Chapter Eleven – Adam
Jonas's house was utterly empty. Adam and his men searched it for almost an hour and found nothing. From the state of it, it looked like it had been empty for almost two weeks.
This was more than a tip-off. This was planned. Jonas expected him to come and took steps ahead of time to make sure that he wasn't going to be caught. Frustration and anger welled in Adam, but he couldn't deny that he had been outsmarted in this instance. Still, Wanda's testimony was not for nothing. He would still get Jonas in jail on all charges.
"I want an APB out on Jonas and all of his associates," he ordered as they left the house. "I want that vampire found."
He threw himself back into his vehicle, grinding his teeth together. Where had he taken the drugs and girls? He hadn't fled town after his arrest; Adam had seen him around.
I should have just kept him in the dungeons, he thought bitterly. I should never have released him on bail.
His cell phone beeped. Adam checked it; it was a text message from Christopher. Adam's heart stopped beating. All it said was, He has her. Go alone, and an address, but that was enough. Christopher delivering a kidnapping demand? Jonas must have them both and be using Christopher's phone.
Go alone.
Adam growled under his breath. If Jonas had Wanda and his brother… He had to do as instructed. He couldn't lose them. He stuffed the phone into his pocket and closed his eyes as the vehicle pulled away from Jonas's house. If this was how it was going to be, then it would be so. But the question remained: what did Jonas want? It had to be more than just keeping himself out of jail. Money? Power? Freedom to keep running his drugs?
No matter. Adam let out a breath. He'd know soon enough.
***
Jonas had a cocky, arrogant smirk on his face when Adam barged into the house he had been directed to. He pulled in a deep breath and smelled the distinctive perfume that Wanda liked to wear. Fury flooded his chest and he wanted to attack on the spot. He glowered at Jonas, making the smirk falter.
"Where is Wanda?"
"Safe." Jonas pulled himself up. "With the rest of my girls."
Adam growled. "You disgusting pervert."
"Pervert? I give them jobs, shelter, food. They were all living on the streets when I found them. And I certainly do not dabble sexually with them or permit my men to touch them." Jonas actually looked affronted. "I am not a pervert."
"What do you want?" Adam didn't care what the pervert claimed. If he got that chance, he'd rip the other vampire's head off.
Jonas smiled, back in control. "Well, what I've wanted from the start… I thought that I could provoke you to anger, to do something that would be unforgivable to turn the public against you, but apparently your temper has been overstated. What I want is for you to step down from being the king. I want you to give me the crown."
Adam laughed, too surprised by this to take it seriously. "Why would I do that?"
"Publically, because I am a savvy businessman and I can pull our struggling economy back from the brink. Unofficially… because I will kill Wanda and all the other humans in my employ if you don't."
At that moment, Adam wanted nothing more than to rip off Jonas's head. He started forward with a snarl on his lips but just managed to stop himself. Jonas probably had given orders to kill the girls if anything happened to him. As much as he wanted to kill him, Adam couldn't risk it.
"Nobody will accept that. If you try, you'll have a civil war on your hands in no time."
Jonas shrugged. "If you don't do as I say, then you'll have a dead Wanda on your hands. Which one are you more willing to risk?"
Adam growled again. He sucked in a deep breath and nodded reluctantly. For the first time in what felt like forever, he had someone who didn't fear him, who looked at him and saw who he was, not the demon-king he was reported to be. He couldn't let anything happen to her.
"And my brother?" he pressed. "You'll release him from—"
"Release him?" Jonas barked out a laugh. "You think he's my prisoner? No. He's the one who handed the girl over to me in the first place."
Ice flooded Adam's veins. Christopher had betrayed him? No! It couldn’t be! Christopher would never have done that. He opened his mouth to tell Jonas that he knew he was lying, but before he could, the doors leading into the room burst open. Wanda, followed by a half-dozen girls carrying weapons that ranged from kitchen knives to knitting needles, streamed in.
"We don't belong to you," she shouted. She caught sight of Adam and her eyes widened. "Adam, kill him! Kill him now!"
All the girls let out wild screeches and attacked the vampires with their pitiful weapons. Jonas let out a strangled yelp, shock flashing over his face. A vampire grabbed one of the girls with a knitting needle and Wanda sunk her steak knife into his arm. As he howled, the needle girl stabbed her weapon through his eye. The vampire stumbled back as blood spurted into the air.
Adam leaped into the fray. The girls cut and stabbed with all their strength but the vampires were far stronger. Their initial attack may have drawn blood, but the tide turned quickly.
Jonas growled and lunged for Wanda. Red washed over Adam's vision. With a roar, he tore his suit jacket apart, freeing his range of motion. He was on Jonas before the other vampire knew what hit him. Knee to stomach, elbow to the back of the neck. Jonas fell. Adam turned to the next vampire.
All the noise seemed to fade into the background. Adam's heartbeat remained steady and even, the rage and fury washing away as he methodically grabbed first one vampire, then the next. Fist to kidneys. Take a knife from one of the girls. Slid it through a vampire's ribs. Next attacker. Grab the head, slam it against the wall. Twist sharply as the vampire dropped. Next one, knitting needle up under the ribs. The vampire grabbed a girl as a shield. Break both arms, wait for the girl to slip away, tear open vampire's throat.
When the last vampire dropped, Adam came back to himself. He stared around at the carnage as if waking from a dream. Bile rose in his throat, and his hands began shaking.
"No," he whispered. The taste of blood was strong in his mouth.
The berserk blood rage hadn't taken over him since the last battle he had been in. He didn't want to be this… this mindless killing machine: the beast that used his anger and temper to defeat his enemies when it might have been able to be resolved peacefully…
A hand laid on his arm. Adam jumped, then glanced down to see Wanda. Her eyes were wide like saucers, but she still wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. He embraced her back, shoulders shaking. The other girls stared at him in shock and fear, but they weren't cowering from him.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" one of them said, her voice hushed. "You saved us."
Adam blinked. He looked around again. Some of the vampires groaned, in pain and maimed, but not dead. He hadn't killed them all? His arms tightened around Wanda. She was here. There wasn't a scratch on her. The other girls looked worse for wear, but he hadn't hurt any of them. The other vampires had attacked, but he had protected them.
The king swallowed hard. "I… didn't hurt any of you."
"No." Wanda cupped his face in her hands. "You saved us."
Relief washed over him. With a cry that was half-triumphant, half-sob, he wrapped his arms around her again. He wasn't a mindless killing machine. He didn't always hurt those he loved. Unexpected tears filled his eyes as Wanda clung to him. He wasn't what he had always feared – and it was time to let go of the past and move on… to the future.