Page 122 of Bent Out of Shade
“Why are we at a funeral home?” Sadie squeaked.
“Mr. BatKian owns it and the location was convenient,” Yoshi said. Right. More like the Lonestars don’t know about this place.
The chill and mechanical buzzing from the garage was replaced by a delicious warmth and somber hush as we entered the main building.
“Did Juliette arrive?” I said.
“She’s already with Sabrina.” He escorted us down a hall and past a door with a “Caution: Flammable” sign on it as a cry came from within.
Sadie froze, and Yoshi sighed as I entered, but he didn’t stop me.
My pulse spiked at the sight, and I motioned for Sadie to stay back. Thankfully, she didn’t argue, turning away to the stairwell before she’d gotten close enough to see anything. I hovered in the doorway, my hand over my nose against the stench of bloodied meat.
Ian lay on the concrete floor in a puddle of blood with his throat savagely torn. Intestines spilled out of his torso in a glistening, gloopy mess, and one of his eyes had been plucked out. The handles of the cabinets had been ripped off and embedded through his hands and feet into the concrete. Crafty Ideas for Psychopaths.
What a way to die. Then it hit me that Ian was a vampire, and if he was dead, he’d be a pile of ash.
A strangled sob tore from my throat.
“My daughter isn’t going in there,” I said to Yoshi over my shoulder.
“That person is not who Sadie is here for,” Yoshi said serenely. “They merely exist at the whim of Mr. BatXoha.”
Celeste knelt beside Ian, her puffy red eyes rimmed with blood, but her fangs descended at my voice. “Get out of here. All you ever did was cause Ian pain.”
Had I contributed to Ian’s instability by forcing him to relive the trauma of the Human Race? I forced down the magic that had flared to life at her fangs. “If I did, I’m sorry, but he helped save lives.”
Ian’s remaining eye blinked and an inhuman wail escaped him, capturing Celeste’s attention.
Yoshi pulled me back into the hallway, the door swinging shut, but not before Celeste tossed out her last words.
“The wolf should have died.”
I spun around but Yoshi had a firm grip on my arm. “How does she know about Laurent?”
“Leave it alone, Miriam.”
“Tell me.”
Sadie poked her head out from the stairwell where she’d been waiting, but I held up a hand and she disappeared back onto the stairs.
Yoshi pressed his lips into a thin line.
My eyes widened. “Celeste freed Kian. That’s why she knew about the attack and who’d be involved. I’m right, aren’t I? Celeste found out what Ian had done to Sabrina and asked Zev to protect him.” My tone hardened. “And Zev said no.”
“Very good,” Yoshi said. “You figured everything out.”
“Not everything. When did Zev learn about Ian?” Shadows swam over my skin and my scythe slammed into my palm.
“Celeste approached him after you and Tatiana left, but he didn’t send your team into a trap. Zev had no idea what she’d done until Kian got loose and started slaughtering vampires at Blood Alley.”
“Why refuse Celeste if Zev planned on killing Vincenzo and pinning Sabrina’s change on him?”
“Just because Ian would have been safe from the Lonestars or BatXoha didn’t mean he wouldn’t pay,” Yoshi said coldly.
“Zev’s little plan to make more vamps really worked out great for everyone, didn’t it?” I pictured Emmett’s mangled face, Laurent’s constant shifting, and Rodrigo’s dead eyes, and flung my scythe across the hallway into the wall with a curse. Drywall crumbled to the immaculate beige carpet.
“Mom?” Sadie stood in the hallway. “Can we get this over with?”
