Page 14 of Halfblood Deceived

She briefly considered summoning the blade and stabbing Zeydan, but there wasn’t a lot of space to maneuver.

“Please let me go,” Aella whispered.

“Let me think,” Zeydan said, tapping his chin with one finger. “Nope.”

“What are you going to do to me?” Aella asked with mounting trepidation.

She knew what, of course. Torture, rape. Vampires were beasts underneath the attractive mask. And if the beast Zeydan was still mostly hiding was equivalent to his beautiful facade…

“Lock you up somewhere safe while I kill every single male who comes to rescue you, of course,” Zeydan blithely responded. He shot her a rueful smile before pocketing his phone. “Let’s see how they like it when I turn the hunt on them.”

Aella shivered. Ben had a family. So did Eli, and no matter how much she hated him, she couldn’t imagine the devastation Bethany would feel if he were gone.

She couldn’t imagine Isaiah, the only one in that mansion who didn’t make comments about her eating habits, or hair color. He was kind, introspective, and had a sense of fairness the others didn’t. Claudia would be gutted if he died. God, Aella’s heart would break if Isaiah died.

And Micah…

Well, she had to save them all.

“How old are you?” Zeydan asked impromptu.

Aella gritted her teeth. “Why do you care?”

“I don’t,” he calmly answered, arranging his cufflinks. “I’m merely curious.”

“Well, it looks like your curiosity will remain unsatisfied,” Aella snapped, surprised at her own boldness.

The driver laughed. “So she isn’t as meek as she looks, eh?”

Aella jolted as his amber eyes met hers through the mirror. He was grinning.

She quickly turned away.

“She does have the name of a warrior,” Zeydan said. “Perhaps she’s trying to honor it.”

“She’s sitting right here,” Aella blurted, even as part of her brain fired up an alarm. Beep, beep, beep—you shouldn’t talk back to your kidnappers—beep, beep.

Zeydan chuckled. “How rude of me.” He placed a finger under her chin, applying a feather-like pressure, but Aella still met his gaze. “You are much less meek than you look, Aella. Keep it up. We wholly approve.”

Aella shook off his touch. “Go to Hell where you belong, demon.”

Zeydan gave her a closed-lip, sardonic smile.

The driver tsked and rolled his amber eyes at her through the rearview mirror. “How unimaginative.”

Aella’s blood boiled. She hated when people laughed at her. She wanted to stab them when they did, which was very bad, but she couldn’t help it, and this time, she was allowed to be bad.

“Lose our tail when we cross the intersection, Lex,” Zeydan said to the driver.

“Got it,” Lex answered, winking at Aella’s worried expression.

Aella considered her options.

She wasn’t as strong as a male gargoyle, not even as much as the females who could shift. But she was strong enough to force the car’s lock and open the door. She wasn’t as fast as a vampire, but fast enough to jump out of the car before Zeydan could catch her. Hopefully.

If she waited for the car to stop, it would be predictable. If she tried jumping off after the intersection, where the speed limit was higher, she’d likely kill herself.

Keeping her breathing steady, she surreptitiously toed off her heels.

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