Chapter 89 Ch. 59
Marcus picked up the paper, his brows furrowing as he dropped his Bible back on the nightstand. The note was newly written, and the writing looked exactly like his. He stared at it for a long time, trying to remember when he wrote it, but nothing came to mind.
Swallowing hard, he sat down on the bed, the paper shaking a little in his hand.
If anything happens to me, check Dylan, and any recording you can find.
He read it again, very much confused by his own words. His heart began to race, and he wondered whether he was drugged; that's why he didn't remember anything about the note.
Recording devices?
With his hands that were still shaky, he patted himself down and froze when a small whirr sounded. Very carefully, he unbuttoned his shirt and dismantled the wiring inside of it, taking the small recorder off.
He got up, grabbed his laptop from the desk, and connected the recorder he had used. It took a moment to load. When the files appeared, he scrolled through them and found one he didn’t remember making.
“Okay,” he muttered, clicking it. He leaned back, eyes on the screen, and listened.
The sound of his own voice completely surprised him. How confident he seemed in the accusations he made, and worse, he was more shocked by everything that had replayed. It was out of the ordinary and very crazy. But the note asking him to check the recorder wasn't lying, neither was his voice or Dylan's voice. The recording went on for several minutes, and then he heard his own voice changing, slowing down, his words slurring. He heard Dylan saying something about forgetting, about safety, about Ivanna.
Marcus froze. He stopped the audio, scrolled back, played it again. The same words. The same strange calm in Dylan’s voice. He rubbed his face with both hands, breathing hard.
Was he drugged?
It didn’t make sense. He reached for his phone and started searching for terms he never thought he’d look for again. Compulsion, hypnosis, supernatural manipulation. He clicked through pages, reading every article he could find, some ridiculous, some sounding too close to what he had just heard.
His hands trembled as he scrolled.
“He did something,” he whispered. “He made me forget.” He looked down at the note again.
The handwriting really was his.
He picked up the Bible once more and flipped through it, checking if there was anything else hidden, but there wasn’t.
He sat again, elbows on his knees, thinking. If Dylan could make him forget, then Lorenzo was capable of worse. If Ivanna was involved and has miraculously not died, she was already in danger, whether she knew it or not.
He would have to play along. He would have to act like he remembered nothing. That was the only way. But he wouldn’t go in blind again.
How to not fall for compulsion by a vampire.
He opened his search tab and typed it in. He clicked through herbal sites, research blogs, and forums that looked like they hadn’t been updated in years. He bookmarked pages, copied names, and made notes in his phone.
“I’ll need vervain,” he said under his breath. It sounded insane, but so did everything else now. If Dylan’s kind could control minds, vervain was the one thing that could break that hold.
By the time he looked up, the sky outside had turned pale, and it was getting closer to morning. He hadn’t noticed the hours pass. The recorder light still blinked faintly on his desk.
He reached over and switched it off, then leaned back, staring at the ceiling. The truth was too clear now to ignore. He couldn’t expose any of it without ending up dead.
He’d have to stay quiet, act normal, and find a way to turn the game around.
This time, he told himself, he wouldn’t forget.
++++++++
The streets were quieter than they should have been for a Friday night. The lamps flickered on and off, washing everything in dull yellow light. Cars were parked along the sidewalks, but most of the people were gone. Only the sound of engines idling could be heard as black SUVs lined the street, one after another.
Ethan sat in the passenger seat beside Thomas, staring out the window. His hands grew sweaty despite the air conditioning in the car. He rubbed them over his jeans, then against each other, then over his face.
He didn’t want to be here.
“Your father says we have to be quick and we shouldn't hesitate to kill,” Thomas said to him. It was a subtle warning and low-key a shade thrown at him. “Remember that they started this shit first.”
"Yeah, I know," he said, nodding slowly, though he wasn’t really listening. His mind kept wandering back to Zara. He remembered telling her that being a vampire doesn't mean you're a monster. He wasn't sure exactly what they were discussing that day, but he knew for a fact he was trying to convince her that he was as normal as everyone else.
He looked out the window again.
This wasn't normal.
But maybe it was... Humans were in gangs too. They went out for blood.
He put the binoculars he had on his neck to see out behind it. The Russo family’s warehouse stood at the end of the street, its gates slightly open. Men stood outside with rifles slung over their shoulders.
The car behind them which was the signal honked twice.
Thomas smirked. “Showtime.”
They stepped out, almost at the same time. The others followed, spreading out along the street. His father who had followed another car stood at the front, his coat moving slightly with the wind.
“Take out the guards first," Lorenzo said. “They \[sic - incomplete sentence in original text\]"
Ethan watched the men nod, some cracking their necks, some loading their guns. He couldn’t believe how normal they all looked.
“Father,” Ethan said, stepping closer.
“Not now,” Lorenzo cut in.
Ethan nodded, his throat tight. He did not want to say anything else. He only wanted to survive because he knew that if anything happened to him, Zara was going to die.
He had to stay alive for her.
This was a matter of kill or be killed.
“The plan,” Lorenzo said, standing at the hood of a car, “is to hit quick. Take out the stronger men first and the guards so it's harder for them to do anything back."
"Use guns and knives only," Ethan said firmly, looking around them. "Don't be tempted by the blood because we don't want any suspicion that our kind exist."
