The vampire puts so much emphasis on every letter of that name that my stomach flips. It gets more and more real with every passing second. I didn’t kill a guy with too much empty self-esteem. He truly was something special.
Leave it to me to ruin things on a continental level.
“What do you want?” I spit, pulling my shoulders back and raising my chin in the most threatening pose I manage. From his laughter, it’s as threatening as a kitten with his back arched, hissing. “Are you the magical police?”
He snorts. “Magical police. I love that.”
“If you think I’m going down without a fight, you got it all wrong.”
The intruder licks his lips, and his eyes flicker with hunger. From the way, he looks at me, pretty sure he’s chosen his morning snack. “You can fight. The more you do, the more I’ll enjoy drinking from you.” His smile turns into a psychotic smirk that brings fear out of the very confines of my soul. He means business and, by business, I mean suffering. My suffering. “Boss only told me to bring you alive. In what condition, he didn’t specify.”
He moves. Fast. I step out of the way, but his hand comes up like he predicted my motion. His palm finds my cheek, and he slaps me. I gasp, surprised and offended, but I keep my hands up, ready for the next move. He steps closer and feigns left. I punch and miss by a mile. He kicks the inside of my leg, and I drop to my knees.
“What do you know about vampires, Cassandra?” The way he says my name makes me want to bathe in bleach. His breathy voice drips with lust, but not for me. Blood lust. Death lust. Something dark and corrupted. Something that resonates with me.
“That you drink blood.” I make to stand up, but he pushes me down again. Every move of his is elegant and smooth but packs quite the punch. He’s much stronger than his body lets out. “That you shouldn’t bite humans in towns like this.”
The laughter that bubbles out of him makes me shudder. “You’re right, you’re right... There’s only one issue.” He stops in front of me, and I bring my eyes up from his boots to leather pants and a white t-shirt. His dark hair falls past his shoulders in a metal-head style. Donatello’s face flashes in the back of my mind, and I laugh internally at how much more handsome he is. The intruder pinches my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes once he notices my mind wandered. “Want to know the issue, Cassandra?”
“Not really, but it looks like you have a hard-on for your own voice, so go ahead.” I bare my teeth, but I’m on my knees, so I know I’m not the picture of fierceness. He even laughs at the weak.
“You killed the most precious person in the world. The first Light Mage in forever.” He sighs, looking wistful. “The one who would destroy the Cursed Realm and stop creatures like us,” he points at himself, “from escaping and hurting humans.” Another deep sigh, as if he was in grief for the death of that creep. “You’re fair game now, Cassandra. Everyone wants your head.” He smiles, his thumb caressing my skin. “Do you really think the Council would mind if someone bit you? Not at all. I can feast as much as I want before I take you to my boss.”
Fear, irrational and cold, washes through my veins. I close my hands in fists to keep them from shaking. Fuck. This is a shitty and unexpected turn. I can’t even worry about outrunning the cops, not when my life hangs in the balance right now. Some vampire boss wants me too, and this fucker thinks he can turn me into a colander, no problem. I don’t feel like turning into a human juice box just yet.
I see the motion with the corner of my eye first. Through the open slit of my curtain, someone passes the bedroom window and stops. He’s tall and has skin as dark as night, but that’s all I see before he disappears. New neighbor? It’s not like I knew any of them to begin with. He might be peeking into the house of the new murderer in the block. He appears once more and steps back from the window. The way he stares at me is fierce and focused.
Fuck. He’s here for me too. What else could go wrong?
Glass shatters in an explosion. I wince, closing my eyes and raising my hands over my head. The glass doesn’t hit me, not with the vampire standing between me and the bedroom window. The next moment, feet stomp onto the ground, and chaos rises.
The new invader punches the vampire, and the two engage in a fight I cannot follow. Not because I can’t see blood or anything, but because I truly can’t follow. The vampire is too fast, and the newly arrived seems to keep up just fine, moving away in time and dodging his punches at the right moment. He’s trained, with his arms raised close to his body, feet parted. I’m impressed. He’s not lithe like a martial artist, instead being the tallest and broadest man I’ve ever seen, but he has fight in him.
I turn back and stagger to my feet, cringing at the sound of pounding flesh, hoping it’s the vampire who’s being hit. The other guy might be a new, bigger problem, but I can only deal with one thing at a time right now. Fuck, I should find some shoes.
As I reach my kitchen and grab the biggest ass knife I own, the fight gets more intense. The new guy roars and slams his hand against the vampire. He curls his fingers around the vampire’s neck and squeezes. From the face the bloodsucker is making, he’s not happy. The new guy brings a gun to the party and shoots the vampire between the eyes. I gasp, and air knots in my throat, stopping me from screaming. Blood paints a Rorschach inkblot on my off-white wall, and the new guy lets the vampire slide to the ground.
I stand there, too shocked to move. Two deaths in less than twenty-four hours. Amazing. I’ll never stop paying for therapy.
New Guy turns slowly to me. He’s heaving, but he pulls his shoulders back as he meets my eyes. Wow, he’s yummy. And strong. Strong like a five-hundred-year-old oak tree. He cradles his gun and brings it up.
Trained on me.
“Cassandra Blake?” he asks, but he doesn’t wait for my reply. Rude. “You’re under arrest for murder.”
CHAPTER5
DONATELLO
My heartbeat abates, the fierce pump coming up less and less often. A pity. Such a pity the thrill lasts so little. A simple five-minute shower already has me craving for more of her touch, like some sort of addict who can’t stay away.
The sweet scent of Cassandra ebbs. I exit the bedroom to the kitchen, my eyes combing the place for the sight of her, but I find nothing. She’s not here, and from how dull her scent clings, she’s been gone for some time. I halt, a strange sense of emptiness crawling into my chest. Where is she? Once more, I make my way into the bedroom and take another look around as if she would spring from the closet or from under the bed. I can’t wrap my head around her absence.
My spine steels. I flare my nostrils and breathe in, eyes closing to focus on the trail of her. The freshest of it leaves the door. Something set her off — perhaps plain common sense. Even if I saved her yesterday, she is in a stranger's place. We’re the monsters, but humans are superb at doing nasty stuff. She must have grown up learning hard lessons from trusting the wrong people.
So she didn’t trust me, and she ran away. Fine. I can find her again. I have waited four hundred years for someone who makes my heart beat, and I won’t let her escape me this easily. I slide into my shoes and make my way to the door with long strides. With my speed as a vampire, I can overtake her and talk to her. She’ll see the sense in it. It’s good to have a vampire on your side. We’re stronger and faster than humans, and we have more experience.
My fingers curl around the doorknob, and I jerk the door open to find an old maid with a dark uniform about to knock. Her eyes widen as she gives me a once-over, then she blushes. “Um,” she starts. “Room service.”