Bane of Tenebris (Wolfgods Book 2), Blaise Ramsay [best young adult book series txt] 📗

Damien tilted his head, brow raising.

Kain dangled his car keys in front of his friend. Damien’s eyes turned into those of a child who just got released in a toy store. Kain snickered. “Don’t wreck my car.”

Damien took the keys, rolling his eyes and taking the driver’s seat.

Hesitantly, Kain took the passenger’s side, focusing his mind during the drive on the mission at hand and remembering why he’d agreed to such madness in the first place.

After dark, Damien pulled Kain’s car up under the neon sign of a strip club in Great Falls. The red outline of a scantily clad woman on her knees reflected off the black paint of the car. Kain got out first, followed shortly by Damien.

Zane stood in front of Jared and two other vampires dressed in black suits and sunglasses. Magnus stood in the far rear with Steele, probably in case Jared decided to do something stupid to showboat.

Damien stepped up to Kain’s shoulder to whisper. “You sure you want to do this? We might be able to find another way.”

“There is no time. Keep a channel open for me, Damien. Trust me, brother.” Kain reassured. He walked closer to Zane who took what looked like a silver zip tie out of his pocket and moved around Kain.

Keeping his voice low, Zane applied the zip ties. The silver already burning Kain’s skin. “Sorry about this. It was the only way I could get put on this mission. Are you sure about this?”

Kain glared over his shoulder at his fellow soldier. His message clearly understood by the veteran. He heard Damien threaten Zane to keep him safe, or he’d hit Zane really hard.

“Well, well, Alexander Kain.” Jared smirked a prideful smirk. Something wood stuck out of his mouth. Kain assumed it to be a toothpick. The other vampires around him appeared excited, almost in anticipation.

Zane’s chiding shut the vampire up as he moved him to open the trunk. He apologized to Kain before forcing him to get in and shutting the lid.

Due to his height, Kain struggled not to feel like he was in a can of tuna. The silver tie cut into his wrists, making his skin hiss like it was being burned. He could hear Damien trying to talk to him but the sudden jerking of the car made focusing difficult.

A subtle cold pulled at the back of his consciousness. Barghast’s laugh resonated in Kain’s thoughts as he fed images of Tala suffering into Kain’s mind. It made Kain angry and more determined to shut the arrogant ass up once and for all.

Throughout the ride, Kain kept his eyes closed trying to conserve his energy. He mapped out the route to pass the time, replacing the anger with his composure in the face of Barghast’s mocking.

The many stops indicated stop lights until they left the city limits and made their way onto the highway. It seemed like they traveled about an hour before the car pulled off to the right and came to a stop.

It was Jared who opened the trunk, staring down at Kain with the same confident smirk on his face. He reached down to grab Kain only to be stopped by Zane. “Orders, Jared. Step back or I’ll kill you.”

Jared raised his hands, stepping back and uttering a mocking “Whatever you say, boss” to Zane, barely avoiding Magnus who looked ready to break Jared’s neck.

Zane helped Kain out of the car and proceeded to lead him across a parking lot leading up to a building resembling a lavishly decorated casino and hotel.

An automatic rotating door began spinning as the vampires approached. Kain made sure to show Damien what he saw so his fellow lycan could get a layout of the building.

Though beautiful, the décor carried a dark theme. Statues of angels bound in what looked like thorns and blindfolded decorated the grand stairwell, fountains and the columns. All symbols of the cult of the dark god. The floors were a radiant red with purple and gold decorations.

Tables covered in plastic sat arranged in sections while slot machines yet to be activated stood in rows awaiting the moment they could commit carnal deeds of greed.

Further into the structure, Kain found himself led through draping plastic into a wide room with a cement floor. What looked to be chains attached to a single anchor on the floor decorated the middle of the room.

The setup reminded him of darker times during the Blood Wars where lycan generals interrogated their prisoners of both races. He winced at the memories of death screams of vampires pleading to be spared as the sun was let through to burn their bodies. Lycan traitors howled in plain as silver dropped to the floor in bubbling droplets of torture.

To his left he saw what looked to be a table covered with different instruments made of the purest silver. They were meant for him.

“On your knees, Kain.” Zane used a demanding tone, shoving down on Kain’s shoulder.

From the look of disgust in his eyes, Kain knew Zane had to do some of the things he did to keep the cover he spoke of. Kain knelt to the floor where Zane snapped the silver tie off and replaced it with chains crafted from silver.

Thankfully, the damage done to Kain’s right hand kept him from feeling the sultry heat. He could smell the burning flesh from his left wrist.

At Zane’s request, Magnus and Steele pushed the other vampires out, taking their places next to the door. Zane informed Kain he was working to get the information regarding Anthony’s intentions and would do his best to get Kain out with as little damage as possible.

“Do not worry about me. Find out what we need to know and Zane, can you see what happened to a friend of mine? His name is Nathaniel,” Kain requested.

Zane nodded and took his place next to a wall just as Anthony Cardoza appeared in the