"My son is right," Lorenzo said, looking proud. He patted Ethan on the back.
Ethan watched the men around him load magazines and check weapons. They moved like men ready for work. He pretended to study his gun, he pretended to be ready. He was ready to do what he had to.
He walked with them toward the warehouse at the end of the block. The gate stood open a little, a dark cut in the row of buildings. Lights burned inside, and he could see movement.
“First wave, go left,” Lorenzo said. “Second wave, right.”
Ethan slipped into position, his heart beating so fast. He was never scared and had done this several times in centuries, but now he was.
Maybe it was civilization and the fear that technology was advancing and they could be caught more easily than other times.
Or maybe it was the fear of what would happen if he didn't survive this without severe injury.
He had been careless in the past, not caring about it because nothing human could kill him.
A bullet would be painful, but no matter where it hit him, he would survive.
But what if he got stabbed in the heart? What if his head was cut off?
Then Zara would die.
Or even if he had severe injury, she was going to feel that pain. \[sic - 'Dj' removed\]
He did not want to be here. He did not want the blood. He only wanted to survive.
The first shot came from the far side of the lot, a single gunshot that split the air. Men laughed and returned fire.
“Engine room, sweep,” Lorenzo yelled. “Take them down.”
Ethan crawled forward, his gun held low. He saw the guards move, a man go down, a body hit the pavement. He watched a man on the ground cough and try to get up. Another man shot him twice.
“Move!” Thomas said. “Keep moving, now!”
Ethan moved with the others as the street turned loud. Gunfire came from both sides, short bursts and long rounds, the sound cutting off like a bad radio. He heard a man scream and then go quiet. He felt panic in his chest, but he shoved it down. Panic would get him killed.
“Don’t stop,” another man said. “They have people inside.”
Ethan stepped over a body that had stopped moving. He felt sick, the way his stomach twisted, but he kept walking nonetheless.
A figure ran out of the warehouse holding a rifle. He shouted something, then the men around him shot. The figure dropped, blood spreading over his shirt. Ethan turned his head away, then looked back because he could not stop watching.
“Fall back!” someone yelled from the roof. “They’re coming in from the alley!”
"Don't fucking dare do that!" Lorenzo yelled. "We can't be killed by whatever the hell they've got."
"But we can be wounded and weakened," Ethan countered. "Fucking fall back!"
He saw three men come out from a shadow, they moved fast, and Lorenzo’s men met them. Two of the men grabbed one by the arms and slammed him down. One of the vampires put his mouth to the man’s neck and bit, hard.
Ethan’s hands went cold. He moved before he decided to. “Stop,” he said, running forward, grabbing at the man’s shoulder. “Stop it, stop it!”
The vampire looked at him and hissed. “Back.”
Ethan pulled harder. “Let him go now,” he said. “You don’t need to—”
The vampire gripped harder and did not let him pull the man free. The man underneath made a sound like a broken cough, then went still. Blood spread under him. Ethan dug his fingers into the man’s shirt and felt the wet. He wanted to vomit. He let go. He had never felt so helpless.
“Don’t be a child,” Thomas said, grabbing Ethan’s arm and pulling him away. “You will get yourself killed.”
"Don't be a fucking wuss!" Ethan hissed. "Listen to the fucking instructions. I told y'all not to drink."
Thomas laughed. "Hey, blood supplies are kinda short in the good stuff. Best to drink from a living—"
"When we get back, my father would be aware you went against the word of his heir. You will pay."
"You're not even interested in taking over the clan."
"Oh I might be, if it gives me an opportunity to put a stick in your fucking dead heart."
Ethan could see the red at the vampire’s lips and the way his teeth had a trace of blood on them. Thomas swallowed and did not speak again.
They moved deeper into the lot, and the fight got louder. A man fired from behind an abandoned truck, the shot hit the engine, and the truck burst into flame, sending orange up into the night. Vampires screamed and dashed for cover. Fire was brutal to them.
Ethan felt his ears buzz as bullets passed close.
“Left side clear,” someone called. “Right side, check.”
Ethan’s foot caught on something, and he stumbled. He hit the ground and heard the scrape of gravel under his palms. A bullet zipped by the spot where his head had been a second ago. He felt the air near his shoulder move with the sound of it. Something cold kissed his skin as the bullet grazed his arm.
He felt the pain like a hot line, a burn where the skin broke, blood running down his sleeve. He did not cry out. He set his jaw and pushed himself up. The adrenaline did not leave him. He felt the wet on his skin and his hand came away red. The pain burned; it did not go away, but he kept moving.
“Hold your line!” Lorenzo yelled. “Finish it!”
Ethan saw his father move through the smoke. He did not look at him, he would not give him that. He moved because he knew he would be killed if he didn’t.
Ethan saw a man fall, he saw a body twitch, and the vampires moved like hunters. They used guns and fists and teeth. One man tried to run but a vampire cut him off, he hit him across the back with a gun butt and then bit down on his neck until the man’s hands went loose.
Ethan moved forward. He could not stop himself. He put his gun down on the ground and grabbed the vampire who had the man by the throat. “No more,” he said, trying to pull the vampire away.
The vampire pushed him roughly, his hand on Ethan’s chest leaving a bruise that burned. “You will learn,” the vampire said. “You are soft.”
"You will learn what happens when you disobey orders," Ethan hissed, punching him hard.