by Kim Faulks
"I see," the Prince murmured. "Have him attend."
Gabriel nodded, and then turned finding Michael with a look of bitter resignation before he was gone, leaving nothing more than the echo of his steps behind.
"I apologize for your unfortunate introduction. I can assure you, Seal does not reflect the rest of us."
"No. He doesn't."
The Prince flinched at the soft, feminine voice. He took his time turning his head, and glancing upwards. Movement slipped through the dark. The bottom of a black cloak swept through the amber glow. Panic rose, spearing through my chest with the thunder of hooves.
"Sister...I assumed you were resting," the Prince murmured and a sickly shade of gray passed across his skin. There was that fake smile again, a perfect accompaniment to the hollow sound of his sincerity. "No need to worry yourself. I have this all taken care of."
She descended like the night. Dark, cold, and stoic—her face hidden by the hemline of a heavy cowl and an armored mask of leather across her mouth and nose.
Lucas...the Archer whispered.
An icy touch trailed down my spine. But it was my Dragon who shuddered.
And it was my Dragon who urged me to take a step.
She gave me nothing. No turn of her head. No cold gaze.
And for a second that was all I wanted. One look. One fragment of her attention.
Silver flames lapped the ice. The Archer pressed his nose to the wall and inhaled the scent of blood and fear.
"Brother," she answered and lifted her gaze and those soft blue eyes met mine.
"Lucas...what the fuck are you doing?" Marcus growled through clenched teeth. “Lucas! Christ’s sake…no!”
Terror filled his voice. But I couldn't stop. I couldn't slow. Everything I needed was right here.
Shadows moved, surrounding me on all sides. The glint of steel flared, before the wicked edge pressed against my neck. There was no word of warning, the blade spoke for itself.
"Easy there. Wait..." Marcus snapped behind me. "We didn't come to cause trouble."
I wanted to nod, to answer, or do anything other than fucking stand there. But there was no room for anything other than her.
She was beautiful in the way deadly things are.
Perfectly unmerciful.
Cruel and detached.
Her boots hit each stair with a heavy thud. The sudden movement billowed her cloak like she rode into battle, hungry for blood…and I was fucking mesmerized.
For three thousand years I’d stood on this God forsaken earth and not faltered—until now…
I couldn’t look away, not even to turn and see the Vampire who held the blade at my throat. Her dark eyes missed nothing, skimming the room, and my kin, and then stopped at me. They couldn’t kill me. Not with steel or silver or the bite of a damn wolf, and they knew it.
I pressed against the edge and the old desire surfaced. I turned into the steel. “Get that fucking thing off me, before I shove it up your ass."
The threat echoed, and darkness moved. The Prince’s gaze narrowed, staring at the weapon against my neck before a smirk curled his lips. He gave a small nod and turned away, still the blade never moved, lingering until she spoke.
“You were given an order by your Prince,” the Princess murmured.
She took a step and the steel trembled. Warmth slipped from the edge and raced along my throat. Her eyes narrowed, nostrils flared. The movement was so fucking subtle, and yet my body reacted, clenching, tightening…hardening.
The Archer inhaled, and the rush of his breath filled my ears. In this moment I was the prey—her prey.
Let her come, my Dragon whispered.
Desire slipped through the icy wall and a dangerous need bloomed.
“What are you waiting for?” she growled.
The razored edge wavered before the sharp clang of metal tore through the room.
“Guardian,” the Prince murmured and turned to find my gaze. “Was there something you wanted to say?”
I licked my lips and the stutter in my chest took flight. Air slipped from my lips in a hiss. Say something. Anything goddamnit and for the first time in my pathetic existence I had nothing smart to say, nothing funny. So I said the only thing I could. “Your Highness.”
Those blue eyes met mine and in that moment I understood why I was struck mute. She wasn't just emotionless. She was ice. She was the same wall that divided me from my Dragon.
“Seal,” she murmured without taking her eyes off me. She lifted her hand, but it wasn't to me.
