“What the fuck are you doing here?” Luca demanded. He wasn’t the least bit afraid. This was what he’d wanted, to be face-to-face with Arden Ashton. Somehow, after his night of passion with Kat, it didn’t feel nearly as good as he’d thought it would. Instead of seeing the solution to the chains that bound him, Luca saw a dead end. Killing Arden would be a pleasure, but it wouldn’t set him free. Not as long as Kat was alive.
“I just came to have a little chat with you, man-to-man. Business, if you will.” Arden smirked and made a small show of adjusting the cuffs of his designer suit jacket. “Certainly there is no harm in having a civil discussion.”
“We’ll see about that.” Luca downed another shot, then slammed it onto the bar before turning to his unwelcome company. “Start talking, bloodsucker. Or I might forget that this is a public place.”
Arden chuckled, a malicious sound that picked away at Luca’s self-control. He had half a mind to slam his fist into the vampire’s face. As much as he told himself it was personal and had nothing to do with Kat, he knew that was bullshit.
“How long has it been since we last faced one another?” Arden inquired, waving a hand dismissively when the bartender asked if he’d like a drink. “Several decades at least.”
“What’s your point?”
“Merely that now that you’ve found me again, you have a few choices.”
Ah, of course. Arden was here to bargain, hoping to save his own ass. This should be good. Another shot down the hatch and Luca grinned. Knowing the vampire had followed him with the hopes of striking a deal of some kind empowered him.
“Continue.” He gestured for Arden to keep talking as he made his way through the remaining shots. The alcohol burned low in his stomach as it entered his bloodstream. He was feeling loose and somewhat amused with the situation.
Arden eyed him with the careful consideration of a hawk before it swoops in for the kill. Luca welcomed it. He was spoiling for a fight, needing to work the pent-up stress of the past few days out of his system. What better person to tangle with than the vampire at his side?
“I understand your need for vengeance, Luca. I imagine I would feel very much the same if I were in your shoes. But killing me will never turn back time, nor will it bring your father back. Have you found no peace since you disposed of him all those years ago?”
Rage blasted through Luca with a burning-hot intensity. He gripped the edge of the bar so hard that his knuckles were white. “What the fuck are you talking about? My father started this shit. I’m here to finish it. End of story. Leave it to a goddamn vampire to be conceited enough to think it’s all about him.”
“Isn’t it? Why else have you been hunting my people? I know it’s me you want. It doesn’t have to be this way.” Arden flashed a charming smile at a woman who had stepped up to the bar to order a drink. When she blushed, Luca scowled. Monster.
“Oh trust me, it does,” he retorted, ignoring the curiosity in the vampire’s eyes.
“Not if you don’t want it to be. There are other ways—other means of existence.”
Luca slammed his fist down on the bar, causing the empty shot glasses to jump. “Don’t you dare be suggesting what I think you are. I’m not going to sit here and have my intelligence insulted by a walking corpse.”
“Come now,” Arden purred, completely unaffected by Luca’s display of temper. “Don’t tell me you’ve never thought about it. What it’s like to walk with the night in your veins and more power than any human will ever understand. But you’re not like other humans. You’re caught in between. It must be terribly lonely.”
So Arden thought appealing to his emotions would work. Not likely. Luca was no dummy. He knew the angle Arden was trying to work to his advantage. Was this how he’d manipulated Luca’s father as well?
When Luca simply stared stonily at him, Arden continued, “I can bring you into my world, Luca. Rather than be a constant irritation, you could instead be a vital member of something greater. All you have to do is say yes.”
Conflicting thoughts and emotions tore through Luca. At the center of it all was Kat. This son of a bitch had the nerve to sit there and offer him an eternity with her. All he had to do was sacrifice everything he’d ever fought for, ever believed in. And clearly Arden didn’t know about him and Kat. Would he make the same offer if he did? It was doubtful.
