Page 69 of The Serpent's Bride
But, then, it would have made the slaughter of all the Iltani soldiers far more difficult. He slammed his shoulder into the door again, snarling, his fangs extended. The smell of humanblood flooded his nostrils. The work in the other room was some of his best and most creative, he had to say. Whoever took the place of the Iltanis would be hard-pressed to forget what happened to those who crossed the Nostroms.
The scent of the blood was driving himmad.But it also obscured the scent of any other fresh sources of blood. He could not smell anything over the scent of the dead and dying around him. If his little killer was hurt, he had no way of knowing.
He couldn’t hear her screaming or crying. But he couldn’t hear Luciento either. He had seen the fae shitdrag her inside as he was finishing up one of the lingering guards.
“Open the door, youcoward!” He slammed his shoulder into the door again. It shook on its hinges. He was far stronger than a normal human. Mael would have been able to bash it down in two hits. It would take him eight. Which might be six too many to save her.
Why did he care?
I came here to add her to the pile. But only after I had my fun with her. Not before. Certainly not after Luciento cut her to pieces!
The idea of the rat hurting her sent him into a rage. He hissed, a feral growl deep in his chest forming. He reared back, certain that he would now be able to tear the door free.
The lock clicked.
The door swung open.
His little murderer stood there.
A blood-covered knife in her right hand.
Her peasant’s dress was soaked at the bottom with crimson where it had dragged through a quickly forming pool. He found the source quickly.
Luciento. The fae was slumped against the wall, head tilted to the side, blood still pouring from a puncture wound underneathhis jaw. It soaked his shirt. A look of sadness and perhaps…even betrayal in his eyes.
He tried to save her.
Raziel could picture it. “Come with me—I can save you from him.”
The opened hatch in the floor confirmed the escape route. She had the opportunity to flee with him. Even still, she could have run on her own. She knew he planned to kill her, intentionally or otherwise. He had said as much.
But here she stood.
Fae blood on her hands.
And he had never felt such need before in all his years.
Numb.
Nadi didn’t know what to think. She didn’t know what todo.She felt numb. Empty. Tears streaked down her cheeks. Luciento was dead. She had killed him. She had not only killed her own kind…but her ownuncle.
In the name of the greater good. To complete her mission to kill the Nostroms.
But there was no guarantee she’d ever succeed, was there?
She might die in this moment.
Raziel was standing in front of her. A vampire. Her enemy.
She deserved it if she died. She deserved the void. Luciento’s soul would rejoin the Wild. He would be reborn. She would be dust—she would be like the nothingness she felt clawing at her.
“Look at me.”
The words were an order. She felt Raziel’s power in the room like a blanket—like a fog. He was hypnotizing what he thought was a human Monica. That confirmed Luciento hadn’t beenlying. She snapped her eyes up to his, obeying him. She had to keep up the ruse at all costs. And she was in no mood to try to fight him.
I deserve what happens to me next.
“Drop the knife.”
