Page 146 of A Vow of Shadow and Blood

“Get off her!” Kaia screams, but the other guard slaps her so hard that blood flies from her mouth. “You'd better hope I never get out of here because I’m going to kill you,” she tells him.

He laughs.

“You know my favorite thing about you bloodsuckers? You can never run away from your own nature. Even without the magic fully pumping through your veins, you still can’t help what you are or your disgusting need for blood,” Finn’s father says as he gestures toward Piper as the man lifts his wrist from her mouth, revealing her elongated fangs.

He slips a hand into his back pocket, pulling out a set of pliers. My stomach drops.

“No,” I say, but he ignores me. Kaia and Ajax scream from across the room as tears fall from Piper’s eyes. My eyes burn as he takes the pliers to her left fang and begins to pull it out. Her scream pierces the room, and tears spill down my cheeks as she writhes in pain.

He doesn’t relent until a horrible tearing sound fills the air, and her lost fang sits between its grip. He holds the bloody fang up in the air like a trophy as laughter falls from him. My eyes fall to Piper, where she lies unmoving, her eyes fixed on the ceiling as blood runs from her mouth and tears spill from her eyes. She looks broken, like she has lost all her fight, and from the look onKaia and Ajax’s faces, I can tell that what just happened is going to affect her for the rest of her life. Piper is a good person, and she has been nothing but kind to me.She didn’t deserve this.

Anger surges through every vein, and I want to scream as I look down at her—at my friend, writhing in pain. The three men cheer as though they have done a good day’s work, and their laughter acts as a warrant for their deaths. I suck in a breath, forcing myself to think logically. This is all my fault. If I hadn’t been so intent on coming here, then none of them would have followed me. They only came to protect me, and now they’re suffering for it.

“Let her go,” I say, my voice cold and menacing. The entire room falls silent. “You want a way to kill vampires? To get the upper hand? I have it. Let her go, and I’ll give you exactly what you need.”

All eyes fall on me, and Ajax sends a warning glare, but there is no other way. If I don’t, they will take her other fang. I’ve never understood why the vampires were always so focused on the fact that I took their fangs after killing them instead of the actual death itself, but somehow now I do. I can’t make up for what I’ve done, but I can avenge Piper. That’s the one thing I can do. This may be a foolish idea, but if it saves my friends or even buys us a little time while I wait for Karius’s powers to resurface, then it may be all we need.

“And what could you possibly have that could be better than venom?” he sneers at me.

“Poison,” I say. “The kind that can kill vampires. The kind that the Slayer uses to killherprey.”

“Adina, no.”

I ignore Ajax’s words and focus my attention on Finn’s father.

“Her?” Finn’s father laughs at this as if the thought that a woman could be powerful enough to kill a vampire is the biggestjoke, but he must see something on my face as his features become more serious. “You’re her?” he asks.

I nod.

“You’re the fucking slayer?” He laughs at his own words as if he can’t believe that they’re real.

“Yes, and you just ruined one of my biggest kills by locking me up here. I infiltrated the palace to get close to the royal guard and their precious prince. Finn was helping me.”

I let a crooked smile fill my face to sell the idea that I’m on his side. He cocks his head and stares at me as if analyzing my very soul. I get a glimpse of a dagger tucked at Lance’s waist, but pretend not to notice it.

“Wanna get these things off me?” I ask. “You can do what you want with them after I get their fangs.”

He watches me for half a beat as if in two minds whether to believe me.

“I want proof.”

I shrug.

“Take these things off me and I’ll kill one of them right now.”

He shakes his head. “No sweet cheeks, it’s going to take more than that. I want something only the Slayer would know.”

My throat bobs. This may all be for show to gain his trust, but the things I did were real, and saying them in front of my friends makes something twist in my gut.

“What do you want to know?” I ask.

“I once found a vamp the slayer killed, lying dead in the alley beside the Golden Tavern. Fangs still intact.”

I plaster a fake smile on my face.

“It was the Black Tavern, not the Golden, and I left one fang behind because it was half broken in a fight ring brawl, and the venom had already dried up, so I took the left one and dumped him in the alley for the guards to find.”

His mouth twists into a full grin.