Page 46 of Fated In Blood

I couldn’t explain why the hair on the back of my neck went up, why I was suddenly filled with unease, crushing the papers in my fist as I shot up out of my chair.

“Did you see this blond?”

“Yeah, hang on a second…Here. Someone just sent me a shot right before Collum took her down.”

Zachary lifted his phone and the breath went out of me.

The girl I hadjust fucking turnedwas fighting in one of Valentine’s illicit cage fights. Against fucking Collum Lazarov, a psychopath mad enough even Tyrell had banished him from Nocturne soil. She hadn’t even transitioned. She hadn’t…

“She’s sure dressed to kick ass. Weird, though. I’m getting vampire vibes off her, but she almost reads human to me. Damn, she’s beautiful.” The kid sounded wistfully young, staring down at his phone. “Look at those eyes. She doesn’t stand a chance, though, not against Collum.”

I dragged my hands down my face.How the fuck did she ever escape Crimson House and Blake?

And what were the chances she’d still be alive when I got to Valentine’s?

I landedoutside the bar and was instantly swallowed up by the panicked crowd streaming through the front doors like they were escaping the Grim Reaper’s scythe. Their silence told me they’d seen something so horrific, they couldn’t even scream.Not good.

Blake wasn’t anywhere at Crimson House, so I’d come alone, which was probably a mistake, given this place was complete chaos. And Vincent Valentine didn’t tolerate chaos; it was bad for business.

Which meant he’d either lost control or he was dead.

Frightened as they were, the stream of humans split into two groups around me, eyes dropping the moment they saw my face. I looked mortal enough to pass on a dark street, but this close, they sensed what I was. A predator that could tear them limb from limb.

The moment I stepped inside the disgusting excuse for a bar I scented blood.

Her blood.

I was going to kill that fucking lowlife human piece of shit who ran this place. Music blasted loud enough to rattle my oversensitive eardrums. Broken glass and plastic cups crunched under my feet as I strode through the bar, not a soul in sight, not even those two nephews Vincent called bodyguards.

No, I couldn’t kill Valentine, no matter how much I wanted to. Vincent, slimeball that he was, served a valuable function in this town.

He offered neutrality.

And neutrality in a town full of predators and prey kept this place from devouring itself. So I turned a blind eye to his cage fighting and the watered down booze and the myriad petty criminal activities that went on in this place, just like my sire had.

Just like Tyrell had.

I followed the smell of blood to the wide-open door leading to a basement. The girl’s scent was so strong right here my fangs punched out, heart sinking as the truth hit me full in the face.

My secret weapon was dead. No doubt Collum killed her, sadistic bastard that he was.

All my plans ruined, and just like that, the faint hope I’d felt for a handful of hours faded to nothing.

But why would Collum risk returning when he knew showing his face was a death sentence?

I hit the narrow steps, ready to explode into action. I couldn’t see what waited for me down below, not until a set of size fifteen feet came into view, then another. The twins, down for the count, and Vincent, cowering against a wall, painted with enough blood he and the wall behind him were an identical shade of red.

I followed the track of Valentine’s wide-eyed gaze and couldn’t explain my reaction to the sight in front of me. Visceral. Primal. Satisfaction.

Pride, maybe, if I was being honest.

Time ground to a halt while I watched her feed on a very unresponsive Collum, the end of her long ponytail soaked with blood, hands stained the same color. She was lost to bloodlust, insatiable, glutting herself in the afterglow of a battle well fought, from the looks of things.

“This is your idea of neutral?” I snapped at Vincent on my way past. “Pitting two vampires against each other? When Tyrell finds out about this, he’ll gut you himself.”

“I didn’t know.” Vincent staggered to his feet then kicked one of the twins with those ridiculous cowboy boots. “Wake up, you’re supposed to be protecting me, asshole. I swear to God, I didn’t know, you have to believe me, Graves.”

“Then you’re fucking blind.” I looped my hands beneath her armpits and dragged her away, pinning her against my chest like a snarling, snapping animal. She fought, completely consumed by bloodlust. “Or you have a death wish.”

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