Grim still looked on the verge of tearing me into itty bitty pieces. To show him I wasn’t afraid, I glared right back. But I was scared. I was terrified. I didn’t know what this life, or unlife, was. I had no damn footing, and I felt whiplash from trying to keep up with everything, while continually pulling away the numerous hands that kept wrapping around my throat. Not to mention, without blood I was as helpless as a baby, and I despised my dependency.
Everything was all messed up. Whatever my life had been before, it had to be better than this. Screw what Grim said. I’d learn to bake and open up a shop that operated only at night, of course. As long as I was kicking, I’d make plans and live on my terms.
“Ms. West, if you would be so kind as to sit over there.” Timothy directed her to the opposite corner of the room.
Miranda squared off her stance, despite holding onto her neck with one hand while her broken arm dangled at an awkward angle. “I don’t know how, but she just saved my life, not once but twice. I will not let him hurt her.”
She must have missed what Grim did to Bradley Hansen. Or maybe it was like the reaper dogs, and she didn’t see him rip that guy’s soul out like I had. It had probably appeared as though Bradley collapsed.
“Yes, but if you continue to stand close to her with your open wounds, you could only cause more problems,” Timothy pointed out.
Not backing down from our glaring match, I spelled it out for Grim. “I’m not the master. I don’t know what’s happening. Yes, I fought the master for dominance over that broken-nosed behemoth, but if you hadn’t pushed big boy out the door, I might not have won the fight. Believe me, I don’t want that creep inside my head, trying to push me around anymore.”
The glow ratcheted back from his eyes, leaving them a molten brown. My gaze continually dropped to the fangs that remained. They weren’t like my sharp vampire incisors. His were thicker, more menacing. My fangs pierced, where his teeth would mangle and tear like an animal’s.
When he spoke again in a rough tone, the hairs on the back of my neck rose. “The only way you could have such power is because you have received blood from the first.”
Some of my haughtiness drained from me. “What?”
He put his hand on the arms of the chair, leaning so close I could feel his hot breath and was instantly surrounded by his scent. My body almost surged forward to meet his heat. I wanted to wrap myself up in it, in him.
“You have taken blood from the Original. The very first sekhor. You say you don’t remember who you were, and maybe I say you’ve been lying this whole time. You’ve been manipulating me.”
“Into doing what?” I shot back, finding my fight. I wasn’t going to sit here and be accused of something I didn’t do. “How could a little vampire possibly manipulate Death into doing anything? And what would I want from you?”
I felt more than saw Timothy shift. Grim’s expression emptied as if worried I would read something in his face. They both knew something I didn’t. “As far as I’ve seen, all you need to do is rip off vampire heads like screw caps and it’s no longer a problem. So why would I bother to come to you? Why would I work so hard to find out who I was? Why would I ask Miranda for her help only to have her killed before I could get the information I needed?”
Grim straightened, leaving the air cold and empty where he’d just been. Straightening his lapels, his eyes returned to amber brown. But he closed his mouth, so I didn’t know if all of him had returned to normal.
“Yes, there is the case where Ms. West broke into my penthouse. We’ve yet to address that, haven’t we?” Grim said in an icy tone.
I stood up. “You knew about that?”
Then I realized he also knew the master had been controlling the sekhors. When I mentioned Bruiser’s sudden lobotomy, Grim had changed the subject. Not because he wasn’t interested, but because he already knew how powerful the master vampire was. Damn it, how had I missed that?
Timothy rolled his eyes with a slight, delicate snort. “You escaped once, you didn’t think we would watch you?”
I crossed my arms. “I’m surprised I didn’t get a spanking for that one. You seem to want to punish me for everything else.”
Grim’s head swiveled around, another flicker of gold ignited in his eyes. I dropped my arms. Okay, maybe not a good time to piss him off any further. But I was cold, hungry, and exhausted after using my woo-woo mind-control magic.
“Well, why don’t we see what Ms. West has dug up, shall we?” he said.
I didn’t know if it was his tone that skated near major danger or if it was something she saw in his face, but tough-as-nails Miranda, who rarely backed down from a fight, took a step back.
22
At first, I’d been against investigating Vivien’s past, but now I could see it was unavoidable. Perhaps I should have looked into her history the moment I decided to use her as bait. Discover why the master vampire wanted her so badly.
Then why didn’t you, fool?my internal voice berated me.Because you didn’t want to get any closer to this sekhor than you have to? Because you already feel drawn to her and don’t need cause to bond with her anymore?
I strode behind Miranda, who moved at a fast clip considering what she’d just been through. Timothy called for a doctor that would meet us at Camelot, the neighboring hotel, to see to her wounds, but we couldn’t wait any longer for information. Timothy had procured a bandage for Miranda’s neck, and made a makeshift sling out of a shirt he grabbed from one of our gift shops. Then my aide peeled off, with the assurance he would rejoin us shortly.
I refused to let go of Vivien, holding her arm with bruising force, though she didn’t let on that my grip bothered her. She set her jaw and hadn’t looked at me since we’d left the high-roller room. Timothy had provided a pair of sunglasses to hide her red eyes and she struggled to keep up. The thirst was consuming her.
If she thought she could make me feel guilty for accusing her of being the master vampire, she was mistaken. I owed her nothing, certainly not trust.
I was angry. Angry with myself for not paying better attention. I was also angry with Vivien for getting Ms. West mixed up in this matter. It didn’t help that Bradley had forced me to take extreme measures with him. I’d reaped him before his time, one of the most excruciating punishments I was capable of. But he’d forced my hand.
