Page 11 of Fated In Blood

On foot, I’d never beat these two.

“Drugs,” I whispered conspiratorially. “They said if I came, we’d have a good time. But maybe I have the wrong night.” The blinding flashlight disappeared and I got a good look at the guard as he turned away, raising his hand to his mouth. He was built like a wide receiver.Nope, definitely wasn’t outrunning him.

His shoulders curled down around the hushed static from the walkie talkie.

When he turned back, nostrils flaring, his closed mouth didn’t quite hide the unmistakable bulge of fangs. “Go on through,Ophelia. When you reach the front doors, tell the guards Spencer and Ambrose invited you.”

“Okay.” I smiled wide. “I sure will.”

“Fuck.” The driver moaned. “Fuck, you have a death wish, lady. A fucking death wish and you’re going to get me killed right along with you.”

“They won’t kill you. I’m a paid fare and there is an electronic trail showing this is where you dropped me off. Your light’s on, they know you’re on the clock. Trust me, you aren’t worth the trouble tonight.”

He sank into a broody silence, pissed he wasn’t important enough to kill. I could hardly blame him for being angry. I hadn’t wanted to pull anyone else into my scheme, but there was no other way inside that castle except straight through the front doors.

Admittedly, I’d put him in a shitty situation, but he’d have to man up.

It took forever for them to valet the Maybach in front of us away. Then three burly vampires in fitted tuxedos looked at the tiny Uber with complete bewilderment as I hopped out.

“Those other guys told me to tell you Spencer and Ambrose invited me,” I said brightly, handing the driver his money, which he snatched away with an even fouler curse. “Said this will be some party tonight.” I stared up and up and up at the castle, squaring my shoulders and shoving my fear down deep. I was here for a reason, and nothing would stand in my way, not even three hundred hungry vampires.

“Someone find Bosch. Let him know we have a human here, dropping Lord Spencer’s name.”

“Oh, good. Is Spencer here?” I craned my neck over the crowd to try and get a better look inside. “He didn’t say what time to come, only gave me the date, March twenty-first.”

My stomach lurched when an enormous, rough-looking guard—Bosch, I assumed—prowled forward. He had hair shorn nearly to his scalp, a face peppered with scars, a sheen of cruelty in his black eyes, and I despised him on sight when he puthis hand in the center of my back and shoved me toward the entrance. “Walk.”

Tires squealed against the pavement, and everyone turned to watch the Uber driver fly down the drive like a bat out of hell and hang a hard right, disappearing through the gates.

I blew out a breath.Good. One problem out of the way, a thousand more ahead.

“Well, that’s kind of rude,” I whined. “What kind of party is this, anyway?”

“The kind where some of us have fun, and others do not,” Bosch hissed, herding me toward the imposing front doors bracketed by burning torches, gripping my shoulder hard enough he’d leave bruises.

I’d taken a calculated risk dropping Spencer’s and Ambrose’s names, but I wasn’t on a first-name basis with any other vampires, since I normally killed them on sight.

But the names of two dead men had gotten me through the doors tonight.

Now the rest was up to me.

6

EVANGELINE

“Wow, this place is ginormous. And so fancy, I mean, justlook at those mirrors. Are those real palm trees? How long have you worked here?” I chattered away to a clearly aggravated Bosch, which was kind of humorous, considering I never pictured immortals getting irritated by petty shit.

But as amusing as it was to torment Bosch, Darkmore Castle took my breath away.

For weeks I’d pored over pictures, yet nothing had prepared me for the castle’s sweeping grandeur. Every surface was covered in gold, and not the over-the-top kind, but the old-as-dirt-money kind. Black marble columns as wide as trees braced up a masterfully painted ceiling, the entire foyer lined with twenty-foot-tall gilt mirrors and those magnificent palm trees, and this was only the entrance.

“Keep fucking moving.” Bosch shoved me through the crowd, earning a few outraged, fangy snarls.

I shot him a vapid smile. “Gosh. I’ll bet you just love your job, don’t you?”

“Not fucking tonight, I don’t.”

I dipped my head to hide my grin. “Oh, don’t be modest. You seem like a man who enjoys what he does for a living. You know what they say. If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.”

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