Page 31 of Our Sins in Shadows (Coven of Sin 2)

With my heart in my throat, I watched Lavinia bounce down the hallway, the doll-like girl on a warpath of discrete destruction.

Yup. I’d grown fond of Massachusetts’ creepiest teenager. Who would have thought?

I did as she instructed and took the elevator down to the second floor. When the doors peeled back, I stuck my head out into the hall to make sure the coast was clear before finding the sign that pointed to the back stairwell. Then I waited on the flight of stairs that led down to the basement just as she said to. I noted a door tucked beneath every set of stairs, each one labeled with a glowing exit sign, probably leading to a fire escape ladder outside.

Too bad each door was welded shut and fastened with silver chains, just for extra measure.

That meant when we came up from the basement, we’d have no choice but to take the lobby out. We’d have to fight through whatever security detail was on patrol and walk right out the front door.

This whole place was one giant prison.

Every second spent waiting in this stairwell was pure torture. I wish Lavinia had taken me with her to the security room. I couldn’t stand around in this cold and empty space with my thoughts gnawing away at my sanity for much longer.

Dagon’s disgusting showcase of his powers was less than an hour away. Only it wouldn’t happen, because the star of the show wasn’t going to attend.

What lie would Lavinia make up about losing me since they placed me in her charge? Would they buy it?

My throat constricted, making my breath come in short little wheezes. I gripped the metal railing of the stairs as I concentrated on not freaking out.

I had to be strong. I couldn’t let the reality of my brother’s malevolence get to me.

Except that it already had. It more than got to me. It had wriggled its way under my skin, eating away at the delicate remnants of my humanity.

I could still feel the sorcerer’s cold as death eyes on my skin, that leering grin stretched wide while he watched me pinned between Eros and Vincent on the TV screen.

Dagon Knight was the worst kind of villain in a dark book, the kind that made your stomach twist and your blood boil with every page.

Lucky freaking me. This wasn’t fiction. I couldn’t just forget about him with the closing of a book. He was my brother, my family. And he wanted me dead. All to clear his way to the throne.

And the first step? Forcing Vincent on top of me while the whole damn Boston Coven watched.

It wasdisgusting.

That’s where most of his coven had to be now, up on the top floor of the skyscraper waiting for Lavinia to deliver me so the show could start.

I thought I had known what hate was the day Vincent had freed me from my bedroom and divulged the truth about me. Because how could I hate anyone more than the woman who’d lied to me my whole life about a sickness I didn’t have?

Then came my princes, and I learned the story of my father and all the wretched things he’d done to them. I thought I couldn’t hate anyone more than Thomas Knight.

I was wrong.

Now I knew there was no one on this earth, living or dead, that I loathed more than Dagon Knight.

I wasn’t sure how yet, but I’d make him suffer for all he’d done and for all that he was trying to do. They called me the Head Taker, but Dagon didn’t deserve a quick death. Oh no, I’d drag that shit out. Maybe I’d borrow a move from a movie I’d seen once and pull out his fingernails with tweezers or something. Then I’d remove the fingers. Then the hands. His arms. His nose, his ears.

The monster inside me ran wild with the image of my brother strung up in the same place Allister had been dangling in front of me in Eros’ den.

I’d grab some pliers from Eros’ workbench—because there was no way I’d touch it with my bare hands—and then slowly pry off the pathetic piece of meat between his legs just to show my dear brother that he wasn’t the only one who’d inherited our dad’s twisted fascination with pain. And as he’d scream, I would shove the limp piece of flesh in his mouth and gag him with his own cock.

Maybe I’d make him swallow it, too.

The dark part of me chuckled at that idea, so I stowed it away for further contemplation later.

For now, I focused my thoughts on the guys. Eros and Vincent were still in the basement. How many vampires were guarding them? Would Lavinia have a special trick up her sleeve to take care of them?

Did I have the patience to wait for her to see for myself?

Come on, Ruby. Don’t rush in, tits blazing. You don’t know how many of them there will be, and Sterling will kill you if you needlessly place yourself in danger.

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