Chapter Twenty-Eight

I heard a long, terrified scream. Feral vampires streamed into The Bran. Their bodies gleamed. Most of them were dressed, but a few of them were naked or nearly naked.

The security team tried to fight them off, but there were too many of them. The ones who’d made it through the front door began to throw furniture at the doors and windows. Glass began to shatter, and then more vampires came through.

“How did all those suckers get into the hotel?” I asked.

“Someone let them in,” Vaughn said grimly.

“The wards are down. Again,” I said. It was like these assholes were appearing out of thin air, but I knew they had to be coming from an entrance that had the wards removed.

“Where are they coming from?”

“The tunnels,” I said.

“Lucas and I will find a way to block them off,” Connor said.

Skyler went with Lucas and Connor. I wanted to call after them to be safe, but I had to figure out how to stop the feral vampires before the remaining staff became a vampire Vegas buffet.

“Take Beckett and get the humans out of the hotel,” I told Vaughn. “They’re sitting ducks.”

“Should I pull the fire alarm?” Beckett asked.

“No,” I said. “They need to be escorted out by the pack. Get the bellhops to help you.” Rose had told me that all the bellhops at The Bran were supernatural. They would help Vaughn and Beckett get the remaining staff to safety.

“Stop it,” I said, trying to use my bossy vampire queen voice. “Your queen commands you.”

Nothing happened.

“Why aren’t they listening to me?” I whispered to Rose.

“They’re in the middle of bloodlust. The vampire voice won’t work,” she replied. “And you’re not their ruler.”

“Who is?” I asked. “Someone is controlling them. I want to know my enemy.” But I already knew who was behind this. Vanessa.

“It might not be about you,” she said gently. “Mason has plenty of enemies all on his own.”

“Do you think it’s a coincidence that I follow Vanessa to Vegas and all hell breaks loose?”

She shook her head. “Where’s Dad?” Rose asked.

I frowned. He always knew what was going on at his hotel, yet he was nowhere in sight.

I raced to my father’s office. Vaughn was headed the same way.

“I thought you were handling the evacuation?” I shouted.

“The guys are dealing with that,” he replied. “We have bigger problems.”

Vaughn didn’t even slow down. I caught up to him right outside Mason’s office door. There were at least a dozen vampires trying to get inside, as well as white powdery spots on the carpet that told me he’d already staked a few.

“Leave now,” I commanded using my most authoritative voice, but they ignored me.

“They’re starving,” Rose said. “They won’t listen to anything.”

I whipped out my parasol. Rose ducked and skewered a sucker who was trying to creep up behind her.

“Why are they after Mason?”

“He’s not exactly Mr. Congeniality,” she pointed out. It was the harshest thing I’d ever heard her say about our father.

“True,” I said.

A group of staff members—from the looks of their uniforms, from housekeeping and the café—ran down the hall toward us. Two vampires ran after them.

I managed to trip one, but the other one continued the chase.

I stared down at the vampire on the ground. “Don’t move,” I said. “Rose, I got this. Can you take care of the other one?”

She didn’t bother answering, just took off after her prey.

“Who sent you here?” I asked. She was old and hungry. She tried to bite me, but I moved out of her way.

She didn’t answer, just cackled.

I didn’t want to kill the ancient vampire. Something about her reminded me of my granny. I looked for something to tie her up with. It would have to be strong because vampire teeth were strong. I couldn’t find anything, though. Yet I couldn’t just kill her, either. Should I take her with me?

But she made my decision for me when she lunged for me. I had my drumstick in her chest before her fangs could even graze my neck.

I fought my way inside Mason’s office and slammed the door shut.

“Don’t come any closer,” Travis said. He was standing behind Mason’s desk, and he was alone.

“Where’s Mason? What did you do to him?” I asked. What I really wanted to know was how an idiot like Travis Grando had gotten the drop on my father. Especially sans fangs.

“Oh, he’s fine,” Travis said. “We took care of him.”

“You attacked Mason Alicante?” I asked. “Which are you? Brave or stupid?” It was that word “we” that was ringing in my ears, though. I knew Travis wasn’t brave enough or smart enough to plan this on his own.

“You killed my dad,” he said. “And I should be queen, er, king, not you.”

I took a guess. “And you thought Vanessa was going to help you?” I scoffed.

