Page 100 of Sinner's Secret

“Regular humans are easily replaced. Only those with the gene have more value, and you don’t deserve them. It was before my time, but I’ve read all the accounts of your fall from grace. You frittered away centuries doing nothing but living like an animal and drinking tainted blood.”

The dude sneered at Baz. “Your whole family is mired in the past, the status quo, with no ambitions for the future. Today, I will ensure that your safe little world is destroyed.” He examined the bottles of alcohol available and chose a bottle of whiskey. He picked it up, unscrewed the lid, and smelled it.

His head reared back so fast whiplash had to be a concern.

“I’m going to do you a favor,” Dude said. “I’m going to end your pain.” He nodded at his goons.

Baz growled and tried to fight them, but there were four goons to only one of him. They held him immobile on his knees on the floor.

“Open his mouth,” Dude instructed.

Baz clamped his jaw shut, but one of the goons wrapped a meaty hand around his jaw and dug his fingers and thumb into the joint, forcing it open.

The dude poured the whiskey down Baz’s throat.

Baz screamed or tried to and struggled against his captors, but they held firm.

A cold, prickling frost coated her skin, digging in with sharp shards of ice.

Baz locked his throat, but they pinched his nose shut and poured more alcohol down when he was forced to breathe.

“Stop,” Nika wheezed. “You’re drowning him.”

No one paid any attention to her.

Baz sagged, as if his body had just given out.

The goons let go of him and he fell to the floor, a river of alcohol and blood flowing out of his mouth. He didn’t move. Not even to breathe.

“Is he...dead?” she asked, her voice cracking on the last word.

No one answered her.

“Did you murder him?” she demanded.

“He probably still has a pulse,” Dude said, looking very happy. “But he won’t for long.”

Nika stared at Baz, something hot, hard, and razor-sharp rising from the pit of her stomach. It sliced at her insides, but rather than weakening her, it fired up her muscles, cleared her mind, and resolved her thoughts into one focused goal.

She was going to kill this asshole.

Chapter Eighteen

All Baz knew was pain.

It raced through his body, setting all his arteries and veins on fire. It tore at his muscles, peeling them from his skeleton, and sent ice cold spikes through his bones.

Nothing had ever hurt this much. Not in all the long years of his life. Undiluted alcohol really was a poison to his kind.

Was this what it felt like to be doused in a vat of sulphuric acid?

He’d vomited blood, and for a moment he thought his stomach was trying to pull itself out of his body completely.

The Ruiz vampires dropped him onto the floor, obviously certain of his impending death.

How many other vampires had they killed this way to be so confident of their method?

Nika’s voice, an oddly harsh whisper, cut through the agony gripping him. “Did you murder him?”

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