Chapter Twenty-One
Enzo
The mighty Mississippi lay below like a dark ribbon cutting through the Louisiana landscape, and the plane banked sharply to the left. "Prepare for landing," Pascal's voice crackled through the intercom.
I drained the last drops of my old fashioned, the amber liquid burning down my throat, and straightened in the buttery leather chair. The blood stone still pulsed against my chest like a second heartbeat, its warmth seeping through my jacket and into my skin. Ever since we'd taken it from Killian, the damn thing seemed to have a mind of its own—growing warmer when I was agitated, cooler when I was calm. Almost as if it were feeding off my emotions.
Angelo's phone buzzed against the mahogany armrest. He glanced at the screen and answered immediately. "Anton?"
I raised an eyebrow, leaning forward slightly. Anton never called unless something significant had happened.
"Are you sure?" Angelo's voice sharpened. "That's...good to know. We just landed. If I need anything, I'll let you know."
He ended the call and turned to me, his expression grim. "According to Anton, after we left the Hollows, Killian recovered completely. No lingering weakness, no side effects." His dark eyes flicked to where the stone rested beneath my jacket. "Anton thinks the stone was feeding on him even when it wasn't making direct contact—like some kind of vampiric bond."
A chill crept down my spine that had nothing to do with the plane's air conditioning. If the stone could drain someone from a distance, what the hell was it doing to me while I carried it?
Dimitri finished his bourbon and tilted the glass toward me. “Have you felt anything with that leech in your jacket?”
I shook my head, though unease prickled at the back of my neck. “Just a slight twinge.”
Angelo’s fingers tapped an agitated rhythm on the leather armrest. His dark eyes narrowed with concern. “That’s it?”
“It’s not hurting me, but I can feel a heartbeat and it’s warm.” I pressed my hand against my chest where the stone rested, feeling its steady pulse like a second heart beneath my ribs.
Dimitri’s face darkened, his frown cutting deep lines across his forehead. “That thing is alive like a reanimated vampire?”
“Let’s get this rock to Tinker Bell so she can perform this spell.” Angelo pulled out his phone. “Keir? We’ve just landed and are on our way back. Any more news?”
He sighed heavily. “We’ll be there soon.”
Dimitri and I glanced at each other, and I saw my own worry reflected in his eyes. That wasn’t good news. Fuck, don’t let it be about Joy.
I blurted, “What’s happened?”
“The vines have gotten thicker, but Tinker Bell says she can sense dark magic going on inside. And there have been screams.”
“Joy?” The question came out strangled.
He gave me a sympathetic look. “I don’t know. She can’t tell whether it’s a man or a woman.”
The air left my lungs. Screams. My heart slammed against my ribs, each beat harder than the last. The blood stone scorched against my skin, burning hotter with every second. My jaw locked tight enough to crack teeth. Images flooded my mind—Joy bound, bleeding, crying out in pain while I was thousands of miles away doing nothing. My hands shook with the need to destroy something, anything.
Everything exploded inside me—panic, fear, anger. It could be Joy. She could be back from the Elder Dimension and they were fucking torturing her.
The plane touched down at the executive terminal and taxied toward a secluded hangar. I was out of my seat and headed to the cabin door. Angelo and Dimitri remained in their seats, but neither said anything.
Finally, the plane lurched to a stop with a grinding screech of brakes. Adrenaline pumped through me as I lunged for the cabin door, my hands trembling with barely contained desperation. The metal handle was cold beneath my palm as I wrenched it open with enough force to bend steel.
Humid Louisiana night air rushed over me like a soft kiss, thick with the scent of magnolias and the distant promise of rain. Moonlight spilled across the tarmac in silver pools, casting eerie shadows that danced off the hangar's glass windows like watching eyes.
I couldn't wait—wouldn't wait—for the stairs to extend. Every second was an eternity with Joy trapped in that nightmarish realm. Power surged through my veins as I shifted, my human form dissolving in a whirlwind of dark energy until leathery wings replaced my arms.
Drawing on every ounce of vampire speed I possessed, I exploded from the plane like a creature possessed—literally likea bat out of hell. The wind screamed past my transformed body as I rocketed toward New Orleans, my desperation lending me speed I'd never achieved before.
But even in my bat form, the blood stone came with me—absorbed into my transformed body, its alien heartbeat pulsing beneath fur and bone in rhythm with my own frantic pulse. A constant, unsettling reminder that I carried something far more dangerous than I understood.
I didn't look back to see if Dimitri and Angelo were following—the thunder of their wings behind me was answer enough. My chest constricted with the weight of what lay ahead. A battle was about to begin, and not just for Joy's life. We were racing toward an invasion that could destroy everything we'd built, an invasion I wasn't sure we had the power to stop. The thought twisted my gut even as my wings beat furiously against the humid night air.
