Finding Fire

Chapter 13

Nicolas almost dragged the human to the room the clerk had directed him to. It was nothing much, but as long as it had a door that locked, Nicolas would've taken it.

He ordered the human to lock the doors once he was alone, and then sleep for the next twelve hours. That should keep this Brad out of his hair for the time being. But that wouldn't make the man safe. He knew where Annabelle's apartment was and could go back at any time. He didn't want Annabelle to have to worry about the next time this crazy man would pay her a visit.

He'd been tempted to take care of the problem in the backseat of the car, but he knew Annabelle wouldn't see the logic in it. She was so young. Even though she'd seen the full force of this human's rage, including listening to him try to break down her door, she was still afraid Nicolas would hurt Brad.

He didn't know whether to respect or pity her for it.

Nicolas walked out of the room and stood by the door. He didn't move until he heard Brad obediently lock the door and then lie down on the bed.

After he was satisfied he'd taken the necessary steps to keep Brad safe, he took out his phone and checked the time. It was about midnight. If they drove most this night and the next, they would have plenty of time on the third night to reach Aleksander's Canadian compound.

Annabelle was right when she accused him of not wanting her to know how to get there on her own. Right now it was the only thing she needed from him, and he didn't want her to get rid of him so easily.

He had a rather simple plan to reach Aleksander. He would send her in first. In her eagerness to discover the secrets to her past, she would do as he said. He would send her on a route where she was sure to be caught. When the guards discovered a human had breached the compound, they would rush to her, and Nicolas would slip in when they were distracted.

It had always been his plan, but he'd never had a volunteer before. He could force a human to act, but it would be obvious to any other vampire that the human was under his influence. The only thing a controlled human would achieve would be to alert Aleksander that a vampire wanted to come in. Nicolas might as well ring the damn doorbell.

Then Annabelle had walked into his apartment and life. Offered herself up on a platter, saying she would do anything to find Aleksander. Saying that she would die to find him. And Nicolas was happy to provide her an opportunity to die to find Aleksander.

The only problem was that the more time he spent with her, the less he wanted her to die. Which was...curious. He knew he wanted to fuck her. He also wanted to feed from her. He would prefer to do the two at the same time. He hoped that if he got the opportunity to do that while they were on this little trip, these feelings would leave him alone, and he could focus on Aleksander.

Maybe there was a way he could work this so she could survive. She'd probably never be able to talk to Aleksander, but that was a price he was willing to pay. Nicolas would have to kill him as soon as possible. He couldn't keep him alive to talk to Annabelle because his chance of escaping was too great. He couldn't let Annabelle come with him when he went to kill Aleksander, because she would probably die before she ever had a chance to ask any questions.

Vampires were too much for any one human to handle, and the compound was crawling with them. Nicolas supposed he could ask Aleksander her questions for her, but he doubted Aleksander would remember anything about one child's missing father. The night that had so greatly affected Annabelle was probably long forgotten by Aleksander.

She would get over it if he refused her the opportunity to interrogate Aleksander for herself. At least she would be alive. Maybe one day she would even thank Nicolas. Maybe once she saw what he'd done for her, she would even crawl into his bed.