Page 68 of Our Sins in Blood (Coven of Sin 1)

Just as I was beginning to imagine what I would have done to my assailant if I were in Deathwish’s boots, a gargled scream ripped me from my fucked up fantasies.

I peered through the keyhole and I couldn’t believe my damn eyes. Allister was still alive, his skull knitting back together as Eros glared down at him with thinly veiled boredom.

“Hurry up and heal so I can break you again.”

I knew vampires could regenerate quickly, but I didn’t know it was to this extent. His skull had been crushed, yet he had come back to life in under a minute.

Eros grabbed his victim’s ankle and dragged him over to the room where I was hiding.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Any second he’d find me, and his torture room wasn’t the ideal place for him to discover I’d broken into his room and stole from him.

I frantically searched for a place to hide. When my gaze landed on the coffin, I scrambled inside and cracked the lid just enough so I could still see the room.

The inside of the coffin was lined in soft silk that had the prince’s dark and spicy scent ingrained in the fabric.

Somehow his coffin and his hoodie made me feel safe. It felt like a different version of him as I watched the dark angel of vengeance burst through the door with Allister slung over his shoulder.

Dumping the vampire unceremoniously on the ground, he stepped up to the bench, coming dangerously close to my hiding place. My heartbeat spiked, pounding so loud I was afraid he would hear.

He pulled his cigarette from his lips and snuffed it out on the table. As the smoke evaporated and its scent faded, he paused, his brown eyes slitting and his nostrils flaring.

With the way my heart was slamming frantically against my rib cage, maybe I would die from a heart attack before he could kill me himself. But whatever demented god had sanction over this fucked up place must have been on my side, because Allister had chewed through his gag. When he spoke his voice came out loud and clear.

“Go ahead and kill me, you deranged fuck. There is a traitor in your den, leaking out all your secrets. We know what happened to your master, the coward king who took his own life! And how your precious Council of Elders plan on putting his half-blood bastard on the throne. You think our coven is the only one that turned against the Elders? Just wait, there is a whole fleet of us waiting to come down and obliterate you. And we won’t stop there. We’ll rip apart any coven that remains loyal to you. The Elders will be destroyed and all that will remain is the one true king and those loyal to him.”

Eros coolly grabbed a set of latex gloves and pulled them on, then took a set of shackles from the workbench and spun around, cocking his head at the victim at his feet. “The one true king? And who might that be?”

“Dagon Knight.”

A pregnant silence filled the air. I’d never heard the name but even so, it sent shivers down my spine. Whoever this Dagon Knight was, he carried my father’s name.

“That’s impossible,” Eros growled. “He died centuries ago.”

“He’s alive. He’s coming for all of you. You just wait and see what he has in store for your little half-blood cunt. If you’ll be alive to see it.”

Eros was on top of the other vampire so fast, I hadn’t even seen him move. He crouched down, ripped the rope from his wrists, and clamped the shackles on him so his arms were over his head. With impressive strength, he hauled the vampire up with one hand and slung the chain holding his wrists together onto the hook dangling from the ceiling.

“You’re wrong,” Eros growled between clenched teeth. He peeled off his shirt and moved to the furnace to light it. When the flames sprung to life, the room lit up in an eerie orange, chasing the shadows to the far corners of the room.

Bathed in firelight, I could now see Deathwish clearly.

He was devastatingly gorgeous, even flecked with Allister’s blood and covered in a thin sheen of sweat that made his tattooed skin glisten.

Picking up one of the iron rods, Eros stuck it in the furnace and turned the dial mounted on the wall to adjust the heat. “You know why you’re wrong, Al?”

The vampire gave only a snarl in response, thrashing against his shackles, making the chain rattle.

Eros pulled out the iron and strode back to his prisoner, examining the red-hot tip of the brand with a diabolic grin. “You’re wrong because even if Dagon is alive, I’ll be king long before he gets here.”

With that, he slammed the brand between Allister’s eyes. Blood-curdling screams filled the air and the stench of singed flesh stung my nose.

I should have been horrified at the display before me. Instead, nothing but raw satisfaction filled me as I watched the man who’d tried to rape me writhe in agony.

Eros continued with the torture, switching between making wounds that would almost immediately heal, and cutting off bits that he’d toss in the fire that couldn’t regenerate. Each slice, each stab, each burn was made with extreme precision and calculation, all to drag out his victim’s pain.

The male before me was no man. He was the fucking grim reaper.

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