“Take a flying fucking leap.” The words were spoken between Luca’s clenched teeth. “You may have been able to convince my father that you had all the answers he needed, but to me, you’re an insect to be exterminated. A parasitic fiend. And I won’t rest until I’ve seen the end of your entire bloodline. That’s a promise.”
Luca vibrated with the rage he was reining in. He’d said more than he meant to, and all he could do was hope Arden wouldn’t realize how much he’d just given away. Beyond the general details of his curse, Luca didn’t believe Arden knew anything else.
Arden regarded him with a cool, calculating expression. “Is that so? Then I guess we’re left trying to kill one another.”
“Yeah, I guess we are.”
Arden appeared to hesitate, and Luca had a sneaking suspicion he was thinking about Kat. It sent a jolt of jealousy through him. The territorial feeling was brand-new. Luca couldn’t stand the thought of this asshole lusting over Kat, longing to be inside her like he so recently had been. He would never let Arden touch her.
“Don’t be a fool, Alexander. You know you can’t best me. Otherwise, you would have already,” Arden openly taunted him. “Unless there’s something else holding you back. You can bet that whatever is up with you, I will figure it out, and you’ll regret not accepting my offer.”
“You know what?” Luca picked up the hundred-dollar bill that still sat untouched on the bar. He crumpled it into a little ball and tossed it at Arden. “The only thing I regret is not shutting your fool mouth the moment you opened it. You think you know who you’re dealing with, but you don’t know jack shit.”
They stared hatefully at each other. A tremor rocked Luca as he struggled not to lose all control. Arden grinned, revealing fangs. He was enjoying Luca’s rage. The temptation was too strong. He couldn’t hold back with the bastard smirking in his face.
The punch Luca threw was as painful as it was satisfying. He swore when the impact hurt all the way to his shoulder. The blood that poured forth from Arden’s nose was worth it. Damn, it was like hitting a brick wall.
Before Luca even saw him move, Arden had him by the throat. He squeezed tight, cutting off Luca’s air supply. The bartender shouted at them to take it outside. Neither man paid him any attention. They were too intent on one another.
“Get in my way, Alexander, and I will break you,” Arden snarled. Shoving Luca hard enough to make him trip over his stool, Arden swept by him and out of the building.
Luca picked himself up, coughing as he sucked the air back into his lungs. Ignoring the patrons who stared at him expectantly, he paid for his drinks and stormed out of the place. Arden was nowhere to be found. That wasn’t going to stop him from looking. That vampire was his, come hell or high water. Luca had no intention of resting until he took Arden Ashton apart piece by piece.
Arden had to be headed home. At least, he would be by dawn. Luca stalked back to his house, driven by fury that ached to be unleashed. He had a massacre to plan.
* * * *
It had been nothing short of a miracle that Arden had been able to walk away from Luca Alexander without taking his head off. Approaching him in a public place had been necessary in order for them to speak without violence. Next time, though, it was all about the violence.
With a murderous hunger guiding him, Arden had wasted no time finding an outlet for his growing frustration. Fucking a prostitute in a back alley wasn’t his idea of a classy fuck, but it would do. Shoving a handful of bills into her hand made her complacent enough. A screaming broad wouldn’t do any good. That’s not what he was after this time.
The dark-haired beauty he’d chosen w
as far too pretty to be working the streets. She certainly was a willing little thing. Hiking up her skirt at his request, she’d happily exposed herself, regardless of the traffic that passed just around the corner. He pulled her into the darkened space between two buildings and freed his hard prick before backing her up against the wall.
She didn’t stay dry long. Once he was touching her, his inhuman essence stirred her like no human male ever could. In no time, she was moaning as he fucked her hard.
With one hand, he groped her tits, pinching the nipples so that she cried out. The bloodlust roared to life inside him, and Arden’s senses homed in on that sweet nectar pulsing through her veins. He could kill her, which he often did in these situations. Or he could turn her. It was a tempting thought.
He hadn’t turned a female in a very long time. Part of him continued to hold out hope that Kat would come to her senses and realize she belonged with him. He was getting sick of waiting. Maybe Kat was as expendable as the hooker he banged. Perhaps he never should have turned her, made her part of his bloodline. It had seemed like nothing but a mistake since.
