Chapter 37 — Midnight Meeting
Malik’s POV:
Malik sat in his room sipping a bourbon glass full of blood. He grabbed the wrist of the passed-out woman on the floor beside him and squeezed more blood into the glass and swigged it. He needed to start watching his back. He had plans to go meet Vanessa last night, but that damn Alfred snuck up behind him and snapped his neck.
He saw that Alec was pretending to be him. He stood back and watched as they interacted. She was uncomfortable and Alec was being too damn obvious. He could see by her body language that she had to know it wasn’t him. He listened in on their conversation with his sharp hearing, he growled low in his throat as he heard the details of what those two psychos did to her parents. How Alec could look at her and put that image of her parents into his head reflected the monster he truly was. He watched Alec follow her to the bathroom and proceed to attack her.
Malik didn’t even hesitate when he jumped through the window and lunged himself at Alec. He fought him, but Alec would have gotten him had Rylie not shown up and backed him up. He rushed to Vanessa’s side as her eyes rolled in the back of her head and she passed out. He pressed a hand to her chest, heart still beating. He looked at the wound on her neck, little blood was spilled which meant…he wasn’t feeding.
He looked at Rylie as he scooped her into his arms and followed her back to her hotel room. He wasn’t sure how to talk to Rylie, so he just placed a kiss on Vanessa’s forehead and left. He then picked up a woman off the street, knocked her out, and is now slowly drinking her dry. Normally he’d feed straight from the vein. But after being with Vanessa, he just couldn’t put his lips on another woman’s neck, even if it is to kill. Fuck the Balthazar’s laws at this point. He was an impending dead man as far as they were concerned. Aaron was trying to call him, but he wouldn’t answer his calls. He advised Aaron to leave town, but Aaron being Aaron refused to leave. Malik warned him he could end up like Julius and he didn’t care.
He thought of calling Vanessa again, but what would he say? Hey, should we give last night another try? This time I promise to show up as myself. She needed time, and frankly, he did too. He wished he could talk to someone, and oddly enough, he found himself calling Rylie.
“Hello?” Rylie asked.
“Hi, it’s Malik. I just wanted to see how Vanessa is doing?”
“She’s doing fine, she woke up a few hours ago. This may sound weird, but I’m kind of glad you called.”
“Oh?”
“Vanessa was bitten, but not fed from.”
“I know…” Malik said.
“You knew? Why didn’t you say anything to me?”
“Well, I didn’t think we were that close.”
“You may have some people who want you dead, but I don’t hate you, Malik. I’m on your side.”
Malik smiled and breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank you Rylie. I need someone on my side right now. About Vanessa being injected, what’s going on?”
“She seems normal. She drank water, wolfed down some breakfast. You don’t happen to know any hunters that have been injected, have you?”
“Unfortunately, not. I didn’t think it could be done.”
“How long did it take Byron to turn?”
“Usually, one is turned within a few minutes. We inject the vein in the neck, and it goes to the heart. Once our venom is in the heart, it pumps the venom through the veins.”
“Do they still have an appetite when they wake up?”
“For blood, yes. I’m not sure what’s going to happen with Vanessa. But will you please let me know if anything happens? Especially if she’s in danger?”
“I promise I’ll let you know.”
“Thank you.”
“Hey, there’s another thing I wanted to ask you about.”
“Go for it.”
“The gun that Vanessa was given, it belonged to Katrina, right?”
“Vanessa was given a gun?”
“Yeah, after Alfred woke her up, he gave it to her. Oh shit…you didn’t know.”
“No, I didn’t. But if it is the one that belonged to Katrina, I don’t think it’ll work for Vanessa. Not from what I understand with hunters and the weapons they’re given.”
“You would be correct. She went to shoot it, and nothing came out. It was as though the gun was completely empty.”
A wide grin stretched across Malik’s face. “So, what you’re telling me is Vanessa’s been given a useless weapon?”
“I don’t know how she’s supposed to kill you with Katrina’s gun.”
“I don’t know either, but I think it’s going to be in our best interest if you and I put our heads together.”
“Oh?”
“Let’s just say with this newfound information I’ve got an idea for a loophole where everyone comes out on top, but you and I have to act fast. And Vanessa…she can’t know what we’re doing.”
“Why not?”
“Because she’s got a terrible poker face.”
“Okay yeah, it’s a terrible idea to let her in on this.”
“Thanks to Alec and Alfred, my club has been destroyed and I have to do some reconstruction on it, so it’s closed for the time being. Would you be interested in meeting there at midnight for the next few days while we devise a plan?”
“Shame about your club, you had an amazing one going on there. I’ll come meet you at midnight. But what should we do about V? Until we figure out what’s going on with her since being injected, I don’t want to leave her alone.”
“I have a friend who can lookout for her. We just have to make sure she’s asleep by that time.”
“I’ll give her some melatonin gummies. She’ll take down gummies like no other and with the heavy dose, she’ll be out for the night.”
“Sounds great.” The call was about to end when he heard heavy purging in the background and Vanessa crying out in agony. “What’s going on?” he asked worriedly.
“Malik, Vanessa is throwing up some thick, black fluid. Like liquid tar.”
“Fuck…”
“What?”
“That’s venom.”