• 𝓜𝓪𝓮 •

If I went for a knife, Kite would see it. He'd stop me and likely kill Tati in the process. Then I had Luca and Noah to contend with, because what the fuck? Whose fucking side were they on?

Though they all just stood there, I knew the biggest threat of everyone there was Kite. I'd seen him kill before. So ruthless, watching as the blood drained from his victim with a look of boredom etched on his beautiful face. He didn't care about human life.

So why the hell did he bring Noah and Luca? And why were they just standing there?

"Please," I whispered. "Let her go."

"Of course," Kite said. He didn't move an inch. "Though I expect something from you in return."

"I'll do anything you want if you let her go," I said, my voice trembling only slightly.

Tati looked up, her eyes wide. I glanced down at her for only a moment before looking back to the threat. She had to make it out alive. She saw me that night and took care of me, rather than allowing me to go hungry and cold. She could have walked right on by and I would have been none the wiser.

Kite's lip twitched into a small smirk. "Now, love, don't promise things you won't give willingly. I'll let her go...hell, I'll even allow her and her little group to live, if you come back with me."

He knew about her group. Of course he did. If he knew where I was, he definitely knew where her group was. She'd been worried about them following me. While true, she had no idea that they were also following her. Formulating a plan. Figuring out how best to trick me into coming back.

I nodded, and he lifted his foot from her back.

"Go," I said to her as she stood on trembling legs.

She stared at me, wide-eyed. "But, Mae-"

"Go," I said again. "Just go."

She stood there for a moment as if debating on whether or not she wanted to go or if she wanted to fight. But she wouldn't live in a fight against Kite. If she wasn't sure of that before, my reaction to him had to have told her how ruthless the man could be.

In the end, she stepped forward, kissed my cheek, and ran.

"You have so many humans in the city," I said once she was far enough away. "Why do you need me? Why can't you just let me go? And bringing Luca and Noah was a low fucking blow, Kite. What? Are you going to threaten their lives too?"

Kite didn't lose his smirk. "I don't need you, doll. I want you."

"Oh!" I laughed sardonically. "Excuse me, you spoiled piece of shit. I didn't realize I was an object to be owned!"

He blinked, then looked to Noah like I'd spoken some foreign language and he wasn't sure how to translate it correctly.

"She's gotten pretty sassy," Luca said. His voice was so low that I was sure he thought I didn't hear.

I turned on him. "Who the hell goes against their own kind? Seriously? What'd he do? Promise not to suck your blood for a month if you came out here?"

Kite began laughing. When I only stared at him, he leaned up against the tree, a grin on his face as he looked at Noah and Luca in turn.

"You going to tell her, or do I need to?" Kite continued to chuckle.

I stiffened, unable to look at either of the other two men. A part of me understood the moment Kite arrived what was happening. The other part of me didn't want to believe it. But that look, mixed with those words, told me exactly why Noah and Luca were there with him.

"Open your mouth," I told Noah.

He didn't, his posture shifting in a way that told me he was uncomfortable. He wouldn't look at me, instead making eye contact with anything and everything around me. He did that a lot when he didn't want to tell me something.

I stepped up to him and forced his mouth open, then froze when I saw the fangs.

His eyes finally met mine.

I looked at Luca, who easily opened his mouth and showed me his fangs.

I stepped away from Noah, my face immediately contorting to show just how fucking disgusted I was with him. He'd been on my side, telling me that he wished the vampires would all die. But now?

"Fuck you," I said.

He looked at me like I reached up and slapped him across the face. "Mae, I didn't-"

"I don't care what you did or didn't do," I said, my chest tight. "Fuck...you."

He was standing right there, alive as a vampire could get, but suddenly he was like a stranger to me. Both him and Luca. I didn't know Luca for long, and I didn't know how he felt about the vampires during the takeover. But Noah? Noah hated them. Hated what they'd done to us. Though we were in the foster care system, they took the person who did everything they could for us. We watched her die for Christ's sake.

For the first year we lived in the city, that was all we ever talked about. How we hated the vampires. How we wished somehow, some way, we could escape or destroy them. But now...

I shook my head.

Now he was one of them. And for what? I'd allowed myself to grieve him because I thought he was gone. I thought they killed him.

I almost laughed. No, they did kill him. They just brought him back as the one thing that I would absolutely despise.

"What a lovely reunion between friends," Kite stated blandly. "Now let's go. Either you can walk yourself or I can carry you, but we need to get going if we're going to get to the city by nightfall."

I took one more look at the two men beside me before pushing forward. When Kite reached out to me, I slapped his hand away and continued walking. I didn't know exactly where I was going, but to be honest, I genuinely did not care. All I wanted was to get back to the city so I could close myself off from them.

"Touch me and I'll cut you," I threatened.

Kite only laughed, and I wondered if he realized I had knives. It may not kill him, but it would certainly hurt. But would the gratification I felt towards harming him outweigh whatever retribution he decided fit for my outburst?