The queen moves closer, fast enough I release a reflexive hiss as her hand lands on my chest. “Your heart does beat.” Her eyes widen. “And you are warm to the touch.”
“Yeah.” I gently grab her wrist and remove her frigid hands from me.
“Is it true you ride shadows?”
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
I reach out to a shadow behind the sofa and coax it to merge with mine. The moment they touch, I break apart and travel through a web of darkness,reforming on the other end of the room. The queen turns her head to look at me, and with a gentle motion of my fingers, I send another shadow, thin and razor sharp, whipping around her to slice across her throat. It's just enough pressure to sting but not break the skin.
As expected, she jerks away from the curl of darkness.
It's only a taste of what I can do, and I hope it unsettles her. Fear is something all vampires understand, and I prefer she fear me. Nothing good can come from garnering her interest in any other way.
“Fascinating,” she says through her teeth. A breath later, she’s beside me again, eyes flashing with a sort of greedy hunger. “And what about the reports that your blood can sustain a vampire? That you can subsist on vampire blood?”
I hate that look in her eye. Maybe I’ve approached this all wrong. I wanted to scare her, but the way she’s examining me is like a warlord inspecting a weapon. I play dumb. “I don’t know anything about that.”
She tilts her head. “Hmmm. You don’t know if that conjecture is true or not?”
“I’ve never fed from a vampire nor been fed upon.” I move away from her. “And I have no reason to test the theory.”
“I’m giving you a reason,” she snaps, eyes locked on my neck.
“No.”
“You would not deny your queen.” She snatches my wrist in an iron grip. I could break free, but her wrath is something I don’t wish to inspire. Not here.
“No,” I repeat.
“No. Youwillnotdeny a direct command from your queen.”
“Are you giving that command?”
She draws my wrist to her mouth. “I am.” Before I can say another word, she strikes, and I’m reminded of why I only use willing donors at Marabella’s. The feel of her fangs in my skin is a violation. My shadows slip around her neck like a noose and tighten.
“I can’t control it, my queen,” I warn, although, in truth, it is my temper I can’t control. The shadows I can stop at any time. She lifts her mouth from my wrist, and the darkness releases her. I wrench my arm away before she can lick the wound closed and press my opposite palm to it instead. Blood dribbles on the marble floor. “My apologies. That is the first time anyone has attempted to feed on me. It’s unpleasant, and it seems I cannot control the reaction of my shadows.”
She runs a thumb across her bottom lip. “With practice.”
I shake my head.
But she’s watching me now as if I’m a prize she’s desperate to win. “How many Gowdie witches would have to die to free you from the candle’s curse?”
“All of them, and there are hundreds,” I say quickly. “Powerful witches with magic capable of controlling vampires like puppets. There’s a reason they were able to curse me, Valeska.”
“Hmm. I’ve heard.” She places a hand on her stomach, her covetous gaze scraping over me once more, and landing on my healing wrist. “What a shame. You are delicious. A consort like you would be the ultimate weapon.”
Dark ice fills my veins, and every molecule in my body urges me to leave that room. Never before have I been thankful for the Gowdie curse, but I am now. “Pity, it can never be,” I say dryly. “Now, Ido have to go. I feel the candle’s draw even now, and the sun has set. I can’t delay.” I make a show of the shadows circling me.
“Pity.” She repeats with a sneer. “You are excused, shade.”
I twist into shadow and escape her presence, praying that she’ll choose a consort quickly and forget I ever existed.
19
Bad Witches Club
