Page 23 of Bleeding Love

Confusion passed through them, but by the time they reacted, I had already snapped the neck of the one who spoke. He didn’t even react—definitely not a vampire hunter, if his reflexes were any indication. Given the head start, the remaining two sprung into action. One of them withdrew a knife from the folds of his coat, swiping toward my throat, while the other one attempted to flee.

I ducked before grabbing the hunter’s wrist, twisting it until the blade was pointing toward his chest. His bones cracked beneath my grip when the weapon sank into his sternum. By the time he fell to the ground, the other one had disappeared into one of the alleys.

I chased, catching up to him before he reached the other end of the narrow space. He lashed out, throwing something in the air that made my eyes sting, but I just closed them and lunged. I didn’t need my sight to deal with the likes of him. I doubted he could even take Celeste down with all his concoctions and blades. Witch hunters were a terrible fit for vampires. They were so used to their enemy being mortal that they didn’t bother learning how to protect themselves against real predators.

His knife sunk into my arm, but the graze barely slowed me down. A cry for help was just forming on his lips when I slammed his head against the wall. His brain splattered on the bricks like a halo, but I moved fast enough to avoid getting it on my clothes.

Grimacing, I held him in place while I checked his coat for anything useful. When I found a handful of crumpled papers with the Order’s seal on them, I let the body slump to the ground.

The first one was his orders to come to this town to support the local church. The letter was from the day after Celeste had slaughtered the hunters in the woods. The other page was an assignment for his unit to do a town-wide search to find where theAncient Onehad hidden and kill anyone whom she had been in contact with. The Ancient One wasn’t referred to by name, but the rest of the orders suggested everyone knew exactly who that was.

A powerful witch. Dangerous. Important enough to kill innocent humans to take her down.

The last page was a drawing of a woman with flaming red hair, green eyes, and a smirk that looked outright manic. It was a poor likeness except for the hair, but I imagined that physical beauty wasn’t something that the hunters attributed to monsters.

Still, it had to be her. Her features weren’t exactly common around these parts, and I hadn’t seen or felt anyone else powerful enough to stir such a great force into action.

But why call her the Ancient One? She was clearly young. Even if she was older than she looked, ancient meant something else in the supernatural world. I was almost a thousand years old and I still wouldn’t qualify to be called that. Only the members of the Elder Council could be referred to as ancient since some believed there were those among them who were even older than written history.

Pocketing the papers, I listened for any signs of distress. If anyone had found the other bodies, they would have screamed or called for help. The silence told me I had some time to take care of them. I wasn’t in the mood for disposing of corpses, but if the Order discovered them dead, they would speed up their search.

I glanced down at the body, then headed back. I needed to get them out of sight before I could move them somewhere where it would be easier to destroy their remains. And then… then I would have to go back and confront Celeste about who she really was.

Chapter 10

Celeste

Pullingmylegscloserto my body, I shuddered but refused to get out of the tub. The water had gone cold a long time ago, but without my power, I couldn’t reheat it. Without my power…

I rested my chin on my knees and closed my eyes. The sensations rushed back in, no matter how hard I tried to shut them out. Roman’s hard body pressed against mine, his hands, his mouth, his tongue. I wasn’t sure if it was the sensory deprivation that made every touch so electric, but my body still shuddered with the memory of it. I could almost feel him touching me even now, his hand grazing my hard nipples, his fingers teasing my clit with the promise of pleasure.

And that climax. I had no idea my body could still feel these kinds of emotions. After being alive for almost two thousand years, I had thought I felt it all, tried it all, and grown bored with all of it. I used sex for the release, for the calm that came after, yet even as he made me come, I didn’t feel calm. If anything, I felt even more unbalanced than before, because part of me wanted to feel that again.

“Damn it,” I whispered, rising so quickly I almost slipped and fell. Cursing myself for nearly breaking my neck like a stupid human, I stepped out of the tub, splashing water everywhere.

Ever since I staggered out of the dungeon, I hadn’t seen any of the servants. I wasn’t sure if they fled or were hiding, but something told me they caught one look at Roman and rushed for cover. I couldn’t blame them. If I hadn’t died so many times before, I would have been terrified of him, too. But now…death was just a bothersome reset of the clock.

I padded to my room, glancing around tentatively to make sure he hadn’t returned and made himself comfortable there. I wasn’t sure what to do next—avoid him or face him. I had a feeling that I might not be able to stop myself from trying to kill him if he taunted me. Even knowing what he might do to me if I did. Or maybebecauseI knew.

This wasn’t good. I couldn’t allow myself to want this man. I couldn’t allow myself to want any man. They were just useful tools—for pleasure, for power, for favors. Nothing more. Never anything more.

Killing Roman wasn’t a viable plan anymore. Even with my power, he was my match in every way. And the fact that he was a vampire of all things, the only supernatural being I couldn’t actually hex, made things worse.

So I had to go with my backup plan: shattering his ward. Mother Nature loved balance, so she made all things imperfect, riddled with both strengths and weaknesses. No matter how strong or how perfect it looked, all spells had loopholes. And I had already found one.

My stomach growled, making me painfully aware that I hadn’t eaten in almost a day. I was always hungry after sex, and now I felt like I might eat a whole chicken. Maybe even a cow.

So food first, blowing up half of the town later. I doubted Roman would be in a hurry to return. The night was still young, so I had a few hours to get my cuffs off.

I dressed quickly, leaving my wet hair unbound. The house was quiet as I descended the stairs. There were a few droplets of blood where I had fallen earlier—a painful reminder of how weak and fragile I was now.

Balling my hands into fists, I headed toward the kitchen. I hadn’t actually been there before, but I had seen the servants go in and out. When I entered, the last embers of the fire in the cooking hearth painted the walls in deep orange.

I used the meager light to find a candle. Once its flame grew enough to chase the shadows, I placed it on the table and set out to find food. It didn’t take me long. I found a small loaf of bread that must have been prepared earlier because it was still soft. There was a cold broth and some dry meat hanging in one of the cupboards. I took it all, my hunger only growing while I proceeded to cut the latter.

It was tempting to just start gnawing on it, but I took my time pouring a bowl and cutting the meat before I sat down to eat. The meal wasn’t anything special, but as my hunger abated, I moaned in delight. I kept eating, sure that if I filled the hole that was growing in my chest after the last few days, I would go back to the way things were before I met Roman.

I was just finishing a second bowl when the sound of the front door opening made me look up. The noise was loud, like the person was purposely announcing their arrival. I had never heardRoman walk into a room—or the house itself—and make his presence known. He just…appeared, like his goal in life was to scare people out of their skins. I had thought he enjoyed the smell of horror, but then realized that was just how he was.

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