When the light appeared, Claude burst from concealment behind an overturned sofa. He made a desperate bid for the door, but Skender intercepted him in a blur.
The two grappled viciously before Skender managed to hurl the vampire away. Claude rolled to his feet, fangs bared and bloody.
“Come to finish what you started, Alpha?” His voice dripped contempt even as his eyes darted for an escape. “I won’t make it easy for you.”
Fane’s answering smile was cold. “I’m counting on it.”
With a snarl, Claude charged straight for him. Fane stood motionless, allowing Claude’s charge to build. Inches away, he spun, the fae blade singing as it sliced across Claude’s torso.
Howling, the vamp staggered but kept coming. Dillon and Nick rammed him from either side, sending him careening into Gerrick’s waiting blade.
The combined assault knocked Claude to his knees, dark blood pooling beneath him. Still, he glared up at Fane with wild hatred.
“End it and be done, dog,” he rasped wetly.
“Your life is forfeit. But I’m not ready for you to be dead yet,” Fane told him coolly. “You have information we need. We can get it the easy way, or…” He glanced at Tenia. “She can go in and take what we need. I have a feeling it won’t be pleasant.”
Claude spat viscous blood. “I may not like our vampire king, but I won’t willingly betray him.”
“The hard way it is.” Fane stepped to the side.
Tenia came forward and placed her hands on either side of Claude’s head. He hissed at her, then yelped.
“Hissing earns you a zap,” Tenia warned him. “Do it again, and I’ll make your death slow as your brain melts and oozes out of your ears.”
“Dude, can you really do that?” Myanin whispered from the right side of Fane.
“Yes,” Tenia answered her friend, keeping her focus on Claude. “Maybe that will deter you from giving me crap about your damn cotton candy obsession.”
“I make no promises.” Myanin huffed.
“Why did you leave Cain in the first place?” Tenia asked the vampire. “If you could break my hold, why would you need to leave the safety of his stronghold?”
Tenia waited and then repeated the question. The vampire stared back at her with unmistakable hate.
“I want no part of Cain’s plan,” Claude finally answered through gritted teeth. He tried to clench them tighter, trying to keep from talking, no doubt. “Not all the vampires care about coming out of the shadows. We just want to be left alone. But he’s decided we need more. In reality, all he’s going to do is get a bunch of us killed for his own mission.”
“He’s not wrong,” Myanin offered. “Lots of wars could have been prevented if soldiers had understood they were simply pawns to the people they called leaders.”
“Where are you planning to go?”
Claude’s face turned a bright red as he stared daggers at Tenia. “There are underground cities of vamps that Cain doesn’t know about. I’m headed to one of the entrances.”
“Oneof the entrances?” Fane cocked his head to the side with narrowed, bright blue eyes.
“How many entrances are there?” Tenia asked.
“Too many for you to attempt to guard,” Claude answered, satisfaction filling his tone.
Tenia’s brow rose. “But these vampires in the underground don’t want any part of Cain’s world vision?”
“No.” Claude spat out. “We’re not stupid. We know powerful supernatural species have joined forces. We don’t stand a chance against you,” he snarled. “Cain was first blinded by greed, but now he is blinded by that scientist that he’s decided is his destined mate. He thinks she can save him, that she can offer him some sort of absolution with the Great Luna.” Claude laughed. “The fool. As if the Great Luna would pardon someone who has murdered thousands—not hundreds but thousands— of people in the course of his life.” Claude laughed even harder. “He even thinks Alice will ignore his past. I think drinking her healer blood has somehow given him a conscience.”
“Is there anything else of importance we need to know?” Tenia asked Claude.
The vampire returned her stare, his eyes sort of roaming over her face. “If Cain succeeds in making those hybrids, he will be their sire. Which means if he dies, they all die. It also means they will do anything he says because of the sire bond. If you don’t want a bunch of innocent dormants dead, you might want to kill himbeforehe changes them. Of course”—Claude chuckled—”he’s already sired one, so she will die when you kill him, and since she’s newly mated, her male will die with her. Guess you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Welcome to what it’s like to be a vampire.” He continued to laugh, the sound maniacal and wicked.
Tenia looked up at Fane, and he gave a nod. It was time to end the vampire’s life. She pulled the fae blade from Claude’s body only to slam it right back into his chest, into his heart.
