I never gave a shit about right. Not after my change, and, sorry to ruin this for you, brother, but not before, either.
But maybe he’d never even known him then.
“I told them about you,” Malcolm confessed. “Told them that if they wanted real power”—his lips twisted—“then they wanted you.”
And Genesis had begun hunting him.
Vaughn was yelling behind them and still thrashing against his bars.
“Ryder?” Sabine whispered.
He eased out a slow breath. “Richard Wyatt kept us both at the same—”
“You’re not listening!” Malcolm yelled at him. His brother’s face flushed. “I said . . . years. Richard was just a whelp when they brought me in to Genesis. It wasn’t him. It was the old guy who found me. His father. That’s the asshole who dug me up. I thought he was going to help me. Stop the pain. He just made it worse.”
Ryder saw that his brother’s hands were shaking.
Malcolm lifted his hands and pressed them against his temples. “Everything makes it worse.”
A soft hand curled around Ryder’s wrist. Ryder didn’t look at Sabine. He couldn’t. Malcolm had already tried to use her against him once. “Go to the other room, Sabine.”
Malcolm’s hands dropped. “So she doesn’t see you clean up this mess? So she doesn’t see you kill the primal? Kill the human?” He pointed toward a frozen Keith. “And drain the doc?” He tossed a glare toward Cassie.
Cassie was crying. Tears trickled down her cheeks, but she didn’t make a sound.
“And after you dispatch all of them, you’ll have to kill me. But a stake didn’t work before. A beheading didn’t. What else can you try?” Malcolm seemed mildly curious.
Fire. “I think I have a few options,” Ryder said as he rolled his shoulders. There would be no room for emotion here. No sympathy could stir in his heart.
Do you know what the worms and insects did?
“Go, Sabine,” he urged and pushed her away. Pushed her away, when he wanted to pull her close. To make certain that she was whole and healed.
Her steps were hesitant.
But just as she reached the door, Malcolm spoke again. “Do you think Keith is the only human I . . . sampled?”
Hell.
“Sabine.”
She stopped at the door.
“What did you do?” Cassie whispered, her voice hoarse. “Why?”
Malcolm shrugged. “It’s good to hedge your bets. And I have always enjoyed being in control of my own little army.” His arms lifted and spread around him. “I’ve been building my army for quite a while. After all, I was in Genesis for over twenty-five years.”
Fuck.
“But . . . you were a primal,” Cassie said, swiping at the tears on her face. She came closer to them, with slow, hesitant steps. “You weren’t in control. You only knew the hunger.”
Malcolm turned his stare on her. “A mindless beast.”
She flinched.
“Isn’t that what I was supposed to be?” Malcolm growled at her.
“It’s what the others were . . .”
“The others were made from my blood. Humans, who thought that they could become bigger, better warriors with some vampire blood and DNA thrown into the mix. I made them. Me. They just couldn’t handle my power.”
“B-but . . . I found you . . . in that cage . . . you looked just like the others.”
Ryder knew she had to be talking about the black claws. The mouthful of razor-sharp teeth.
“You mean . . . I looked like this?” Malcolm’s head bowed. His body convulsed. Shuddered.
“The tears . . . They healed you!” Cassie cried out.
Malcolm’s head lifted. His eyes were pitch-black. His teeth—hello, mouthful of fucking fangs. When Malcolm raised his hands, Ryder wasn’t surprised to see the flash of black claws.
“I can change anytime I want.” Malcolm jumped forward, moving lightning-fast. His claws wrapped around Cassie’s neck and he hauled her against him. “I told you, I made them. My blood. Genesis wanted to play with genetics and mutations, but before they even started experimenting on humans, they first played with me.”
And his brother had become even more of a monster.
“Old Man Wyatt tried to punch up the vampire evolution.” Malcolm’s hold tightened on Cassie. “The scientists understood what I could be. How strong. How deadly. But I could change back, any fucking time I wanted.”
From the corner of his eye, Ryder saw Sabine crouch and pick up a chunk of wood.
Vaughn was still screaming. Snarling.
“After they experimented on the humans, they realized—too late—that they couldn’t change back.” He bent his head and licked Cassie’s neck. She held herself statue-still within his arms, eyes stricken and terrified. “They couldn’t do anything because they weren’t strong enough. They weren’t like me.”
Or me. Ryder realized as he stared at Malcolm. No wonder Richard Wyatt had been so desperate for his blood. Malcolm’s blood had sent the test subjects straight to hell. Richard must have thought that an infusion of blood from the first vampire—untainted blood—could help them.
He’d been wrong, so Richard’s only option had been . . .
Ryder’s gaze jumped to Sabine. She’d hidden the stake behind her back.
The tears of a phoenix.
“I made my army,” Malcolm said, as he looked up to smirk at Ryder. “One victim at a time. I controlled the humans. Even from inside my prison at Genesis, I sent the humans out to find vampires who would aid me.”
Vamps who would be willing to turn on me. Ryder stared back at his brother and didn’t allow any emotion to show on his face.
“When my army was strong enough, when I knew Genesis had you,” Malcolm continued, “I escaped.”
By acting like a victim. By using Cassie.
He hadn’t realized his brother was such a damn good actor.
“I’ve been wanting to taste you for a while,” Malcolm muttered as his mouth lowered near Cassie’s throat once more. “There were always too many cameras on us. Too many watching you so closely.”
Ryder saw Cassie’s eyes. The fear faded and gave way to . . . satisfaction? But when Cassie spoke, her voice trembled. “Don’t,” she said. “Please.”
Maybe his brother wasn’t the only good actor in the room.
Malcolm sank his fangs into her throat.
Sabine screamed and ran forward, with her stake clutched tightly in her hands. “Leave her alone! No more! No more!”
But Ryder grabbed Sabine around the waist and hauled her back. He held her against his chest.
She didn’t need to save Cassie. Malcolm was already shoving the doctor away and trying to spit out her blood.
His claws retracted. His mouthful of fangs vanished.
“Surprise, surprise,” Cassie said, her voice sad. “I’m not what you thought, either, bastard.”
Malcolm stared at her with horror blazing in his eyes. Blood dripped from his chin.
And then he fell to the floor, his body frozen, apparently stone-cold dead.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Ryder’s hands were like steel bands around Sabine’s stomach. Her neck ached and fury clawed at her gut.
And Malcolm was dead?
“You’re like Richard Wyatt.” Ryder’s voice came out, low and deadly, from behind her.
Cassie gave them a sad smile, even as her gaze dipped back to Malcolm’s still figure. “No, Richard’s blood contained a diluted poison. Mine is much more potent, as you can see.”