Page 16 of Our Sins in Silver (Coven of Sin 3)

“And do you believe in Satan?”

Gears turned in the young, soon-to-be vampire’s eyes. Distrust dissolved into something more peaceful and pliant. Maybe in some part of him, Corry knew what fate stared down at him—felt the gravity of it pushing him down like a hydraulic press. I doubted he fully understood it. Any other human in Corry’s place would probably have been scared shitless by the simple fact that they didn’t know.

But not the human bleeding out all over the vampire king’s designer loafers. Maybe that’s what had intrigued Thomas Knight enough to stop and save his victim’s life.

Corry Cross was recklessly brave, even when forced to look death in the eye.

Especially then.

He was never meant to be human.

After several seconds of blistering silence, Cor gave an affirmative nod that, yes, he believed in Satan.

“Gooodanswer, boy,” the vampire king crooned in a manner that told me he was licking his lips as he reached for his newest progeny in the making. “Very good.”

The memory of the car crash shattered in the next beat like a breaking mirror, only to reveal another scene.

My father now stood in Deathwish’s den. Not much different from the last time I’d seen it. This could have been any time within the decade the MMA fighter and ex-monster slayer spent with the coven. Eros was just as tidy as ever when it came to the state of his sinister playroom, with every tool and diabolic instrument having its place.

The most drastic difference in the sadist’s den was the man strung from his wrists by a chain attached to the same hook where Allister—one of the vampires who’d assaulted me at the gas station—had died. He was human, by the look of him. Lucky for him, he was passed out.

Warmth rushed over my chest and crept to my cheeks as I took in a version of my sadist I’d never seen before. Dark circles underscored his chocolate-brown eyes. His hair was shorter than he wore it now, but it looked like someone had cut it haphazardly with one of his rustier tools. His knuckles were bloody and seemed to have trouble healing. He must have been fresh from a match at The Warehouse.

Deathwish planted himself between his master and the unconscious man, wearing a hard expression that masked his emotions as he stared intensely at the floor.

With the way the furnace sat behind him, the lapping flames shrouded my sadist in dancing shadows, which he wore like they were his Sunday best. They highlighted the bare muscles of his torso in a way that made my core heat in radiant approval.

Eros kept his face stony, yet there was no hiding the blatant hatred he emanated in the presence of his master.

“Did I hear you correctly, Deathwish? Are you disobeying your master when he’s given you a specific command?”

The sadist’s mask broke. His mouth twisted into a sneer as he slowly lifted his head to meet his king’s glare with one of his own scorching looks of disdain. Just like Corry, Eros found himself in the terrifying shadow the vampire king cast and didn’t cower or balk. In true Deathwish fashion, he gave a casual, one-shouldered shrug. “I knew him in the Guild. He’s a friend. A good one.”

I didn’t have to see my dad’s face to feel his displeasure taint the air like poison.

“Your friend tried to kill one of our own. A rather pathetic attempt, even by non-Helsing standards. No matter how much of an embarrassment he is to his chosen profession, he shall be punished for his crimes against our house the same as any slayer worth the air they breathe.”

“Shouldn’t the fact that he failed be to his credit?” Eros snarled. “Allow me to release him. He did nothing wrong. He failed in his mission.”

“Yes, but not for lack of trying. Kill him. Or I’llmakeyou do it.”

Chapter seven

Silver and Fear

I’dneverseenErosshow even a slight iota of fear toward anything. As far as I knew, nothing rattled him.

Yet it was at that threat that Deathwish flinched.

I wondered what my father meant by “make him.” As a necromancer, his son could mesmerize vampires. As far as I knew, though, that wasn’t a trick in Thomas Knight’s arsenal. Thank bloody fuck for that. The lord of vampires possessed more strength than all four of his progeny combined—probably his entire coven, come to think of it. He had every ability to physically make Eros do whatever he wanted with brute force alone.

My stomach tightened.

By my mate’s reaction, though, there were more layers to the threat than that.

Swallowing, Eros tentatively reached for a knife among the many that were mounted on the rack erected over his workbench, then turned to face his gruesome task. Tendons stretched tight in his neck. The hand that gripped the knife trembled. His tatted chest rose and fell in quick succession with his escalating panic. It was hard to watch my prince freak out, with no other option than to stuff down his feelings and murder his friend like it was just another Tuesday at the office.

Thomas Knight folded his arms over his chest. “I may have all of time on my side, but I cannot say the same for my patience. Hurry.Up.”

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