Chapter 167

Tessa’s POV

The scream was loud and incredibly high-pitched. It shook the entire building and almost made the air foggy. Though it was uncomfortable, it didn’t have the same effect as it had on the others. Mulligan and his officers dropped their weapons and tumbled to the ground.

They clutched their heads and screamed in agony as blood began to ooze from their ears.

Looking at the hostages, they too were clutching their ears and rolling on the ground in pure agony.

Ryan stared at me with amusement before he went to grab the guns and push them aside and out of the reach of the officers.

“Well, isn’t that interesting,” Ryan breathed a glimmer of humor on his face. “It seems her abilities don’t work on you. I wonder what makes you so special.”

The rogue that had his hold on me tightened his embrace and hissed in my ear, making my skin crawl. I had no idea what was happening and how Fae was doing this, but I noticed that the rogues had earplugs.

Ryan did too.

They anticipated that this was going to happen.

“Fae!” I yelled through the screams. “Stop! You are hurting them!!”

Ryan laughed bitterly as he took care of the last of the guns before turning to face me.

“Did you really think it was going to be that easy?” Ryan asked, staring at me like I was nothing more than a bug. “You walked right into my little setup.”

“Fae! Please!!” I tried to make myself heard beyond her screams, but the sound drowned out my words.

I felt a sharp pain in my lower back as the rogue jabbed his knee into me, forcing me to the ground and kneeling in front of Ryan.

“Didn’t you know your friend had a new ability?” Ryan cackled. “The moon goddess is certainly good. I didn’t even know about it until after I broke her out of the academy. I was planning on killing her and finishing what I started, but she became very useful to me.”

“Why are you doing this?!” I growled.

“Since they made me prisoner, I can’t get this god-forsaken cuff off my wrist and it’s blocking my abilities. I have none of my basic vampire abilities. I’m practically human. But thankfully I made a few friends on my way, and I have my darling Fae back. I should have made her a vampire a long time ago.”

I looked over at Mulligan who was practically passed out; his fingers twitched as he tried to overcome Fae’s power, but it was no use. Her vocals were too strong.

“You are so predictable,” Ryan laughed, shaking his head at me. “Now that I have you, Joseph will have no choice but to give us what we want. Not only is Fae my weapon, but she was also my plan to get you into this bank.”

Fae finally stopped screaming once everyone had completely passed out. So, I tried to get to her again.

“Fae! I know you don’t want this! I know you don’t want to hurt any—” My words were cut off as the rogue wrapped his hand around my mouth, muffling my sound.

This made the other rogues cackle in amusement.

Fae snapped a look at me; her eyes were completely black and when she looked at me, it was like she didn’t recognize me.

What had he done to her to make her like this? I saw other new vampires and they were nothing like this.

I looked at all the hostages who had also passed out, but since Fae stopped screaming, some of them were beginning to twitch and awaken.

“Just let them go,” I said through my teeth. “You have me now… just let the rest go.”

“What fun would that be?” Ryan asked. “It won’t long now before we are joined by your boyfriend.”

He then looked at Fae and added, “Find out what’s taking that human so long with our money.”

She nodded and went toward the back room.

“Fae!” I yelled to her, trying to gain her attention but to no prevail.

Tears burned my eyes as I stared at Mulligan and the others. They were twitching as well, so I knew they were alive and would be awake soon. But not soon enough.

“Give her to me,” Ryan ordered the rogue who kept his hand around me as I knelt to the ground.

He lifted me off the ground with force, pressing his fist deep into my stomach and making me squeal in pain.

“Can’t I just have one taste?” The rogue hissed into my ear.

Ryan grabbed me from the rogue, pulling me out of his clutches with such force that if he wasn’t holding onto me, I would have flown across the room. Then, he proceeded to wrap his arms around me firmly to keep me in place. My back to his front his breath against the nape of my neck.

“Mmmm,” Ryan murmured. “You smell delicious.”

