Page 58 of Hupotasso
My door swings open and Viper enters my bedroom, striding to where I sit on the edge of the bed.
I quickly look down at my hands. Surely he can’t be finished with the calf already.
‘Oh, please God, don’t say he wants to make me watch again.’
“Look at me,” he snarls.
I do as ordered, my face expressionless. I’ve learned if I look even remotely how I feel; disgusted, sick, rebellious, that he will take it out on me. So I’ve schooled my expression just as I once trained my tongue not to speak when I was angry. It had taken some work.
He stares into my eyes and I study him closely as he gives me my new orders. His eyes look wild tonight, as does his hair, which is unusual for Viper. He looks frazzled and even more unhinged than usual, if that’s possible. Either way, he makes my skin crawl and I pay very careful attention to what he’s saying in case he plans to take out on me whatever has upset him. It wouldn’t be the first time.
“Angelina, you invited Tatyana here. Not me. You’ll tell Falcon you suspected she might have an ulterior motive, but you’ll look nonchalant when you say it. To you it doesn’t matter. You despise my mother.”
I frown as I wonder what on earth he’s up to now. Isn’t it enough that he’s ordered me to seduce Falcon’s best friend? What else could he possibly be planning?
“Tell me,” he demands. “Say it.”
“I invited Tatyana,” I whisper. “I don’t care what her motives are. I hate your mother.”
“Good,” he smirks before turning to leave the room. “Good.”
I sit as still as a statue for a very long time after he’s gone, wondering what the hell that was all about, before gathering my pillow and blankets and leaving my room to hide.
I’ve been sleeping in a variety of locations ever since Tatyana decided to start visiting me during the daytime while Viper was asleep to continue her personal vendetta. I’d been ordered to allow her to do whatever she wanted, and whether this meant running a bath and repeatedly forcing my head underwater until I thought for sure I’d drown, or pulling my hair out one strand at a time, I’d submitted, and she’d had her fun. But I’d worked out that while Viper could track me anywhere through the bite, Tatyana had no such advantage.
As I hadn’t been ordered not to evade her, I’ve taken to hiding all over the place.
I drag my blankets behind me as I make for my chosen location and mull over Viper’s words.
‘What could he possibly have to gain by me telling Falcon I hate his mother?’
44
We stare down at the woman where she writhes in pain, one arm lashed to the chair behind her, the other on the floor before us.
She’d only ever worn long sleeves while staying here, and neither Jag, Wolf, nor I, had noticed or stopped to wonder why.
We were fucking idiots.
But now that her arm’s been chopped off at the shoulder the bite no longer holds her in its power. Despite her earlier attempt to throw herself out the window, it turns out she’d rathernotdie now. Too bad.
“How long?” I hiss at her, “How long were you Spider’s minion?”
Jag gives me a worried look. He’d stopped her bleeding by cauterising the wound and a doctor had administered painkillers when she’d regained consciousness, but she won’t survive much longer. We need to question her thoroughly and more quickly.
“Since I was two years old,” she groans. “Since a small girl. And after me, Giselle.”
Wolf shakes his head, frowning.
“An obedience bite on a child? It’s unheard of, and against vampire law.”
“Spider knows no bounds,” Jag snarls.
“And so, Giselle was his all along?” I scowl. “How? She bore no mark.”
“No,” she groans, her chin falling to her chest as she whispers, “no bite.”
Wolf twists the knife that Asumpta had stabbed into the Russian’s kneecap earlier when her attention appeared to be wandering, and she shrieks and looks up at me, her eyes pleading mercy. She won’t find that from me.
