Total pages in book: 163
Estimated words: 154735 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 619(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154735 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 619(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
As he and Lash both looked to the horizon, in the back of Lassiter’s mind, he had a thought that they really needed to take this whole business elsewhere. The estates were big in this neighborhood, but a couple of acres was not going to insulate this kind of light and sound show from the neighbors completely.
Sooner or later, cops were going to show up. Or security guards. And he was familiar with the only rule the Lessening Society shared with the vampires.
No human involvement—
The strangest ripple went through Lassiter’s chest.
And what was weirder was that Lash also glanced down at himself… and put a hand on his own sternum.
Time slowed. Then stopped. And all the fighting ceased, like some siren call that could be heard by both sides of the war had registered, the smoke from the fires that were kindling all around the house billowing about on the cold spring breeze, making ghostly figures out of those on the battlefield.
Overhead, a shooting star traveled across the night sky.
Then the evil threw its head back and started laughing. The sound was so rich and triumphant, so unexpected, that all eyes turned in his direction.
Lash re-leveled his malevolent stare, whistled—
And the entire army disappeared.
In the utterly bizarre vacuum of presence and movement, the chiming of cell phones going off all over the property was as loud and obvious as a marching band.
With a frown, Lassiter glanced over his shoulder. Vishous happened to be standing in the busted-ass doorway of the mansion as he checked his phone.
And there was no forgetting, ever, the expression on his face as he looked up in numb shock.
“Oh… my God,” he breathed.
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
Where’s Daddy?” Beth said as she handed another block to her son. “Hm? Where’d he go?”
L.W. didn’t pay any attention to her. He was like that when he was focused on something, those dark brows down over those now pale green eyes. She thought back to the early months after his birth, the whole first year really. They had been blue, then, and that had been a source of relief for Wrath. He’d wanted his son to not take after him with the blindness, like the so-called defect was a curse he hoped not to pass on.
They had changed, though. And now they were just like his father’s.
Who knew whether he would end up blind, however—and if he did? It was not something that could not be embraced and integrated into a full, vibrant life. Wrath was proof of that.
“You’re just like your dad,” she murmured as she smoothed his cap of black hair and checked her watch. “Jeez, it’s been well over a half hour. Where has he gone?”
Then again, Wrath was like that, always getting pulled into things as King. She wished they had more time together, and remembered what he’d said. Yup, they definitely needed a little private time down in Manhattan in that bolt hole of theirs. A good two whole nights of nothing but them naked in that bed—
Initially, the footfalls did not really register. She just assumed someone, probably Rhage given how heavy they were, was going next door to the movie theater because he was off rotation and bored out of his mind. But then the sheer number of them made an impression.
“Like a frickin’ army is coming, huh, L.W.”
She handed him another block. The construction he was working on was a tower that was way over his head, the levels stretching up from the ground a good four feet. He needed his little step stool with the railing to keep building, and she’d brought it over for him, but they were reaching critical mass. He was smart, and he’d built a solid base, but things were getting tippy and the fall from that height was going to do some damage if the whole thing toppled onto his head.
“I think we gotta be done with this one, my guy.”
L.W. looked up.
At first, she assumed he was meeting her in the eye to argue even though he was essentially nonverbal. Because he was like that. In spite of the fact that he had yet to speak—because vampire young mature differently than human kids—he seemed to understand things way before his time, and he certainly communicated his thoughts with her through that stare of his—
Abruptly, she realized her son was not focused in her direction.
He was looking over her shoulder. To the door.
Through the glass inset, she saw Vishous’s face, pale and hollow, and a ripple of unease made her fumble the block she’d been about to give to her son.
The door opened, and when she saw what was on the other side, she started to shake her head slowly. “No…”
One by one, the Black Dagger Brotherhood funneled into the children’s playroom. That they were dressed for war would have been bad enough against the innocence of the toys and the colorful murals. That they were injured and bleeding, stinking of lesser, made their presence downright horrific.