Page 112 of How to Entice a Fiend

I nod and set to work. I can tell Marcus is enraged—I’m sure they all are that Abel just waltzed into their territory and tore it apart like this. He clearly wanted to attack while Marcus was away and when I’d seen them fleeing, I’d gone after them. I should have known it was a setup. I should have stopped myself from being so rash, but I’d thought that if I killed even one or two, it would be fewer vampires for us to contend with.

I bring blood to a vampire who is struggling to heal and see an unconscious human tucked under a desk. “Someone is here who needs medical attention,” I call, and as soon as someone heads our way, I hurry off to help anyone else that I can. It seems like the vampires who were hurt and able to heal are healing, but the rest were too far gone before we even arrived.

All too soon, we’re left standing amongst the destruction. All humans who’d been hurt have been rushed off to the hospital and the vampires who could heal have been helped.

Marcus slowly walks over to me and I meet his eyes.

“I’m sorry I led you off and put Finn at risk.”

“You didn’t lead me off. I would have gone anyway. It’s thanks to you noticing the ambush that we got back here in time,” he says.

“I should have known better. Abel has always excelled at manipulating people and knows just how to tear them apart. I’m afraid there might be someone in the VRC who’s one of his own. They likely told him that you and the other stronger vampiresweren’t here yet, so he could strike and hurt us when he knew it’d be safest to do so.”

“I’m not surprised. We obviously were incapable of taking a stand against them. If the group of us had been here when they attacked, I believe the outcome would have turned out much differently… but then again, with the numbers he has on his side, it might have done nothing,” Marcus says.

“It was retaliation for yesterday, but if we do nothing, how the fuck are we expected to win a fight against him?” Finn asks, sounding quite desperate.

“I don’t know,” Marcus admits. “I would love to tell you that I’m confident that I could rush in and kill them all, but… I’m not sure I’ve ever been less confident in my life.”

“He has strength in numbers… but I have a feeling I know the very guy who can dwindle those numbers down for us,” I say as I look toward the door Mads is behind.

After we make sure everyone is okay, I find myself wandering back to the room Mads is in. Instead of recovering like I assumed he’d be, he’s busy scribbling away on a piece of paper as he sits on the floor. I walk over to him and simply sit beside him.

“Are you planning vampire eradication?” I ask.

“That sounds so… evil. Let’s say vampire ‘poof be gone.’”

“Doesthat sound better?” I ask. “It sounds like something Rylee would make up.”

Mads laughs, but my attention shifts when the door opens and Marcus, Finn, Alexei, and Claude enter the room.

“Briar is getting transport set up for you. Brooks and Bentley are figuring out what to do with the remaining VRC personnel. And we came in here to talk,” Finn says. “Mads… please tell me you have an idea.”

Mads looks up from his paper that he’d been dutifully filling. “I do… but it requires us figuring out who in the council we cantrust. But first… I need a lab and a whole lot more materials. Can you get me that?”

“Can you give Claude a list?” Marcus asks. “Claude, you could send it with Beatrice. I know she’s trustworthy and she’ll be knowledgeable about where to acquire this stuff.”

“I already have one. I put an assortment of things on there. Some things on the list aren’t even required, but if someone ends up seeing it, they won’t be able to figure out what is used to make the drug or the antidote,” Mads explains as he tears it out of the notebook and hands it to Claude.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Claude says as he zips out of the room, leaving Alexei behind.

The door barely closes before DeGray, Brooks, and Briar slip in.

“Got you the most fashionable of escape routes,” Briar says with a grimace as she lays down a body bag. “So, uhhh, slide on in.”

“Oh fun. Can you hold on to this?” Mads asks as he hands me his notebook. I feel like this is a lot of pressure, but when I look at it, I don’t understand the language or anything else on it. DeGray unzips the bag and Mads slides in.

“Are we heading to the university?”

“Brooks mentioned that we’ll be taking you to a different lab. The university is too open and we wouldn’t be able to discreetly take you inside, so we found you a different lab,” DeGray explains.

“The VRC is at risk, I understand, but I want all of you involved in transporting Mads,” Brooks says. “Right now, the lives of thousands of vampires are in his hands.”

“Oh joy,” Mads says, looking more than a little concerned.

Brooks continues, “The VRC will step back, and I believe that should get Abel to leave us alone. We need more antidote. Just because we have Mads doesn’t mean Abel can’t find someonewho’ll figure out how to create an antidote. I’m sure he has people working on identifying the materials that go into the ammunition, just as Wren’s group has been. I’ve requested help from Wren’s crew, but Wren has informed me that his higher-ups are refusing to send them out. I’m… concerned that means Abel has control of some of the higher-ups. It’s only a matter of time before someone figures out what we have, whether it’s on their side or ours. But what I do know is that wehaveto be able to protect ourselves.”

“Got it,” Marcus says as Claude returns and gives us a thumbs-up.

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