“I would be offended if I knew what that meant.”
“Means witch. Fury. An evil woman.”
I made a mental note to share the word with Genie later, because as an actual witch, she would probably find it amusing. “Well, what can I tell you. I didn’t make the reputation, but I sure do my best to live up to it. Is this going to be the part where you start bragging about how lucky you are to be the one to kill me once and for all? Because let me tell you, that shit’s not original.”
Davos frowned. “I expected you to be different. You, who once wielded as much power as anyone in our race ever could.”
“I’m still pretty powerful.”
“But you reek of humanity. You are laid low, made human. How can anyone be expected to cower before you when you are made of nothing more than blood and bones?”
“Boooooring.” I rolled my eyes and let my head loll forward in mock sleep. “Your villain banter is worse than your pick-up lines.”
He bristled visibly.
“You are very frustrating.”
“Yes.”
“Is this how you kill so many people? You badger them until they would rather die than spend a single second more with you?”
I snorted. “Okay, that was good.”
We stared at each other in a moment of shared contempt. I couldn’t really kill him here, and now that we had established a little banter, the time had come to bargain.
“You know I’m here to kill you,” I lied. He knew of my reputation and had to have some idea what I’d done for the council before I’d become a member of the Tribunal. So with that awareness, he had to know what I would do with his warrant in my hands.
“Yes.”
“And you know I’m not the first one to be assigned the job.”
“Aw, you weren’t their number-one pick? How sad for you.” He laced his fingers together and rested his interlocked hands on his stomach.
“I don’t usually waste my time on low-rent Jack the Ripper wannabes. But when they start drawing demon sigils on things and killing innocent girls, that gets my attention.”
My mention of the sigil certainly got his attention.
“How do you know about that?”
“I know a lot more than you think I do. I know a bunch of your buddies in Los Angeles tried to open a gate to Hell, and I know they failed. Do you want me to tell you why they failed?”
“I suspect you’re going to tell me it was because of you.”
“You are correct.”
He gave me another long look, this one more intrigued and less dismissive. “I assume the reason you haven’t simply killed me yet is because you want something from me, then.”
“I want you to tell me why one of the oldest vampires in the world would suddenly change his mind about killing you.”
“Maybe he likes me. Maybe he’s a fan of my work.” Davos shrugged. “I can’t speak to the inner thoughts of others, Ms. McQueen.”
“I think you know perfectly well why he did it. And you’re going to share that information with me.”
Again he leered at me with a creepy smile that made me want to immediately move to a nunnery so I never had to see another man again.
I hated knowing anyone had to die with that being the last face they ever saw.
I really wanted to punch him bloody. Break that nose a few more times before I took his whole head off.