Page 60 of Fated In Blood

My head whipped to His Majesty, whose eyes danced with wicked glee. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me about this?”

The bastard made a motion like he was zipping his mouth closed and I groaned. “Fine. You can talk now.”

He shot his friend a look. “For the record, I didn’t order you, I asked.” Then he winked at me. “Blake is going to meet us here so we can clear the air. You’re the one who commanded me not to speak.”

“Asshole.” I jerked my hands off his shoulders. “Like you’d ever follow my command.”

Blake crossed to the furthest corner and threw himself into a chair, dust puffing out all around him. “Get on with this, Rohr. I can hardly stand to breathe the same air as this murderous bitch.”

Every bit of sympathy I felt over his family evaporated into thin air.I hadn’t touched his family. Yet a little niggle of guilt turned over in my belly. But I’d killed other vampires. Maybe some of his friends.

“Likewise.” I clamped my lips together, newfound energy overrunning my body like an electrical current. “We should make this fast.” I had a sudden urge to kick Blake’s ass, right here and now, counterproductive though it may have been.

“That attitude won’t get you far since the two of you will be working closely together for the next few days. I trust Blake explicitly, and I’m putting him in charge of your training. Try not to piss him off. Listen carefully. Learn everything you can. The second you’re ready, we go after Tyrell. I don’t want to give him too much time before we hit him hard.”

“What’s your plan?” I asked. “I mean, surelyhitting him hardisn’t your entire strategy?”

“Like we’d tell you what the plan is,” Blake snapped in a clipped tone. “You’re already planning to fuck us over, so everything will be on a need-to-know basis, and in my opinion, you don’t need to know shit.”

“Well,” Riordan said with a brightness that was plain annoying. “I’ll leave you both to it, then.” He buttoned up his expensive tailored shirt flecked with fresh blood. Even that small glimpse made me want to lick my lips.

“I’d say good luck, but I have a feeling I’d be wasting my breath. Do try to not kill one another. Save that for Tyrell; he’s the real enemy.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Blake muttered, and I flipped him the bird, though picturing him with a broken nose made me feel incrementally better.

28

EVANGELINE

The bastard did it.

He left me alone in the bedroom in nothing but a shirt that wasn’t even a shirt with Blake the Snake, who glared at me like I was a pile of steaming excrement.

Even worse, the darkness that curled around him almost seemed to come alive, the very air thrumming with some vicious, unseen intent.

“I’ll make this simple. Rohr has volunteered to keep you fed for the next week, so I don’t have to lay eyes on you except when absolutely necessary. Once you’re through your transition and we have a chance to evaluate your strengths, we’ll use you to get close to Tyrell. Once that fucker’s dead, you go your own way, preferably to the other side of the fucking planet. Got it?”

“Why doIhave to leave? Why don’tyougo to the other side of the fucking world and rot?”

“Because this is my home and you’re trespassing, because you were stupid enough to get caught up in Tyrell’s net.”

“I came to this shit town to save my sister, asshole. The bastard took her and I’m here to get her back.”

“She looked happy enough to me with those fresh puncture wounds on her pretty little neck,” Blake taunted softly, and I swore the room around us darkened, but maybe that was just me.

“You blew up his castle, got caught, and tried to off yourself. If that’s the only skillset you bring to the table, I’ll tell Rohr to kick you to the curb now and be done with this. You’re a walking, talking disaster that we don’t need right now.”

I’d heard the term ‘seeing red’ plenty of times in my life, but I’d never experienced the phenomena myself. Blood howled in my veins and pounded in my ears, my knuckles cracking when I clenched my hands.

“My sister is not happy. She did notchoosethis life any more than I did. Tyrelldidsomething to her. He’s…controlling her.”

Just like Riordan made me kneel.

That had to be it.Tyrell had Angel under his control.

“I know what glamour looks like, and your sister is fucking Tyrell of her own free will. Face it, Slayer, she’s in his bed because she wants to be. Maybe you were a shitty big sister and she was so eager to get away from you that a desiccated ghoul like Tyrell looked appealing.”

I launched myself at him, fingers outstretched like claws, my scream echoing, the sound nothing short of feral. I barreled through the empty space where Blake had just been and slammed face-first into the shelf beside the fireplace, wood shattering, books tumbling down over my head.

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