Blood Rites: (Royal Blood #3) (15 page)

X was silent for so long, I wasn’t sure he
was still there. Then he asked, “Something or someone?”

“Will you help me or not?”

“You know I can’t, Vaughn. I’m Royal Blood.
If I took out the Necromancer’s top dog, I’d be in a hole next to
him. You’re on your own.”

I thumped my fist down on the desktop,
rattling the entire thing as the line disconnected. I was in this
on my own then. Me and Hawkes.

The office door opened and Hawkes strode in,
the hole in the front of his shirt indicating that he had indeed
been shot and at close range too.

“Talk to me, Hawkes,” I said thinly.

“
They ambushed us out the front
of Miss Lansford’s apartment,” he explained. He winced slightly as
he sat, the only indication that he was hurting. That bullet
must've hurt like a bitch. “Two black sedans and at least eight
men.” He didn’t have chance. “I stepped in front of her and she
went for the door, but they didn’t hesitate. They shot me
point-blank and grabbed her. By the time I managed to get to my
feet, they were already pulling away from the footpath. I got in
six shots.” He shook his head.

Hawkes was made of tough stuff. He was
ex-military with a long string of heroic accomplishments and a
loyalty that was unfaltering. I knew it had taken a great deal for
him to even stand after taking a hit that close. He should be at a
hospital, but even he knew that hospitals meant unwanted attention.
It was in their jurisdiction to contact the police if anyone set
foot inside the ER with a gunshot wound and police all over this
wasn't what we needed right now. This had to be dealt with under
the radar.

“Sir?”

I glanced at Hawkes, my lips thin. “There
was nothing you could’ve done. We couldn't have anticipated such a
strong response so soon.” I contemplated asking him if he needed
medical attention for a single beat before dismissing it. Hawkes
knew when to call it and me asking would hurt his pride.

“Has he made contact?”

As if on cue, my phone started to ring.
Glancing at the screen, I held up a finger to silence Hawkes. It
was Sykes.

I accepted the call and snapped, “Where is
the girl?”

“I’m going to talk, Mr. Vaughn, and you’re
going to listen,” Sykes drawled.

I tensed, wishing he was right in front of
me so I could shred the life from his body with my bare hands.

“
I have your woman. You’ll get
her back if you do what I say. No deviations, no
double-crosses.”

“I want her back unharmed,” I hissed,
leveling my gaze at Hawkes.

“
I’ll give her back to you in
whatever condition I choose,” Sykes replied. “The quicker you
comply, the more pristine she will be.”

He was talking about Lorelei
like she was a thing, a
commodity
. This was a man who was trying to break into the
human trafficking trade which meant that he was capable of doing
anything to her. Fuck,
no
…I couldn’t bare to think of him taking her and leading her
into that kind of life… I wouldn’t allow it.

“What the fuck do you want?” I hissed.

“Everything that is yours, Mr. Vaughn.”

I stilled, my blood running cold.

“The terms have been sent to your email.”
The line went dead and I tightened my fist around the phone, my
rage simmering.

Hawkes narrowed his eyes. “What are his
terms?”

I set the phone down, my hands
shaking. I wanted to burn the world to get her back. Burn it with
Sykes tied to the pyre, right in the fucking center.

“Everything,” I murmured. “He wants
everything.”

My kingdom for Lorelei.

Seventeen

Lorelei

At first all I could see was darkness.

My limbs ached, my head felt like it was
clogged with cotton wool and my tongue felt thick, like it wasn’t
my own.

I groaned, rolling onto my side. The ground
was hard and cold, concrete, and I shivered violently.

There was a click and light flooded my
surroundings, overwhelming my senses. I blinked furiously, trying
to make sense of where I was so I could plan my escape, but the
moment I realized what was waiting for me, I wish I had of kept
them closed.

A man was staring down at me,
his expression cold. His face was pockmarked with scars, his hair
gray and stringy. He wore navy overalls and his hands were clad in
latex gloves. He looked like he was about to paint a room and in a
way, I suspected he was.

