Page 75 of Inevitably Yves

“I got a message that felt like it was from you and Paolo. It told me to return to just outside New Onyx. When I got there, it was a warehouse. I entered and almost immediately knew something was off, but he was on me too quickly. Held me down and forced this bitter liquid down my throat. I heard Paolo trying to warn me, but it was too late. I must have blacked out, because the next time I opened my eyes I was chained to a wall. He told me I could choose to join him or I could die.”

Horus shakes his head and trembles.

“I told him I would die, but that answer only angered him. He and a group of men beat me, tortured me, tried to get me to break. Then he showed me the others. Just on the ground in a pile, their hearts staked.”

Horus’s eyes flicker with anger, but he’s clearly still recovering from his ordeal.

“I thought he would stake me too, but he was distracted by something and left.” He turns his head to meet Yves’s eyes. “He has a large group of very angry vampires. They aren’t natural.”

“Like zombies?” Thorn asks.

“Yes,” Horus says, nodding. “Exactly like that. Mindless and hell-bent on whatever he wants them to do.”

“How did you get away?” I ask.

“Crawled. Whatever he did to me, I felt a connection to you, Yves. I followed it here.”

Yves nods, turning his intense gaze to me.

“The bastard,” I mutter.

“He used black magic on you, Horus,” Yves explains. “You and the others. Somehow, he’s able to control vampires with it. Those he can’t control, I guess he kills.”

“He’s still got Paolo for some reason, but I didn’t get the sense that he had aligned himself with Hadrian.”

“He must have a use for Paolo we don’t understand yet,” Eros says.

“Possibly,” Yves murmurs. “We need to prepare ourselves for what’s about to happen. We can put you in a safe place.”

Horus shakes his head. “No. I’ll fight by your side. If I die, I die.”

Yves nods, his jaw set tight.

“There was a guy there,” Horus says. “I’ve seen him in newspapers before. Some big-time mob guy. I forgot his name.”

“The Admiral?” Thorn asks.

“Ah.” Horus nods. “That’s what the newspapers called him, but not what Hadrian did. Hadrian called him…” Horus pauses, tilting his head. “Secondo. That’s it. He called him Secondo.”

“Second,” Yves says. “He used to call me that. Second in command.”

“Well that explains what happened to the Admiral,” Raphael says. “He turned him.”

“Seems to be the case,” Yves replies. “So we have the most powerful vampire in existence, his mob of vampire zombies, the dangerous black magic at his disposal, and his intention to destroy me and everything I love. That’s what we’re up against.”

“But we have love,” I say. “And loyalty and fate. That’s what he’s up against.”

Yves’s eyes soften. “Only love can defeat him. That’s what Viv told us.”

“Exactly, and we have oceans of it.”

As Yves grips my hand and his coven and our allies gather around us, I say a silent prayer to fate that we’ll prevail. I have centuries of love to make up for with Yves, and I won’t lose this chance.

Not this time.

TWENTY-SIX

Yves

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