Page 67 of Shadows of Fate

“Mother? Father?” He looked around, the nerves clear on his face. “Ophelia?”

My stomach sank when no one answered him back. He was clearly expecting them to be home waiting for him. But I didn’t hear anyone making any noise in the house.

I watched him walk through the small tidy house. It had a homey feel to it, and any other time I’d be snooping around through all of Raiden’s things. But I knew my male, and I had a feeling this was more of a nightmare than a dream.

We walked into the kitchen together, and while I’d seen so much blood and sadness over my lifetime, the anguished cry that erupted from his chest was something I’d carry with me for the rest of my existence.

I watched as he picked his sister up off the floor and cradled her to his chest. Her throat was ripped out, the blood coating the two of them. His father lay not far from her and his mother on the opposite side of the kitchen. All of them clearly murdered by vampires.

I thought about the ink he’d put all over his body. I could still feel some of the scars he’d covered. I knew he was young right now. Maybe eighteen, which meant for ten years, he’d hunted down vampires as a human man. This was the revenge he’d chased. I felt the tears welling up in my eyes as I wished I could squeeze him right now. I wish I could tell this boy that he wouldn’t be alone forever. That he’d get his revenge and make this city a better place.

But I couldn’t do any of that. So, instead, I sat in a chair near his mother’s body, and I just existed while the male I loved with my entire being mourned everything he thought his life would be.

* * *

Imay have gone a bit… mad in the gap of time since Raiden had been taken from me. I’d watched the moon become sightless and start to fill back out again since he’d been gone. Roughly six nights now without him.

I was currently in a pair of black leather pants and a matching cropped black top. A silver dagger at my hip, two daggers in the band around my breasts, along with my shadow stone dagger in one of my chunky boots and another silver dagger in the other. I still wasn’t sure where Raiden had put my other shadow stone dagger, and honestly, I wasn’t searching for it. He had to give it back to me himself.

I’d tied my hair into two tight braids that went from the top of my head and down my back and finished it off with a dark red lip stain. I looked like I was here to kill, and that was the exact aura I wanted to give off.

I wasn’t here to seduce or play games first. I was here to slay anyone who looked like they may be involved in the Eternal Outcasts. Anyone who knew who the fuck Viktor was, where he could be, who he was normally with. I’d take anything I could get, and then I’d slit their throats too.

My first instinct was to burn every building to the ground that didn’t render me answers but I didn’t believe Raiden coming home to half of his city burnt down would please him. So, I held off, only burning the bodies instead. I’d been focusing on the local names Joel had rattled off.

The Moonlight Inn was next on the list. It was a sex tavern if the rumors were to be believed. On-call humans and vampires there to quench whatever it was you loved to partake in, in bed. I didn’t care. I’d investigated it before, and it all seemed consensual. But, I’d been told by my last… interviewee that this was the current spot to be at.

Walking through the door into the dimly lit room, I did a quick glance around. There was soft music playing in the corner, plush multicolored couches around the room, and females of all shapes and sizes walking around in tight and revealing outfits—a few males too.

But I wasn’t here for that tonight. I stepped into the crowd, grabbing the arm of a male nearest me and pulling him over to the wall.

He was tall and broad. Dirty blond hair and pretty blue eyes. He was cute in a boyish sort of way, and human. His outfit made it clear he worked here. He was dressed in small gold shorts and that was it. The bite marks along his skin made it clear what he enjoyed.

“Good evening, beautiful. I’m down for fun, but please note that biting is not free and costs an extra fee,” he purred, coming in close to me.

I held up my hand, pressing it to his chest and keeping him a step away from me.

“Thank you so much for the offer, but no. I have questions instead and I’ll still pay you. So don’t fret about it,” I said, clearly in a hurry.

He immediately dropped the sexual prowess act.

“Payment first, then answers. My time isn’t free, doll,” he stated with his hand out between us. I quickly dropped a few coins in his waiting palm—more than I knew he normally charged based on his wide eyes. “Okay, what do you need?”

“I’m looking for some vampires. Ones that may have mentioned they’re part of a group looking for willing human women or vampires with magic.”

His eyes narrowed for a bit before he answered me. He pointed in the far back corner where three males sat. “Those three have been here every night for the last moon cycle. Always asking for gals who want to experiment and travel. They took a serious interest in Tansy a few nights ago. She’s a vampire who has a bit of ice magic. Anyway, she went with them, and we haven’t seen her since.” He shrugged.

“Thank you for your help.” I handed him another few coins for actually giving me information I could do something with.

I ran my fingers over the dagger at my hip as I walked over to the far corner where the males were seated. Plastering a smile on my face, I knew I looked anything but sweet and innocent like I normally went for.

“Hello, boys. I heard you were looking for some fun,” I said, using the giggly voice I had perfected years ago for moments like this.

One was olive-skinned like Bastian, his dark eyes staring across at me suspiciously, but the blond next to him grinned. The third was bald and covered in tattoos and scruffy facial hair that made him look unkempt.

“We are. Are you interested?” the blond asked.

I glanced behind me, noting how many people were there. The thing was, since Raiden and I completed the soul bond, my magic truly had become more powerful. More endless. Easier to call on. It was… well, magical. But since he’d been taken? Well, my magic had a mind of its own. It was more volatile, which just made me love it more.

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