a better chance of staying alive if I didn’t have to constantly resist the urge to sever Peyton’s head.
“She looks used up,” I replied, hating the words as they came out of my mouth. But I couldn’t let him know his plan was working. If I was going to get myself and Desmond—and maybe this girl—out of here alive, I needed to be cold. I needed to deaden myself to feeling.
I could do that.
He frowned.
There’d been a time when Peyton had manipulated my do-gooder nature by proving to me I couldn’t truly save anyone. He found a girl who I’d rescued and turned her into a vampire, showing me my limitations. That girl had gone on to become one of my best friends, and now she was dead.
And soon he would be too.
“She’s human,” he goaded.
“I can smell that for myself, thanks.”
“There’s something different about you.” He stopped in the middle of the room and turned to address me directly. “Where is the bad bitch I know, hmm?”
“Gimme a smile, Alexandre. Show me those pretty teeth of yours.” I narrowed my eyes at him and let a sick grin fix itself on my lips when his bravado faltered. “Oh, sorry, I mean tooth.”
“The bitch is still in there, then. Good. I’d hate to cut you open and go looking for her for nothing.”
And there they were. The magic words that destroyed any hope in hell I had of getting through this without flinching. My grin vanished, and my hand lifted for the sword before I remembered my plan and stopped myself. Cut you open.
I’d known Peyton had been partially responsible for what The Doctor had done. I’d known he had a hand in the whole thing, but I’d never been totally sure if he’d orchestrated it or just given the mad scientist a nudge in the right direction. But as far as carefully chosen words went, he’d loaded a verbal gun with silver bullets and emptied every round into my chest.
“What’s the matter?” He’d found the smile I’d lost and was beaming with triumph now. “Cat got your tongue?”
“I will end you.”
He clucked his tongue. “You make such pretty promises, my dear. But come the end of the night when I have you wriggling beneath me, you’ll be the one begging to die.”
I hefted a big sigh and started to count from ten, but I couldn’t get beyond four. Knowing my discomfort was getting him off, I tried to regain my calm. “Really, now. If you’re so bad in bed, I’d rather die than be underneath you. Maybe we can skip that part entirely.”
“Where’s the fun in that? I’ve been waiting so long for you, you can’t fathom all the little pleasures I’ve thought up.”
Oh, I had a couple pretty good ideas.
“Well, then what are you waiting for? This extended foreplay has me thinking maybe you’re all talk.”
“Are you in a hurry? Is there another appointment you’re rushing to get to?”
“I was hoping to get a manicure in before dawn. These sewer tunnels wreak havoc on the polish, you know.”
“Enough,” he growled. “I grow weary of playing these childish games with you.”
“That makes two of us.”
“I should have killed you when I had the chance.”
“Which time?”
I expected him to lash out at me. I was counting on it, actually. So I wasn’t sure how to react when he walked across the room to the naked girl and grabbed a fist full of her hair, dragging her up to her feet. She whimpered but didn’t struggle. The girl was totally broken.
“Say hello to our guest, pet.” He yanked her head back so hard I thought he might break her neck. She was human and fragile, and sometimes vampires forgot their own strength.
With her neck exposed, I saw how many bite marks he’d left on her, not bothering to lick them clean after. A vampire’s saliva contained natural healing agents which allowed most of them to cover their tracks after feeding on a human. Peyton had let her wounds heal the old-fashioned way, meaning she was festooned with scabs, all of which would leave scars later in life, if she was allowed to live beyond this. I was willing to bet her inner thighs looked the same.
“Say hello,” he commanded again.