It took Viktor an additional ten minutes before he could feel the physical pull of the Little Cub, and in those few minutes, the number of ticks he developed was worse than any Hunt he had ever been on.
His left eye started twitching uncontrollably, his right hand kept creating and dissolving a small silver knife, and his left hand was drumming mindlessly on the steering wheel. It was the worst ten minutes of his life in the past 250 years.
The thing that was driving him the most insane? He had no idea why he was responding like this.
He cracked his neck as he turned the SUV to the left. He didn't need to have his eyes open to know where he was supposed to be going, but it was necessary for New York traffic. Although, most people seemed to drive with them closed anyway.
His body pulled him to the right, and the red line that showed him the direction of his prey agreed. He didn't know how far away she was from him, but he knew he was getting closer.
His phone rang again, but this time, he tossed it to his Beta to answer. Sasha picked it up and put it on speaker.
"Hunter," came a low growl.
"Not the time, Wolf," said Sasha, looking at Viktor from the corner of his eye.
"Don't care; it needs to be the time. I have a rogue in my city."
"You have had several rogues in your city," Viktor replied, focusing solely on the road in front of him and the path that only he could see.
"I heard about Central Park. We'll be having a conversation about you killing my wolves."
"They weren't your wolves; they were unregistered rogues that were living in MY city, killing humans and exposing us to the rest of the world. I was well within the laws to kill them."
"You brought a human to kill them," came the snarled response.
"I did nothing against the laws. If that is all, we will discuss this later."
"The fuck we will. I have an unknown rogue Beta in my city that requires attention."
Viktor closed his eyes and rubbed the throbbing point between his eyebrows. "I don't have time for this, Wolf. If it is an issue with the House of Werewolves, then it is your own problem, and you need to deal with it yourself."
He gestured for Sasha to hang up the phone and allowed his concentration to focus on the Hunt.
Another thirty minutes passed before the trail led him to a warehouse by the docks. His Knights quickly poured out of their vehicles and surrounded the one where Viktor sat.
He took a deep breath and stepped out of the SUV. He took another breath, trying to become more centered as his body forced him forward.
He wished he had never taken that breath. "Pure blood," he whispered and, without a second thought, sent his men into the warehouse.
When he heard the gunshot from his side, he froze. His heart stopped, his breath stopped, and he could have sworn that even time had ground to a halt.
He pushed his men to the side and saw an unknown man slowly sinking to the floor, blood coming from his head.
That was not the sight that caused his steps to falter; it was not that man's blood that he saw; it was not that man's flesh that was hanging from the rafters in long strips. What caused the Viktor Van Helsing to freeze was the woman who was hanging in the middle of the empty space, flayed alive and blood slowly dripping from her hanging head.
He closed his eyes and prayed that when he opened them back up, his Little Cub would lift up her head and smile at him.
He opened his eyes, and the view before him never changed. If anything, it got worse as the flashlights of the Knights showed enough blood on the floor to kill any human or monster.
Viktor raced to the body and, as carefully as he could, wrapped his arms around her waist, raising her enough to take off some of the weight on her shoulders.
Sasha quickly followed him and unhooked the ropes from the hook, keeping the Gypsy in one place.
The added weight did nothing to Viktor, who didn't even budge as he took all of her. He quickly swept her legs into his arms and carried her to his car.
Climbing into the back seat, he gave the order for the other body to be brought with them and to leave a crew to clean up.
He could not leave that much pure blood on the floor for just anyone to come across—especially any of Vlad's people.
Once the orders had been given out, he steadied himself and looked down at the precious human in his arms.
Her once light skin had turned dark, and he could easily see where it was stripped from the muscle. He slowly slid one hand down the arm, taking in the lack of flesh and the treads where whoever did this tried to stop the bleeding to prolong the torture.
His gaze fell onto the disjoined fingers pointing obscenely in different directions, the nails removed.
The door to the SUV opened, and Viktor turned his head towards the intruder, a silver sword emerging from his hand to kill whoever stood there.
It took him longer than it should have in his rage to see Sasha with a soft blanket in his arms.
"I thought she would like this, you know, to warm up?" said Sasha, looking at the body of the girl he was just starting to know.
Realizing what he was doing, Sasha straightened up and looked past Van Helsing and the bundle in his arms to the other side of the back seat.
Viktor looked down again, and this time, he noticed what Sasha had. Nadezda was completely naked except for a pair of boots. Taking the offered blanket, he gently placed it around the Cub and gestured for Sasha to shut the door and leave the area.
The light in the back was just enough to allow Viktor to stare down at the woman who fascinated him. It took him a few more seconds to hear the pop of bones breaking and going back into place.
Looking at her fingers, he watched as each one went into its proper place without help. As they straightened, he heard the faintest sound of a heartbeat where there was once none.
Fascinated, he couldn't tear his gaze away as the blanket that was once thick started to disintegrate, the threads that made it seemingly come to life and encasing the woman.
"Just what are you, Little Cub?" he asked softly to the last remaining Tesalor Gypsy.
When the bullet dropped to the floor, Viktor's head snapped up as he looked around the SUV, wondering which one of his Knights he had to kill for seeing something they should not have.
He would kill each and every one of his men to protect the helpless creature that seemed to have wormed herself into his head.
He failed her once; there would not be a second time.