The scuff of boots came again as our welcoming party surged forward and dropped to his knee at her feet.
Only then did she look away taking one slow step down to stand in front of him. “Rise.” She brushed his face with her hand. White fangs shone as she growled. “I said, rise.”
Power and passion filled his poor bastard’s gaze as he rose to his feet. “I only did it for you—”
She pressed her fingers to his lips, smothering the words. “Shh. I know.”
Seconds passed as she stared into his eyes. Rage filled me, trembling my fingers—trembling my nerve. I wanted what he had. Her attention—her focus...
"This isn't the first time you've disobeyed an order, and this isn't the first time you've pleaded your heart." Her finger slipped from his mouth and I was captivated by the movement. "I've allowed this unrequited love to go unpunished."
She barely came to the big bastard’s shoulders as she stepped close.
But when she spoke—when she moved, the entire world stilled. "But no more. My brother gave an order, and as your Prince he must be obeyed."
"He's weak," Seal spat, and wrenched his gaze to the Prince. "And not worthy. The King's been dead for five hundred years and still he hasn't taken the oath. They laugh at us." He yanked his gaze to my family, and then to me. "The Vengari. The Gioardianne. They snigger behind our backs, and laugh in our faces, and now…now, he brings a wolf to our door—on this night of all nights."
She stilled, raised her head and closed her eyes. The leather mask tightened against her face. I could almost taste the hide. I could almost see the faint wisps of air as it—
The ripple of her cape gave her away. The movement so fast, so perfect as she dragged her hand backwards, hovering for a heartbeat, fingers pursed and pointed together before she thrusted.
Seal jerked, trembled. The Princess gripped his shoulder holding him still as she murmured. “Your love was never the love I wanted. I demanded loyalty, respect, and if I couldn’t have those, then I’d settle for fear. You wanted me to have your heart…" Her merciless gaze held his. Lips curled revealing tips of perfect white fangs. “Your vile, traitorous heart. And now I do.”
The sickening squelch of tearing flesh filled the air. My stomach clenched. My balls tightened as she tore her hand free from his chest.
The black thing in her hand pulsed slow, weak, and inky blood oozed through the gaps in her fingers to drip toward the ground.
“Jesus,”Alpha moaned behind me and the biting smell of fear bloomed.
Seal wavered, knees buckled, until not even her hold could keep him upright. She splayed her fingers, releasing her hold and the undead crumpled at her feet.
“Blade,” the Princess commanded and opened her hand.
The handle of a sword hit her palm. I raised my head to the same warrior who pressed the steel to my skin.
“And now I grant you peace,” she murmured, drew the blade high and sliced the air.
The honed edge never flinched. There was no gouge of stone—no chink of steel. She missed...she miss—
Dark hair swept the ground as Seal's head rolled, leaving the rest of his body behind.
Only then did she lift her gaze, and grant me the one thing I wanted.
Her chilling, undivided attention.
4
Eva
Thick blood slipped along the crease of my palm and fell toward the floor.
His heart gave a shiver in my grip and t
hen fell silent. I clenched, squeezing until the soft walls bowed and there was little flesh before I let the organ fall.
The others moved in, stealing his body, taking the blade...leaving nothing more than the stench of his traitor blood behind.
And they would leave it there to serve as a message.
The only message my kind understood.
Make a move against my brother, and you make a move against me.
Gabriel moved to stand beside the Dragon, Michael, with the words I told you so plastered all over his face.
No matter how pure our blood, no matter how strong our claim, we were vulnerable here—even amongst our own kind.
I dropped my gaze to the blood on my hands. Seal wasn't alone...the disloyal were growing in numbers with every year Austine waited to claim the crown. I wanted him to take the crown. I needed him to take the damn crown. I stared at Gabriel. The warrior wanted something else...what did the warrior want?
His words hovered at the back of my mind, along with all the other murderous intent, urging me to lift my gaze and find him.
