Vengeance (Night Roamers) Book Three (22 page)

“
Isn’t that the place we just were?” asked Nathan.

“Yes,” replied Duncan. “This is very good news. Max won’t let anything happen to your mom.”

Nathan turned to him. “You know this guy?”

“Yes. Met him yesterday,” said Duncan. “He’s a
Lycan, but on our side.”

“Are you sure?” said Nathan. “Because I’m getting tired of thinking everyone is on our side but finding just the opposite.”

“I trust him enough,” said Duncan. “Obviously we have to be wary of everyone, but this guy helped me earlier. I think your mom is pretty safe.”

Feeling as if things were finally going our way, I smiled. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go find them.”

We wal
ked back to the Marlimore, and when we reached the elevator, Nathan started pumping us with questions.

“So, what’s it like being a vampire?”

“It’s not something I recommend,” I said. “In fact, I hate it.”

“But you’re fast and can fly,” he said. “That’s got to be so… exhilarating.”

“We also have to drink blood to live,” said Duncan as the doors opened up.

“That’s right,” I said. “No more pizza, steaks, burgers, or ice cream.”

“I don’t know, I still think it would be cool to fly whenever I wanted.”

I rolled my eyes. “Seriously, Nathan, it’s not worth it. I’d give up anything to be normal again.”

“If you were normal, you’d probably be dead by now,” he said, leaning against the back wall. “Did you ever think of that?”

I shrugged. “Maybe, but then again, maybe we wouldn’t be here in the first place.”

“I wish we would have stayed in California,” said Nathan. “We’re so close. Maybe we should grab mom and just drive. Go to a place where nobody could find us.”

“That’s what we’re planning,” said Duncan. “I’m thinking we should go to Minnesota though. My mom lives out there and she can help
us sort things out.”

“That might not be such a bad idea,” I replied. “
Shore Lake is too obvious of a place. They’d find us for sure.”

“
Minnesota isn’t a good idea,” said Nathan. “You don’t want to risk your mom’s life.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. “Duncan’s eyes lit up
. “The Keys. We’ll go to Key West. There’s a yacht out there that my dad recently purchased. He was going to bring it back here, fix it up, and sell it. It’s sitting in a slip in Key West. I guess it runs, just needs some cosmetic work.”

“But the sun,” I replied. “How are we going to deal with being in the sun so much?”

“It’s a fifty-four foot Voyager,” he said. “We can lay low during the day.”

“Sweet,” said Nathan, getting excited. “I can captain the boat during the day while you guys lay low in your caskets down below. Mom can keep me company. That’s an awesome plan, Duncan!”

“Seriously, Nathan? We don’t sleep in caskets,” I said dryly.

“
Well, whatever. It’s the best idea I’ve heard yet, though.”

“Y
eah. First of all, though, we have to get your mom away from Caleb,” said Duncan as the elevator doors opened up. “Whether Celeste is alive or not, I think your mom’s life will always be in danger if we don’t keep them apart.”

We stepped out of the elevator and walked to Max’s
suite. As I was about to knock on the door, it opened up from the inside.

“Ethan,” I gasped, feeling as if someone had knocked the wind out of me.

“Come on, kids,” he replied with a dark smile. “We’ve been holding the party for you.”

I stepped past him and went inside to find two men aiming rifles at my mother and Caleb. From their scent, I could tell right away that they were both Lycans.

“Nikki,” sobbed
mom, who was sitting with Caleb on a sofa near the balcony. She stood up and held out her arms.

“Mom,” I choked, noticing how frail and sickly she lo
oked. I rushed over and threw my arms around her.

“I
’ve missed you so much, honey.”

“I missed you, too,” I whispered
, closing my eyes. “Are you doing okay?”

“Yes,” she whispered back.
“Don’t worry about me.”

“What’s going on?” asked Nathan, glaring at Ethan. “Why
in the hell are
you
here?”

A door opened up in the bac
k of the suite and Victor walked in, drying his hands with a towel. “He’s here because I asked him to be.”

“You’
re alive?” I gasped.

“Yes, don’t look so overjoyed.”

“Where’s Celeste?” I asked.

“
Around,” he replied with a smirk. “And by that I mean her remains are probably lying all around the Mojave Desert. Fortunately, my brethren showed up before she could do too much damage. I let them have her.”

“You sonofabitch,” growled Caleb, springing from the sofa. “I’
m going to kill you!”

Before Caleb could get close to
Victor, Ethan had grabbed my mother. “I would rethink that if I were you, unless you’d like to see Anne’s neck broken.”

I stared at him in shock.
“Ethan, leave her go.”

Caleb’s face fell. He raised his hands. “
Fine. Please, just don’t hurt her.”

“
Ethan, why don’t you take Anne into the back bedroom,” said Victor.

“Why are you doing this, Galen?” she asked.
“This is madness.”

“His real name is Victor, mom,” said Nathan
, glaring at him. “Isn’t that right,
dad
?”

“
Save it,
son
. She already knows,” he replied. “We’ve had some time to go over things while we waited for you.”

I turned to her.
“Do you know about me?”

My mom’s eye
s filled with tears. “Yes, Nikki, yes I know and… I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you in the first place. And I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you that Galen, I mean, Victor, wasn’t your biological father. I love both of you kids so much. I hope you know that.”

I forced a smile.
“It’s okay, mom. I love you, too.”

