Page 60 of Viper

Oh, she was gonna kill the motherfucker when she finally got her hands on him. Her demon wanted to rip out his intestines and wear them like a necklace.

“Ella”—his eyes dark as flint, Viper jabbed a finger toward the note—“what is this?”

A private matter. “Someone apparently thought it would be fun to leave a stupid note on my doorstep. Ignore it. I intend to.” Just to be safe, she tore it in two to deactivate the snare. The last thing she needed was him unknowingly setting it off.

“Baby.” The word was darkly amused. “You think I can’t tell you’re trying to blow me off?”

Well, she had hoped she could. “It’s just a stupid note,” she reiterated, unlocking her front door.

“And you don’t seem shocked to see it, which tells me this isn’t the first threat you’ve received.” He followed her into the apartment, bypassing her magickal wards like they weren’t even there.

Ella stared at him, surprised. “My wards should have kept you out.” Her demon was kind of impressed that they hadn’t, though not particularly pleased that someone had circumvented their personal security so easily.

“Not a lot can keep me from somewhere I want to be. Now, what is happening?” He shot her a look of warning when she would have waved away his concern. “Ella, I spent last night making you mine—and you know it. That places you under my protection. No fucking way am I going to ignore that note. Don’t ask me to.”

She narrowed her eyes. “If me being yours means you have the right to know my business, it works both ways, right?”

“Right.” The answer was cautious.

“Then I’ll explain about the notes once you answer my question. What happened with that vampire who dumped a body outside your pool hall? Did you catch him?” Ella had wondered about it a few times.

He looked as though he might dismiss the questions, but then he sighed. “It wasn’t a vampire. It was a strix. A colony of them have somehow made it to this realm. They’re taunting my club by snatching local humans and then dumping their bodies near our properties.”

Okay,thattook her off-guard. “Why taunt your club? It would surely be more sensible to not bring their presence here to your attention.”

“Strix aren’t known for being sensible. I have some of my brothers tracking them. They’re typically good at hiding, but we always find them eventually.”

“You’ve had run-ins with them before?”

“Part of what me and my brothers did in the upper realm was deal with rogue hell-born demons. You could say we haven’t quite retired, though we now take them out because we want to, not because we’re under orders.” He folded his arms, his expression turning expectant. “Now it’s your turn. Tell me about the notes.”

She rolled her shoulders. “There’s only been two others.”

“And they were both delivered here?”

“No. The previous two were tucked under my windscreen wiper on separate days. They had dumb little warnings typed on them. The first said,Let sleeping dogs lie. The other said,You know what happened to the curious cat.”

Viper felt his brow furrow in surprise. Not exactly the usual threats a person would make. “Did the ink in those have power stamped in it like that one?”

She looked surprised he’d sensed it. “Yes, they did. I can’t tell what compulsion was buried in the ink. You?”

Viper shook his head, forcing his back teeth to unlock. “But I doubt it’s anything good.” Hence why his furious entity was making all sorts of sadistic plans.

“Same. Even though this note has a different vibe, it has to have been typed by the same person. I mean, how many damn people hand-deliver death threats these days?”

People who wanted to die. And the person sending notes to Ella would in fact die soon—both Viper and his entity would ensure it. “You have no idea who left them for you?”

“It has to have been whoever psychically assaulted me a month ago—I came across them mugging someone, and they put me unconscious when I tried to help. I don’t think he likes that my anchor won’t stop pressing for answers as to who he is. Luka will kill him if he ever finds him.”

It wasn’t her assailant typing the notes—Viper knew that for certain, because that fucker was dead. But he couldn’t really tellher that without admitting he’d been on the scene, which would beg two questions: why he’d been there, and why he hadn’t stuck around. He wasn’t ready to answer those yet.

“Nothing else has happened?” he checked.

“No, nothing.”

Viper flicked a look at the torn, crumpled note in her hand. “Whoever wrote that clearly knows where you live, so he’s probably been following you around.”Fucker.

She glanced at her front door. “I normally wouldn’t worry that someone would get passed my wards, butyoudid it.”

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