“Without a doubt. I’m just not completely sure of the why at this point, but I imagine we’ll know before the night is out.”
I descended the stairs down to the main floor and strolled back to the booth that Knox had indicated. Lycans and vampires both skirted me as I passed through the crowded region. Everyone knew of Bryce’s death by now. Everyone would suspect that I was looking for the killer, and no one wanted to fall under my searching gaze.
The booth consisted of two long benches that ran parallel to each other with a low table in the middle. It was easy to figure out which one of the three women that sat in the booth was Lauren. Her short blond hair and petite figure made her a relatively close physical match to not only Katie, but also the image that I picked out of Franklin’s mind. She lifted her blue eyes when I blocked the entrance to the booth, and she didn’t at all look surprised to find me standing there with my fists on my hips.
“So, I guess it’s safe to say that Franklin failed in his task,” she announced, drawing some confused looks from her companions.
“No, he managed to kill Bryce,” I corrected.
Her bright pink lips twisted into a moue before she coolly corrected my wrong assumption. “He was supposed to kill you, too.”
Her companions gasped and started to move as far from her within the booth as possible before encountering me. I had wondered if she had worked alone or if any of her companions had helped, but their utter shock and horror was easily picked out of their respective minds. This plot was Lauren’s alone.
I shrugged my slim shoulders, frowning at her. “He nearly did, but then, I’ve survived worse. Why do it? Your life is forfeit for involving the Daylight Coalition, for attempting to kill Knox and me. Why kill Bryce and Katie? Because I wouldn’t allow her to be reborn?”
“You stupid bitch!” she exploded, all her rage suddenly rising to the surface to mar her beautiful face. “You think that’s all. If it had been simply not allowing her to be reborn, then I would still have Katie. But that wasn’t enough for you. You had to have her memory wiped as well. Bryce took her from me!” Lauren’s fingers curled into shaking fists and she raised tear-glazed eyes to me.
I was beginning to realize exactly how wrong I had been about this entire situation. Katie had not been Bryce’s lover, but Lauren’s. Unfortunately, Lauren was too young to bring a human into our world so she convinced Bryce to secretly handle it outside Justin’s knowledge.
It was common practice to wipe the memory of any human that had been denied access to our world. It was too risky to leave them walking around with knowledge of our world. In a moment of anger at being rejected, they could strike out and talk to many of the wrong people, spreading knowledge of the nightwalker and even lycanthrope world. I had never considered what would happen to someone who hadn’t that intention but truly had a connection with a nightwalker.
“I’d been with Katie since high school. He took all her memories of me. There was no getting her back. She didn’t know me! Didn’t remember us!” she moaned.
It was all gut-wrenchingly clear now. Lauren had killed Katie rather than face what she saw as a horrible eternity without her. Katie might not have recognized Lauren, but her appearance was deceivingly sweet and innocent. Katie wouldn’t have hesitated to open the door. Lauren had gone to the woman’s house, broke her neck from behind so that she would feel no pain, then drained her completely dry so that no one else could ever have her blood. Afterward, Lauren lovingly arranged her companion on the floor as if she was simply resting. Sleeping Beauty waiting for her lover’s kiss to awaken her.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know the situation, but—” I started, but rage had finally overtaken Lauren’s grief.
“You’re sorry? You ruined our lives!” Putting one high-heeled foot on the table, Lauren pushed off the wall and launched herself at me, her fingers raised toward my face like claws. I tried to sidestep her, but hunger and fatigue had made me slow. Her nails scored four long cuts along my arm and another across my cheek before we crashed through the outer ring of tables. Still struggling, we smashed into the crowd of people on the dance floor. There was a cacophony of cries, curses, and hisses that went up at the collision, but we ignored them all as Lauren worked to regain her feet. Her eyes were locked on me.
Still lying on my back, I swung my leg around into her, knocking her back to the floor. I rose faster than her and slammed my fist into her face, breaking her jaw, before taking a step backward. Lauren howled in pain but still took another blind swipe at me with her long fingernails in hopes of drawing blood again.
Knox stepped in front of me, ready to take over the fight. To my surprise another combatant had jumped into the ring, and I hadn’t even noticed her in the nightclub. But then, that was Amanda’s special gift. She had a special way of fading into the background so that you didn’t immediately notice her there. It made her all the more dangerous.
Amanda had one fist wrapped in Lauren’s hair, pulling her head back so that the long expanse of her neck was exposed. Her right hand held Lauren’s right arm, twisting it behind her body. Hovering inches from Lauren’s throat, Amanda’s fangs were poised to tear it out if I so much as blinked my approval.
“Hold,” I said, brushing off my hands. “This is Knox’s fight.”
Amanda frowned, sheathing her fangs for the moment. I knew the look of disappointment. There was a truly heartless, vicious quality about Amanda. She reveled in their pain and the violence that our kind was capable of. Yet it was more than that. While Knox saw to the night-to-night workings of my domain in many ways, Amanda was an enforcer for me among the fledglings. She saw it as her duty to keep the young ones in line, and somehow Lauren had slipped by her. Amanda felt responsible, and now she needed to be a part of Lauren’s demise.
“Mira, please.” Amanda’s plea came out in a wavering whisper.
Slipping my hands into the front pockets of my jeans, I nodded. “Help him clean up.” I watched as Amanda and Knox ushered Lauren to a hallway toward the back of the nightclub where they would destroy her in the basement. As the trio disappeared behind a door, Adam appeared at my elbow. With another nod from me, he ushered Kari and Bridgette from the club. There was such a thing as guilt by association in my world. While they may have been innocent, I simply didn’t want to look at them.
I settled into the back corner of the empty booth and set my crossed feet on the low table as I waited for Knox. Something twisted in my stomach as I listened to Lauren’s screams just under the throbbing beat of the music that had once again started. The dancing seemed a little more frenzied as the occupants of the nightclub either enjoyed the rush from her painful end or fought to block out her death with music and dancing.
Our world was a delicate balancing act. We held these amazing powers in the palms of our hands, but in a moment of carelessness, we could lose everything to the humans that surrounded and outnumbered us. Over the long centuries, we created a series of rules and laws that we all had to abide by, from fledglings to the Elders in the Coven. But I’ve seen these rules crush those they were attempting to protect just as frequently as I’ve seen them save us.
Lauren broke our most sacred rule of never informing a hunter of our existence. Even if she hadn’t attempted to have me killed, she would have been dead tonight.
Bishop sat down at the table and handed me a linen tablecloth. With a grateful nod, I pressed it to the line of claw marks Lauren had scored on my right arm. He gazed at the assembled crowd, a frown teasing at the corners of his mouth.