Page 148 of Our Sins in Blood (Coven of Sin 1)

There were more cheers and hollering, this time with a few boos mixed in from the audience.

“Deathwish is coming off a thirteen-win streak, with twelve knock-outs. Rumor has it the Knight household keeps this animal caged in the basement, letting him out for tonight only to defend his throne. This rivalry has been going on for over a decade, and we’re all on the edge of our seats to see how this one turns out!”

The announcer’s voice faded into the background when Lexi began to morph right before my eyes. Thick, twisting horns sprouted from her skull—their color matching her black hair—and her manicured nails grew into vicious, painted claws. My heart skipped a beat, seeing just how sharp and deadly they were. They could seriously hurt me, and I realized that was exactly Lexi’s intention.

“What the hell is your problem? You seriously can’t be that pissed that I slept with Eros? You don’t even like him. I haven’t touched Vincent. Shouldn’t that make you happy?”

“Happy?” Her voice was shrill as a harpy’s and her talons just as sharp. “He dumped me, saying he shouldn’t be messing around with me now that he intends on making you his mate and queen! Then you go screw the murderer who killed his father!”

She swiped a claw at me, and she was so close now I felt the hiss of air fanning over me, millimeters away from slicing my flesh.

Damn it, her words had disoriented me. I stumbled on the slick, water-logged floor and tumbled backward into the toilet stall. She was inside with me on the next breath, looming in the doorway.

She had me cornered.

“Stupid, worthless, mortal cunt! You ruined everything! You seduced and tricked him into caring about you. Then when you stole his heart from me, you tossed him aside like he was nothing.”

What was she talking about? I didn’t tell him to dump her… Okay, so I kind of did. But that was the deal. I was going to be his blood whore on the condition that he never touched Lexi again. In the aftermath of our fight, I’d called the deal off.

But Feral had sworn off Lexi anyway.

Totally lost, I fumbled with this new information. Lexi was pissed off not because I slept with Eros per se but because Feral had dumped her. And with me having mated Eros, she thought I was going to pick him as king. Meaning all her hopes of Vincent making her his queen and mate just went out the window.

That meant that even though I called off the arrangement, Vincent still held up his end of the bargain. Sort of. He may not have come clean about what he was or how my father died, but he went through with dumping Lexi.

He’d given up his blood whore even though he had received nothing in return.

Why?

He needed blood, often. There were mortal blood donors that worked for the coven, but how was he going to get a steady supply of vampire blood? Why was he putting his health at risk when he was getting nothing out of this?

Was this his weird, cryptic way of apologizing for what had happened between us in the throne room? The gesture had been one I never would have expected Feral to make. And that just drove the knife of guilt lodged in my gut even deeper.

I knew Vincent didn’t expect me to be monogamous to him, not when I was trying to select a mate on the Elders’ orders. It was the fact that I had chosen this night to sleep with his rival. It had been the worst timing, and the fact that he had dumped his blood whore just made it all the worse.

I felt bad, horrible even. But I didn’t need Lexi’s help driving the guilt deeper. I would make all my apologies to Vincent, not this bitch.

“I never stole his heart from you. You never had it. You’re just salty that now, whether or not I choose him as king, you know he’s loyal to me. He won’t be tossing me aside to put you on my throne.”

“How dare you! I’ve been his companion for an entire decade. For ten years, I’ve kept him sated with my blood and my body. Then you crawl out of your pathetic human suburbian shit-hole, and after only a week, you take his heart and then toss it aside like it’s nothing!” She scraped her talons down the stall door in a rage, the scraping of nails on metal making me squirm.

“I knew the Elders had gone senile when they decided to make you queen. The fact that we’ll have a mortal on the throne will be trouble enough for our coven, let alone having such a stupid one! You can’t even select the proper prince. You pick the savage who will have that pathetic hole between your legs worn out within the year. In his bed, he’ll be the end of you. And on the throne, he’ll be the end of us all. I can’t let you do that.”

The succubus took a step forward, her eyes wild with demented joy. “I’m going to make you bleed, little mortal. In a building full of vampires, that will not be good for you. I’ve heard your blood is real sweet, like candy. It’s not virgin’s blood anymore, but it will still drive all the younger vampires out there into a mad frenzy, so long as we spill enough of it.”

Lexi froze in her tracks for a second, a maleficent grin slashing her lips. It was almost like she was imagining the fucked fantasy she envisioned as the future. “They’ll be bringing you home in pieces. Then everything will be back to how it was. Prince Feral will take his place as the rightful king and heir to the vampire throne, and I will become his queen and sit beside him on the council. A mate worthy of a male like King Feral!”

She punched a clawed hand toward me, their needle-sharp tips glinting in the fluorescents of the restroom. The demoness moved with mind-boggling speed, but I was ready for her. Using the toilet as a launch point, I leaped onto the top of the stall. When her claws met nothing but air, she lost balance and caught herself on the rim of the toilet.

I dropped to the floor behind her, grabbed a fistful of her hair, and kicked at the back of her knees to force her into a kneeling position. She let out a blood-curdling shriek, but the gush of water and the roar of the audience beyond the restroom drowned her out.

Keeping one fist in her hair, I seized her arm and twisted it behind her back. She let out a pained scream, and I bent her over the toilet, some of her black tresses falling in the water.

“Listen to me, bitch, and listen closely. I messed up with Feral. I can admit that, even to you. But you know something? He messed up, too. He’s not perfect so try bringing down that pedestal a few notches. We both have daddy issues. Part of him hates me, and part of me hates him. Between us is pain, and that’s okay because he feeds on pain, and I get off on it. What a perfectly fucked-up match we make. And do you want to know a little secret? I plan on makingall of themmy mates. So am I a greedy bitch? Yup. And I’m making my peace with that. I’m going to be the vampire queen, and no one is going to make me feel shitty for the things I want. And you know what I want? I want to claim the throne without having to have a man to sit beside me to get it. It’s my fucking birthright. So keep your hands off Feral. He’s mine. Got it?”

“Fucking bitch! I’ll kill you!” She thrashed against me, struggling, a lethal bundle of black hair, gnashing fangs, and pointed horns.

An idea occurred to me—albeit a juvenile one—that I’d seen a million times on TV. Without giving myself another second to talk myself out of it, I dunked her head in the toilet and kicked the lever with my boot. I held her head there as the bowl refilled with water, just long enough for her to struggle against me in a battle for air. Her gurgled scream made me chuckle in wicked delight. Wrenching her out of the bowl, I pulled her head back so that she was forced to look up at me through her mass of sopping hair.

---