Page 23 of Captive Hybrid

I slowly climb the stairs, dreading what this might be about. When I’m three paces from her, she raises a hand. Stop there. I plant my feet.

‘The orgies are one floor up.’ Drusilla points to the ceiling. ‘If you had vampire hearing, you would know.’

‘What?’

‘That’s what you’re wondering, isn’t it? Where’s the mess? The gore? The drinking? I didn’t want you distracted—or eaten—so I thought we should talk here.’ Drusilla adjusts her position on the chair. She speaks so matter of fact.

I swallow. ‘I feel so safe,’ I murmur.

Drusilla chuckles. ‘I do like a sense of humour. I trust your book was delivered to you?’ She raises her chin, showing off the sharp planes of her fine face.

‘Yes,’ I growl. ‘You ruined it.’

‘Indeed. There are things in there you should not know.’ Drusilla speaks to me as if I were a child who got into the candy cabinet. ‘Now, then. You will be staying in here, with me tonight. The rest of my nest are darlings who won’t be able to control themselves. It’s the first hunt I’m allowing them to go on tonight, you see. My precious babies have lost some of their bloodlust since I’ve been gone. Well, not all of them.’ She smiles fondly, and I get the distinct impression she’s talking about Callen. ‘Now, then. Why don’t we have a chat, just us girls? Women,’ she adds. She waves a hand, and a woman appears.

She has auburn hair, straight down to her shoulders, eyes rimmed in black eyeliner. ‘Zenna, this is Evelyn. A vampire,’ she adds. ‘Consider her your babysitter. I can’t have someone murdering you by “accident”. Since I’m such a wonderful host, you can say goodbye to that cell. You’ll be staying with Evelyn.’ She smiles in what might have been a nice way, when she was human. Now it’s really creepy.

‘O…kay. Thank you? Why don’t you just let me go, instead?’ I offer. Worth a shot, right?

Evelyn draws closer. I think I detect a shake of her head. Warning me.

‘Why did you bring me here? What do you want?’

Drusilla purses her lips in annoyance. ‘Don’t be rude, now. I want you to lure your wolf here.’

My hands ball into fists at my sides. ‘No, I know you want war. But with who? A few werewolves? Why not just kill him with that bomb?’

Drusilla sways her head, as though to music only she can hear. ‘My brothers and sister.’ The words end in a snarl.

I shake my head. ‘I thought the Origins wanted revenge on those who had killed them. The bloodlines… Did my parents get that wrong?’

Drusilla chuckles. ‘Yes, the journal, I read it. We want to kill the descendants of those who murdered us?’ She tilts her head. ‘That was fun, yes. But darling, there’s so much more to it. I am one of the Four oldest beings to walk this earth.’ She continues circling me. ‘So, yes, I do love killing. But this is more calculated. You are more calculated than that.’ She chucks my chin, and I flinch. She giggles. ‘Let me tell you a little secret.’ Drusilla leans in, so close I can feel her hot, blood-scented breath on my skin. ‘I don’t want to be one of four. I want to be the only one. I want to kill my sister and my brothers. That will be a long battle. You are part of it. You belong to two of them, your mate belongs to the third. With you two, I can start a war the likes of which this earth has never seen.’ Drusilla steps back, eyes swimming in darkness.

‘Why?’ It’s the only thought my mind can voice.

Drusilla tips her head back and arches her hands out. In her long dress, she turns in a circle, dancing. ‘Because I want it all for myself. All the lives. All the blood.’ Her head snaps up, dark hair slightly obscuring her face. ‘All the power.’ She lurches forward, grasping my face. ‘I’m going to kill anyone who gets in my way.’ Slowly, she bites her lip. ‘If I bit you and gifted you my blood, you would be bound to me. A tribrid. Your mate would bow to me. Everyone will bow to me.’

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