Shadows of Discovery by Brenda K. Davies
Chapter Eighteen
Cole studiedthe Victorian-style manor as Torigon trotted up to it. Lexi’s home showed signs of wear and tear in its chipped paint and sagging shutters. But the war and the lack of help she had to run it had taken its toll on the place. In contrast, this place remained pristine.
He didn’t think it was because Malakai was doing the work himself. No, that asshole wouldn’t know how to lift a hammer, never mind how to put a nail into wood. This place looked good because he had more money, power, and the ability to wield it more than Lexi did.
He’d told Brokk he was coming here, but not Lexi. She was anxious enough about the trials without adding this to it. However, he was not leaving for the trials without trying to find Malakai first.
If he was here, Cole would kill him, and Lexi would never have to worry about him again. He’d also feel a lot better about leaving her in the human realm if the vampire was dead.
He rode by the stables, but there were no animals in them. With their ability to transport, he didn’t know many vampires who consistently rode enough to own horses.
He was almost to the front door before he pulled Torigon to a stop and dismounted. Torigon’s ears twitched as he looked around before lowering his head to munch on the grass. Cole hoped he tore giant chunks out of the well-manicured lawn.
He studied the yard for a sign a vamp was near, but only the trilling birds and chattering squirrels disturbed the day. Certain Malakai wasn’t hiding somewhere nearby, Cole ascended the stairs to the farmers’ porch wrapping around the house.
If he was here, Malakai would see him coming, and he didn’t care. He pounded the solid oak door and listened as the hollow thuds echoed throughout the home. He waited a second before banging on the door again.
From somewhere inside, the patter of footsteps approached the door. They were too light to be Malakai’s, and he wasn’t surprised when a thin, brunette woman opened the door a few seconds later.
She held a rag in her hand as she peered up at him from sunken eyes surrounded by dark shadows. The bites on her neck indicated she was here for more than cleaning. Judging by her too-thin frame and sunken cheeks, Malakai was taking too much.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“Is Malakai here?”
“No.”
When she started to close the door, he held his hand out to stop her. He pitied this poor, abused human, but nothing would deter him.
“Are you sure?” he demanded.
“He hasn’t been here in days.”
“Do you mind if I come in and look around?”
She started to reply, but Cole nudged the door open and slipped inside.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she whispered as he strode into the foyer and stopped before the sweeping staircase.
Malakai’s coppery scent, tinged with hints of sandalwood, hung heavily on the air, but it was his home. The staleness of the aroma led him to believe the woman was telling the truth. Malakai hadn’t been here in a while.
Still, he would check every inch of this place before leaving. The woman trailed behind him as he climbed the stairs. He went through every room on the second floor, searched all the cabinets and closets before returning to the first floor.
If the woman wasn’t here, he would have torn the place apart to make sure Malakai knew he’d been here. But the woman would only clean it up, and he wasn’t going to make her life more difficult than it already was.
“He’s really not here,” she whispered as she trailed him into the kitchen. “I haven’t seen him in days.”
“Was he injured the last time you saw him?”
“He can be injured?” she breathed as she gazed at him with hope-filled eyes.
“Yes.”
“No, he was perfectly fine the last time I saw him.”
So, he hadn’t returned home since their fight. Where would he have gone?
Cole pondered this as he studied the kitchen, but he doubted the piece of shit had any friends, and if he did, Cole didn’t know them. Malakai had to be somewhere he believed safer than his home. Unfortunately, Cole didn’t have time to figure out where.
“You should leave here,” he said to the woman as she trailed him back through the home.
“I have nowhere else to go.”
“There are plenty of other places to go. It’s a big world.”
He didn’t wait to hear her reply before he walked out the front door and strode down the steps. The lycan part of him protested against leaving this realm without destroying Malakai first, but with no way of knowing where the vamp went, there was little he could do, and he had to return to the Gloaming for the trials.
Once in the Gloaming, he would send word to Brokk to tell him he hadn’t located Malakai.
Cole mounted Torigon and turned him in the direction of the Gloaming portal. It was time to become a king.