Page 6 of A Love So Deadly
Vittoria on the other hand… She likes to stay hungry on nights when we stalk and hunt the streets. And this is hunting.
She hisses so low and soft I don’t think Vinnie hears. It’s a warning, one I ignore.
Most people know me as the CEO of VMR, or as the crime boss of the Vale Hart family. Vittoria is the Hart side, though I don’t think she had one even when she was human.
Vittoria fascinated me when I met her as a human. She was cold, vicious, hungry for power, for something beyond social standing. She wanted more. Beyond the frailties of humanity.
A rare breed is Vittoria Hart. Rare, deadly and compelling. Then and now.
Turning her was a no brainer.
And I’m honestly not sure she changed much since the moment I turned her in 1921. At least not in her behavior. If anything, she’s only grown deadlier, honed her skills. Bloomed into everything she could be. A perfect hunter.
I wait for Vinnie’s answer. “I don’t have it, Lu—Mr. Vale. We had unexpected expenses?—”
“How important is he?” I ask Vittoria, flipping through the accounts book on the desk. I’m bored with him, and as I look at the accounts book, I see Vinnie’s right. He doesn’t have it this month.
But there are ways of doing things, and lessons must be learnt.
“The Bonito family has holdings we use,” she says. “They have value.”
“Still…” I approach him, and he takes a step back. “You need to pay tonight.”
I flicker my glance at Vittoria.
She moves preternaturally fast and has him in a lock hold, head to the side, neck exposed. Vein…throbbing.
A need pulsates through me, and I descend. I can hear the rapid staccato of his heart. I can smell the perfume of his fear. It’s glorious. Fear always is. Heady, a particular bouquet that’s up there with sex and blood. I smile at him.
My fangs distend.
He screams.
“No one’s gonna hear you over that noise,” Vittoria says.“But keep screaming and that tongue of yours really is mine.”
I sink my teeth into his throat, ripping open a vein, and life blood, hot, and delicious floods my mouth. It’s euphoric. I suck, drinking down.
Just.
Enough.
To.
Still.
Him.
“Lucian,” Vittoria says from a distance.
But fuck the blood is delicious. I take some more.
Enough.
To.
Control.
Him.
