Christian stared at his own body in disbelief. When impalement wood pierces a Vampire’s heart, it paralyzes them. They appear dead since the heart stops beating. He’d never been staked directly through the heart, so why his spirit had jumped out of his body baffled him. A cold feeling of dread washed over him when he looked around the empty store.
“I shouldn’t be dead.”
It was so quiet. The wind outside whistled softly. He no longer possessed Vampire hearing. There was no bright light, no devils or angels—just silence.
Maybe neither side wanted him.
Christian instantly regretted a life unfinished. It wasn’t losing a future with Raven that consumed his thoughts; it was leaving her alone on this earth with Fletcher. He’d made vows about seeing her enemies suffer, and death had made a liar of him. When the higher authority eventually found their bodies, it would be public knowledge that Keystone had gone after the three most powerful men in history. If Li Han healed himself before capture and escaped, it would be far worse.
“I can’t have this happen,” he said. “I won’t.”
Without knowing who orchestrated the murders, angry loyalists would hunt Keystone until the brink of their destruction. He thought of the only person who could help—the only one who might see him.
Wyatt Blessing.
CHAPTER18
After hiding the body as best I could, I pulled out my phone and searched for my location on the map to see how far I’d run.
Definitely too far to walk with a body in my arms.
Wyatt had called back and told me to sit tight at the grocery store—that someone would be there as soon as possible. When our black van finally backed into the alleyway, Shepherd stepped out.
“Help me put it in the back,” he said, opening the rear doors.
We both lifted the body beneath his arms and carried him between us as if he were a drunk friend. When we reached the back of the van, I saw numerous bodies piled on a thick sheet of plastic. Shepherd climbed in, dragged him onto one of the bench seats, and then stumbled over the corpses.
I slammed the back door and grabbed my bottle of wine before getting in the passenger seat. “What’s going on?”
He pulled out onto the street. “Sorry it took so long. I had to switch vehicles with Viktor. They’re using my Jeep so I can take care of the cargo in the back.”
“Who arethey?”
“Viktor, Blue, and Niko are still checking the building for evidence that might have been left behind. Wyatt’s taking care of the witnesses who work there.”
I pulled out my phone and called Blue. “Hey. There’s a room on the third floor by the elevators. Two people are locked up in there.”
“Gotcha,” she replied.
“See if Viktor wants to set it up like a raid,” Shepherd said loudly.
I put the phone on speaker. “Did you hear that?”
“I’ll let Viktor know.”
I ended the call.
“Sounds sketchy.” Shepherd turned the corner. “But shit like that goes on in some of those places. Paintings aren’t the only things they sell.”
My head was pounding, and I had malaise from the dark light. “Is Christian dead?”
“I don’t know, honey. Wyatt said his ghost appeared at the house.”
When my lip quivered, I quickly opened the bottle of wine and gulped down a long drink. But it wasn’t enough to fight off the enormous wave of grief.
“Claude’s out trying to track them. It’s not easy since Christian doesn’t have a personal scent. He had to go to the courtyard first and start there.” Shepherd reached inside the glove compartment and handed me a rag. “Here. Put that on your face.”
I held the rag up to my cheek though I didn’t feel pain. When I pulled down the visor mirror, my face was a gory mess. As I wiped the blood off, I saw it had healed up from the Mage’s light.
