Page 6 of Bonded By Blood

Brianna’s eyes widened. She’d heard that name a few times before. Tobias Wilson was wanted for treason. In fact, she did recall hearing he’d been in—and escaped from—California sometime in recent years. If the vampire before her really was the same man, she would need to take this a bit more seriously. She would also need to bring his corpse home so her mother could call off the hunt.

The vampire slid a sideways glare to Joe but didn’t otherwise move. “You got me mixed up,” he said. A slow, dangerous smirk lifted his lips. “Toby’s my brother.”

Close enough.

“Great,” Joe said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “There are two of you.”

Wilson bared his fangs before taking a step back and twisting to the side, as if to lunge at Joe. He did the majority of it at super-speed, so Joe and Kendall wouldn’t have seen the small movements. Their human vision wouldn’t catch up for two or three seconds. But Brianna saw it as if in slow motion.

There was a little-known secret, even among the vampires. While it was true that vampires grew stronger with time and experience, there were limits to the strength a Turned vampire could acquire. Limits to their speed and reflexes and everything else. Limits that assured a Turned vampire could never match an Original, not one-on-one.

Brianna shot her hand out and pressed her fingertips firmly over Wilson’s chest, curled around the skin that shielded his heart.

He stilled.

The subtle, startled reactions of Kendall and Joe assured her their sight had caught up.

Wilson turned his wide-eyed stare back to her. Apparently, he’d once again underestimated her.

Brianna pressed a little harder, her manicured nails scraping his sweatshirt. “I believe I told you to leave him alone,” she said. “Take another step and I’ll rip out your heart.”

Without otherwise moving, Wilson said, “Thought you didn’t wanna make a scene?”

“Sometimes we all have to do things we don’t want to,” Brianna replied. “You, for example, are going to surrender.”

“Excuse me?”

Brianna narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re going to surrender yourself to our custody. You’re going to help us lure your brother out where we can capture him.”

Wilson scoffed and took a half-step back in order to face her again. “Why the fuck would I do that? Your queen would just kill me, anyway.”

Kendall began rustling with something behind her.

Brianna kept her focus, and her building irritation, forward. “Trust me, there are things far worse than instant death. Things you’ve not lived long enough to comprehend.”

Wilson met her glare with one of his own. “You’re really pissin’ me off, sweetheart.” Hands at his sides, he stretched and flexed his fingers. “I’m gonna drink both these humans, then I’m gonna rip your smart-mouthed little head from your pretty shoulders. Got that?”

Obviously attempting to pacify the situation, Joe said, “I’m pretty sure this isn’t the place you want to make that kind of a mess.”

Brianna didn’t feel like pacifying him, though. She let him see her fangs as she said, “If you lay a finger on either of them, we’ll be forced to find out if your brother is the vengeful type.”

Wilson leaned forward, shoving the bill of the ball cap into her forehead and dragging it against her hairline. “And if I lay a finger on you?”

“The penalty for that is a slow, agonizing, and terrifying death,” Brianna said. She reached up, pinched the bill of the hat between thumb and forefinger, and plucked it from his head. She pressed the hat against his chest with the pads of her fingers. “Unless I kill you myself.”

Wilson hissed angrily right in her face, throwing his weight forward, as if he thought he could force her back, or even throw her to the ground.

Brianna dropped his hat in favor of catching his throat, using the crook of her thumb to push his jaw up at an uncomfortable angle. Again, he froze. He’d gained barely an inch. “I’m beginning to feel insulted.”

“You are not gonna believe who landed at the airport twenty minutes ago,” Kendall interrupted with a note of sarcastic glee in her voice. “Should I call him?”

Wilson slid a sideways glare to Kendall, but Brianna’s hold on his throat kept him from moving.

Brianna had a very good guess of who Kendall meant. “Yes.”

“What the hell game are you playing?” Wilson demanded with a snarl.

“I don’t play games,” Brianna replied.

---