Page 21 of Our Sins in Shadows (Coven of Sin 2)

He wore his shoulder-length jet black hair slicked back from his face and his bushy brows contorted into a scathing glower. I didn’t have to possess Sterling’s ability to see auras to know just how dangerous and violent this man had to be. The slimy power radiating off him had me taking an instinctual step backward.

Who was this severe-looking man? He was so interesting to look at, with his romanesque nose, gaunt cheeks, and a sharp jaw covered in a five o’clock shadow. Almost handsome, but something was off about him that set my teeth on edge. Maybe if it wasn’t for the heavy eye bags and the sunken cheeks. He was the type that you might cast as the semi-enticing villain in a movie.

The stranger slowly stretched to his feet.

Tall. Lithe. There wasn’t much muscle on him, but that didn’t fool me into thinking he wasn’t stronger than Erik and me combined.

“Actually,” he began, his dark eyes dancing with cold mirth. “I was hoping for the princess to make a proper introduction to her future king.”

My blood turned to ice. “Wait. Are you…?”

“The true heir of the vampire throne. But seeing as we’re family, you may call me Dagon.”

Chapter eight

Eyes of Evil

“Dagon.”Thenameonmy tongue had become so familiar, it had haunted a dozen conversations since I had tortured it out of Allister that night in Eros’ den.

Until now, Dagon Knight had been a ghost story, kept alive only in conversations. Now, here he was in the flesh.

This wasn’t exactly how I envisioned the biological son of Thomas Knight. I’d pictured a man with a build similar to Vincent and Eros, slabs of muscle and brawn. But he did carry the imposing physical disposition that I expected from the vampire king’s son. I didn’t have to spend more than a few seconds with him to know he was a cruel snake of a man, with all the humanity of a cobra. Even the air around him was poison, his acidic demeanor eating up the oxygen and making it difficult to breathe.

There were a hundred questions I wanted to ask him. Yet, all coherent thoughts seemed to wither away the moment I found myself pinned beneath his dark as death gaze.

Thoseeyes.

I knew them. They were the same ones I had seen in that portrait of my father I’d found in Sterling’s library. The evil glint the painter had captured in Thomas Knight’s gaze was uncanny to the one that regarded me now.

I resisted the urge to shrink away from the man who claimed to be my brother.

There was something so horribly off about him, something so deeply sinister nestled in the creases of his unsettling smile.

Dressed normally enough in dark slacks, a black dress shirt that had the top two buttons undone, and a pinstriped suit vest, the sharp outfit did nothing to hide that manic look in his eyes. It reminded me of a dangerous animal who would bite anyone dumb enough to get too close.

I took another step back to keep that precious distance between us, but Dagon took a step toward me and then another until my back came within inches of Erik’s chest.

My breath splintered as my mind exploded into full-blown panic.

I was cornered, trapped between my evil brother and the leader of the Boston Coven.

“You look uncomfortable,” Dagon mused through a dark chuckle. His attention briefly flicked to the television where my debaucheries of last night played on loop. “Funny, I would think you’d find yourself right at home sandwiched between two men.”

My stomach cartwheeled as he came so close his breath tickled my face, while Erik’s was hot on the back of my neck. I battled the urge to sucker punch both these creeps in the throat.

But there were so many questions I needed to ask Dagon. Attacking a cruel vampire lord with a superiority complex and magical abilities would not get me any closer to the answers I needed.

“I’m your sister.” The words came out as more of a statement than a question, to give him a chance to rebuke the claim and also remind him to keep his fucking hands off me.

“Half-sister,” Dagon corrected, and his fake smile slipped off his face. He glanced past my shoulder to Erik and made a gesture for him to leave us.

My stomach tightened as the Boston Coven leader left the room with a soft click of the door, leaving me alone with the only blood relative I had ever met.

Too bad he was a vile, power-grabbing psychopath.

This man was my enemy. There was no doubt about that. I wouldn’t waste my time trying to connect with him, or appeal to any shreds of mercy he might have buried deep down in his shriveled heart.

I acknowledged my new sibling in the same way I did my father. Dead. Or he would be soon. I’d make sure of that. Instead of grieving his loss, I’d throw a little party with cake and everything, and I’d order the thing in person, so I could see the reaction of the bakery lady’s face when I ordered the custom lettering to say ”Congrats on the death of your necromancer brother who tried to bring back your evil dad from the dead so he could murder all your suitors and steal your throne.”

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