But it wasn't Gabriel's face I wanted to see. It wasn't his face that sent a charge through the air to dance across my skin. It wasn't the blond-haired Vampire who stole the breath in my lungs.
The panicked thready pulse of the human male filled my ears, racing under the slow, heavy rhythm of the Guardians who crowded my home. The air throbbed, heartbeat on heartbeat, delicious and warm.
They want the Huntress as much as we do. Austine’s violent whispers crammed my head as I scanned those inside the room. And in that moment the past reared, all the hurt...all the pain—all the death and the lies.
They want her as much as I do?
I doubted that...I doubted that very much.
A flicker of movement captured me. It was just a tilt of the head, a shift of a gaze, until one of the towering males took a step closer. His thick brows narrowed, drawing me to perfect brown eyes. Eyes that on the surface looked soft and innocent, but underneath the surface, underneath the guise whispered dark desires, of blood and lust—and sin.
The hollow ache in my chest gave one slow thud.
And underneath that perfect gaze something stirred, something ancient, something bestial that made my body come alive.
I dragged in the stained air around him, and the echo under my breast resounded with a hard, brutal throb, leaving behind a hurt and a longing I’d not felt before. I took a step. Did I know this immortal?
Did he know me?
Desire flared, melting the ice inside. He had the kind of face you ached to touch, and the kind of lips you had to kiss. The kind of body you wanted to see bare and writhing. A lick of fire spread through my body. I’d wanted a man…not needed a man—not for a very long time.
"Careful, Guardian," I murmured and drifted my gaze down his body to where blood spilled between the cracks in the stone. "Don't want to ruin those pretty boots of yours."
He looked at me like he knew me. Like he saw the woman I once was and not the monster I am now and that echo inside my chest boomed once more.
Hope stung, burning through petrified veins, as though some part of me still believed there was something worth saving...
My lip curled and fangs drew down. But hope was wrong.
I was not soft, not yielding. I was tender flesh beaten to stone. I was too far gone, like fruit that'd once been perfect and ripe...but was now rotten.
They know what you have done...
Memories crawled from their grave along with his voice. Remnants of dark rooms and sex, and the cold, hollow words of love.
But mostly pain. Heart wounding pain.
The kind that shattered a soul. The kind that changed a woman.
I closed my eyes to a shudder. He wasn't real...wasn't here...wasn't back to claim what he'd wanted all along. Not now. Not after all this time.
I turned to Austine and searched his face, but it wasn't his soft amber eyes, or hint of a smile that drew me. It was red veins under his skin. The ones pulsing in perfect harmony with his undead heart.
Red veins...that days ago had pulsed black.
Just like my veins had...five hundred years ago.
Black veins in my brother—I opened my eyes and found the biggest in the room—and now black veins in the Dragon.
The Guardian had been tainted, broken, just like Austine. The demon blood affected them the same as it affected us. Austine was still not healed, so that left him vulnerable. I licked my lips and took a step, following the hollow of the Guardian’s throat to the sharp swell of his chest.
There was no flare of desire, no surge of anything but understanding.
Like to like...his darkness drew me closer. His nostrils flared, forehead creased. His jaw bulged. He cast a quick gaze to the leader of their pack.
"I won't hurt you," I murmured, closing in, skirting his towering frame.
It wasn't his body I wanted...nor his soul.
It was his blood. His gateway into the past...and the future. My tongue skirted my lips as Austine spoke. "My sister has a rather unusual talent. You could say she reads your essence."
I lifted my hand and trailed a finger down his arm, catching the sleeve of his shirt.
"She only wants a taste, Dragon. If you'll allow."
"Marcus," the mountain of muscle growled and turned to his kin.
"What do you mean reads essence?" Marcus snapped.
"I see. I hear. I taste. I feel," I murmured, glancing down to where my nails hooked his sleeve. "Maybe I could find her. Maybe I could see where she hides."
