Page 64 of The Serpent's Bride
“Precisely. I have only used it on you once, and even then, it was barely a nudge. Part of why they call me the Serpent, I suppose.”
“About my hair.” She gestured at the messy bun at the back of her neck. “It doesn’t seem to stick.”
“That is exactly the point I am leading to. I can command others to do whatever I wish them to do with only the power of my voice. But once I leave their presence, separated by walls or space, it fades. It is…” He paused, clearly searching for words. “Like exposure to the sun. A little is easy to mend from. The longer you are exposed, the longer the damage lasts. If I issue you a single command, it may last for a minute—an hour—a day, at most. Depending on how weak or strong-minded the individual is.” He gestured aimlessly. “It’s an inexact science.”
This was fascinating. She’d always been curious how his hypnotism worked. She hadn’t ever really been able to pin it down, and obviously hadn’t ever been able to ask the source about it. She twisted on the bench of the truck to watch him. “So, if you order someone to do something and then leave? For example—let us through this guarded door and don’t tell anyone we’re here…” She let out a rush of air. “Shit. Everyone has to die. That’s the second thing, isn’t it?”
“I will offer Luciento a chance to leave. He won’t take it. And then, yes. You’re correct.” His ruby-red eyes glinted with amusement and perhaps more than a little bit of pride. But his expression quickly fell flat to one that was surprisingly empty. Almost, even, perhaps just a little bitmorose.“As you aren’t likely to survive this evening for one reason or another, little murderer, I want you to know I sincerely and honestly apologize for underestimating your intelligence.”
That felt real. Her shoulders drooped a little. “Apology accepted, Raziel.”
A faint smile returned. “When we arrive, we’ll see how far we can get via deception, first. I will insist on speaking to Luciento personally.” He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “While I have no qualms simply murdering them all, Luciento is a coward and a rat. He’ll slink into the sewers if we alert him too quickly, like all fae scum.”
She kept a straight face and simply listened.
“If they question why you’re here, you’re the second half of the peace offering.” He smirked. “You’ve proven to be proficient with a gun. And if you insist on sleeping with a knife under your pillow, I hope you’re capable of using one.”
“I’ll make do.”
“Once we reach Luciento, I will dispatch his men. Luciento will be immune to my hypnotism. But, one on one, fae are no match for vampires. If you are not otherwise…indisposed, you should stay some fifty feet behind me.”
“Why?”
“When I blanket an area, my commands are impossible to ignore by any within range. I would hate for you to mistake my command to eat the end of your gun as one I wishedyouto obey.” He chuckled. “I have other plans for you this evening that don’t involve watching you splatter your brains out all over the ceiling. No, stay as far back as you can until I call for you.”
“Not a problem.” She blanched. He was right about one thing—she’d never actually seen him use his power like that. She’d heard about it plenty of times. Whole rooms of people, slaughtered by their own hands. Or by the hands of their friends and companions. Suicide by some of the most grisly and seeminglyimpossiblemeans. All because he had simplytold them to do it.
The Serpent had earned his title.
Hearing about it second-hand, or seeing a few grainy photographs in a folder, was very different than witnessing it in person.
Her stomach twisted. Luckily, she was immune to his gift, same as all fae. But therein was the other half of her torment.
Luciento and the Iltanis. Her uncle and her old clan. These weren’t any old gang of criminals. These weren’t just some pack of low-ranking vampires or grubby human mobsters she was going to help murder. These weren’t her normal targets.
These were herpeople.They had been her friends, her blood. Her family.
She was sitting in a truck next to her worst enemy—the man she’d sworn vengeance against—and planning onmurdering her own people.
Was it worth it? Why washerrevenge worth more than the lives of other people? No. No, that wasn’t it. There was more to it than that.
She wasn’t just avenging her family; she was unwinding the entire Nostrom clan.
Raziel would have to die first—his mother’s insistence that “Monica” had to die during the sacrifice had solidified that. If they both survived the raid, Nadi would go to the ancestral home with him, and only one of them would walk away.
Then, she’d slink back into the shadows and bide her time to pick off the rest of the Nostroms. Because her vendetta had to be bigger than just Raziel alone.
Ithadto be.
She wasn’t just picking the weed off at the ground, she was poisoning the roots. She was going to rip apart the Nostroms from the inside. Because if this “mission” was just about Raziel, she should have killed him in the truck half an hour ago. Right?
Right?
She had a knife. She had a gun. Vampires were hard to kill, but they weren’t unstoppable. His guard was down. She could have “checked the bullets” in her gun and put four in his head before he even knew what was happening. Squeezing her eyes tight, she leaned back in the truck and took a deep breath before letting it out.
No, this had always been about ridding the world ofallthe Nostroms.
But tonight had quickly become about survival. Her job was to get through to the dawn in one piece. She could figure out the path forward from there. She couldn’t killanyof the Nostroms if she herself was dead.
