Yet, Stefan was weak. He was dying from some unknown disease, and his son was a mere child, nowhere near old enough for the responsibility that came with inheriting the Blood Throne. A snarl curled my top lip. I needed to stave off this current threat to me and the Blood Throne until the time was right. Just as I had done for centuries. And I needed to keep Sorcha and Shane safe. A wave of protectiveness nearly knocked me off my feet. Not even my intertwined past with the vampire king would protect Stefan if he laid a finger on my wolf and my—I swallowed hard, human.
I shook my head as my fangs descended and my fingernails scored holes in my palms. What the fuck was happening to me? I didn’t do emotions. Yet, I couldn’t shove Shane and Sorcha from my brain. I stopped trying and tilted my head to study Victor. It would be so easy to end him. So satisfying. My smile was terrifying enough that even Victor, the arrogant wanker that he was, tried to back away from me. It was pointless, especially when he was chained to my ceiling. I took a step forward, my fangs aching to rip through his muscle and bone….
A weight on my shoulder registered. Dav.
“Not yet.”
Dav was the only one I’d allow to stop me when I was about to rip my enemy’s throat out. His voice was one I’d listened to for so many years that I’d never ignore it. It was one I also found myself needing more frequently. I’d been in control of my baser needs for countless centuries, well before I’d fought the Ottomans to put Stefan on the throne.Lately, though, the desire to shed blood to protect what was mine came more frequently.
I took a deep breath. They were both fine and would heal from their injuries. Shane was unlike any fledgling I’d ever met, and far stronger than I’d expected. Not just physically. Hishealing ability was off the charts. I’d seen the knives sticking out of his chest, the stab wounds from Elliot, and the bullet wounds that almost healed before I’d managed to feed him. Yet, the way he made me feel things, want things that I’d managed to live without for so many years, scared me. And then there was Sorcha. She’d paid the price today for being part of my household. I’d never allowed a human to live under my roof. I didn’t take blood slaves or human pets. I never had. The practice was an ancient one among Original vampires, but I didn’t partake in it. Human blood wasn’t powerful enough to replenish me long-term. It had to be vampire blood, ideally from an Original bloodline. I’d used Mades in the distant past, but only when I was desperate and had no other choice. Especially now that sustenance was easier to control and stockpile in this technological age.
Davlov always made sure the giant refrigerators down in the dungeons were loaded with the blood of my men, not just for me but for all of us. And being old, I didn’t need to feed often. Shane had just caught me off guard. He’d needed more blood than any Original-born vampire going through their bloodlust. For an Original, it was the transformation from a weak human-like physicality to a fully fledged vampire with supernatural strength, healing, and immortality. For Shane, his shifter genes had been at war with the vampire genes I’d used to save his life. I snarled. My blood had fought for supremacy in his body—and won. He was mine now, and always would be…
I shook the possessiveness off and took a step away from my prisoner, forcing my darker side away. Such feelings were useless and would become a problem if I let them take hold. He couldn’t become my obsession. Just as Sorcha couldn’t. She was more than a human. I’d known it the moment I’d laid eyes on her in Nikolai’s home. Deep in my soul, I knew they belonged to me. Yet they had a greater purpose, one that couldn’t be ignored. Nomatter if every instinct I had was to protect them, I had to walk the path the fates had planned for me. And so did they.
Tilting my head,I unblinkingly contemplated Victor, the Made whose continued existence put the lives of my…my what? Friends? Lovers? Guests? Prisoners? None of those words described what they were or what they would become to me. But now wasn’t the time to think about that. All that mattered was that his existence put Sor and Shane at risk. Even so, I couldn’t kill him, he knew too much, and it was clear that inflicting pain was not a torture that would work.
“Elliot?”
“Yes, Sir?”
“I believe our guest would benefit from some time in the cage.”
Victor sneered, his eyes flitting from me to Elliot. It was the look of utter disgust in his eyes as he glared at his stepson that made this explanation so sweet. As Dav’s mate, Elliot was an important part of my life. I could count on one hand the people I considered my family, and he was one of them. The way Victor had manipulated and treated him from childhood made my blood boil.
Elliot steadily held Victor’s sneering gaze, no longer the nervous, brainwashed victim of his power. “It would be my pleasure to throw him in there and listen to his screams.”
Victor snarled. But no matter the outward show of his defiance, anxiety leaked from his pores, the stench sour.