Alarm bells began ringing in my mind and my
body took flight, scrambling backward across the concrete. I hit a
wall and scrambled, terror overtaking any kind of coherency I
might’ve been able to scrape together. I was going to die and I was
going to die horribly.

It was enough to terrify even the most sane
of people.

Who was I? Just a rich little girl who fell
in love with a criminal mastermind with a list of enemies longer
than his arm.

“Who are you?” I croaked, my throat feeling
raw and painful.

“It doesn't matter what my name is,” the man
said, his voice rasping like he'd had one too many cigarettes. “If
you wish to call me something, you can refer to me as The
Watchman.”

This wasn’t happening. My gaze
darted furiously around the room. There was a chair with straps in
the middle, a table to one side and chains. Chains with hooks
hanging from the ceiling, like we were in some kind of perverted
meat locker. A psychopath, a serial killer, a sick and twisted
masochist had kidnapped me.

I felt tears streaming down my cheeks as
terror took hold of me with steadfast iron claws.

The outside door opened and two men walked
in and grasped my arms. I began to thrash violently, but they
didn’t seem to care as they slammed me down into the chair.

“No!” I shrieked. “What did I do to you? Let
me go! Please, let me go!”

The Watchman ignored my pleas
and began strapping my arms and legs, securing me to my fate. I
couldn’t fight, I couldn’t win…I had to keep trying… Vaughn would
come. Vaughn would save me.
Vaughn
.

Once I was secure, the two men
left, leaving me with The Watchman and his table of tools. He
lingered a moment before selecting a scalpel from the tray at one
end. He was going to cut me open, bleed me,
hurt me
.

“You belong to me now,” he said, standing
over me. “The sooner you accept the pain, the sooner it will be
over.”

“No.” I shook my head desperately as he
approached, the silver blade in his hand. Sleek, sharp, deadly…

“Accept it.” He lowered the blade.

And I screamed and screamed until I could no
longer recognize my own voice.

Eighteen

Vaughn

The instructions were clear and so was my
response.

I was in love with Lorelei Lansford and I
would tear the world apart to get her back.

Hawkes drove us through the
streets of London with me up front, all sense of boundaries,
refinement and class that I usually adhered to, thrown totally out
the window. It was dark out, the orange glow of the streetlights
around us casting everything in an otherworldly glow.

We were to meet Sykes and his
man at a warehouse in Vauxhall, no back up, no weapons, no
authorities. Just myself and an extra man and the same went for
him. I had a package to deliver and so did he. The exchange would
be quick and simple and it would all be over in the space of thirty
minutes. We would both walk away with what we wanted and what we
did after that was up to us.

What I was going to do was go back for
Sykes' head.

Finally, Hawkes pulled us up
into the lot of a warehouse on a quiet service road. There was one
other car, but other than that, the whole place looked disused and
deserted. The perfect place for a lot of nasty shit to go
down.

I climbed out of the car, hauling the
briefcase with me.

Hawkes appeared at my side, rubbing his
chest. I’m sure he had a motherfucking massive bruise from his
morning gunshot, but we didn’t have time to deal with it.

“I’ll have eyes on his man,” he said. “We’ll
follow the protocol and Miss Lansford will be escorted straight to
the safe house.”

I knew he was setting it all
out for me in simple terms. If I kept my mind on a schedule, I was
less likely to fly off the handle which I would at the slightest
provocation. I was on a knife’s edge.

Earlier, I’d arranged a safe
haven for us outside of London, on the outer edges of Brighton,
near the coast. If need be, we could cross the channel into France
and beyond until things died down. I’d never let her out of my
sight again after this was over. Lorelei was my world, my
everything.

I nodded curtly and crossed the yard to the
door of the warehouse. The door was ajar, light streaming from
inside, the silhouette of a man fanning out onto the concrete.
Sykes’ goon, most likely.

