Belle Morte Bites (Belle Morte 4.3)

Blackmail: Part Two

Ten minutes later, they left Belle Morte in the back of a black van, with Seamus at the wheel. Ludovic felt restless and tense – not because he was afraid of Unger, but he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to control himself around the human. Unger had carefully planned out how to hurt Roux for financial gain, and he didn't care what effect it had on her. He wasn't one of the children who'd bullied Roux at school and crushed her self-confidence, but Ludovic couldn't shake the awful, raw look in Roux's eyes as she resigned herself to Unger getting away with this. Unger was as much a bully as those schoolchildren. Ludovic couldn't change what had happened in the past, but he absolutely could stop someone from hurting Roux now. Even if it meant he had to hurt Unger.

It didn't take them long to arrive at the man's flat. Seamus parked, turned off the engine, then walked around the van to open the doors.

"Will this take long?" he said, curiously eyeing the block of flats.

"I hope not," Ludovic said.

Seamus waited with the van, while the three vampires strode up the paved path towards the building. Ludovic could easily handle one human, but he couldn't deny that it felt good to have two friends close behind him – not because he needed their help, but because it reminded him that he was part of a family now.

Gideon pressed his thumb to the buzzer, and a moment later, a male voice said, "Yeah?"

"Kevin Unger? It's Peter Jones from Night Secrets. I'm a little early, I hope you don't mind," Gideon said, the lie falling smoothly from his mouth.

"No, no, that's cool, come on up," Unger said.

The front door buzzed and Ludovic pushed it open harder than was necessary. Memories roared through his head – the grinning face of Roger DeSanti, the vampire who'd kidnapped and forcibly turned Roux; Roux herself, lying pale and still on the floor where DeSanti had dumped her in a building site, like she was nothing.

Unger was not DeSanti – Ludovic knew that, and he could not handle this like he would have handled DeSanti if Roux hadn't killed him first. No matter how angry he was, he had to keep control.

They walked the four floors to Unger's flat, and then Ludovic knocked on the door. It seemed likely that Unger would recognise him – if he knew about Roux's newfound fame, then he'd know about her vampire partner, but that didn't matter. If Unger locked himself in his flat, Ludovic would just break the door down.

Footsteps hurried across the floor inside the flat, the sound of a man with a spring in his step, and Ludovic's lip curled. Kevin Unger was about to get a very unpleasant surprise.

The door opened, revealing a tallish man with dark hair and a neat beard, and Ludovic reined in the urge to punch him.

Unger blinked at him, seemingly confused, and then recognition clicked into place. "Oh, shit," he said and tried to slam the door.

Edmond moved quick as lightning, stopping the door with one hand. He gave Unger a lethal smile, fangs out.

Unger stumbled back, almost tripping over his own feet, as the three vampires advanced into the flat. Gideon shut the door behind them.

"I assume you know who I am," Ludovic said.

Unger's expression turned petulant. "You're Roux's boyfriend."

"Yes, I am. Can you imagine why I'm here?"

Unger's eyes darted around his own flat.

"Even if there was a way out, we can all move a lot faster than you can. Don't try to run, and don't call for help," Ludovic said, letting his own fangs slide out.