He buried his face in the nape of my neck as I continued to struggle against his hold. Despite not having his vampire strength, he was still very strong.“The only one who gets a taste is me,” he breathed just before I felt the pinch of his fangs digging into the flesh of my neck.

“No!!” I hissed as I felt him slurping from me like I was a straw.

I felt the warmth of my blood pooling together and trickling down my neck as he drank from me.

Regret soon filled my chest.

This was all my fault. Mulligan and the others were suffering because of me. I put us all in danger.

“He’s not here,” Fae said, running back into the room. “He escaped.”

“Where are the rogues that went with him?” Ryan growled.

“Dead,” she answered.

Ryan growled again, furiously.

“But the safe is open,” she added.

This made Ryan smile as he glanced over his shoulder at nearby rogues.

“Get the money,” he ordered them.

They did as he said right away.

I was weak and found it difficult to see straight from the amount of blood he had drank, but looking up at Ryan as he held me close to him and kept me from falling to the ground, I saw that his mouth was covered in my blood.

I felt like I was about to get sick.

I heard the clattering of the metal vent on the ceiling as I crashed to the ground, drawing everybody’s attention as Joseph landed right beside it.

“Right on time,” Ryan said, his smile growing.

Just before I passed out completely, I heard the rogues howling in delight as they jumped into action and the fight began.

My body fell to the ground, and everything went dark.

….

When I woke up, I was on the gurney in the ambulance with a breathing mask over my face. I gasped as my eyes openend and I struggled to sit up. At first it was because I didn’t know where I was, but once I recognized the EMT that had patched up my arm, I calmed only slightly.

“What happened? Where’s Joseph?” I asked her.

“You are safe,” she breathed, trying to get me to lie back down.

It didn’t feel like were moving, so I struggled to break free from her. I had an IV in my arm filling me with a clear liquid and I felt a bandage on my neck. But I didn’t care. I needed to get ouot of here. I needed to get to Joseph.

The last thing I remembered was a fight breaking out. I had to see if he was okay.

“Tessa calm down,” she breathed, still trying to get me to settle down.

“You don’t understand” I said, tears burning in my eyes. “I have to get to him!”

I was able to rip the IV’s out of my arm and get myself free from the gurney. The EMT just sighed and allowed me to get the doors open. The night’s air flooded into the ambulance, and I saw that we were still outside the bank. The streets appeared to be even more crowded than they were before.

My heart pounded against my chest as I jumped out of the ambulance. I only paused when I saw that Mulligan and some of the men who accompanied us were in the nearby ambulances being treated. They were awake, much to my relief, but they looked exhausted.

“Chief,” I said rushing toward him.

He looked surprised to see me as he furrowed his brows together.

“Where’s Joseph? What happened?” I asked with tears brimming in my eyes.

He didn’t respond, but he looked at the building. My heart dropped deep into my stomach as I too turned to look at the building.

He was still in there.

He was still fighting.

I needed to get back in there and help them, but I was too disoreiented. Tears were burning in my eyes and my entire body shook with fear.

I heard Fae’s screaming and this time, it seemed to be much louder and it was effecting almost everybody outside the bank. But not as badly as it would if they were in her line of fire. I watched as the entire bank shook violently. Windoows were shattering and the ground aroouond it began to cave.

Soon, the bank began to collapse at the top and caved downward.

“Nooooo!!!” I screamed, making my legs work again as I ran toward the building, trying to see through my tear-filled eyes.

I didn’t get far though; I felt a strong pair of arms wrap around my waist.

“You are going to get yourself killed!” Jordan growled, trying to pull me away.

Jordan?

I thought he left. Why was he still here?

“Let me go!!” I cried. “Joseph is still in there!!”

Smoke began to surround the building as it continued to crumble to the ground. The screaming had stopped and heart shattered as the only sounds left were the sounds of me sobbing.

“Joseph is still in there!!!!” I yelled, trying to break free from Jordan’s hold.

Soon, I was feeling a sharp sting in my neck and for the second time this evening, I passed out.