49. To Rescue a Queen
Rescue: save (someone) from a dangerous or distressing situation.
Nero
When I woke up Tessa was already gone, there was no note but I saw a text on my phone from her informing me that she was out with my human guards, taking one of my cars. She was seeking information on Yubkin. I didn’t like it but at least she went with my human guards and this was not the first time she went out with them to do her own thing. I trust that she was more than capable of defending herself.
After getting dressed I went straight to Marshall’s room. I was still feeding him when Aldrich burst into the room, seeing his face made me realize something bad was going on and instinctively my mind went straight to Tessa.
“Give me a minute, send Marius in, and tell Vesper I need him.” I paused to press a gentle kiss on Marshall’s forehead. “My son, I need to go. One of your brothers, Vesper, is going to attend to you while I’m gone.”
Marshall looked at me, he didn’t stop sucking on my wrist until I tilted his chin and stopped him. Luckily he had been feeding for a while and human blood will compensate for my feeding time until I can get back to him. Vesper will need to help him to adjust if I was gone longer than expected.
Marius was in the room the moment I managed to detach myself from the new prince. Vesper entered less than five minutes later while I was talking to Marius leaving him with more instructions on security for the den.
“Father, what’s wrong?”
“Tessa’s in trouble, I need you to tend to Marshall while Marius covers for Aldrich. Cortland will be notified soonest to take over Marius’s post. But I need you to take care of your brother.” I cupped his jaw before wrapping my hand around his neck to get his attention. “I’m counting on you Vesper, take care of him and take care of the den for me.” I kissed his forehead and waited for his reply. I needed to know that he understands what was at stake. He knows what Tessa means to me, he knows what’s going to happen should anything go wrong.
“Everything is going to be alright Father, she’s Tessa. She’s strong.” Vesper told me in confidence. I nodded and stepped out of the room then hurriedly followed Aldrich who was already walking towards the den’s driveway where a car was waiting for us. To my surprise, Ammar was in the driver’s seat.
“Get in, I was with Aldrich when he got the news.” My eldest explained and I didn’t ask further.
“Tell me everything you know.” Aldrich had given me the summary that Tessa was ambushed at her meeting, our human guards were dead but not before one of them pressed the emergency signal in the car. The camera on the car dashboard recorded everything and now Aldrich was showing me the footage that was transmitted to our server when the incident happened. While watching, Aldrich explained further the current situation.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.
“We have four human security there already on the lookout. Another two as snipers at the nearby buildings. I have strictly told them to hold back, not wanting to spook them and escalate everything before we got there.” Aldrich kept on talking while I saw through the tablet how those Russian thugs shot our men. Then I saw Tessa, the angle was from the inside of the restaurant. Aldrich must’ve had our human tech guy breach the restaurant’s security footage. She was ambushed and I hissed when the fat guy slapped her. Twice. Aldrich pointed out to me that he was Yubkin. Then I growled, my fists curled, needing to punch the human, preferably until Yubkin’s guts were all over the floor when I saw how he punched her stomach until she was down to her knees.
I didn’t say much on our way there, but listening as Aldrich and Ammar discuss our point of entry. When we finally got to the restaurant, Ammar parked at the back entrance. Surprisingly their cars were still there, probably waiting for us since Aldrich told me that our little stunt at the underground cage fight had killed Yubkin’s men and also his nephew.
“The guy got some nerve taking Tessa down to lure us in.” I eventually said when we got out of the car. Aldrich and Ammar were in front of me walking straight towards the door. Our human contacts had already made way for us to enter and we followed them hurriedly. There were four humans equipped with guns and night visions to indicate where Tessa was currently being held. But with our advanced hearing, Ammar was the first to run to the source of her voice. She was screaming in pain, and I can feel that she was being tortured.
“Secure our way out, we’re just going to take a couple of minutes,” I said to our human counterparts before vanishing with Ammar and Aldrich, running toward the sound of her screams.
Ammar breaks the door and six humans look at us in full panic mode when they saw who they were really dealing with. The three of us quickly moved to kill three of them which took only a second. The rest were stunned when they saw our fangs dripping with the blood of their fellow humans.
“You should take care of her, she’d be dead s…,” Yubkin’s snarky comment died before he even got to finish it. His eyes were wild when I grabbed him by the throat and easily pinned him, a few feet above the air with his back to the wall like he weighs nothing. Aldrich managed to kill the rest of the two men and Ammar was to Tessa’s side releasing her from the ties that bind her.
“Kill him quick. Father, she needs you.”
“No! He will not die easily!” I growled when I bit the side of his neck taking a chunk of flesh and spitting it to the ground. The man screams his lungs out when I throw his body across the room while he tried to stop himself from bleeding out.
I rushed to Tessa’s side and saw the damage the man did to her. “Hey, baby, shh… I’m here, you’re going to be okay. Remember when we talked about you being one of us?”
“Wr-wrinkle… f-free,” her voice was barely a whisper, she was losing blood and looking pale as a ghost already. My heart cracked watching her struggle to breathe. The fucker had stabbed her lung intentionally wanting her to die a slow painful death.
“Get Yubkin, don’t let him die. I want him fed to the dogs. Let them eat him while he’s alive.” I told Aldrich, then Ammar was by his side helping him out to make sure that it was done.
“T-thank y-you…” She smiled. Her bloodied hand held my arm while I watched the light in her eyes slowly dim.
She didn’t have much time.
“Tessa, my little killer, stay with me. I’m going to give you my blood, okay? You’re going to live then we’re taking you out of here.” I didn’t give her time to reply when I bit my wrist and let my blood drip on her cracked lips, letting her slowly drink it. She made a face and it got me to smile. “I know it tastes like blood, but please drink up baby, it’ll heal you.” I kissed her hair and inhaled the sweet coconut shampoo scent that she liked so much.
Still feeding her with my blood, I cradle her body while waiting for Aldrich to get Yubkin out of the room and into the car that was going to transport him. “I have a better idea, feed him to the rats. Put him in one of the abandoned observation rooms. Don’t let too many of the rats in, just enough to prolong his torture. I want Tessa to see him slowly die.”
I know Tessa will enjoy seeing him slowly being gnawed by the rodent’s sharp teeth. Who knows she might want a little revenge for what he’s done to her. She’s my little killer and she will get whatever she wants.
Then, when Yubkin is dead I’m going to make her my queen and together we will rule the night, spending our eternal lives hunting and satisfying her every need.