Page 47 of Fated In Blood

“I mean, I knewhewas one of you. Told me so when he came in earlier and asked to fight tonight. But Evie…she’s just a normal girl. Sheworkedfor me, for fuck’s sake.”

“Not anymore.”

Valentine looked confused, and I didn’t feel the need to clarify that she not only didn’t work for him anymore, she definitely wasn’t human. Hopefully he’d already worked that out for himself, given she’d devoured Collum like a hunk of prime rib.

I had to get her away from this overpowering scent of blood, away from Vincent, who was starting to realize how much shit he’d brought down on himself by sanctioning this fight in the first place.

“Notify Tyrell the fight went sideways. Make the call yourself.” Beneath the coating of blood, Vincent turned white. “Someone will come to claim Collum’s body. I wouldn’t touch him if I were you.” I nudged the bastard with my shoe. “He might not be dead.”

“Riordan, you have to help me fix this.”

I hated that desperate, pleading tone, but goddamn it, Valentine’s served a purpose, loathsome though it was. “Fine. I’ll send Blake over to clean this up. But you fucking owe me,Vincent. And you owe me something big. Whatever I want, whenever I need it.”

“Anything.” The bastard’s bottom lip quivered like a newborn baby’s. “Please, just leave Tyrell out of this. He’ll kill me if he finds out what I did.”

“He fucking should.” Something forbidding took root in my chest.Ishould fucking kill this worthless piece of shit.

“Wait for Blake and his men. Get these humans out of here before Collum wakes up, and lock the fucking doors. He’s going to be hungry.”

The girl was still fighting like a wildcat when we dematerialized, her elbow predictably sinking in dangerously close to my balls.

I landed us at the quarry outside of town, next to a burned-out campfire surrounded by crushed beer cans and cigarette butts. Nobody out here for her to hurt, nobody for her to drink dry. Except for me.

A thrill of forbidden excitement shuddered through me and settled deep in my gut, my chest expanding against her back as I pinned her writhing body tight against me.

She wouldn’t understand much in this state, but I had to at least try to get through to her.

“Listen to me and listen well. You’re out of the bar. You drank too much blood too fast, and you’re high on the rush.” I spun her so we were face to face, caging her wrists and squeezing her cheeks hard enough to get her attention.

“Collum’s power is tearing through you, and the high will last a few hours. He’s an older, powerful vampire, which is why you feel like you swallowed a fucking hurricane. Eventually, the effect will wear off. You already fucked up my night, so if I were you, keep your fucking knee away from my balls when I let you go, or you won’t enjoy the consequences.”

Another one of those rough, feral growls was my only answer. I had no idea if she was beyond understanding, but I let her go.

She stumbled away, a total mess, tangled hair matted with blood, the front of her shirt soaked. There was a still-healing pink scar on her face and claw marks on one arm. I dodged out of the way when she lunged, bringing her knee up with unerring precision.

My hand easily spanned the slim column of her throat when I slammed her to the ground, pinning her down as she clawed and hissed like an animal.

“That’s how you reward me? By kneeing me in the balls? Be glad I reached you when I did. A few more mouthfuls and you would have been too far gone. You would have needed a healer, if your brain hadn’t melted out of your ears.”

She stopped fighting, hands banded around my wrist, eyes glowing like sapphires.

They were a curious silvery shade, casting a pale aura over her beautiful face.

Beneath my palm, the delicate tendons of her neck flexed as she swallowed, and a traitorous shiver of lust went through me when fear flared in her eyes, my cock hardening. My thumb traced down the pulse thrumming like a rabbit’s, swallowing her rich scent with every inhale.

If she tasted half as good as she smelled…

I let go. The girl wasn’t mine to fuck.

But shewasmine to use in different ways, so I crouched over her, never breaking our stare.

“You can still reason, then? Good. Listen hard to what I’m about to say. You have been a vampire for barely twenty-four hours. You need to feed daily…in small amounts. Glutting yourself leads to a condition we call Darkblood Syndrome. If the excess iron doesn’t blind you, the devouring hunger eats you away a little at a time until you’re no better than an animal.”

She blinked and the glow ebbed like a dying candle, revealing lovely gray-blue eyes brimming with intelligence, her pupils completely blown.

I ran my hand through my hair, silently cursing Blake, wherever the fuck he was, for taking his eyes off her. He knew better than to allow a brand-new vampire to run amok, especially in this town.

“Everything you’re going through is normal, and this hunger…will ease over the next few weeks.” I softened my voice. I needed her pliable, willing to do my bidding. Compelling another vampire, even a newborn, took effort, and I was already stretched thin.

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