I was beyond fucking furious.
There was no doubt in my mind about who was responsible. I’d seen the struggle in one of the bedrooms upstairs. It could’ve been from anyone at that party but there was some blood on the bed.
My gut was telling me that Oliver had something to do with Ariana’s sudden disappearance. Fucking bastard wasn’t answering his phone either.
I passed the elevator and climbed the stairs two at a time. When I reached the apartment, I pounded on the door with my fists and stormed in the moment the door was opened.
“Where the hell is he?”
“H-he’s not here,” Conner stuttered.
I checked all the rooms before I joined him in the living room again.
“Where is he?” I asked again.
“H-he said he was going to the party.”
I stared at the boy. His body was trembling in fear. Sweat coated his skin and his eyes darted around the room, avoiding mine.
“Look at me,” I hissed as I took a small step closer.
Conner’s eyes snapped to mine. He only managed to hold my gaze for a few seconds.
“You have five fucking seconds to tell me what you know.”
I silently counted the seconds in my head. I’d reached four when he looked at me.
“I d-don’t know anything!” he yelled, moving back.
My eyes dropped to the couch. Pulling one of the pillows off, I threw it aside but before I could rip the material off that hid their weapons, I felt the cold press of a blade against the back of my neck. Swallowing, I slowly raised my head and turned it to look at him over my shoulder.
“Leave.”
“Do you know how to use that kid?”
“Yes. Get the hell out of my apartment.”
My hands twitched. The slight movement I made had him jerking back. It was enough for me to grab the knife and turn it on him.
Conner took a small step back and stumbled over something. Before he even hit the ground, I was on top of him with a hand fisted in his hair to tilt his head back and the tip of the knife pressed to a vein against the side of his neck.
He swallowed loudly. “I-I heard him talking on the phone,” he said before I could start questioning him.
“With who?”
“I don’t k-know.” His brows dipped into a frown. “He was talking about Mom and Dad. Said he found something about the ones who were responsible for their d-death.”
I pulled on his hair and forced his head back a few more inches as I dragged the knife across his skin.
“If he found someone, where would he take them?”
He swallowed. “I-if it’s o-one of those wolf-shifters we take them to the woods.”
“Where? I need a location.”
“O-Oliver. . .if it’s about our parents then he wouldn’t inform the other hunters.”
“Give me a fucking location, kid,” I hissed.
When he didn’t answer, I pressed the tip into his skin and soaked up the sound that fell from his lips.
“Where?” I yelled.
He rattled off an address that I instantly memorized. Dropping the dagger, I pulled my fist back and slammed it into his face a few times. When he was knocked out, I stood and turned back to the couch.
As I studied the weapons, I pulled my phone out and called Eva.
She instantly answered. “Did you find her?”
“Not yet,” I muttered. “I was calling to find out if she returned yet but you just answered my question.”
“She hasn’t returned,” Eva breathed.
“Are you still in pain?” I asked her.
“I c-called my Dad,” Eva said instead of answering. “He’s on his way. They’ll help search for her.”
My hold on the phone tightened. Fucking Oliver was ruining everything!
“I’ll call you if I find her.”
Ending the call, I pushed my phone back into my pocket and leaned down to pick up one of the guns. I grabbed a knife for good measure too. It was too late to go back home to get my own weapons.
With one last glance at Conner, I stormed out of the apartment.
The moment I stepped out of the building, my eyes darted up to the sky. There was only a few hours left before sunrise.
It wasn’t part of the fucking plan!
I told him to stay away from Ariana. I had other things planned for her. Oliver was supposed to befriend Eva since they ran in the same social circles.
If he laid a hand on her. . .I sucked in a sharp breath. . .if he was the one responsible for her disappearance, I’d fucking kill him.
Hunters were easy to come by. I’d fucking find someone else to do what mother hired Oliver and his brother for.
Fury filled me as I stormed off in the direction of the woods that surrounded the town. I shouldn’t fucking care about either of them. Revenge was mine to take, not theirs. I was going to make them pay, not Oliver!
They’re the reason for the pain I endured every day. They’re the reason my mother was dead.
But for some fucking reason I couldn’t bring myself to leave Ariana. For some fucking reason I cared.
“Stick to the plan,” my mother’s voice echoed in my mind.
The plan would be to sit back and watch as everything unfolds. It wasn’t what my mother and I had planned for years, but it would still have the same affect. Silas’s life would be destroyed by the death of one of his daughter’s.
“When we were young, Ari was kidnapped.”
I never knew that and I knew mother didn’t either, otherwise she would’ve told me about it. The fact that the twins were somehow bound together complicated things.
“Fuck!” I yelled as I ran a shaky hand through my hair.
I squeezed my eyes closed and tried to calm my breathing but nothing helped. In the end I gave up on trying to calm down and allowed my fury to fuel me.
The address Conner gave me, took me to an abandoned shipping yard on the east side of town. A few rusted shipping containers were scattered around. Some were open and others locked. There were no sounds or movement.
It had me wondering if Conner had given me the address to spare his brother time. He could’ve sent me on a wild goose chase and called Oliver to warn him that I was coming for him.
Something urged me to search every inch of land. I followed my gut which led me to a container near the edge of the property. It was partly hidden by an old building that was half torn down.
Pausing next to it, I pulled the gun from the back of my pants and carefully crept forward. The heavy weight of the weapon in my hand felt familiar and comforting. I paused to recheck the cartridge and slid it back in.
Just as my thumb flicked off the safety, a sound reached my ears. It was faint but enough to get me moving forward again. After sucking in a shaky breath, I slowly crept toward the lone container. The doors were open and I could see a faint light coming from inside.
I stopped with my back pressed to the side of it and glanced around. There were no animals moving about or birds singing—everything was dead silent. Was it a sign that I was too late? Shaking my head, I readied the gun and moved towards the door. One peek around it revealed a bloodied Ariana squirming on the ground.
Fuck.
Where was he?
It took everything in me to move slowly and not rush towards her. I needed to be silent. I needed to keep my ears strained for any sounds.
My stomach rolled with repulsion the deeper I moved into the container. It had been turned into a torture chamber. Weapons in all shapes and sizes decorated one wall; bottles were neatly organized in a small fridge, ropes, chains and whips hung from hooks. There was a wooden table too with black gloves and a bloodied knife resting on top of it.
Swallowing, I kneeled next to Ariana and reached out to touch her but my hand froze mid-air when she shook her head. I frowned, unable to understand what she was trying to tell me. Dropping my hand back to my side, I trailed my eyes over her body.
“Jesus,” I croaked.
Ariana was covered in blood from head to toe. I couldn’t tell where she was injured or how bad it was, but what caught and held my attention was the wire sticking out from her hip. It was hooked to a cord that disappeared outside through a tiny hole. A whimper fell from her lips as her body jerked.
The wire was sending electrical surges into her body every few seconds.
I glanced around and then lowered the gun to the ground. My eyes locked with hers for a few seconds before darting to her hip again. It was going to fucking hurt, I knew it, but it was the only way to get her out. Timing the electrical surges helped but I knew that it was going to take me longer to safely remove it from her body without causing more damage.
“L-Lu. . .” her words died down in a whimper.
“I’ve got you, doll,” I whispered. “I’m going to remove it on the count of three, okay?”
There was no reply. Ariana’s body jerked, her eyes rolled to the back of her head and then her body went limp.