“Me
, too. Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of this,” replied Nathan, glaring at Ethan.

“Pretty sure of yourself,” smirked Ethan.

“Please don’
t hurt her,” I said. “She’s
never
done anything to you.”

“You behave and I won’t
have to,” he replied, ushering her out of the room.”

“Where’s Maximus?” asked Duncan.

“
Oh, he met with some misfortune back in the desert,” replied Victor.

“In other words you killed him?” snapped Duncan.

“Actually, Ethan killed him.”

I covered my mouth. “Oh
, my God.”

“I told you
that Ethan wasn’t who you thought he was,” said Caleb. “Now you know the truth.”

“
I guess, I do,” I replied, still unable to believe that Ethan was such a monster.

“Maximus had to go,” said Victor. “He was a thorn in my
side and I couldn’t trust him.”

“You killed his fath
er,” said Duncan. “I wonder why?”

“His
father
turned against me,” said Victor. He looked at Caleb. “That’s what happens when someone disobeys my orders, and goes behind my back. I’m not even sure why you’re still alive.”

“Fuck you,” said Caleb. “You never deserved Anne. She was just a cover-up for you all of these years
, and you treated her like shit.”

He smirked. “She’s lucky I put a roof over her head an
d took care of Nikki and Nathan.”

“You couldn’t afford to
get rid of them. It had nothing to do with your being a swell guy,” said Caleb. He turned to me. “The feds were watching him very closely for a number of years. He needed your mom and the normality of a suburban household.”

Victor rolled his eyes. “You’re really starting to annoy me, Caleb. You don’t exactly have a squeaky clean record yourself.”

Caleb glared at him. “Maybe, but I’m not half the monster you are. The things you’ve done are inexcusable.”

“
You know, you’ve overstayed your welcome here in Vegas, Caleb,” replied Victor. He waved his hand. “Maverick?”

Before anyone could react, one of the
Lycans pointed his gun towards Caleb’s head and pulled the trigger.

“Oh
, my God!” I screamed, watching in horror as his head exploded, blood spraying everywhere.

Just like Jordan.

I looked at Victor, and in his eyes I saw amusement and madness. Complete madness.

Horrified, Nathan turned his head and threw up on the carpeting.

“Really, Nathan?” said Victor, shaking his head. “That’s disgusting.”

“Please,” I begged
, more terrified for my mother’s life than ever. “Let us go. We don’t want anything from you. Just our mother.”

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a cigar and a cutter.
“Have you forgotten our conversation already? You know what I need from you.”

“What’s he talking about?” asked Duncan.

I sighed. “Fine. If you let everyone go, I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Wait a second,” said Duncan, moving towards me. “What
exactly does he want from you?”

“
Ten months is what I want,” said Victor, lighting the end of his cigar.

“What
in the hell does that mean?” asked Nathan, still looking slightly green.

“I want her to produce a child. If she does what I ask
, I’ll let her go once she hands it over.”

Nathan stared at him in horror. “What are you, some kind of
Rumpelstiltskin?”

Victor blew out a cloud of smoke.
“Funny,” he said, dryly.

“
Victor wants to create a child that has both vampire and Lycan D.N.A.”

“Why?” asked Duncan.

“To create a new breed of immortals,” said Victor. “A powerful race of Lycan that will answer only to me.”

“A race that will serve you,” said Duncan. “Isn’t that what you’re really after?”

Victor smiled darkly. “Of course.”

“That would take a long time,” said Nathan.
“Why bother?”

Victor raised his index finger.
“Well, not as long as you may think. I happen to know a scientist who has already begun experimenting with D.N.A. cloning of wolves. Not only has he had promising test results, but has found a way to speed up their rate of growth. In a matter of days, one of his test subjects grew to the size of an adult. In just days!” His eyes glowed brightly. “Can you
imagine
the possibilities?”

“
Even so, we’re talking animals, not people, and certainly not immortals, right?” replied Nathan. “That’s got to be an entirely different ballgame.”

He smirked “Actually, not as different as you may think.
Dr. Shepard has secretly
begun testing his theories on humans, without the knowledge of his staff, obviously. In fact, I, along with some others, have built him a lab and have provided everything he needs for cloning.”

I stared at him in shock. Obviously this guy had hidden so much from us throughout the years.

“Here we go,” mumbled Nathan. “Mad scientist.”

“Mad? He’s a genius! Shepard believes
that within the next year, if I can find him a suitable child, he’ll be able to use its D.N.A. produce an army for me.”

“And you
really believe that?” asked Duncan. “It sounds like science fiction to me. I hope you’re not spending your life savings on that quack?”

“
It does sound pretty crazy,” I said. Although so do vampires, Lycans, and Shape-shifters.

“Not too long ago
, computers sounded crazy, too. Nothing is impossible.”

“So, you plan on producing this army and then what?” I asked. “Kill everyone
that is against you and take over the world?”

Victor
blew out another cloud of smoke. He smiled. “Something like that.”

I bit the side of my lip.
Obviously, standing around arguing about all of this wasn’t doing much to get mom away from this psycho. “Okay, fine, but if I agree to this, you have to let everyone go,” I said, deciding to promise him whatever he wanted and worry about escaping when the others were safe.

Duncan shook his head.
“No. Nikki, we are not leaving you with him.”

I
grabbed his hand. “Duncan, I’ll be fine, okay? Victor has never hurt me in the past and won’t now. Isn’t that right?”