glass up high, I do a three-sixty turn before setting the glass down. “Need anything else?” I ask, noticing he’s already set the grilled cheese down after having only eaten a quarter of it.
“Yes, sit with me. Cuddle with me. Show me that fine ass.”
I climb onto the bed and he grabs me before pulling me down beside him and attaching himself to me. His right leg slides between my legs as his arms wrap around my back. He leans forward to kiss me, but it’s horribly short-lived before he sinks into me and squeezes me tightly.
“Thank you,” he whispers.
I wrap him up in my arms and hold him against me. “You don’t need to thank me.”
“I don’t want your ass getting cold,” he says as he cups my ass cheek with one hand. His voice is soft and teasing, but the way he’s pressed against me and holding on to me makes me feel like he’s trying to get me to save him.
“Do you want me to go change?”
“No, I like you like this,” he says as he keeps his head against my bare chest. “I want to feel you.”
I kiss the top of his head because it’s all I can reach and lie with him as thoughts rush around my mind. After a few minutes, he jumps to his feet and races out of the room. I slowly follow after him as I hear him throwing up in the bathroom. I change back into my clothes before going to the bathroom to find a washcloth and to get some water for him.
“Really, you can go home. I don’t want you seeing me like this,” he says, hands shaking as he kneels on the bathroom floor and hangs on to the bathroom counter.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I say as I wipe away the sweat on the back of his neck. “Is there anything I can do? Anything I can get you?”
“No. I’m fine,” he says, but he’s not. This isn’t fine. Is he getting worse? Is it always like this? For some reason, I find that I can’t get myself to ask the question because I’m afraid of the answer. I’m afraid that I’ve already become too attached to him.
Once he’s back in bed, he tells me I should go but also reaches for me when I get near him. So I lie back down next to him and he immediately grabs onto me. I run my fingers gently over his arm.
“What if I turned you?” I ask.
He draws very still before slowly pushing back to look at me. “No. That’s illegal. That’s horribly illegal, you would lose everything, like your position at the VRC, and you’d go to prison. And it’s a known fact that being turned doesn’t always solve things like this. I’d be too young to be able to immediately heal from a brain tumor. Young vampires can heal from things like cuts or scrapes but not something like this. I’d still die before I was old enough to heal from it. We’re going to see what this Dr. Watson has to say and go from there, okay? It’s fine. It’s been like this for a while. I’m not dying anytime soon,” he says as his fingers gently trace over my cheek and I suddenly realize he’s trying to comfort me.
I should be the one comforting him, and instead, he’s trying to make me feel better. “Okay.”
I know it’s not right of me to push people into becoming a vampire, and I know that he’s right that he probably wouldn’t live anyway. But I just want to do something. Try something.
He starts to doze in and out as I notice his laptop sitting open with a Word document up.
“Can I keep reading your journal?” I ask.
“Sure,” he mumbles. I carefully sit up and grab for it before lying back down next to him as he drifts off to sleep.
I don’t know how long things were normal for then. When he would come in, I was expected to be standing next to the door for him to feed on me. If I didn’t, there was hell to pay. He showed me the strength of a vampire and would toss me with young ones crazed and driven by blood if I didn’t listen. After the second time, my fear made me extremely compliant. Now that I’m away, I realize that in a way he was trying to train me. He was trying to turn me into this mindless machine for him. When he took me from the room, forced me to bathe and put on nice clothes, I was confused.
Then when he put me in his car blindfolded, I thought this could be my chance. I could get away the moment he made a mistake. But I also knew that he was stronger than me. He could control me and kill me so easily.
“Are you going to be good?” he said.
I nodded, not sure what else to do or what I could say that would even matter. He just wanted to know that I was going to listen to him, and I would.
When the car stopped, he pulled the blindfold off and put a mask on me like the one he was wearing. When he led me inside a mansion, I was left confused and terrified because there were vampires everywhere. For a while, it felt like I was the only human until I saw how the other humans were being treated. Some were chained up like animals, dragged and yelled at as the vampires mingled. They sipped glasses of blood and talked.
“They do this every few months,” Corbyn said, and I realized he was one of the only ones not talking with a group. “They come here and think they’re hiding behind their masks.”
A woman walked up with a huge smile as she reached a finger out to touch me. I jerked back from her, not liking Corbyn any more but knowing I didn’t want her to touch me. “What a pretty little boy. How much?”
“He’s not for sale,” Corbyn growled.
“Oh, everything’s for sale.”
“Go bother someone else.”
She tsked before heading off. He nodded after her. “That one? That’s Tabitha Herald. She loves the sale where she buys young, handsome men just like yourself. Then she tortures them because she says it makes the blood taste sweeter. And she drains them little by little. She says that she keeps them around until they stop screaming. They’re just boring then so she kills them.”
I stared at the woman in horror as I realized that Corbyn could have just sold me to her. He wasn’t much better but so far, as long as I listened, he didn’t hurt me other than feeding on me.
“And that one?” He pointed to a young man. “His name is Trent Wilder. He comes from old rich blood. His father gives him as much money as he wants. He likes to buy young women, the younger the better, and he terrorizes them then sets them loose and hunts them.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.
“Because I want you to remember their names and their crimes. Every one of them, do you understand? Want me to go on? Let’s look at Governor White, our very own governor. On the outside he’s the ideal man. Kind, giving, caring. But on the inside, he’s sick and twisted. Do you want me to tell you what he does?”
I shook my head but promised to remember his name. Each of them, even with the masks on, I committed to memory, both their names and what they’d done.
“Good. Now, you’re going to destroy them,” Corbyn whispered in my ear as he patted my hair down and grinned at me.