My smirk was as cold and terrifying as I could make it. “Yes, Victor, it is absolutely as horrific and agonising as you fear. You will be locked in a cage that gives you barely enough room to sit,even with your head bowed. There are spikes on all sides and above, so you cannot straighten. Your muscles will cramp and become far more painful than any injury I can subject you to. As you become undernourished and exhausted, you will impale yourself on the silver, razor-sharp tips every time you pass out. They will slow your healing, and the weaker you become, the more you will impale yourself. You will bleed, and you will crave blood. Your hunger will eventually drive you insane. You will start to gnaw at your own body in the belief it will keep you alive. It will not. You are immortal, yet you are not an Original. Your ability to stay alive without blood is nonexistent. You will die, and it will be in excruciating agony. My enemies often beg for death, but I will not allow it until I feel you have suffered enough for your crimes against me, the vampire king, his bloodline, and, of course, Elliot. However, if you give me the identity of the ones who are heading this treasonous war, I will allow you to die. So make your choice, Mr Hamilton.”
His throat bobbed even as he sneered. I held in a sigh. They always fought in a mistaken belief that they’d somehow be able to survive.
“Victor, do not fight this, you know I am far older than you, and as such, I have learnt infinite patience, especially with the types of torture I can inflict.”
Stepping a mere arm’s length away, I contemplated Victor’s tight features and flared nostrils. There was another way that would have been a lot quicker in attaining the information I required. I hadn’t wanted to try it, not when it was abhorrent to allow the rotten taste of his blood to enter my mouth. Especially when all I wanted was the sweetness of Shane’s—fuck me—and Sorcha’s blood on my tongue. I pushed aside the bolt of lust that came with thoughts of them upstairs in bed together. My attention needed to be focused on my goal. The world needed stability, and the only way to achieve it was to root out the Madeswho were perpetuating this war. To do that, I needed to find out who was pulling the strings. It had to be someone ancient and powerful. That reduced the potential pool of suspects, but I had no evidence, only suspicions. I needed more spies to infiltrate each coven, but, so far, that had proved difficult and time-consuming. Just as I’d been infiltrated over the years, so too were my spies doing the same. However, none had managed to penetrate the upper echelons of the Made hierarchy. Yet.
It was time to up my game and approach this war with a different mindset. Pushing away my disgust, I stepped closer to Victor. His eyes narrowed, his nostrils flaring as I slid a hand around the back of his neck. On humans and lesser supernaturals, I could easily use my unique brand of compulsion to enter their thoughts and memories simply with the venom I’d been gifted at birth. With a more powerful supernatural, it necessitated lowering their inhibitions with a fog of pleasure first.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Victor’s hiss and elongated fangs were as effective at keeping me at bay as a puppy’s yap against a lion.
I fisted his hair and yanked his head sideways, keeping the revulsion at being this close to him off my face.
“Count? Perhaps I should do this?”
Trust Dav. He knew me well enough to understand that this was the last thing I wanted to do. But it was necessary. I wouldn’t force this on my second, no matter that he was almost as good at compulsion as I was. For Elliot, seeing his stepfather turned on by Dav’s feeding would hurt too much. I wouldn’t do it to either of them.
I shook my head. Dav nodded and stepped away, both of us completely unaffected by the vitriol escaping Victor’s poisonous mouth. Dav’s face remained icy, though his eyes were a storm of emotion. He didn’t want this for me as much as I didn’twant it for him, but I needed to see this vermin’s thoughts and memories. I gripped Victor’s hair harder. His fangs wouldn’t be enough to harm me, but I chose who tasted my blood, and it would never be him.
“I’ll be fine here. You go and see what lies in that one’s mind. It will be easy for you, especially as his fear and pain make him weak. Though I doubt the information from someone of such low rank will be useful.” I paused and met Elliot’s steady stare before looking back at Dav. “Make sure your mate understands and agrees before you do it.”
Dav’s throat worked, but he nodded, then turned away, gently steering Elliot with him.
Keeping a hold of Victor’s hair so his neck was stretched to one side, I turned my attention fully on him. He snorted and started laughing.
“You think to read me? You can’t, you arrogant son-of-a-bitch.”
I cocked my head and studied him. There was conviction in his words. He truly believed them. “Hm, well, there’s only one way to find out.” I took my time moving behind him, enjoying the telltale signs of his increasing fear. Knowing there was an immediate threat and you were helpless to stop it, while not knowing when it would strike, only that it would, was one of the worst kinds.
