The silence remained and his heart sank.
Then a low chuckle danced to him through the shadows, coming from the direction of the living room. “Did you think I would make it easy on you, Brusilev?”
Every muscle tensed, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end, and a cold fury drove out his apprehension. “Where is Maggie?” he demanded.
“In here,” came the tantalizing answer.
It took all of Anatoly’s self-control not to rush headlong into the living room. Instead, he took his time, his jaw clenching and unclenching with each step he took. In what felt like hours but had only been seconds, he found himself in the house’s main living space and face-to-face with Everett Reed.
The man was tall and lanky, with gangly arms and gaunt features. He leered in the darkness like a scarecrow at night, flashing pearly white fangs in a ghastly grin.
That’s when Anatoly realized Reed was holding something. No, not something, someone.
“Maggie!” Her name tore from his mouth before he could contain it and he nearly sprang forward, but the second he spoke, Reed dropped her unceremoniously to the floor.
She rolled into an unnatural position where she fell, her eyes shut and her skin deathly pale. There was blood on her neck and her shirt was torn. Even in the dark, he could see she had been roughed up and an icy rage chilled Anatoly to the bone.
The sight of her in this state broke his heart and swept his good sense away all at once.
He didn’t want to think that she was dead, but her stillness and the pallor of her skin suggested she was very close to it. Anatoly needed to get her out of here.
Without a word, he took a step toward her, but Reed had the gall to put his foot on her chest as he tutted. “We had a deal, remember? Maggie for a vial of your blood.”
Anger hardened Anatoly’s heart and wrath assailed him. His hands clenched into fists at his side, but otherwise he appeared perfectly calm.
“I warned you…” he whispered and then he gave into his inner monster, stifling the parts of himself that might otherwise hold him back.
Reed was beginning to say something, but Anatoly didn’t give him the chance to finish the sentence. He flew across the living room in the blink of an eye, being careful not to trip or step on Maggie, and grabbed Reed by the throat. His eyes were like shards of ice, cold and indifferent, as he threw the other vampire across the room.
He slammed into the opposite wall with enough force to shatter the drywall and a slew of curses flew from his mouth. “You pitiable fool!” he shouted, but Anatoly didn’t care. Reed had fed on her, hurt her, abducted her, and for those sins the punishment was death.
Anatoly discovered in seconds that for all his talk, Reed was nothing. His power was infantile in comparison and his only leverage had been Maggie. Now that he knew where she was, Anatoly had no reason to hold back and so he lunged at Reed again.
“W-Wait!”
The former priest didn’t hesitate and didn’t stop. He grabbed Reed by the front of his suit and slammed him hard into the floor with enough force that the boards creaked in protest. Anatoly didn’t relent, he lifted him up and drove him back into the ground again.
This time, the boards gave out, crumbling under the assault. He had just enough warning of the floor caving in, to land on his feet, but Reed was not so lucky.
When the dust settled, Anatoly could see a shard of wood had pierced his torso, protruding through his stomach and back.
Reed let out a pained gasp and spat blood in Anatoly’s direction. “I enjoyed every second of her anguish,” he confessed with a baleful glare. “She never stopped fighting, right up to the end!”
Anger radiated around Anatoly like an ice storm as he stalked his way to Reed and pulled free the hunk of wood. The other vampire howled, but Anatoly stabbed him through the throat and the scream turned into gurgling.
Reed clutched at Anatoly, trying to fight him off, but it became clear who the more powerful bloodsucker was. He twisted the shard, knowing it did nothing to actually kill the man, but reveling in his pain all the same. Then he tugged it free and raised it over his head.
As he did, his eyes beheld a pair of chains bolted into the concrete floor a couple feet away. He could see and smell the pool of blood near them and knew instantly that this was where Maggie had been held captive. Had she been frightened? Hurt? What terrible things had Reed done to her before the end?
Grief tore at Anatoly’s heart, and without hesitation, he plunged his fist into Reed’s chest, breaking through bone and sinew and flesh to the undead heart within. Reed could barely scream, but he made his agony known by flailing and trying to fight his assailant off to no avail.
The former priest grasped the unmoving heart and ripped it out as he withdrew his hand. Then he took the shard of wood and plunged it into the dead organ with a spray of blood and gore.
When it was done, Anatoly staggered back, remaining in the basement just long enough to watch as Everett Reed crumbled into ash.
Chapter Fifty-Six
The world came back to Maggie slowly. She wasn’t cold anymore and her body didn’t hurt, but she could tell she was laying on hardwood, which should have been very uncomfortable. It wasn’t.
