Page 16 of Filthy Rich Vampires: For Eternity

There was no whisky to be found. After tonight, I didn’t want the wine the Italian vampires loved so much. I needed something stronger, something that would burn away the memories of my brother and his mate laying bloody and broken on the ground. Even now, knowing they were alive, there was a slight tremor in my hand as I took a begrudging sip of rosé.

I nearly gagged on it.

But there was something else preoccupying me, too. Or rather, someone else. I took another sip as Sebastian joined me.

“What are you drinking?” He grinned at the face I made.

“Fucking rosé,” I grumbled.

“Care for something stronger?” He reached behind him and pulled a small bottle of whisky from the waistband of his pants.

“What will you drink?” I asked dryly. He laughed and tossed it to me, and I decided to not ask him why he was carrying around Scotch in his pants.

“Take it.” He swiped the open bottle of wine. “I happen to like fucking rosé.”

“You like everything. And everyone.”

He smirked. His gaze scanned the room. It was little better than a hotel lobby. Bland but expensive furnishings meant for guests. It had none of the comforts of the quarters we’d been given.

A few lamps with burgundy fabric shades cast the room in muted hues of red. In the dim light, it was easy to mistake the antique tables and chairs for the real thing. But I was an archeologist and I could spot reproductions. Gold wall-coverings brightened the room a little, although the whole lounge had the feel of a chintzy hotel.

But it had one important feature that my bedroom didn’t.

A bar.

More importantly, a bar that my mother didn’t seem to know existed.

“Has she finished her rampage yet?” I asked him, my mouth pinching as I recalled her actually throwing a vampire twice her size into a wall for calling her Ma’am.

Another snort. “No.”

“She’s going to get us kicked out.” I sighed. Sabine was accustomed to getting her way—to being the matriarch. And Thea had just claimed the throne meant for her.

“So?” My brother shrugged and took a swig. “This place sucks, and not in a good way. I need an orgy.”

I ignored him. Sebastian always needed an orgy. “You would think she’d be happier her son was breathing again.”

“I think the fact that Thea is breathing is her issue.”

He might be right, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. I liked Thea. But it was more than that. I just didn’t quite understand it. I felt like I had an itch deep inside me, too far down to scratch but impossible to ignore.

A pair of full lips floated to mind, along with her face, scarred but breathtaking. Something tightened in my chest before descending toward my groin. Aurelia.

Why couldn’t I shake her?

She was just a mortal, a familiar maybe. That seemed likely, given her inside knowledge of the court, but still a mortal. The scar was proof.

But there was something about her—something that seemed intent on commanding my every thought. It had been a long day. A long week, if I was being honest. And maybe it was just a need to escape, but I couldn’t help imagining what curves hid behind the cloak Aurelia wore—or how good it would feel to bury myself inside her and watch those full lips part as I...

I shook my head to clear it. I barely knew her, but here I was thinking about claiming her. I couldn’t tell if it was because of the strange pull she had on me the moment we met, or because I needed a distraction.

It was simply lust—a temporary, albeit annoying, distraction. I’d gone without sex for years at a time when I was focused on work. There was always a willing female waiting when I wanted it. And something told me that Aurelia was more than I might want to take on, especially if she worked for Le Regine.

But no matter how I rationalized it, I wondered where she was and what she was up to. She’d disappeared in the chaos following the resurrection. I’d wanted to ask her how she’d known what to do, what she knew about the prophecy tonight. I’d wanted to grab her and—

“Something on your mind?” Sebastian interrupted my wandering thoughts.

I blinked the fantasy away and frowned.

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