Arden smiled grimly, amused with himself. It wasn’t realistic to create an army of vampires. Yet it was plausible to consider replacing those whom Luca had already taken out. If he simply created another for every vampire the hunter destroyed, Luca would achieve nothing.
This game had grown tiring long ago. It was time to deal with the offspring of Malcolm Alexander. Clearly Luca sought to fulfill his destiny as a born vampire hunter. But there was more to it. He was trapped on this earth, bound to his human flesh in an unnatural way.
It hit Arden then, like a spotlight suddenly shone on the darkness that had blinded him. Even as his cock was squeezed tight by the spasms of the prostitute’s hot pussy, he was lost in thought. It was his bloodline that cursed Luca Alexander to walk the earth with the inability to age and die as humans do. Recalling Luca’s words to him earlier that night, Arden was excited as it started to make some sense.
As long as Arden’s bloodline existed, so would Luca. It wasn’t necessarily good news, but it wasn’t all bad either. There might be a way to work this to his advantage. He couldn’t help but wonder how much it would take to kill the man who had threatened his coven. Maybe pulling him limb from limb would be a nice start.
Excitement at the revelation fed his arousal. He was going to come. Jerking the woman’s head to the side, Arden bared her neck. He sank fangs deep, and she gave a startled cry. The blood gushed over his tongue as her juices flowed over his cock. The combined sources of pleasure grew to the boiling point, and he exploded inside her.
Sucking hard on the twin punctures in her throat, he didn’t stop until he felt the cold hand of death steal over her. Oh well, he hadn’t really wanted to turn her anyway.
Leaving her there in between the buildings, Arden glanced back at her lifeless shell. It brought Kat to mind. He’d come so close to killing her. Part of him continued to wish he had. In his own twisted way, he had grown to love her. And Luca would surely kill her as easily as he’d killed the others. They had meant little to Arden. But Kat—she was different.
He had to get to her before Luca Alexander did. If he could just make her see the kind of danger she was in, maybe she would come with him willingly. If not, she’d come anyway. He wouldn’t be refused this time.
Chapter Nine
Drowning her emotional turmoil in bloodshed and brutality had done little to ease the pent-up tension she carried. Kat walked along, making her way home. It had been one hell of an evening. After waking to find she still couldn’t shake Luca’s touch from her thoughts, she’d gone hunting. It had been just her luck she’d come across two pimps up to no good.
Catching them in a parking lot arguing over a woman who begged for her life, Kat had snapped. What she’d done to those men could only be described as slaughter. Her hair was wild and her dress bloodstained. Buzzing from the rush of her kill, she paid little attention to the sparse traffic or the dog that barked from the safe confines of its yard.
Instead, Kat’s eyes were drawn to the night sky. The treetops moved gently in the subtle breeze, and a glimmer of stars was visible, despite the streetlights that lit her way. It was a perfect night. Enjoying it alone seemed like an unfortunate shame.
She allowed herself a moment to fantasize what it would be like to have Luca walking at her side. It wasn’t the first time in the past few days that she’d thought such a thing. And then dismissed it.
Kat reached the end of the block where her house sat. The realization somebody was there hit her immediately, her senses ablaze with the awareness. Defenses raised, she perused the property and spied him there, partially hidden amid the bushes that lined the front step. Arden. What the hell did he want now?
She stopped halfway up the walk and crossed her arms over her chest. This was not how she wanted to finish off her night. Medieval torture would have been preferable to dealing with the egomaniac of a vampire.
“Ever heard of a phone?” she asked bitterly. “It is the modern day, you know. Technological advancements and all. Use them.”
“I just want to talk to you, Katarina. That’s all.” Arden rose to his feet, holding his hands up in a sign of surrender.
“You always just want to talk. Give it a rest. I’m not in the mood for this shit tonight.” She didn’t trust Arden, and all she wanted was to be alone with her thoughts. This had to stop. Maybe it was time to relocate—again.
