Page 59 of How to Entice a Fiend

“I’m fine,” I assure him, positive that the last thing I’m going to do is sit here and wait for Abel to show up.

“Okay. Thank you for coming back in and saving me,” he says. “That was really kind of you.”

I look at him skeptically as I consider whether or not what I did was really “saving” him. Honestly, if half of the place hadn’t exploded, they probably would have beaten me down before I even got a chance to do anything. “Let’s get these keys and get out of here.”

“On it,” he says as he hurries into the wreckage. I follow him before my attention is drawn over to the vampires. I kneel down and examine the one nearest me. He’s writhing on the ground, not healing at all as he moans in pain. Slowly, I walk over to the ones closer to the epicenter of the explosion. The ones nearest to it definitely aren’t even alive. There aren’t many of them, only a few, but every single person who was hit by it hasn’t gotten up.

There are vampires out farther than we’d been, but the blast appears to have hit them far worse than it hit me or Mads.

I look over at Mads, who isn’t sparing a glance at the vampires, apparently not confused by what’s happening to them in the slightest. He also doesn’t seem to have any fear that one is going to jump up and attack him. He knows none of them are getting up anytime soon.

“Found a key! I hope it’s to a car that’s fast and can get us the hell out of here,” he says before turning and seeing me standing among the wreckage. His excitement over the key quickly falls, and instead, he just watches me for a long moment.

Finally, he settles on saying, “You’re going to make me blush, staring at me this long.”

“You told me you didn’t kill those people that night I met you near the pier.”

“Sometimes… people have to die… but they were trying to lure you and the VRC in. I found drugs in one of their pockets proving that they wanted to get rid of you all at once,” Mads says, tearing his eyes from me. “Let’s go.”

I follow him as he walks past the bodies and out toward the parking area. One of the vampires is begging to be helped and I debate drinking from him, but Mads shakes his head.

“Don’t consume their blood, trust me. Now let’s go.”

I trail after him out to the car that unlocks with the key he holds. Before he gets in, I reach over to his wrists, feeling strong enough that I manage to break the cuffs at the hinges. He rubs his wrist and smiles at me.

“Thank you.”

“Yeah…”

Mads gets into the car and turns it on as I get settled in the passenger seat. He begins driving, the car moving us much faster than we were going when I was half dead, lost, and carrying him.

“Did you create the drug that’s killing vampires? The one that wiped out half of the council?” I ask.

“Yes.”

I’m honestly surprised how willing he was to give me that information. “Why?”

“Because I wanted to kill some vampires, why else?” He says it nonchalantly, but the way his body tenses tells me he’s not as indifferent as he’s pretending to be.

I notice his grip tightens on the steering wheel and his eyes are fixated in front of him. Admittedly, I’m not the best at reading people, but while I haven’t known him long, I do know Mads isn’t much of a killer.

“You created something that could wipe out the entire population of vampires. It could destroy all vampires. Maybe true vampires would make it out alive, but those who aren’t or those who are younger or weaker couldn’t. What a terrifying thing you’ve chosen to bring into this world.”

Mads is quiet as he drives. I didn’t know the man could be knocked down to silence, but he doesn’t seem to know what to say in response to that.

“The funny thing is that I was created to do the very same thing,” I admit as I lean back in my seat and close my eyes. “A monster made to kill vampires.”

The car keeps moving and my body aches for sleep, but the last thing I want to do is close my eyes and be tossed back into the world where the only thing in it is Abel. I suffered long enough; why do I have to suffer during my sleeping hours too?

“I… don’t want to kill everyone,” Mads says, drawing my attention. “I just wanted… do you know how impossible it’d be to kill vampires as a human?”

“Obviously. I’ve killed humans. Most of them don’t have the ability to do anything against a vampire.”

“I just wanted to make them pay. I never expected to be betrayed… I never expected it to get out. And isn’t that stupid? I’m smart… at least I like to think I am. And still I had the confidence that I would never let it fall into the wrong hands. But that’s hilarious, isn’t it? I’m over here having to create a drug to kill vampires because I’m too weak, yet convinced I can protect the knowledge I’ve brought into the world?”

“So Abel knows and he wants you to show him the secret to it.”

“Seems like it.”

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