Sterling Silver (Sterling Hunter Series Book 1)

Chapter 19

Sebastian willed his heart to stop attempting to pound out of his chest as he sat in front of Tabitha's house, trying to calm every nerve in his body from that final kiss. Man... he hadn't met a girl like that since... well Marcie. And even then, Marcie was never as fiery and real and... spectacular as Tabitha. She was full of fire and strength. She didn't need him. She didn't need anyone and that was her allure. He wanted more and he couldn't wait to see her tomorrow. If he ended up going tomorrow. He may have to stay and coax some information out of Keller and his sister.

Sebastian wasn't sure if he would be able to hold himself back next time he saw her anyways. Not after getting a taste of her tonight. Grinning, he pulled off the curb and hit the gas pedal, zooming out of the neighborhood and back to his house. 

When he got home, Sebastian parked and popped his trunk open. Keller was still passed out, his dark skin pasty and deathly. He hefted his old friend over his shoulder and headed for the kitchen. The basement door had been put in a strange place. Sebastian wasn't sure why the person who had built this house had put the basement door right next to the kitchen, but it came with an advantage. It was hard to spot and the basement had one entrance and one exit. A good place to put kidnapped vampires.

"Hey," he said as he entered the dining room. Emmeline looked up from her plate of food, her eyes widening when she saw Keller over his shoulder. Carlos raised his eyebrows and Sandra set her napkin down.

"Is he...?" Emmeline asked, her voice a whisper.

Sebastian shook his head. "He's still alive... for now. His buddy... not so much."

Emmeline's lips formed a thin line, her gaze sliding to her plate. Carlos stood, disapproval all over his face.

Sebastian held up a hand, stopping him. "I know what you're going to say and before you attempt to chastise me, may I just remind you that this is still my house and I can do what a please."

Carlos scowled and shared a meaningful look with Sandra. "Yes we know that. Especially since we came home to a new house guest. No one told us you had a sister."

"A vampire sister," Sandra clarified.

Sebastian shared a grin with Emmeline who looked up at him and shrugged. "We didn't part friends last time we were together. And just so you know I had one brother and another sister. Both are dead."

Something like relief flooded Sandra's face and he smirked, heading around the dining room and toward the living room where the basement door was.

"What are you going to do with him?" Emmeline asked, coming up behind him.

He paused at the threshold between the dining room and the living room. "I'm going to get information... I assume you're used to that sort of thing what with Alistair being particularly, ah, fond of torture."

Sebastian kept going, not wanting to see the hurt expression on his sister's face. She deserved it though. If she was going to live under his roof then he would do everything possible, even hurt her feelings, to make her see what a monster Alistair was. Of course, they were all monsters, but Alistair was a particularly cruel one. A whole other level of evil that Sebastian wished Emmeline would never become.

He pushed open the basement door and headed down the stairs without shutting it. Keller would be up soon and then the fun could begin. The basement stairs led down to a corridor with several doors to the right and opened into a large room full of old boxes full of possessions and keepsakes belonging to the many lifetimes of Sebastian and Emmeline. A few chairs were stacked up against the wall. Sebastian set Keller down and grabbed one.

He made quick work of getting a container he kept down there full of hawthorn juice and soaking the ropes in them, then tying Keller to the chair. His brown skin singed and puckered as he tied the ropes with gloves on and then stepped back to admire his handy work. Keller was old but not as old as him or Alistair or even Emmeline. Those ropes would hold him. At least until Sebastian got what he wanted out of him.

Besides, during the day he couldn't go anywhere. He was much younger than him and Emmeline, his skin couldn't withstand sunlight yet. If he were to leave during the day, he would turn to ash.

He was about to head upstairs when Emmeline appeared in front of him, arms folded. She frowned at him and looked over his shoulder. "That's not very nice. Keller won't be too happy when he wakes up."

Sebastian shrugged, glancing over his shoulder at what he'd done. "I don't much care if Keller's happy or not. Just as long as he gives me the information I want to know."

Emmeline frowned, her eyes still over his shoulder, trained on the neck snapped vampire behind him. "What information do you want? What is so important that you would tie up one of your old friends?"

"I want to know what Alistair has planned. When he's going strike and where. And how he even knows that there are hunters around here. In case you forgot Emmeline, he's not only a threat to humans but a threat to us as well."

Emmeline snorted and rolled her eyes, hands on hips. Her gaze finally turned back to him. Green and piercing. "Everyone knows the hunter base is around here somewhere. If not in the city, then around the city in the neighboring towns. And it's obvious where he's going to hit."

Sebastian narrowed his eyes. Was she giving him a hint? "Well it isn't so obvious to me."

She gave him a teasing smile and patted his shoulder, walking around him and toward Keller. "That's because you think you're smarter than me but you're really not. He's going to hit the base... which is in this town. The town of the Sterlings. And we both know how much he loathes the Sterlings."

Sebastian clenched his jaw to keep it from dropping. How did they know that? The base... or at least one of the central ones was in town, masquerading as a small inn. There were about twenty or so hunter families in this town but none were as infamous as the Sterlings. "And he knows this how? What does he want with Tabitha?"

Emmeline turned on her heels, her pleated, plaid skirt flaring out around her legs. "Alistair definitely has a plan for Tabitha. He was so intrigued by her when he first saw her. Hasn't been able to talk about anything else. Mark my words Sebastian, Alistair has a plan. One that can't be stopped."

Sebastian smirked, trying to look as confidant as he had felt a few minutes ago. He held onto Tabitha's kiss. The furious, passionate one that had made fire spark under every inch of his skin and cause his heart to race and make him feel so very amazingly human again. "No plan is perfect Emmy."

Mischief glinted in his sister's eyes. Sebastian stood still as Emmeline glided over to him and put a confidant hand on his shoulder. "Well his is. So now all you have to do is figure out what he wants more: revenge on the Sterlings or revenge on the Moirai. Or... maybe a little bit of both."

Letting this new information sink in, he folded his arms. "Instead of feeding off me you can do what you want with Keller. He's already used to being you and Alistair's blood bag. Just don't kill him okay?"

She nodded beside him. "Alright... I won't enjoy it though."

Sebastian didn't move even as Emmeline walked away, her hand skimming his shoulder before disappearing down the corridor and toward the stairs. His sister was a slippery one. A hard one to figure out. But now he knew what he needed to find out from Keller: what did Alistair want most? Like Emmeline had said, he wanted revenge on the Moirai for the years of torture they had inflicted on him and Emmeline and revenge on the Sterlings for their involvement. Most humans didn't get much right about vampires. But they did have one thing correct in every TV show, movie and book. Vampires held grudges for a very long time and they had no problem getting their hands dirty when it came to revenge.

Alistair wasn't the kind of guy that went for the flashy in-you're-face plans. He would much rather stab someone in the back and watch them crumble and bleed out on the floor in front of him.

Sebastian scowled, glanced at the almost dead Keller one more time before heading up the stairs. He would come back later and see if he could get any other information out of him. But for now, he needed a drink.