The guy nodded as we approached. “Arms up,”
he commanded and proceeded to check us for concealed weapons,
patting me down first, then Hawkes. Once he was satisfied, he
jerked his head to the hall behind him. “Door on the right. No
funny business.”

Glaring at him, I shoved past,
our shoulders slamming together, and strode down the hall. Without
hesitation, I walked into the room and the moment I laid eyes on
Sykes, an inferno of rage boiled inside of me.

“Have a seat,” he said smugly, waving a hand
absently at an empty chair opposite. “Glad you could make it. And
so promptly, too.”

Hawkes lingered behind me as I sat and put
the briefcase on the floor beside me, my entire body rigid as I
did. I didn’t give one shit about the humiliation I was currently
going through, I was here for one thing and one thing only.

“I have what you want,” I said. “I want to
see the girl first, then we make the exchange.”

Sykes smiled, glancing at his goon in the
corner. They shared a smirk. Something was up…if he was going to
double-cross me he’d regret it.

“I don’t want anything from you, Vaughn,” he
said. “Not anymore.”

I didn’t understand. He wanted…

“
This is about respect,” he went
on. “Not about money. I couldn’t care less about that. What I want
is to bring you down off your fucking throne and drag you through
the dirt like a pig. If I can topple the untouchable Sebastian
Vaughn, then nothing will get in my way and the world knows
it.”

My jaw tensed and I gritted my
teeth, trying to keep myself collected. This had been a message to
the world. My downfall had been a goddamned fucking lesson. Lorelei
had suffered for a fucking
game
.

I tensed and went to stand, but Hawkes
clamped his hand on my shoulder.

Sykes laughed, knowing that he had me in the
palm of his hand. What else had he done? I didn’t have to ask
because it was written all over the smug bastard’s face. He’d
leaked everything to the authorities, to Gregory Lansford, to the
world. I was ruined, but I had already been willing to sacrifice it
all for Lorelei’s safe return, so none of it mattered.

And Lorelei? What of her?

“Where is she?” I hissed.

Sykes smirked, basking in his
accomplishment.

“You’ve won, Sykes,” I snapped. “Where. Is.
She?”

“You can have her,” he said, a sly grin on
his face. “If you can get to her in time.”

The blood began to drain from
my face. “
Where is she?
” I roared.

“She’s hanging out,” he said with a laugh.
“End of the hall. Oh, and Vaughn? I’d run if I were you.”

I jerked upright and shoved
Hawkes out of the way, rage and desperation simmering below the
surface.
Lorelei
…

I lost all sense of decorum, my usual
refined exterior gone, and ran.

Nineteen

Lorelei

Darkness and terror.

It didn’t matter who they were, they told me
it was all because of Vaughn. He’d crossed the wrong man and I was
the price.

They’d cut me, made me bleed
and they’d touched me until I could no longer remember the way
Vaughn loved me.

They hung me from the ceiling,
shackles tearing into my skin. They broke me and took
everything.

I didn’t know how long I was in that dark
room, but it was long enough for them to make me beg for death.
They hung me from the ceiling, hoisting me up by the ankles and cut
my skin open. Blood dripped to the floor, slowly draining from my
body as I dangled, my fingertips barely scraping the puddle below
me.

I was beyond everything… Beyond fighting,
beyond caring, beyond wanting to live.

I watched another droplet of blood hit the
floor and listened to the sound it made as it splashed against the
concrete.

I was so tired.

Where was Vaughn? He said he’d do whatever
it took to protect me.

I sighed, the effort burning through my
lungs. He wasn’t coming.

Who was Vaughn? He must be important. It
didn't matter.

I closed my eyes.

I was so tired.

Twenty

Vaughn

I ran down the hall, my footsteps thunder on
the concrete, my breath ragged.

Please don’t let me be too
late
…
Lorelei
…
I’m coming
…

I slammed my shoulder against the door at
the end of the hall and it splintered with a crack, flying inwards
and colliding with the wall, almost falling off the hinges.