Page 9 of Benicio

“Because I also know you have an ear to the ground, that you see plenty of things going on in Ridgeway. I want to know what you know.”

David looked hesitant. “Nelo took over when Fayez disappeared.”

There were two covens in Ridgeway because the city was so big. Eleazar ruled over one, and Fayez had ruled over the other. Benicio knew that Fayez hadn’t simply disappeared. The coven leader had been killed. Anytime an ancient vampire was killed, Benicio felt their demise. He just didn’t know the reason or who had done it. The feeling was an ache in the middle of his chest, signaling one of their deaths.

“Then Nelo disappeared. Good riddance.”

“You didn’t like him?”

“He was only out for himself. I might not belong to a coven, but even I knew he was a piece of shit. I like Lazarus a lot better. He might be a gangster, but he knows how to run a coven. He finally got Nelo’s unruly vampires under control.”

Interesting.

“Then this douchebag cop went after Eleazar’s human servant. That’s what I heard Sonny was to them, anyway. The cop’s name was Slater. Come to find out, he was organizing this radical group and named them Council of Darkness.”

Benicio sat perfectly still, though his body was aching. He liked listening to David talk, liked the lilt to his voice, and how animatedly he moved his hands. There was even a spark of excitement in his whiskey-brown eyes.

“Then Eleazar had to kill the leader of the biker gang called Ridgeway Riders. Raiden always seemed nice, from what I heard, but he was as evil as they came.”

“Why did Eleazar have to kill him?”

David curled his lips in, as if just realizing he was saying way too much. Benicio recalled how the vampire said a little honey went a long way. How Benicio didn’t have to be an asshole all the time.

“Continue…please.”

David let out a long sigh. “I might as well. My ship is already sinking.” He brushed strands of hair from his forehead, and Benicio had an urge to do that for him. “Zach, Shayde’s mate, was dating Raiden’s brother. His name was Chainsaw. He kidnapped Zach and Andrew, Eleazar’s mate. Eleazar went nuts when he found out. When he caught up to Chainsaw, he killed him. Raiden was pissed, went after Eleazar, and Eleazar killed him, too.”

Things were far worse than Benicio had previously thought. Revenge kills? Eleazar was old enough to know better. It was one thing to kill to defend one’s self. But this was a large city, and clearly this Slater person knew of Raiden’s and Chainsaw’s death. It was Eleazar’s carelessness that had caused Council of Darkness to form in the first place.

“Cash was running both the council and the biker gang, and he had a hard-on for vampires. At first, Cash was hurting or killing humans who helped vampires. Then he just started going after vampires.” David looked away. “Alaric was decent to me. He was a part of Eleazar’s coven, but Cash killed him.”

“You are speaking in past tense.”

David nodded. “Cash was recently killed. Eleazar’s second-in-command killed him.”

Benicio had heard enough. “Thank you for the information.”

David glanced up at him, and Benicio had a wild urge to kiss him. “I’ve totally screwed myself over on this. As soon as word gets out that I spilled all of Ridgeway secrets, I’m dead.”

As coldhearted as Benicio had become over time, he couldn’t allow David to suffer for helping him. “For now, you will stay here.”

“Then what?” David snorted as he let his foot down and gripped the edge of the bench. “Sooner or later, you’re leaving. I’m the one who has to stay here and deal with the fallout, especially if you think Eleazar has to die for what he’s done or has allowed to happen.”

“I will forbid anyone from harming you.”

“Life doesn’t work that way.” David looked up at the waterfall. “I’m glad you’re here to clean things up, Benicio. Runing from the council men has been exhausting. Cash is dead, but you know as well as I do that his vacancy won’t be vacant much longer. I just don’t want anything to happen to Eleazar. Most of what happened wasn’t even his fault.”

“He is in charge of Ridgeway,” Benicio ground out. “It was his responsibility to keep things from getting this far out of hand. He has to be held accountable for his actions or lack thereof.”

David exhaled heavily. “I get it. He messed up. But he’s also a good guy. He just made a mistake.”

“A mistake that caused the formation of the Council of Darkness and made your life a living hell,” Benicio pointed out. “All because he couldn’t control his actions.”

David scowled at him. “What are you going to do?”

“It’s not for you to know,” Benicio answered coldly, getting up from the bench. “Just know that I will make things right. And you will be safe.”

He walked away, leaving David sitting there with a bewildered expression. Benicio didn’t care about the man’s feelings. He had a job to do, and he would do it, regardless of who got in his way.

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