“Where’s my father?” I whispered past the sandpaper in my throat.
“Just worry about yourself for now. You’re hurt badly,” Rhys Van Helsing stated, and I swung my attention to where he sat in the darkened corner. His somber eyes held mine, and grief shown inside of them. I shook my head, preparing to argue, but he exhaled slowly. “Xavier was taken, but we don’t know by whom or what they want.”
Rhys was one of my father’s closest friends and ran E.V.I.E., one of the organizations that often assisted us. He and my father spent a lot of time hunting or brainstorming missions. Rhys and his brother Cole were notorious badasses and ran the Van Helsing Knights. It was a group of otherworldly creatures that spent their time hunting down sex-crazed, maniac incubus demons. He was also the head of the House of Van Helsing.
“Can you explain what happened to you?” Bali asked, drawing my focus to where he stood, looking down at me. “You were in the explosion, but most of your wounds aren’t from the blast, are they?”
“I was hunting,” I admitted, even though I could hardly recount what had happened in the woods. It was blurry inside my mind because the memory of the vibrant amber eyes seemed to dwarf everything. “An unseen creature attacked me, but it didn’t want me dead.”
“You don’t know what assaulted you?” he questioned.
“Something powerful,” I replied. “No more drugs.”
“It isn’t drugs, Xari. It’s the antidote for the venom. Whatever it was, it bit you and left a nasty poison inside of you. We had to guess the kind of creature that attacked you, so you have a few antidotes in your system. The scratches on your left side looked like the claws of a werewolf, but the black markings on your right are different. You don’t have a guess as to what it was?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered, fighting to remain awake. “It was pissed off and powerful. I couldn’t fight it,” I groaned as more burning started in my stomach. “It fucking burns!”
“Yeah, it’s almost like the creature branded you. Look.” Bali held his phone up for me to see the wispy tendrils of a dark inky substance that covered my right side. “You scream each time it moves. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s as if the marks are alive inside of you.”
“Get it out,” I moaned, turning as more pain sliced through me.
Bali exhaled slowly, puffing out air as he put his phone back into his white overcoat and sat beside me. “Here’s the thing, Xari. Every time I touch it, the mark reacts and grows. Whatever it is, it won’t let any of us near it to get a sample without harming you more.”
“Remove it, Bali,” I demanded, lifting to peer down at my side. I noted the markings were eerily beautiful, and then it slithered within me. “What the hell?”
“You need time to recover, Xariana. You were pretty banged up when we got to you,” Noah chided, ignoring the panic that threatened to engulf me.
“I have to leave this bed,” I grunted, forcing my legs over the edge.
“As much as we don’t mind the sight of your naked behind, Anderson, you should rest. First, you were hurt before the attack on the guild. Then, you were thrown back by the explosion that killed several hunters tonight.” My eyes snapped to Cole Van Helsing’s, narrowing at his words.
“Who died?” I whispered, hating the pain that twisted my heart, sinking into my stomach. His silky dark head shook slowly, indicating he didn’t want to disclose the deceased. “Tell me, now,” I ordered.
“We lost a lot of people,” Noah stated, sitting beside me to grab my hand. “Over twenty hunters and many are still fighting for their lives.”
“I need to get out of here,” I whimpered, standing and turning to face Noah. “Get me the names of those who died and their next of kin. We need to offer their families a place to go where they can grieve in peace.”
“I have handled it, Xari. You need to get back into bed, now,” he argued.
“No,” I firmly asserted. “I’m fine. I’m a little woozy, but otherwise, I am okay. I have to figure out what happened here and who attacked us. We have to get my father back.”
“I’ve got people out looking for him,” Rhys stated, nodding at Cole, who backed him up. “You ought to take it easy. We have no idea what the hell that is on your side. In all of my time alive, I’ve never felt anything like that before. What did you experience when it appeared?”
“Pain,” I spat out, groaning as my fingers slid over the inky black markings. It didn’t react to my touch, causing Bali to snort.
“Touch it again,” he ordered.
I did, tracing the markings lightly, with no reaction at all. Bali’s fingers brushed over it, and I gritted my teeth before a scream of pain exited my throat.
“You guys see that?” he asked softly, removing his hand as I replaced it with mine.
“It’s almost like a warning to stop touching her,” Rhys grunted. “Tell me what transpired on your hunt.”
“I was tracking a werewolf, but something else was stalking me. It easily overpowered me. It felt like the creature was toying with me, wanting me to know how quickly it could have ended my life. Only, it didn’t wish to kill me. If that’s what it had wanted, I’d be pushing up daisies right now. It was powerful and masculine. It laughed when it hurt me, and it enjoyed me fighting against it even though I was hopeless to do so.”
“How do you know it was powerful?” Cole asked softly, his blue gaze heating my insides. Of course, I shouldn’t be reacting to him in my condition—freaking incubus demons.
“I could feel it in the air. Its raw power was all around me, and I could sense it in its touch and presence. Everything about it was deadly and powerful. So why didn’t it kill me?” I whispered, asking what had been burning in my mind. “I think it carried me out of the woods, too. I didn’t make it back to my Jeep on my own. If I did, I don’t recall that happening. The creature wanted me alive, and that is terrifying considering the marking it left behind.”
“You never saw it?” Cole asked skeptically.
“No,” I confirmed. “I heard him, and I saw his blood on the ground when I shot him, which he let me do, showing me that he’s not afraid of our bullets. Silver didn’t slow him down, and neither did the iron nitrates in the metal jackets. I don’t know any creature that is immune to both. He just laughed and slammed into my body again. He wasn’t even fazed a little.”
“I knew a couple, but they’re not around anymore. Did you see anything before you lost consciousness?” Rhys asked, watching my face closely. “Is there anything else you can recall? Unfortunately, I can’t find anything on the cameras to help us search for your father, Xari. I need a starting point because we all understand what happens to the people who go against the enemies that we’ve collected over the years.”
“There were people; no, they were creatures. One had amber eyes and silver hair. He looked right at me, and then everything went haywire. I had a connection to him, Rhys. I actually felt him when we made eye contact.”
“Could he be the one that assaulted you in the woods?” Noah asked softly, tightening his hand over mine.