6. Game, Set, Match.

-Gabriel-

I spot Andreas, Fenriz’s Beta, waiting for me at the entrance of the hotel. He’s powerful, second only in strength to Fenriz, tall, lean and muscular like Church, and has a scar running down his face courtesy of Katherine’s father. His long hair is tied up, and when he sees me, he cocks his head in greeting.

“Fenriz told me,” he says. “My condolences; Myrcella was a little spitfire on her own.”

I chuckle at this. “Thank you, and she truly was,” I say as he leads me to his Alpha’s office. 

I would never have dreamt of coming to the Lycans for help, but they have a score to settle with Death’s Temple just as I do. Andreas especially, since his fated mate was raped and brutalized by them - his human mate, might I add.

We reach Fenriz’s office door, and Andreas turns to me. “Gotta warn you, he’s in there with his mate, and she might be a little different to the women you’ve seen with Fenriz. Try not to look too surprised.” He says, and I am about to ask him what the fuck he means when he opens the office door, and I see what exactly he’s talking about.

Fenriz has a petite Asian girl wrapped up in his arms, and she looks flushed as fuck; as if we just walked in on the biggest secret ever.

“Will you two get a fucking room already?” Andreas says and rolls his eyes. Fenriz shoots him a glare and nods his head in greeting, while his mate goes completely pale and looks like her soul has just left her body as soon as she sets her eyes on me.

What can I say? I’m a fucking charmer.

“Priest, glad you could make it,” Fenriz says while wrapping his bulky arm around the little thing’s waist.

I return his nod and follow him to his desk, where he narrows his eyes at me before lacing his fingers together on the desk in front of him.

“Okay, you need to be one hundred percent fucking honest with me right now, Gabriel. What happened last night, and how did Myrcella get caught in the crossfire?” 

I sat forward, bracing my elbows on his knees. “You asked me to track down the hunters, and I did; the head’s daughter might I add. I was going to play with her a little when the gunfire started, and I realized that the bitch had a tracking device somewhere on her when I checked every fucking thing she had before letting her into my home.” My throat burns as guilt sets in, but I continue.

“Myrcella ran out of her room for some reason, and Katherine shot her before getting away with another woman.” When I conclude my story, they all look at me incredulously, and Andreas lets out a whistle.

“Fuck,” Andreas says, shaking his head. “What do you suggest, Fenriz?”

Fenriz sits with two fingers to his mouth, thinking. “Is there any way of luring Katherine out? I know she has a proverbial boner for you and your family,” he says, but I shake my head.

“She won’t show her face again for a while, not with the warning I left her with,” I say before sitting back and breathing out a sigh. 

“You know, I’ve never killed a human while feeding before; none of my horde has. You can tell by a vampire’s eyes whether or not he’s taken a life; the white of his eyes turn black, but this guild is positive we killed their family. This is why I came to you for help, Fenriz.”

Fenriz nods. “You’re the mercenary; where would the first place be to look for a hunter?” he asks.

“Well, I’ve had some friends stand watch, and no one has left Vegas in the last 24 hours save for a few tourists, so they’re definitely still in the city,” I start, then think back to the raven-haired hunter who rescued her. “They would not have checked into a hospital even though the hunter who took Katherine was severely hurt. We also-”

“What about a church?” My eyes snap to the small, soothing voice of Fenriz’s mate, and I raise my eyebrow at her interjection. She looks like she’s about to faint when she peers up at me, then her eyes go back at Fenriz. 

“Why would you suggest that? Oh, Gabriel, this is my wife, Umiko,” Fenriz finally introduces us, and I see his mate visibly swallowing before she starts.

“Well… back home, we also have hunters, and they would leave their weapons and supplies close to a shrine or temple. Would western hunters not do the same?” 

I don’t know why I never fucking thought of that; it would be the most logical choice since the Roman Catholics were heavy on vampire hunting back then. They would provide sanctuary to the hunters if need be, even house weapons.

“Fuck, that would make sense,” Andreas says, and I nod, shell-shocked as shit.

“If this is true, then we’ve just discovered the hunters’ biggest secret,” I say incredulously, then get to my feet. “Will you come to check it out with me?” 

“Obviously,” Andreas says, then turns to Fenriz. “We’ll be back in a few hours.”

Three hours later, we raided all the churches and found the Death’s Temple hunters - all but Katherine and the raven-haired bitch.

“Well, there’s torture at least,” I say, stringing one of them up against a barb-wired fence around the perimeter of the last church we’re searching. “I know you like that bit.”

“It relieves my stress,” Andreas says, snapping a head clean off and stomping on it. “These cunts deserve so much more than a quick death.”

“Fucking hear you, brother,” I say, just as I catch the faintest whiff of caramel on the breeze… before hearing the light thrumming of two heartbeats. 

Andreas sees the grin on my face and frowns. “What?”

“They’re here,” I say, holding my head up to the breeze while straining my ears for those heartbeats. “Caramel; that’s what little Katherine smells like.” I look down at the ground but see nothing out of place, and then, as I walk to the back of the church, I step over a flowerbed and nearly trip.

But that’s when I hear it; a hollow thump where my boot lands.

I get to my feet and call Andreas over before stomping hard against the soil. “There’s something here,” I say, and just as I give it another stomp, the top breaks open. The fuckers didn’t even think to use steel but wood.

Something shoots past me when I pop the top, and I realize it’s a wooden bullet. Their hearts are both thumping like crazy, and the anxiety wafts up from beneath me. Letting out a chuckle, I sit down on my ass and shake my head.

“Wood won’t do jack shit; you know that,” I say.

“Yea, but it will sting like a bitch and cause the area to go numb,” the raven-haired cunt calls up, sounding cocky as shit. “Wanna come down here to see if I have one of those little baobab stakes, Priest?”

I can’t help but grin at this one’s sass; she’ll die last. “I don’t think so; why don’t you come on up so we can talk?”

“Talk? Ha! You’ll have to drag us out of here,” she says. When I look up at Andreas, he’s wearing a grin and holding a pepper grenade. My grin matches his when I see what he’s contemplating. 

“Or we could just smoke you out,” he says before pulling out the pin and dropping it down the shaft.

Spluttering, coughing, and vomiting, the two eventually clamber out of their underground hiding place and crawl over the ground. They’re both still wearing the same clothes from when they left. We watch them fighting to breathe but don’t do anything to help them, enjoying their little bit of suffering before the torture truly starts. 

I walk over to Katherine and pull her to her feet; she reeks of blood, sweat, and dust but the defiance in her red-rimmed eyes is unmistakable. She knows what’s about to happen, and yet she still wants to fight me.

“Do your worst, Priest,” she sputters, tears and snot running down her face. “Whatever you have planned, I’ve had worse.”

I scoff and shoot her a crimson eyed-glare while gripping the scruff of her dress. “Oh, little lamb, you have no fucking idea who you’re dealing with. I’m going to take my time with you, and when I’m done, you’ll be begging me for your death.”