Nadi would have remarked at how callous the act was. But, in fact, it was remarkably similar to the way she’d disposed of Raziel’s other bodyguard, Hank, not even thirty-six hours ago.
Sure. Fine. Monica had been innocent. Hank had been a willing accomplice of a vampiric mass murderer. There were differences. But a life was a life.
There was acrunchas the body hit what sounded like a pile of dried sticks at the bottom of the hole.But Nadi knew it wasn’t kindling Monica had broken upon landing. It was a pile of her predecessors.
Raziel was still in a dark mood, his muscles tense as he went back to the pulley that would lower the stone slab back over the crypt.
Nadi stayed where she was to watch, the only mourner at a sad excuse for a funeral.
The slab fell into place with a resounding thud that resonated through the room, shaking loose some plaster from one of the walls.
As the dust settled, Nadi broke the silence. “You want to…what? Reclaim Runne in the name of vampires?” She couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Murder your family and raise an army and run this world therightway?”
Raziel’s red eyes glinted in the moonlight. He shifted his gun to his other hand, still pointed at her, as he took a step toward her. “Yes.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You’re going to fail, you know. You’re going to die. And even if you don’t, even if you kill your family, you won’t win in a war againstnature.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” He smirked, taking another slow, careful step toward her. His expensive shoes clicked on thestone floor, echoing between his words. “Because this world has never seen anything like me.”
He really was serious.
Deathly serious.
“And now, my dear sweet murderer…you have a very important decision to make.”
“You want me to swear I’ll help you?”
The laugh that left him was soft. “No.” With one long stride, he nearly closed the distance between them, forcing her to step back. “You would simply lie. You would even likely believe it. You would do anything to have another chance to kill me, to kill my family.” Another step, and she was forced up the stairs toward the altar.
“Then what?” Before she realized what he’d done, she’d backed up the stairs and into the altar, bumping into it. “If my words can’t convince you, I don’t know wh?—”
He was fast. Damn vampires. In a blink, he closed the distance between them. Her breath hitched as he was suddenly right there, the gun pressed up underneath her jaw, silencing her, tilting her head back.
The darkness in his eyes wasn’t violence. It wasn’t rage. It waslust.Pure hunger as he watched her with those crimson eyes of his. He pressed the length of his thigh against hers, pinning her to the cold stone of the altar.
She bit back every part of her that wanted to moan at the sensation. At the feeling of the power in him. It should be revolting. She shouldhatethis. Being at his mercy.
“Look at you…my beautiful little fae. My assassin. My killer in the dark. Look at all thathatred,all that uncertainty in your eyes—and what eyes they are. Like cut gems, sparkling in the night…” His voice was dusky and deep as he tilted her head farther back with the gun. Pressing his other hand to the stone beside hers, he leaned in to kiss her throat, slowly, as if savoringthe taste. “I need you to answer something truthfully, Nadi. I need you to look me in the eyes and vow to me that you aren’t lying.”
“And if I can’t…?”
“Then you and I are done here.” He scraped his fangs against her skin, causing her to jolt.
Her head reeled.Fuck.Her body felt like it was on fire. She wanted him.Neededhim. Damn him to the pits.
“You’ll kill me.”
“No. You leave here alive. Return to the Wild, to the shadows, return to hunting me and my family. I don’t care—I’ll let you disappear.” He slid his free hand, very lightly, up the bare skin of her arm. It gave her goosebumps. The tenderness of it in sharp contrast to the press of the muzzle of the gun up underneath her chin.
It made her want to scream.
“I want to make sure you understand what’s at stake here first, my perfect little creature.” He tilted his head to the side slightly as he studied her features. “I am going to ask you a yes or no question. You can answer truthfully…or you can choose not to answer.”
When she stayed silent, staring up into his ruby eyes, he continued. “But if you refuse to answer…” His anger turned into something wicked. Something dangerous as his lips turned up in a vicious, hungry grin. “I willforcea response out of you. And trust me…I can be”—his hand tilted her head just slightly farther back with the gun—“very convincing…”
That should have terrified her. Absolutely horrified her. But her heart was racing with something that wasn’t fear. No, it was something far more dangerous for her than that—because she could handlefear. No, it was desire. And if he hadn’t pressed her up against the altar, her damn knees would probably have given out.
What in the moons waswrongwith her?
