“What do you care about one insignificant vampire? You can always make more to replace her if she gets a little broken.”
I was betting he was talking about me. His assessment wasn’t too far off the mark. Right now I did feel a little broken. Like I should lay my head back down and take a nap for the next hundred years. Oh right, my head was already down and my eyes closed.
I blinked one eye. The other refused to open. Pain radiated from it. Memory returned on the heels of the pain. That’s right, he’d ordered me to give him my eye, and I had done it. Like I was a robot fulfilling an order.
“I have plans for that insignificant vampire.” Liam’s voice was calm but had a deadly undertow. The sorcerer would be wise to step carefully.
“I don’t care about your plans, vampire.”
Guess he wasn’t all about being wise. He probably felt secure now that he had access to his power again.
Liam moved, his motions a blur I couldn’t track. One second he was on one side of the room and the next he had the sorcerer by the shirt and was yanking him up to meet a pair of lethally sharp fangs.
Liam buried his fangs in Peter’s throat. Peter struggled for all of two seconds before his arms fell limply to his side.
I levered myself up to standing, almost falling to the floor. The world was topsy-turvy, the floor tilting up to try to meet me. Whoa, guess I wasn’t feeling up to running yet.
“Liam,” I said, or at least tried to say. My throat was parched. His name came out in a croak.
Peter’s blood perfumed the air, smelling like a rainstorm after a long summer’s draught. My fangs slid down.
I held a hand up to my forehead, wishing the world would stop spinning. For the smell of blood to go away. It was driving me mad.
“Liam.” That was better. I didn’t sound like myself yet, but at least I could form words.
Liam continued to drink Peter down like a man size big gulp.
“Liam, stop.” This time I managed to put a bit of force behind my voice.
Liam raised his face, blood around his mouth and trickling down his chin. His eyes looked electric blue and his face had an alien hunger in it.
My heart fluttered. In my current state, I wouldn’t be able to offer even a token resistance if he attacked.
“That’s enough. I need him alive,” I said. My voice was breathier than I’d like. I sounded like I might collapse at any moment, but the tone was confident enough.
He threw the sorcerer, who sailed across the room and landed limply on the stone floor.
“Stay,” Liam commanded.
Peter lay like a ragdoll.
Liam advanced on me and it was only because I was pretty sure if I tried to run I would fall flat on my face that I remained in place. This wasn’t the man I’d bantered with or needled simply because I could. This was the enforcer and he would roll right on over me if I got in his way.
He looked coldly dangerous, as if he was going to start sprouting icicles from his eyeballs at any moment.
I jerked when his hand slid around my neck and turned my face so he could get a better look at the missing eye. For someone so furious, his touch was surprisingly gentle.
If anything his face got even colder, approaching subzero temperatures. I was suddenly glad I couldn’t see the wound. I probably would have thrown up.
“It’s the newest style, I hear.” It was a lame joke, but sometimes laughter is the only way you keep yourself together. It’s why soldiers display such a dark humor. It’s a coping mechanism, one that keeps us sane in insane conditions. This situation qualified.
“I do not believe it is one that will stick around,” Liam said.
I snorted. He’d cracked a joke. Perhaps he wasn’t a complete asshole after all.
There was a sound to our left. I jerked, trying to turn my head so I could see. Liam’s grip didn’t let my face budge.
“Holy shit, what did you do to yourself?” Nathan swore.