By the look on his face, I had guessed correctly. It would take more than just Vanessa and Lissa LaStrange to pull off a takeover of the Paranormal Activities Committee.

I started to inch away. I knew Mason had a little mini fridge hidden behind the paneling, and I had an idea.

“She said all I had to do was kill you,” he said.

“That’s all?” I mocked, but it still hurt that my mother was egging someone to kill me. “You can try. Jure tried and look where that got him.”

I stepped in front of the fridge so that Travis couldn’t see what I was doing. I threw open the door and found a Diet Dr Pepper. Mason had somehow found out that I liked them and had stocked up for me, along with more of Granny’s tonic, for the rare times I visited his office.

I had to keep Travis off-center, angry. “She’s never going to let you rule California. It’s a win-win for her. If you manage to kill me, which is unlikely, then she’ll just kill you.”

“That’s not true,” he said. “She promised.”

“You know what Vanessa’s promises are worth? Nothing.”

I moved to pop the top on the soda, but suddenly my stomach cramped. “I…I need my tonic.”

“I’m not falling for that,” Travis said, but he moved closer. Almost close enough for me to reach out and finally throw the soda.

But instead of doing that, I puked on his shoes.

“Gross!” He jumped back and swore. “Do you know how much these shoes cost?”

“I told you,” I gritted out, the stomach cramps coming again in a wave. “I need my tonic.”

He moved to the mini fridge and grabbed my container of tonic, unscrewed the lid, and dumped it onto the carpet, where it soaked into the fabric like it was never there.

I was dizzy, hungry, and pissed off. It wasn’t a good combination. From the summer I’d spent with the band, I knew that Travis was Travis’s favorite subject. If I could get him to talk, maybe I could catch him off guard so I could throw the soda. It wouldn’t kill him, but it would hurt him a little.

“Mason Alicante is the head of the Paranormal Activities Committee,” I spelled out. “The most powerful man in the hidden world. And you believed Vanessa could beat him? I asked my father not to kill her, or she’d already be dead.”

His lower lip came out in a pout, and I knew I’d lost him.

“She is going to help me do it,” he said. He smirked. “I don’t see your dad anywhere, do you?”

“Vanessa’s not stupid enough to kill the head of the Paranormal Activities Committee,” I said. “There would be repercussions from the entire hidden world.”

“That’s why the plan’s so perfect,” Travis replied. “She’s going to feed him to the suckers.”

“Which suckers?”

“The ones she has stashed,” he said. He smiled, his eyes twinkling with enjoyment. “They’re very hungry.”

My vampire was gnashing her teeth. I would show him hungry.

I realized that I was hungry enough to eat anything. Even Travis. Before I knew it, my hands were wrapped around his throat. My fangs were out and I was practically drooling.

The door opened, but I couldn’t look away from my prey.

“Put him down, Tansy,” Rose said. “He’ll give you an upset stomach.”

The cravings made it hard to speak, so I just shook my head. The hunger was taking over.

Rose took out a flask. “Come over here,” she said soothingly. “You’ll feel better after you drink this.”

The pulse in her throat called to me. I dropped Travis and moved toward the smell of fresh, human blood.

Rose had a blade pressed against my throat. “Drink your tonic.”

I drank it.

“When did you start carrying a knife?” I asked.

“When someone stabbed my twin sister,” Rose replied. “I’m not an expert like Thorn, but I know how to use it.”

There was a pounding at the door, and then Lucas, Vaughn, and Connor flew inside and Vaughn locked it.

“The hotel is being overrun,” he said. “We managed to get all the staff out.”

Once again, my mother was making sure I regretted letting her get close to me.

In the fall, she’d tricked me into thinking she was human again, learned all my weaknesses, and then betrayed me.

That mistake was the gift that kept on giving.

Then feral vampires knocked down the door and streamed into the room.

The bloodlust surrounding me was starting to get to me. My pulse pounded, my fangs came down, and it took every drop of willpower I had not to bite someone. I didn’t care if it was a human or a vampire. If I drained a human, though, I’d never be able to reverse my vampirism, so I took one long slow breath after another until I regained a little chill.

An enormous feral, wearing a bellhop’s outfit that seemed about three sizes too small, yanked on my arm. I snarled at her.

“No touching the prisoner,” Travis said. He smiled at me. “Not yet, anyhow. Wait for your queen.”