Page 60 of Night Fall
Francois was the reason why Greg had almost lost Daniella, why Johanna was still attending therapy for the scars he’d left on her psyche. He was why she had to be guarded and hidden from the public or else she’d be hunted down and captured again, why her family had to hide in the Fae Realm. But worst of all was that Francois was the reason for Mya’s pain, for the healing they would need to work through together, for the days, years and centuries that had been stolen from them. They had no idea what other secrets he had hidden or who else he’d hurt since the time of being acting leader of The Council. But they would, very soon.
Finally, it was time for the meeting to begin. Greg, Erik, and Luke walked into the room, and Francois’s face fell. Erik noticed that the faces of several other members did as well, while others averted their eyes in mock shame.
Francois wasn’t working alone. There was more corruption here they still had to uncover, and from the way Greg’s stance had changed, he’d noticed it too.
“Council, I come before you with incredible news. As you can see, Erik is alive.” Greg’s eyes narrowed as he stared right at Francois. “Much as I had expected.”
Francois donned a mask of surprise as he stood. “My god,” he gasped. “I can’t believe it! Where have you been? Where did they find you, Erik? Why did you leave The Council?”
Erik’s jaw ticked, but he swallowed back his anger and smiled. “I was captured by blood witches.”
Several of The Council members gasped, then whispered to themselves.
“For all this time?” Francois asked.
“I thought they were all gone!” a member exclaimed.
“If they could capture him, they could capture us!” another member said, and several others murmured in agreement.
“They must be made our top priority!” Francois said.
Erik, Greg, and Luke all shared a look. Misdirection? The man was incredulous.
“I believe there are other matters that must be dealt with first,” Greg said.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of vampires, Gregori,” Francois hissed.
“I’ve had enough of this, shut up,” Luke barked.
Francois drew back. “How dare you—”
Greg pushed a button and the projection screen behind them came to life.
“Oh, we dare,” Greg said bitterly. “Just like you dared to be the mastermind behind this entire war, Francois!”
Greg opened the bundle of documents and they spread across the screen, displaying all of Francois’s crimes. The man’s eyes grew wide, his jaw falling open in horror.
Then he ran.
Francois reached the door and threw it open, only to come face to face with Mya. She grabbed him by his neck, hoisted him into the air and slammed him onto the ground. Then she buried her knee against his throat and growled, “You’re not going anywhere.”
The Council guards arrived a moment later and took Francois away. Erik and Mya shared a look of adoration and love before she slipped back out the door.
Greg smirked. “Now, I believe there are several orders of business we need to attend to.”
The meeting ended with Erik and Greg reinstated as members of The Council, and Greg reclaiming the role of leader. Their next order of business was to find out everything Francois had done. They raided his office and sent battle officers to his home. Once they had their hands on every piece of evidence they could find, Erik, Greg, and Luke took Francois to a secret location and tortured him for hours.
It didn’t take much to get him to reveal all the things he’d done and the people he’d worked with, including some of guards and council members, just as they suspected. Then Erik had gotten the pleasure of killing him, slowly.
The evening was both chaotic and cathartic. It had been a long time since Erik had gotten the opportunity to work with Greg and Luke, and at moments it brought him back to the past. He was proud of the men he’d spent so much of his life with. He was especially proud of who they’d become and how they’d gone on to grow without him, and he felt honored to be able to share a space in their lives once more.
They each changed into a new pair of clothes, and Erik burned their old ones along with Francois’s body before they left and made their way to Greg’s car.
“It’s been a … wild couple of days,” Luke said, sliding into the back seat.
“It has been, but at least now everything is as it should be.” Greg’s eyes flickered to Erik’s as he turned on the ignition. “Now, let’s go home.”
An idea formed in Erik’s mind at Greg’s words. “Can we stop off somewhere first? There’s something I need to check.”
