Page 11 of The Serpent's Bride
Everything wasexpensive.And everything was placedjust so.It was a far cry from her clean, but cheap, little rented room and its pastel printed wallpaper.
This was the kind of luxury that most people could only dream of.
Instantly, she wanted to break something.
Namely, Raziel’s smug, smirking face. It would be so easy to just take the pin from the sections of her hair she had coiled up into a bun at the back of her head and just put it right through his jugular.
Vampires were hard to kill. But if you stabbed anything enough times, it would die.
But she didn’t just want him dead.
She wanted him tosuffer.
The rest of his moons-damned family had to diefirst.
His red eyes were gleaming in amusement and hunger, like a wild animal stalking its prey. She smiled, trying to hide her sudden rush of adrenaline as shyness, and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. Her face was flushed, but not for the reason he probably thought.
The tour ended where it began, back at the foyer.
“You have quite the place here, Mr. Nostrom.”
“You may call me Raziel.” He hummed and stepped closer to her. Towering over her easily by a foot, it was clear he was used to using his height and appearance to intimidate. Those red eyes of his burned into her—throughher.
His fingers twisted in a coil of her own hair, wrapping the waves around his digits lazily.
She wanted to hurt him. Very, very badly. But she had to keep up the act—she had topretend.She adopted the faintest look of fear on her face. There weren’t many vampires in the outer cities. There was very little influence to wield out there, after all.
He smiled, reading her feigned fear exactly as she hoped he would. “That’s right…you probably haven’t met many of my kind.”
“You’re the first.” She shifted a little from one foot to the other.
The slow, leisurely smile that spread over his face was that of a wolf recognizing his next meal. And it glinted with just a hint ofpleasure.“I look forward to teaching you everything about us.” Releasing her hair and crooking one of his fingers beneath her chin, he tilted her head up to him. She hadn’t realized she’d fixated on his ruby-encrusted tie pin until he redirected her. “You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?”
“I—I heard—I heard vampires drink blood.”Easy, Nadi. Easy. Don’t knee him in the nuts just yet.
“We do. But it isn’t deadly. And it certainly isn’t painful. On the contrary—it can be the most exquisite, blissful experience anyone could possibly have…it can be positively addictive.” When he curled his knuckle to run his finger along her cheek, her stomach churned. “But don’t fret. I’ve promised not to mark your pretty little neck untilafterthe ceremony. Otherwise, my dear mother will have my head on a pike.”
Trying to look as shy and demure as possible, Nadi took a step away from him and stared down at his shoes, still faintly smiling. He smelled like sandalwood and cologne—or maybe a little like a campfire. “O—oh.” What else was she supposed to say to that?
“Shame your family couldn’t attend the wedding.”
Good. She was right about that. She stared down at her feet. Monica would be shy. “Too risky, what with the family business to run and all.”
“Mm. And Mother wasn’t going to foot the travel bill. Well.” Turning from her, he headed back toward the stairs. “I have business to attend to. I’m sure Hank over there will be happy to show you to your room, Miss Monica. I will return by dinner. I think it would be lovely to get to know each other, don’t you?”
“Y-yeah.” The stammer came easily. She didn’t know what she had expected him to do, but having him simplydismissher like that was a surprise. She wasn’t used to being immaterial. When she was on the job, she was usually trying to be unimportant—but not like this.
Anger and frustration roiled in her before she dismissed it.You’re just a political means to an end for his family. And to him, you’re just a toy to be used and discarded.Swallowing down all her anger, she kept her voice shaky and unsure. “Sounds lovely.”
He was already halfway up the stairs to the second floor. “I’m sure for you, it will be. Come along, Ivan. Oh—and Hank? Get Sarah to find the girl some proper clothes thatfither, will you? By the moons, she looks like she rolled out of a workhouse. Make her presentable before I eat, yes? I’d hate to lose my appetite.”
“Yes, sir,” the one that must be Hank replied.
It took all Nadi’s strength. Everything she had. Every ounce of discipline she’d taught herself. All the patience she had earned on rooftops waiting for her target to show up after twenty ormore hours of sitting perfectly still. All of that—just to keep her hands from pulling into fists.
This was normal. This was expected. This was exactly the kind of shit that Monica would have been warned about and been coached to dismiss. She was a low-born, moderately affluent human from an outer city. He was a ridiculously wealthy, powerful vampire with extremely obvious connections to organized crime.
Butfuckshe wanted to hurt him. Sheneededto make him suffer. Swallowing it all down, she bribed herself into submission with the promise of a few hours of peace and quiet. Once Raziel was gone, she turned to Hank, who, from her sources, was Raziel’s second-in-command guard next to Ivan. “Thank you—I hate to be a bother.”