His skin shuddered, nerves trembled. His panic filled me.
Lies...lies...lies. But they'd believe me. They had hope.
His black eyes glistened, widening as I pressed the edge of my nail against his wrist. And in the inky depths of this immortal’s gaze I saw him. Teeth, scales, wings, and fire.
"Just a taste," I whispered and gripped his wrist, and the warmth of his skin bled into the cold, dead of mine.
His pulse flared against my fingers and took flight.
"It's your call, Zadoc," Marcus growled.
I reached up with my other hand. One snap and the leather mask came free.
I dragged Zadoc's wrist closer. His brother didn't trust me.
The Dragon's skin was warm under my fingers...my mouth.
I closed my eyes and parted my lips—so delicious and warm.
Trust—such a fickle little thing.
Zadoc's body quaked with a fight for life..."No," he whimpered. “Wait—"
Fangs carved flesh sinking deep until the pop trembled my lips. Warmth flooded my mouth, smoke and fire, burning all the way into my soul and the memories his blood carried came to life.
I'm going to find, and I'm going to kill...every last one of them. A young woman's voice fought though—Joslyn—her name took flight. His blood surged like wildfire through my veins. I jerked, shuddered. Pain ripped through my throat and speared my heart.
His blood was strong, powerful…but not powerful enough for what I needed. Only powerful enough for this. He was burning, eating away my soulless body, leaving behind nothing more than soot and smoke. I pushed harder into his memories, past the joy and the fear. And here we go with baby number two...
My brother, a male growled and the panicked gaze of a Guardian filled my mind. What have they done to you?
I pushed harder, searching for that moment—searching for him...
This is funny to you? I stilled. My lips trembled, grip tightened as the Huntress's voice came to life. Make this lying sonofabitch yield.
I closed my eyes as the poison flooded me. The towering outline of the demon came to life and its screech followed, tearing through my mind. But this wasn't the infernal beast I wanted...
Who is it? Who is giving away our secrets? The Huntress screamed from the Guardian's memory. You won't talk? You won't tell me who's betraying us? Get him to his feet and strip him...
Zadoc's nightmare mingled with m
y past. My hold against the Dragon trembled. I swallowed a whimper and searched.
Don't you dare touch him! Get your filthy fucking hands off him. Get off him!
The foul taste of demon blood violated my mouth, and slid down my throat. The stab of pain followed, driving deeper...harder.
But there was no taste of Vampire. No hint he was anywhere in the Guardian's memory at all. No Vampire...and no Vampire blood.
Open your mind—her words invaded as the Huntress skimmed my breasts, my stomach...reaching lower...between my thighs—and let me in.
"That's enough!" Zadoc roared.
The punch was hard, sudden. His fist slammed into my shoulder, shoving me free, and for a second I was back there—with the hurt and the horror, with the taste of Demon blood in my veins.
"He's not there," my words slipped free. "He's not there."
No Vampire...no Vampire, just like Austine’s blood. The words collided. I could still feel him worming his way through the bowels of my mind—searching for a way free. The Guardian and Austine were infected with demon blood, but not his blood—unlike mine.
"Who's not there?" Marcus took a step, his gaze narrowed. "What did you see?"
I swallowed...again and again. Still I couldn't shake the taste of demon—or the feel of her hands.
"Princess, what did you see?"
I shook my head and stared into Zadoc's eyes. "Nothing...nothing you don't already know."
Lies...lies...lies.
My hand skirted my stomach and hovered.
But the Guardian, Zadoc, still stared—they all did. And some part of me wanted them, too.
I wanted them to remember why we lived in the shadows, and why they should keep their distance.
Blood coated my fingers and my lips. I licked, finding every drop and every horror.
Dark eyes from our so called new allies widened.
This was how they all should look at me.
May they never forget what we are.
"Fucking Hell you're beautiful." The bestial brute stepped closer, brown eyes blazing with desire. "My name is Lucas…Lucas Kane.”
