Bloodshed

Chapter Sixteen: Stronger Together (Audrey's POV)

I woke up the next morning to the sound of my mother and Gabriel talking outside on the balcony. I didn't dare move or open my eyes; I wasn't ready to talk to anyone just yet. Instead, I eavesdropped, finding it easier than I thought to listen in on them. The door was closed, of course, but that didn't make a difference. My hearing was too good now, thanks to Gabriel. 

"How could you do this to her, Gabriel?" Mom said, sounding sad. "She's only eighteen."

"I didn't have a choice, Vanessa." He replied, keeping his voice low. "She would have died otherwise. I couldn't let that happen, I couldn't..." his voice trailed for a moment. "I couldn't bear the thought of losing her."

My mother went quiet after that. I listened intently to the muffled sound of her heart coming through the clear sliding door dividing our spaces, strained to hear any kind of movement she made, when Vanessa spoke again. 

"I wanna be mad at you, Lord knows you'd deserve it. But I can't." Her voice cracked, her feet shuffled on the floor, and then she stopped moving. "My baby is alive because of you, Gabriel." She mumbled, tears in her words. "I get to see her. I get to hold her in my arms and tell her just how much I love her. She's here, thanks to you." 

Suddenly the door was slid open, and a new voice joined the conversation. 

"Alive? Shit, lady, Audrey ain't even human now." Linc scoffed, sounding snarky and discontent. "She's a fuckin' leech thanks to Whitey. And also, thanks to Whitey, the grand poohbah of vampires is out there walkin' around doing God knows what."

"You didn't seem to mind Audrey being one of my kind last night." Gabriel shot back, bitter. 

"What is he talking about, Linc?" Mom asked, her tone puzzled.

"He's just jealous." I could hear Linc step further away from the door. "See, unlike Gabriel, I don't have to force myself on--"

I bolted off the couch I had been sleeping on and darted out to the balcony, stopping Linc mid-sentence. He and Gabriel were nearly nose to nose, my mother watching the two of them with confusion and apprehension.

"We don't have time for this." I said to them both, looking from one to the other. "Finding Master before he finds out what Aiden, Lucius and Simone are up to is why we're here. And we can't do that if we're fighting amongst ourselves." 

Now definitely wasn't the time to bring up Gabriel's transgressions. Yes, he fucked up...a lot. But I'd forgiven him for most of it. As for the rest? I decided to put that on the backburner until we took care of this whole Master fiasco. 

Linc and Gabriel glanced at each other before stepping apart. I looked up at them both, then looked at my mother, who offered me a small smile. 

"We're stronger together." I went on, putting my hand on the door handle. "Now let's wake up Nero and figure out a way to find Master." 

~~~

Since my mother was in fact alive and with us, the compass Duke had given me was useless to find Master. We needed to come up with some other way to track him down, and so far we were coming up with duds. 

"Locator spell?" Mom asked. 

"He's warded himself." Nero sighed. "What if we go back to the aircraft carrier and interrogate Jarvis?"

Gabriel snorted. "As if Master would tell that hedonistic fool anything. But interrogation isn't a bad idea."

"Who is there to interrogate?" I asked from my spot on the couch. "Master hasn't been around for thousands of years. Is there even anyone around that would know who he is, besides us?"