“They must have really kicked you out. I didn’t think that was possible,” he said with awe.
“Tony, I’m three seconds from freaking out! Tell me what the hell happened!” She demanded and he held his hands up in surrender.
“Alright, alright,” he said quickly. “Last night you shifted into I guess what you’d term a true hybrid. You know… taller, bulkier, red-gold eyes, different voice, and a pair of fangs that looked wicked vicious. You started referring yourself as “We” but when the redhead called you Lily you told her that you weren’t Lily anymore but the Beast and the vampire. Then they told her it was time for her to pay… for everything,” Tony explained.
Lily’s jaw dropped in horrified shock. It couldn’t be possible! Could it? They had taken complete control? And worse she didn’t remember a single moment of it. “What did they do? I didn’t hurt anyone did I,” she asked, an icy chill spread over her.
“Not any of the good guys,” Tony answered. “Bianca and the bloodsuckers weren’t so lucky. You or I guess I should say they, literally speared Bianca to a tree with a branch through the gut then tore apart every single vamp there except one. That one they sent as a messenger to the vampire king,” he explained. She felt an enormous amount of relief for not hurting Tony or any of his pack, but the idea of mutilating vampires filled her with self-loathing.
“And Bianca,” she asked though she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. As painful as it was, a tree branch through the gut wasn’t fatal to a vampire. When Tony cringed, she knew it was really bad.
“Are you sure you want to know,” he asked and she nodded. She needed to know what had happened. “Well, they slowly pulled her apart, limb from limb but not enough to kill her. They let the sun do that,” he finished and Lily shuddered.
“Remind me never to piss you off again and I thought James was badass,” Tony joked obviously trying to lighten the mood. “Good thing is as beastly as they were, they recognized me as their alpha,” he replied with a smug expression. Lily laughed but frowned a second later.
“What about the children?” She asked, and Tony gave her a little half smile.
“We’ve found them… well not all of them,” he replied then gave Lily an apologetic look. “A. J. wasn’t with the other children. We… we have no idea where he is. Silvano may have kept him with James, who is also still missing,”
“Then let’s go,” Lily said, starting to get up from the bed but Tony stopped her.
“Whoa easy there Lily, not so fast! You need to rest and recover. Last night they didn’t give you back the control… you collapsed unconscious. You may not like it, but you’re sitting this one out,” he told her.
She shook her head defiantly. “No, I can do it. Who knows what he’s doing to them,” she demanded and started to stand again but she could feel her legs were weak and shaky.
“I know Lily, but you can’t help them. Not like this,” he explained. Lily sighed and sat back down. “I swear Lily, I swear on the life of my own son that I will do everything I can to get them back.” She nodded, feeling weak and tired. Despite, her desperation to find A. J. and James she laid back down.
“Alright… alright. You’re right. How’s Sandy,” she asked, resting her wrist on her forehead as she looked over at her brother.
“Alive and will be for hopefully many, many years. She received quite a beating even for our standards. It seems you learned to be a badass from her,” he joked and Lily smiled. She knew it was silly, but that thought made her proud. He sighed and took her hand in his, giving it a little squeeze. “Take it easy Liliput,” he told her affectionately.
“I will and when I’m feeling stronger I’ll go see Sandy,” she told him.
“That’s great Lily,” he said then with a guilty look he added. “I know you and I have been butting heads lately. I promise once this is over we’ll talk and be as we were before,” he told her.
“Don’t worry Tony,” she told him and watched him leave. She hated lying to him. She really did but as weak as she felt, there was no way Lily could ever just sit here while James and A. J. were still with vampires. After several minutes and a few failed attempts to stand, Lily finally was up on her own two feet. Cautiously she made her way out of her room and down the stairs. The house was actually silent instead of the typical buzz of activity.
Heading straight to the kitchen, Lily ate everything she could find until she felt she would explode if she ate another crumb but at the same time ten times stronger than before.
Lily got into her car and drove over to James’ apartment; all her things were there. Unfortunately, James had locked the door when he left and she didn’t have a key. Glancing around the hallway, making sure the coast was clear, she pulled off the door knob. She would totally pay for that later. James’ scent washed over her and her imagination went in overdrive imagining what he must be going through, causing her chest to tighten.
She raced to the spare bedroom, feeling odd about being in his apartment by herself. Lily changed her clothes and prepared for the search and destruction of the vampire king. Pulling a large black gun case, Lily strapped on a couple of guns loaded with wooden bullets, it wouldn’t kill a vampire but it could paralyze them. She also armed herself with stakes of various sizes and finally her silver dagger.
It was the same dagger that Xavier used to kill his right-hand man, Kyle for betraying him and taking Lily out of his reach if only for a few hours. Kyle was a worm, but she did like him somewhat. He wasn’t a really bad guy. Kyle just wanted respect from the pack but chose all the wrong ways of getting it. She was sure he was on the verge of repenting. After all, he had tried to keep her safe from Xavier.
Once she was ready, she walked around the apartment looking any indication of what he might have done before being taken or if he’d been taken there. She paused at the doorway of his bedroom. The tightness in her chest grew and she felt short of breath, it was like she was suffocating. That’s when she noticed it. The beast and vampire stirring and trying to pull the control from her.
“No. Not, this time, guys. This time, it’s my turn,” she told them and turned to walk out of the room. It was her time for revenge. Remembering that James had gone to talk to Greg, he’d be her next stop.