What seemed to last forever, the unspeakable mutilation all but ended in a matter of mere minutes, and Kai was quick to return to my side. Every man except for one man who stood on the right side of Mr. Whitlock remained untouched from being torn apart. Not a single dark brown hair was tousled or disheveled on his head. As Kai dug the bullet out of his chest, we heard fiendish laughter echoing in the warehouse before he dropped the bullet shard to the floor with a cling.
"Bravo!" an all too familiar voice applauded as he clapped his hands. Tyler revealed himself from around a few stacked crates as he continuously clapped his hands while his clan appeared in a line, all facing Kai's clan. With a grin, Tyler stood next to the man no one killed, who was standing directly in front of Kai and me. Kai protectively pushed me back behind his right shoulder as his chest reverberated a low pitch-growl at his enemy.
Being a Chameleon species, I'm not surprised that Tyler and his clan blended in behind the scenes of Mr. Whitlock's mob. Chameleons are the only species that can mask their scent to smell like somebody else of the same gender, and they can change their hair color and facial features.
"Why am I not surprised that you are behind this!" Kai snarled his fangs at him.
Tyler chuckled. "You could make it easier on me, and hand over your mate. Then I'll gladly be on my way."
Kai balefully growled. "I've already told you that I will never do that!"
"Pity. Now, this is why I had to fuel Mr. Whitlock's rage, so he'd do the job for me," Tyler admitted, shaking his head. "Nevertheless, I'm impressed you didn't fall for my trap I set up if Mr. Whitlock failed to kill your mate, which it isn't a surprise that he did fail."
"Trap..." I uttered as breathless as the wind, and Tyler's odious eyes found mine.
He smirked before he unveiled. "You heard me correctly, my flower. I provoked Mr. Whitlock's anger to murder you while my granted human, right here, was an inside spy amongst his gang."
"Don't you dare speak to her!" Kai hissed his fangs.
"Why not when she asked?" Tyler taunted as he patted the man's back. "I'm sure she'd love to meet the man who ran her off the road the night he
attempted to kill her. Meet my warrior, my flower. I've been breeding his family line since the early ages, and I must say, not any of his ancient descendants have ever ceased to impress me."
"Stop calling my mate your flower! You best stay away from her." Kai growled, snarling his lips.
"It's either hand her over or else you know I won't stop," Tyler darkly glared.
"Why are you doing this?" I panted.
Kai answered me. "I told you before, he wants you dead, so his allies will join him in his battle to conquer our Coven. This way, he can take all the females from our Coven for breeding. If I were to kill his little breeding experiment beside him, it would give Tyler all the rights to kill you because the Vampire Covenant will deem it as warfare between our Covens. Under the Vampire Oath, his ideal strategy would be deemed legal for him to kill you if I or anyone else in my clan had killed his granted human, but I am not stupid enough to fall for that trap."
"In that case, I'll have to send more of my granted humans to try killing Victoria because it's legal for a human to kill a human," Tyler daringly taunted with a demented grin.
"You would sacrifice your granted humans?" I uttered as I stared at the man.
He stood like a handsome sculpture, and there wasn't an ounce of emotion on his face. All I saw was a killer. A human sadist killer. He was an empty shell inside, as if his humanity had already been rive from his heart.
Tyler chuckled, "Oh, my little flower, they're bred to be mighty warriors, and sometimes a sacrifice is necessary for a greater purpose. I only have so many humans I can turn on the Brightest Blue Moon, so naturally, I'll only turn the best five out of ten warriors to be my future guardians. Whoever I don't turn will become meals. Ask your husband. He's done the same trial experiments on men, no differently than me."
"You didn't?" I glimpsed at Kai with a side glance, and he didn't divulge anything to me, nor would he peek at me. Not once did his eyes ever leave Tyler.
"Of course, he's not going to concede it. Kai lies to you a lot more than you think," Tyler snickered, and Kai growled as he stepped forward a little, but then he stopped himself from attacking.
"After the Brightest Blue Moon, I will enjoy ripping your head off," Kai perilously threatened, but Tyler and his clan laughed like he had told a joke.
"Until next time, Kai. In the meantime, you best watch your mate more closely," Tyler forewarned, then he gripped the man's forearm, and just like that, they vanished into eerie phantoms.
"Get in the car," Kai demanded, taking my hand. "Jack, I need you to drive her home."
"But, wait. Why can't you drive me?" I protested as Kai opened the passenger seat's car door to the sports car that belonged to my kidnapper.
"Because they haven't gone far, so I need to protect the car in case Tyler tries to attack you again." Kai hushed me by hugging me, and then he gently put me into the seat as Jack got in the driver's seat.
After he made sure my seat belt was on, he shut the door, and then Jack revved up the engine and turned the headlights on before he drove forward into the dark driveway when Kai disappeared with everyone else.
"Are you alright?" Jack asked me as he was turning the heater on for me.
"I'm as good as I'll be, I guess." I shared earnestly as I wondered what other secrets Kai hadn't told me.
I already knew he was ferocious toward humans, but I didn't want to think he'd experiment on them to the point that they would be emotionless killers. Flames exploded through the entire warehouse, which made the night sky shimmer with light as Jack was driving along on the driveway. I figured Glenn had blown up the warehouse when he used his fire gift to dispose of their mess. All those lost artifacts were gone forever.
Going to school for paleontology and archeology, the sight of it sent a pang in my heart from knowing those priceless stolen artifacts were incinerated into nothing more than ashes. As Jack drove on the main road, I could briefly see the shadows of Kai's clan gliding through the darkness of the trees as they surrounded a protective barrier around the car.