Page 38 of Death Deals

When I started forward, Andre’s hand came out to stop me.

“Later,” I snapped. He withdrew. This time, when I walked toward the group of vampires, he followed close behind me. I shoved passed the men to find CorneliusThe AngelJackson on his knees and chained to the floor. The front of his white suit gleamed red, telling me they had to follow Andre’s orders and shoot him in the chest during the ride here. He was paralyzed from the neck down.

“Are you sure you want your claim here to see this?” Hector asked loudly and glanced my way. “This is no place for a lady, after all.”

Andre’s throat worked to swallow, his entire body rigid with restrained rage. From his darkened expression, it was obvious he had a good idea what’d happened in the elevator, despite my attempt to push it away for now.

“She stays,” he said, making sure to growl the last word, “withme.”

Only four words but they sent liquid fire pumping through my veins. Usually, male possessiveness did nothing for me—I didn’tbelongto anyone—but for some reason, with Andre, the thought of being claimed by him sent my lady parts into a tizzy.

I blamed the blood exchange. Wasn’t sure if it was fully the cause, but it helped my wounded pride some.

Wheezy laughter came from the center of the basement, and every head turned to Cornelius. His body was slumped over, paralyzed, but his shoulders trembled as his laughter rose in volume and strength.

One of Hector’s men came up behind him and jerked his head up so the room could get a good look at him.

Andre stepped closer to him. “This night doesn’t have to end with your death, Cornelius,” he said, his voice taking on a commanding tone. The true Lord of his people coming out to play. “We have come into Omari territory to make peace with your queen. It’s time for the three families to join together and stop the violence.”

Cornelius spat at him. “That’s why our family’s blood is all over you? You’re stained with it.”

Andre peered down at his ruined shirt. “And you killed two of ours. All were unfortunate and unplanned deaths,” he said. “We were protecting one of our own, and we will continue to if we must. Death is the reason we are here, but only to prevent it. Not cause it.”

Cornelius’s blackened gaze found me in the crowd at his words “one of our own.” Seeing his black eyes and elongated canines still disturbed me enough to make me step back. Then, he started speaking in a foreign, tribal tongue with more spit flying at every word.

“What is he saying?” Hector barked the question to the group, but no one responded. Cornelius continued to lash out, the language unknown to everyone in the room.

Everyone but me, that is.

Like the instance with the letter, a translation of his words reverberated behind my eardrums as he spoke. An ancient dialect that must have been lost centuries ago, but which gave insight to Cornelius’s age. This mother f-er wasold.

And he didn’t like being captured and talked down to by a youngling. Especially a DeMonte youngling.

“Basically, he’s calling you all every curse or offensive animal in the book,” I said, capturing everyone’s attention again. “Oh, and that you all are going to regret what you’ve done, and his queen will rain hell on you.”

At this point, even Cornelius stopped his gibberish and was staring at me with intense interest. Guess I had translated it right then.

“Your claim is an expert linguist, too?” Hector said, aggravated, as if he should have come to this conclusion much earlier. “She knew what was written in the letter and now… Why didn’t you tell us?”

Andre’s expression barely changed. “She is many things. One being that she is constantly full of surprises.”

“You speak in the Irrabi Tribe’s native tongue, girl?” Cornelius asked me, his surprise clear. “Pas ta boo ah a lay minth?”

I winced as the words transformed in my head—none of them being repeatable. “Speak it? Uh, no. But I know that they’d kill you if they knew what you just said, so be grateful I’m not going to translate it.”

“Wait,” Hector cut in. “What did he say?”

“Leave it, Hector. Don’t engage with this anger. It’s what he wants,” Andre said.

He was right, of course. If we killed him, the information we needed to find Queen Imani’s hiding place would be lost with him.

“I’ll never betray my queen,” Cornelius snapped. “You’re wasting your time. Might as well kill me.”

“It’s the first time I have ever agreed with an Omari,” Hector said, waving his hand. “Let’s kill him and move on. If we let our men take the streets, I’m sure they could find their nest by tomorrow morning.”

Andre glanced at me, then he turned toward one of his men. The youngest looking one, with a head of curly blond hair and bright green eyes. “Louis, take the madame back upstairs, please.”

I blanched. “What? I just got here, and you just said—”

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