Page 4 of Burn for Her

The King of the House of Bone rose from his seat with a scowl. “You delivered him mercy,” Marius hissed. “Why?”

“I delivered him nothing but his fate.” Dorian stepped back before the blood touched his shoes. “He knew nothing and I’m not wasting my time, or anyone else’s, with petty cuts and breaks. We’ll use his bones for dust. That’s all he’s good for.”

Marius’s eyes blackened with rage. “We paid you for torture.”

“His or yours, Marius?” Dorian’s aggression rose to the surface again. “Because I assure you, I never disappoint a paying client.” To make his message clear, Dorian licked the blood from the scythe and grinned. “Your call.”

Marius shuffled as if he was actually going to do something to make Dorian’s day, but Lucian stopped the stupid prick from advancing. With a cool tone, Lucian said, “I’m sure the House of Bone appreciates your swift delivery of justice, Dorian. Had there been any hope of getting more information, we trust you would have sensed it and gotten it out of the Savag-Ri one way or another. Your time is valuable, as I’m sure Marius is well aware.”

Marius looked like he’d just sucked on a lemon dipped in battery acid. “I want to know where my son is!”

“He’s not in this room, so I suggest you keep looking elsewhere.” Dorian sucked at being nice. He didn’t have patience for assholes like Marius who thought because he was a pure-blooded royal, he could boss lesser vampires like Dorian around.

Lucian held the door open for the other vampires who came to watch, as they exited in hushed tones of disappointment and frustration. They wanted a bloodbath and Dorian hadn’t given them one.

Well tough fucking shit. If they wanted gore, they should learn to make it themselves instead of constantly looking at Dorian to fulfill their depraved desires.

Now he felt dirty and used. Again.

“Clean this up, Marius,” Lucian barked, “and take the body back to the House of Bone with you. There are coffins in there,” he said, pointing at a chipped wooden door with ornate iron hinges, “for you to transport this carcass in.”

“I am to clean this mess up myself?” The pampered king looked appalled, which added a few centuries worth of wrinkles to his prissy, sharp features. “This is beyond disgraceful. How dare you treat me in such a way.”

“You wanted this done, Marius.” Dorian did the King of the House of Bone a favor and wiped the scythe clean before hanging it back on its proper hook. “Which means you have to deal with the aftermath. That’s non-negotiable and not at all new.”

When Dorian took the job as executioner, he made rules about what he wanted in return. Vampires who hired him to do their dirty work still needed to get their hands filthy. There was a price to everything, both during and after death. The House of Death didn’t see a problem with that, so the rule stuck.

“There’s a hose and towels in the storage closet,” Dorian pointed in the general direction for him.

Marius’s face turned crimson with rage. “But my son is still not found! This was all for nothing!”

Dorian was on him in a flash. Grabbing the pompous bastard by the throat, he growled, “Then I suggest you hurry and clean this place up so you can keep looking for him. I did you a favor by not wasting time. The more you whine, the more time you waste here when you could be looking for your son.”

Marius slapped Dorian’s arm away. “This isn’t over, Dorian. We paid you for torture. For answers and you’ve given us nothing.”

“I gave you all that Savag-Ri had to offer.” Dorian backed up nice and slow before he got tempted to snatch the scythe again and do something he might later regret. The Houses weren’t necessarily friendly with one another anymore and to start a war with the House of Bone, when their own House was in disarray, wasn’t ideal. “Dust his bones and place chunks of his flesh around all the hot spots you know your son favored. A Savag-Ri will smell the rotten meat and recognize it. They’ll retaliate. When they do, call me. Until then, keep your money and get out of my fucking face.”

“This is unacceptable,” Marius sneered and put great effort into not making eye contact with the entourage he brought to the Kill Box. “You can’t dismiss us like this.”

Dorian flashed him a predatory smile. “Watch me.” Then he growled low in his throat, reminding Marius exactly who and what he was up against. Dorian reveled in how the king took two chicken-shit steps backwards.

With a chuckle, Dorian swung open the heavy metal door and stepped out of the Kill Box feeling more murderous than he had five minutes ago. When Lucian caught up with him halfway down the tunnel, Dorian was breathing deep to calm the hell down.

Jesus, why was he so angry? This was a routine execution, and a quick one. He literally had no reason to feel so set off.

“You good?”

“Fine,” Dorian lied. “That little shit didn’t know anything. Marius’s son is likely still out there.”

“Think Stryx went Rogue?”

“Maybe.”

“Shit, if that’s the case then this just got a thousand times more complicated.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“You’ll start a war if you do.”

---