“You’re in danger. We all are. If you don’t listen to me, you could be the next one on the sharp end of the stake. Don’t be a fool, Kat. You’re smarter than that.”
Putting one foot in front of the other, she approached him with caution, ready for him to make a move. He watched her with a calm but intense expression. She shoved past him to reach the front door, then stepped into the entry and turned to face him.
Arden waited expectantly, as if anticipating an invite inside. She stared out at him, wishing she could banish him through sheer will alone. “You just never quit, huh? Rejection and avoidance don’t have any meaning inside your thick skull.”
“Dammit, this isn’t about me. This is about the vampire hunter. He’s going to come after you. Is that what you want?” There was impatience in his tone and manner.
Kat’s stony stare wavered. Glancing at the house next door, she relented. “You have five minutes.”
Allowing Arden inside her cozy home was the last thing she wanted to do, but avoiding a loud confrontation on the front step was necessary. Kat led him inside, careful not to bring him too far into the house. She wanted to be able to shove his ass back out the door as soon as he’d said what he came to say. She doubted it would be anything she wanted or needed to hear.
“Hurry up and talk. I don’t want to listen to you for a minute longer than I have to.”
Arden glared darkly, a spark of anger flaring up behind his eyes. Kat almost hoped he would say or do something to set her off. She was in the mood to throw him out of her house, literally.
“You’re in danger if you stay here. Though God only knows why I still care when you are such an incessant bitch.” Though he spoke directly to her, Arden glanced around the house. “Can we not just sit down and talk? You’d think I was trying to murder you with the way you’re acting.”
She huffed and stood her ground. After their last little talk, she felt anything he had to say to her was a waste of time. “Murder me? No, maybe not. Slap me around? Possibly. Forgive me if I’m not in the mood to play the victim.”
The silence that fell between them was strained. Kat was simmering with barely contained anger. All she wanted to do was curl up on the couch with a blanket and a movie and turn over her night with Luca in her mind. And here Arden was to ruin it.
“Luca Alexander isn’t going to stop until he has taken out me and every other vampire who is linked to me. Do you understand that? That means you.” Arden’s tone had softened, but his eyes remained hard.
; Exasperated and annoyed, Kat threw her hands up in the air. “Does it really, Arden? Or is this just another ploy to lure me back into your clutches? I’m beyond sick of this shit.”
Arden oozed negative energy. The aggressive nature of his supernatural power pricked her skin like a thousand tiny needles. It was all she could do not to lash out at him. She just wanted him to go away. She would never escape this man, not unless he was dead. Again, she thought of Luca.
“I have a good mind to let him come for you.” Arden’s bitter words were spoken through clenched teeth. “Maybe in your final moments you’d realize how wrong you’ve been about me.”
Kat let out a long, hearty laugh. It earned her a nasty look from her unwelcome guest. “That’s a good one.”
Arden grew suspiciously quiet. The wheels were turning inside his head, though. It made her apprehensive. She never really knew what to expect from him.
“This is not a joke, Kat. The man lives with a curse that can only be broken by the destruction of me and my entire bloodline. Do you have any idea how huge a curse like that is?” Boldly, he shoved past her, breaking free of the doorway and entering the kitchen.
She turned to follow him. Her legs were numb, and she feared they wouldn’t carry her. It couldn’t be true, could it? She didn’t sense a lie. Arden frowned, noticing her sudden dumbstruck silence. She had to say something, but her tongue would barely form the words.
“What are you talking about, Arden?”
“You heard me. Luca’s curse is tied to his father’s choice to become one of the undead. I’m the one who turned him. He was of my bloodline, as you are.” Arden paced the length of the kitchen once, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “If Luca wants his human life back so he can have children and eventually age, he has to kill us all. That means you too, kitten.”
A painful chill stole over Kat. She shook her head in disbelief, resisting the urge to shake Arden and call him a damn liar. “How do you know this?”
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