Bane of Tenebris (Wolfgods Book 2) by Blaise Ramsay (i love reading books txt) 📕

and Jill riding in Gabriel’s car since the guards at the gate would likely recognize Kain’s. They pulled the vehicles up behind some construction equipment to avoid detection.

“Take these.” Zane handed the lycans each an ear piece like those security details wore to keep in touch.

“Great, now I feel like the equivalent of James Bond,” Gabriel commented.

Kain rolled his eyes, inserting the small rubber bud in his ear, making it itch. No doubt his wolf skin would have fun trying to maintain it.

No sooner had he done so that Dante’s voice crackled over the small speaker. The vampire warned his comrades something was seriously wrong with the complex.

When Zane asked why, Steele warned them it was too quiet and that no guards patrolled the gate or the outer perimeter.

It didn’t take long for Kain to catch the scent of fresh blood over the breeze. From the way his fellow lycans reacted, he could tell each of them caught it too.

Zane instructed Steele to take a quick look to try and get a feel as to what was going on before sending the lycans in. Steele’s reply came as a shock when he said he couldn’t see anything or anyone from his vantage point in the loading bay. Magnus reported the guards’ station at the front gate lay completely empty.

“The plan hasn’t changed. We still split into groups. Kain, Damien, Gabriel and I will go in the front. Magnus, Steele, Jill and Cade will enter from the back. Keep in touch and do not shift until we know what’s going on.” Zane said, his southern drawl making some of the words hard to fathom.

Kain could see Damien didn’t like the idea of splitting from his mate. Jill kissed him, assuring him she would be fine. Kain was grateful not to have to kick Damien himself.

They split into their groups and kept close to the ground until they came to the front gate. Magnus had fallen back to his position at Zane’s orders. True enough, the guards’ station was empty.

Using his elbow, Zane smashed in the window and hit the button to let them inside.

Not a sound echoed from inside the doors despite the line of limos and fancy cars lining the concrete driveway. Zane shouldered the slightly ajar doors open and looked around, nodding to Kain when he saw nothing. Kain went through, his ears, eyes and nose tasting, listening and watching for anything strange.

A heavy scent of blood, both vampire and human invaded his nostrils. He held his arm in front of Damien to stop him while Kain motioned for Gabriel to go around the other side of the slot machines still covered with plastic. Zane remained in the rear in case of an ambush.

“The hell is going on here?” Damien whispered to Kain.

“I cannot be sure. We should have seen something by now.” Kain slid down the row of slot machines until he could get a glimpse at the showroom floor.

The sight that met his eyes horrified him.

Bodies of the vampire nobles, the guards, guests and staff lay strewn around the show floor. Each of them appeared to have had their bodies maimed and their throats torn out. Smears of blood lined the once black wallpaper. It looked like a scene out of a slasher movie.

“Okay, I reiterate. What the hell is going on here?” Damien commented, just as surprised as Kain was.

Kain didn’t reply. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled at the realization the group was being watched. From the other side of the room, Magnus and his group came out of one of the doors beneath the stairs. Each one had eyes so wide, Kain saw the whites of their eyes.

A whoosh of plastic behind Kain took his attention from the blood bath. He barely had time to bring his arms up in defense before getting slammed by something huge and strong enough to send him through the air and into the bar.

“Kain!” Damien cried out.

A dual-toned, sinister sigh echoed in the room. The sound of claws gripping stone and the skittering of talons across the floor alerted the lycans and vampires to the beast in the large room. “I can smell your blood. Have I finally found you?”

Kain got up groaning from the shattered glass on the bar floor. His dazed head made it hard for him to use the bar to help support him as he stood. He reached up to find a small cut, blood dripping down the side of his face. The words the voice spoke didn’t remind him of Anthony. They were smoother, like the voice of a vampire with older blood.

Whatever hit him wasn’t an average vampire. Its strength and speed hadn’t been like anything he’d ever experienced. Another whoosh of air filled the room. Only this time, at the top of the grand show room stairs, Kain could see a fully transformed vampire. Red and black blood coated its fangs and claws.

Damien ran up to Kain as he leapt over the bar. “Are you okay?”

“Fine, Damien. I do not think that is Anthony.”

Damien’s brows creased. “Neither do I. I sense a deeper malice. Something darker and more powerful. Anthony’s shoved the talon in the thumbnail of his wing. Kain, I think something’s taken over and it isn’t Barghast.”

Kain agreed.

The mysterious vampire inhabiting Anthony’s body looked bored, almost disappointed as he strolled down the stairs in a manner of the older blood of vampires. “I have no interest in any of you. I only seek him. His blood is here, and I only want to fight him.”

Him? Kain thought. Nothing this vampire said made any sense. He didn’t seem interested in anything going on.

As he suspected, Kain could sense whatever took over Anthony burning through its energy much too fast. At the rate he consumed his host, the fight wouldn’t last long.

Kain shifted to his full lycan form and took off into a sprint, sliding across the floor and stopping in front of a newly shifted Gabriel. Damien