Page 15 of The Blood Widow

He sighed. Then the hum of a machine turned on. “I have two locations, one in a hotel, a ritzy place. The other is in a warehouse on the outskirts of the city.”

The prince was a spoiled brat, he’d never go into the warehouse. Everything on the outside was lower-class turf.

I bit my lip. “What hotel, and do you know the room number?”

A beeping sound told me he was turning the machine to its max. I hoped he didn’t hurt himself.

“Yeah,” he panted out the words. “It’s actually called The Ritz, room 508."

“Thanks. I wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t important.” I hung up and used my pocket portal to get there before the wrong people could.

That was how I ended up, hovering over one of the most powerful guys in Saint Louis, or his corpse anyway, scanning his mutilated body. She really did a number on him, I hoped it gave her some closure. I sighed. There was so much blood. It was time to get to work…

None of the ruling supernatural groups weren’t as strong as they once were because other supernaturals like ghouls, Nephilim, and fairies had grown in numbers but a war between wolves and demons would still devastate the city.

I rolled my shoulders and took a deep breath. What I had to do next wasn’t going to be pleasant. But as the Blood Widow, I had to do the shit no one else wanted to do. That was why I stood in a puddle of blood in my good black boots. I had about twenty minutes before that room revealed the most valuable secret in the city. No one would use magic to get here because they could be traced, except for a portaler like me. Thankfully, we were rare.

My heart slowed, and my breathing evened out. There was blood splattered everywhere, over every inch of the otherwise sterile white hotel room. The thick white carpet was soaked with a puddle of dark red, and the throw pillows and plush sofas had little red streams sprinkled merrily like a decorating nightmare. Rose’s claws had sliced through him pretty well. Fucking rich people loved white and beige, annoying. It was easier to work with dark colors.

“Walls, body, bed, then floor,” I said to myself out loud. The smaller furniture and decor would be last, like chairs or nightstands, I could call Beaut to help if needed. Her super speed would come in handy.

I took another deep breath and let my shoulders relax as I blew it out. My stomach clenched as I pulled on one of my gifts.

Most supernaturals had a gift given to them by their maker. I could control blood and it didn’t matter where it came from - the vein or the wall. I had to admit, it came in handy in my line of work killing people. In Saint Louis, it was a common profession. After the supernaturals took over the world, anyway. Now, three houses ruled every city - vamps, shifters, and demons. Since I was both a vamp and a demon, I belonged to neither of them.I liked it that way, I got to choose who to kill, and no one was pulling my strings, not anymore.

I only killed the people that deserved it. Mostly men, but women could be just as big of a monster as men could. Who said equal rights weren’t a thing? It totally was. If you’re a monster, I’d kill you just as quickly, no matter what was between your legs.

At least the walls were clean and without bugs because the scumbag of a prince had money. “Wall,” I commanded my power. The downfall of this power was I had to speak to tell the energy what to do. I’ve tried to control it with emotions or intentions, but the best I’ve been able to do was limit the words.

At least I didn’t have to say full sentences anymore. Who wanted to say,Bring the blood from the walls to my lips, please?That sucked and took away from the don’t-fuck-with-me vibe I needed to survive as a woman in the Underground.

When my magic activated, my pale skin became almost porcelain, my eyes shined yellow, and my lips darkened. I opened my mouth as the red liquid lifted off the bumpy white walls and floated toward me. My magic meant I didn’t have to swallow the mass amount of liquid. It just went down with ease. I gagged at the sour, rotten flavor, though.

I already knew this wasn’t going to taste good, but yuck! I was glad the blood went straight down without me having to swallow it because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to.

I needed a break to center myself, or I’d be barfing everywhere. I haven’t gotten away with killing for so long by leaving evidence behind. Being a demon meant no one could find me by hair follicles or fingerprints, and the magic in our souls ruined any traces of our DNA, but vomit was pushing it. A police officer’s spell could connect it back to me. I was already in trouble with one group, I didn’t need to add more to my plate.

I tapped into another gift to move the body. Light grew in my vision, shining bright while the air heated and crackled as my hair lifted off my shoulders like it was floating in water. Opening pocket portals was against the law but, since only a handful of people could pull it off, they didn’t know how to control the magic or track it. If the government couldn’t have control of something, they labeled it bad. Boo hoo. Bunch of spoiled brats if you asked me.

I groaned when the yellow circle appeared by the door, not the bed. The blasted magic never listened. Ugh, if I used my telekinesis, it could be tracked. I’d have to drag him over there. A lot of vamps had that power, so it was the easiest way to get caught.

There was no way I wanted to get caught helping clean up the prince’s death. He might have been a grade-A douche, but the king and queen wouldn’t care. They’d want my head hanging from their throne, regardless.

I pulled on his ankles. He was stiff, but rigor mortis hadn’t set in fully, so he crumpled to the floor. I was getting more blood on the white carpet, but there wasn’t much else I could do. Dead weight was no joke, and it made cleaning up after people difficult. I tugged and groaned over and over until his heavy ass was where I needed him to be.

I pushed him through the portal. Cole was going to kill me for bringing him into this mess. He had a soft spot for helping abused girls, so he’d get over it. I hoped.

My phone buzzed immediately. Okay, so he was furious. I ignored him, he could yell at me later.

With a grimace, I glanced toward the bed. This was going to fucking suck. I repeated the blood magic I used on the wall with the bed.

Cloth was harder to get blood out of, but after the third round the bedding was spotless and all the nastiness was all in me.

I bent over and put my hands on my knees. “I should charge for this. Fuck.” My stomach turned. There was no way I could get the blood off the floor. The taste of evil spoiled the prince’s blood worse than I thought possible. Rose was definitely not his first victim. To get blood this spoiled, he’d had to be the worst kind of monster.

Taking a few deep breaths, I glanced around. There was too much for me. I’d end up vomiting it all up.

I rubbed my ruby ring. Beaut’s green bob-cut swayed as she swirled around to face me. Her pointed ears twitched with irritation, and she licked her razor-sharp teeth like she wanted to use me as a chew toy. She wore a long sleep shirt that said,I like my books dark and spicy.I was just glad she didn’t have her fluffy slippers on, or she may have killed me.

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