Page 77 of Flesh and Fury

“I see you’ve brought friends,” Bradshaw said. “I have to hand it to you, this was well played, John.”

“What was well played, scum of the earth?”

“The whole escape, hiding out in a garlic field, and somehow managing to recruit such perfectly capable warriors to your side,” he said, looking around at all the shifters. His lips curled. “I never thought you’d resort to bringing shifters into the mix. That’s something…unexpected.”

“Where are the rest of your vampires?” the chief asked.

“What?” He laughed, stood, and held out his hands. “You’re looking at them. Me, my beloved Elora, and of course Katerina.” He looked at the two women before pivoting back around. “You killed all the rest,” he let out an inhuman snarl that sent shivers down Ari’s spine. He couldn’t imagine that was true.

“Katerina is a shifter. How can she be a vampire?” the chief asked, sounding hesitant.

“I’m not a shifter anymore,” Katerina said in a heavily-accented Russian accent. When her mouth opened showing rows of fangs, Ari shivered.

“How is that possible?” Priest asked. “I didn’t think a half-breed could be turned.”

“A half-breed is still half human, silly marshal,” she said. “The human half can be turned. The shifter half simply goes along with the process. It’s really quite simple when you think about it.” She glanced over at Bradshaw. “At least that’s what my maker said.”

“Your maker?” Eoghan asked, watching the exchange between the two of them as Ari did the same.

The truth sank in. “You’re her maker?” Ari asked Bradshaw.

“Yes,” he said, setting a hand on the top of Katerina’s dark hair. “Isn’t she beautiful?’

“She’s a freak,” Ari said, pointing his gun directly at the bitch sitting on the steps. “One I’m sorely tempted to end right here and right now.”

“I wouldn’t say that about my grandchild if I were you!” Elora shouted from where she stood behind the throne.

“Grandchild?” Fiodor asked. Ari turned toward the vampire they’d met on the street. He looked furious. “You’re responsible for this creature? This Bradshaw whose upended our lives, destroyed all my brothers and sisters who lay dead out there on the street? You did this?”

“I made Tillis in my image,” she purred.

“You’re sick, lady!” Priest exclaimed.

“Maybe, but it is what it is,” Elora said, examining the back of her hand and her long nails before blowing an invisible speck of dust off them. She yawned as if bored as hell. “Now, if you’re about finished, we were about to sit down to a meal.

“A meal?” Ari asked. He looked around, spotting no one.

“Our dinner,” Elora said, smiling evilly before ducking down behind the throne and then yanking a struggling, bound, gagged, terrified man to his feet. She held a knife to his throat as Ari swallowed hard.

“Kellen!” Eoghan shouted.

“McGillis!” the chief said. “How?”

Kellen shook his head frantically, as she yanked him by the chain around his neck until they’d rounded the throne. He wore only a pair of black, silk boxer shorts and sported bite marks all over his bleeding flesh. She shoved him to hisknees beside Bradshaw who grabbed him by his hair, pulled him off the floor, and drew him up until Kellen’s torso was pressed against his. Tillis reached up and pulled the gag out of his mouth with a long fingernail. Kellen instantly let out a blood curdling scream which only made Bradshaw grin. The multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth in his mouth made Kellen scream a second time, and struggle to get away.

“Kellen, I don’t understand. What happened?” Priest asked, seeming frozen in place.

Kellen turned wide eyes on her, looking wild and terrified, like a trapped animal. Bradshaw’s hand only tightened in his hair.

“They promised me immortality if I would help them,” he cried. While Ari had nothing but disgust for Kellen, watching him sound beside himself with pain and quaking with fear brought an unexpected pang of sympathy. “They promised if I spied on you and those two in the office, one of them would be my maker, Chief. All the sex and debauchery I crave was promised. Wealth, immortality. Everything I could ever want if I helped them.” He was openly sobbing, tears pouring down his face.

“But then, after everyone was gone and you disappeared, I came to them and they took me prisoner.” He hung his head. “They lied to me. When I got here, they told me they already knew everything that was about to go down…and that they were trapped here with no way out. They said they needed to feed one last time before they died the true death.” He shook his head. “That’s when you came.”

“Oh, Kellen,” Eoghan said, sighing deeply, sounding exhausted. “You should have come to me. I would have done something.”

“What, Eoghan?” Kellen asked defiantly. “What could you have ever done for me? Nothing. You didn’t want me. No one wants me,” he said bitterly.

“Enough talk. Let’s eat,” Elora said, flashing over to stand beside Bradshaw.