Dragon's Second Chance Romance - Riley Storm Page 0,62

You could be the one to free their souls so that they may live a long, full life. One where they can be with God.”

“You can’t threaten me with random deaths. If you start that, the dragons will come after you en masse. They know who you are now. They know where to find you.”

The preacher smiled sadly. “No, they don’t. And we do not deal in death here. Only salvation, in one way or another. These people will be trading their salvation. They will be freed, in hopes that it might help you to see the light.”

“Who are you talking about?” she asked, her heart racing uncomfortably. The way the preacher spoke without so much as flinching about letting vampires randomly kill people was making her stomach churn.

“Oh, of course. Let me introduce you to the first two who will experience salvation.” The camera moved left.

“I believe his name is Chuck? Am I saying that right? Chuck Owens? And this is his wife, the lovely Wendy, right?”

The blood drained from Claire’s face as the camera focused on an image of her mother and father in a darkened room, lit only by the glow of a pair of candles nearby.

“Oh god,” she whispered. “Oh my god.”

The preacher smiled. “I told you, we needed you out of the way earlier. You will come to us willingly, Claire. As I said. Don’t delay. I will be texting you the location.”

She opened her mouth to reply, but he spoke again, cutting her off.

“Oh, and come alone. It would not end well if you didn’t. You have until midnight.”

Then, the screen went dark.

She looked up at Pietro in horror. “They have my parents,” she said softly. “They have my mom and dad.”

Pietro snarled.

“They won’t have them for long,” he vowed.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Claire

She reached for the keys at the same time he reached for her.

Ro’s hand closed over hers, stopping her. She glanced up at him, noting the consternation in his eyes. The blue-green orbs swirled with distress and fear for her.

“It’ll be okay,” she told him quietly as they faced each other, the space between them minimal.

“But what if it’s not?” he asked quietly. “If something happens to you, I…”

“It’s a risk we have to take,” she said quietly. “There’s no time for anything more. We’ve been over this, Ro.”

They had been over it. Many times, in fact. They’d argued, even yelled, but in the end, they both knew it was the best plan they could hope to come up with in the time that they had. Calls had been made, other support was organizing, but it couldn’t get here in time. Not to help her parents.

She was the only one who could do anything about it. Which is exactly what Pietro hated so much. He’d yet to say anything about it, but she understood his frustration wasn’t at her insistence that she do it, but the fact that he couldn’t do anything. He wanted to walk in and unleash hell on the vampires, a course of action she very much would like to see happen.

But not until her parents were safe. Which meant she was the one who had to act first.

“Not that,” he said. “Well, that, but that’s not what I was talking about this time.”

Claire frowned. She’d been expecting one last protest to the plan, but if he wasn’t doing that, then what was he talking about?

“If this doesn’t work,” he said quietly. “If we don’t succeed…”

“We will,” she said fiercely. “I believe it.”

“I know. But if we don’t,” he said, stressing the word with such worry that Claire wondered what was going on. “If we don’t, there’s something I…I need to say.”

Claire’s tensed. What did he have to tell her now, of all times? What hadn’t they discussed?

“Okay,” she said quietly, shifting nervously from side to side. “What is it, Ro? You know you can tell me anything.”

“Well, it’s just that,” he said. “I don’t know how you’re going to react to this.”

“I’m about to go walk into a vampire lair to try and rescue my parents from their clutches,” she said quietly. “What could you tell me that would possibly be worse than that?”

Pietro snorted. “I certainly hope this isn’t received worse than that. If it is, well, that wouldn’t make me feel very good at all.”

Claire’s eyebrows knit together. “What’s going on, Ro? What are you talking about?”

“If one of us doesn’t make it,” he said quietly. “I just want you to know that I, I really care about