Page 147 of Claimed By Fangs and Darkness

Aster may have been collecting powerful witches. But it wasn’t hard to tell who had more power in that room—who had been subtly bowing to the other and making commands and jabs.

If they were making a play, it was Conrad who held the greatest authority.

Suddenly Juliette began to wail.

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

She cried like a toddler, slumping against the door. I left her there as I ran down the hall, hoping her cries covered up my movement.

As long as I made it back to my guards in time, nothing could be proven.

The door to the study opened the moment I slipped back inside the library.

“Kitten, you know what happens when we eavesdrop,” Aster scolded. “Come with me.Now.”

I almost hesitated.Almost.

Juliette wasn’t my concern. Instead, I inhaled deeply and snapped my fingers. I whispered a loosening chant. The men coughed. I watched them innocently as I cracked open the book the nicer brother had fetched for me.

“Goodness! Are you all right?” I asked sweetly.

In a daze, they looked at each other and then at me. The lighter-haired, testy brother made a sound of derision and stalked off.

The dark-haired vampire blinked, staring at the book I now held on flesh-eating bacterial diseases.

“Need anything else?” he asked, handsome features twisted in utter confusion.

“Nope, all set!” I closed the book and moved toward a nearby reading chair.

The sound of the library door opening halted me in place.

Conrad stood in the frame. His cool blue eyes landed on me. All I saw when I looked at him was Vesper. It was as though I could hear the inhuman sound that had left her lips the moment she’d handed her baby away. The way her heart hemorrhaged, her soul in agony, soon to be dragged back to hell and tortured by the vampire before me.

His dark hair had a slight wave to it; his face was frozen in time. But the ancientness was apparent in the way he carriedhimself, the ghostly quality of his aura as if he were the walking undead.

“Aster is attending to personal matters. Care to join me for a drink?” Conrad asked.

“Of course,” I said softly. I imagined how his head would look severed from his body, rolling across the library floor.

I followed Conrad down the hall into the same room he and Aster had emerged from. I listened for any sign of Juliette, but Aster must’ve taken her somewhere out of earshot.

Conrad gestured to a set of leather chairs. On the other side of the room, papers and notebooks spread about on the dark finish of a grand mahogany desk.

“I’m not going to drink an intoxicant,” I said as Conrad poured two glasses of whiskey. I fought the urge to scan more of the room, to search for any crumb of tangible evidence that might be useful.

Conrad smirked as he lounged back in the adjacent chair, posture wide and cocky. “Very well.”

I was on edge, fighting the instinctive fear of being this close to someone capable of such evil. Above the fear was the slowly simmering rage, the utter hatred.

“You have a very expressive face, even when you’re trying hard to conceal it,” Conrad said with a sip of his whiskey. He swirled the sphere of ice around, lifting a brow as he assessed me with cool apathy.

When humor leaked into his eyes, I knew for certain he was able to spot my anxiety.

“What do you want, Evie?” he asked.

“What do I want?” I repeated.

“You’re a smart girl. Smarter than you act, I bet.”