Hupotasso (Vampire Bachelor Games #2)

44

44

We stare down at the woman where she writhes in pain, one arm lashed to the chair behind her, the other on the floor before us.

She’d only ever worn long sleeves while staying here, and neither Jag, Wolf, nor I, had noticed or stopped to wonder why.

We were fucking idiots.

But now that her arm’s been chopped off at the shoulder the bite no longer holds her in its power. Despite her earlier attempt to throw herself out the window, it turns out she’d rather not die now. Too bad.

“How long?” I hiss at her, “How long were you Spider’s minion?”

Jag gives me a worried look. He’d stopped her bleeding by cauterising the wound and a doctor had administered painkillers when she’d regained consciousness, but she won’t survive much longer. We need to question her thoroughly and more quickly.

“Since I was two years old,” she groans. “Since a small girl. And after me, Giselle.”

Wolf shakes his head, frowning.

“An obedience bite on a child? It’s unheard of, and against vampire law.”

“Spider knows no bounds,” Jag snarls.

“And so, Giselle was his all along?” I scowl. “How? She bore no mark.”

“No,” she groans, her chin falling to her chest as she whispers, “no bite.”

Wolf twists the knife that Asumpta had stabbed into the Russian’s kneecap earlier when her attention appeared to be wandering, and she shrieks and looks up at me, her eyes pleading mercy. She won’t find that from me.

“Be clear.”

“I was bitten for The Games but never chosen. So my job became to groom Giselle for The Games. Our mother died when we were small. I was made to raise my sister as Spider’s puppet. Her whole life, everything about her life, was aimed at her winning The Games.”

“So, she was following Spider’s orders. No doubt she was planning to kill me after I married her.”

“No, she knew nothing about Spider. It was too risky. She was there to win you. Later she would have become his puppet. She was loyal to me and everything I told her to do. In The Games she was authentic. If she hadn’t been, you would have noticed.”

I want to ask her more, but Jag interrupts.

“This can’t be. Spider would have to know exactly what year you were entering VBG, Falcon. How could he possibly have known that?”

“He was playing a long game,” I snarl. “He planned to kidnap Viper all along and force me into The Games. One generation, two, three, who knows how many girls he bit in readiness. He could have women in every fucking country for all we know.”

“My poor little sister,” Tatyana begins to weep, “my poor malishka.”

“Shut the fuck up, and focus,” I snarl. “When were you ordered to kill my mother?”

“After The Games,” she sniffs loudly. “When Giselle lost I was told to contact Viper and arrange an invitation.”

I stiffen.

“VIPER!”

My brother steps into the room from where he’s been told to wait outside.

“Yes, Brother?”

I notice he studiously avoids looking at Tatyana as he stands beside her, hands nonchalantly in pockets,. He cocks his head to the side, looking at me for all the world like he has nothing at all to be worried about.

By fuck, he’s wrong.

“Why did you invite this bitch into my castle?”

“ Our castle, brother. And I didn’t invite her. Angie did.”

Jag lunges forward and grips him by the jacket lapels, giving him a rough shake.

“Enough, Jag,” I snap.

“It’s my castle, brother” I snarl. “And I trust Asumpta in this matter. Angie didn’t know you were inviting the Russian, so stop talking shit and answer truthfully or you’ll be the one strapped to the fucking chair.”

“Honestly,” he shrugs off Jag’s hands. “You’re making it seem like I’m the guilty party here….”

Wolf steps forward, fists clenched, and Viper flinches, raising his hands.

“Alright, alright, if you must know, I invited her to torment Angelina.”

I’m speechless for about thirty seconds, until Jag hisses.

“What?”

“Well,” Viper shrugs, “she’s hardly the loving wife Falcon hoped for, and it’s obvious he doesn’t want her. I don’t like the uppity bitch, and the hot Russian wanted revenge for her sister. I’ve been bored of late, so much of my fun has been curtailed since the whole Spider shemozzle. I thought it might be amusing to watch the new Lady Dragonspur get knocked down a peg or two.”

“Are you telling me that these past three weeks or more this Russian cunt has been hurting my wife ?”

He shrugs.

“I did it for Giselle,” Tatyana suddenly blurts, “but Viper is really the one hurting her. He’s….”

Whatever she’s about to say is cut short as Viper swings around and stabs a pen into her throat.

Wolf, roaring, pushes him aside, but it’s too late.

She chokes, bubbles up some blood, and is gone.

“What the fuck did you do that for?” Jag shouts.

“I just couldn’t hear anything more from the woman who’d killed poor Mother,” Viper groans, looking at me with sad eyes. “It would have all been Spider lies anyway. You know that, Falcon.”

“She was no longer under his control,” Jag spits through clenched teeth, “you absolute clusterfuck.”

Before he can act I punch Viper in the stomach, sending him to his knees.

“Mother’s not dead, she’s in hospital, which you’d know if you didn’t have your head so firmly wedged up your own ass, and if you weren’t so focused on trying to blame others in order to save it. Get out of my castle and go far, far away for a long, long time. If I see you when I leave this room I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

Viper knows better than to argue, and he struggles to his feet and staggers out the door, leaving Jag, Wolf, and I alone with the corpse.

Wolf wipes the blood off his hands with my proffered handkerchief.

His eyes are deep and troubled when he finishes.

“I believe her,” he says quietly, indicating the Russian. “She’s been a deep agent all her life, and so was Giselle, although apparently to a lesser degree. Her revelation fits with what your mother said about Angie. Jag’s right. Angie was never Spider’s.”

“Yet,” I grit my teeth, “Spider’s been plotting a long, long time to get his revenge upon my house. There’s no telling what other machinations he has in the pipeline. I’ve been remiss in not keeping a much closer eye on him.”

“As for your brother’s involvement…” Jag growls.

The doctor interrupts with a brisk knock on the door.

“My Lord,” he says quietly, “the woman needs urgent medical attention.”

“She got the attention she deserved,” Jag replies, shutting the door in his face.

Wolf chortles and Jag smirks at me as he turns back, and I can’t help but return the sentiment.

“What a fucking mess,” I laugh humourlessly.

“Yes. Are you going to see Angie now? She deserves to be told everything. You’ve been making her life hell for close to a year, and if Viper was telling the truth, Tatyana’s been making her life even more hellish for weeks.”

I shake my head, the thought of seeing Angelina, apologising to the woman I’ve treated like shit since the day I put a ring on her finger…it’s going to take me some time to figure out what to say and what to do to try and rectify the damage I’d done. In all the madness since the attack I haven’t even really had a chance to absorb what Mother had said and all its implications. Knowing that my wife hates me so much and believes I despise her so deeply that she wouldn’t even come to me to say she was being tortured by the Russian hurts more than I can say. And I can’t face those eyes, not yet.

I make for the door.

“You go, Jag. I have to get to the hospital.”