Page 19 of Fated In Blood

He blocked every blow, every kick effortlessly, trapping me in a headlock, one arm cruelly twisted behind me until my wrist bent backward. My vision flashed black, then white, then black again, bile burning up my throat.

I’d planned for every single contingency, except for the fact my sister was afucking vampire.

Wantedto be a vampire.

There had been no signs she’d been unhappy.

Nothing to lead me to believe she had any contact with our enemy. Both of us were living together in a small apartment in downtown Cleveland, waiting tables, and our lives had seemed boringly…normal.

Then one night I went to work, and when I came home, she was just…gone.

I laughed bitterly, Angelique’s eyes widening like I’d lost my mind. Spencer, of all people, had tried to warn me, andI hadn’tlistened. I was so convinced I knew my sister better than anyone else, I’d based every decision on my own arrogance.

But I would never forgive myself if I didn’t try one last time.

“Please, Angelique, you can’t just…leave your past completely behind. You don’t even know Tyrell. He’s evil; he’s going toruinyou.” I yanked against Bosch’s iron grip, then tried another tactic. “Fine, then. If you’re not a prisoner, then explain why you’re here, so I understand.”

“Really, Evie? You should have stopped while you were ahead.” The smoke outside in the hallway was already thinning, a deep commanding voice booming out instructions, the screaming becoming a low, panicked hum.

Our window of escape was shrinking—okay, our window had passed—but I couldn’t accept the fact my sister was…one of them.

Not in danger or a hostage, but a willing participant in this debauchery.

My heart ached so badly. Angel had abandoned me—without a word of goodbye. If she’d planned any of this, she hadn’t trusted me with the truth. She’d given up her own sister for…fucking Laurent Tyrell.

“You’re the only family I have left,” I murmured, knotted up by my utter failure. “I never gave up on you, Angel, not even when everyone said you were dead. I couldn’t believe it. Iwouldn’tbelieve it.”

She cocked her head, such a cold, clinical move my heart stuttered. “The cops were glamoured to be convincing. You should have moved on, Evie.” Her sad smile was edged with enough cold cunning that fear sliced through me. “Now…I honestly don’t know what he’ll do to you. Spencer might have been a sniveling little shit, but he was Laurent’s only heir and vampires take their bloodlines very, very seriously.”

“Please…please, he’s breaking my arm.” One nod from Angel and Bosch released me. I doubled over, whimpering, then yanked out another knife, plunging it into Bosch’s throat so hard the point punched out the other side, blood frothing between his lips when he collapsed.

I backed toward the door, self-preservation finally kicking in. My sister waswithLaurent Tyrell. Maybe she was brainwashed, but she believed she loved the bastard. She was a vampire, and if I didn’t get out of this castle, I was going to die.

And my sister wasn’t going to save me.

I licked my lips, trying to control my churned-up feelings. “Last chance, Angel. We could be free.”

She flicked her eyes toward the door and smiled. “Why would I ever want to leave this place? Laurent gives me everything I want. Goodbye, Evie. I do hope you survive what’s coming. Remember, immortality isn’t so bad.”

I darted left,away from the smoke and the chaos, racing deeper into this wing of the castle.

I didn’t have a lot of time before Bosch was back on his feet. Every hallway took too long for me to navigate, and every fucking room looked the same, until I finally reached my destination. A plain pine door with no moldings and a simple brass handle.

I sped up, reaching for that handle, freedom just on the other side.

Bosch appeared right in front of me, and I slammed into him hard, his bloodshot eyes burning with hate, the gaping wound in his neck still gushing blood.

He flung me across the corridor into the opposite wall, gasping for air as I collapsed at his feet, spewing a mouthful of bloody spit over his polished boots.

“Time to make you suffer, little bitch.” Bosch’s ruined face was truly something out of a horror movie, the front of his uniform soaked with blood.

He was going to kill me. Right here, right now, I would die, unless I killed him first.

“You think your sister’s going to protect you? She’s the master’s mate. She thinks sheloveshim. Lord Tyrell is going to take you apart, piece by piece for killing his son.” His steel-toed boot slammed into my stomach and hurled me back against the wall. The bastard squatted down, lifting me up by my hair.

“You won’t live to see tomorrow morning, and if you do…you’ll wish you hadn’t.” He’d taken the brunt of the bomb. Red, blistered flesh seeped with pus, one eyelid completely gone. Which was why it was a miracle he didn’t see me plunge the sharpened sliver of white ash through his ear and deep into his brain.

Bosch dropped like a stone.

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