Page 137 of Dark Flame

Her eyes flick to the fireplace across the room.There’s blood in the cup.

You’ll be okay, I promise. We’ll get you out of here and we’ll get you blood. Do you have magick?

A witch transitioning into a vampire is something I’ve never heard before. Witches generally avoid getting attacked and vampires couldn’t be bothered. If she is the first of her kind, then everything’s on the table. Everything’s unknown.

I don’t know. I’ve tried to call on it, but I’m too weak.

“I could,” he muses. “Or I could force you to witness her slow demise as she dies without the ability to complete her transition. She’ll die as neither a witch nor a vampire, and we both know an unchanged vampire’s death is slow and excruciating. Hours filled with agony. Or...” He slides his hands around her head, touchingmymate. “I can snap her neck and be done with it. You’ll remain alive just long enough to witness her death before succumbing to your own.”

“It’s a lot of effort to go after her when you had a lifetime with me.”

“You’re right,” he replies, his tone slow and thoughtful. “You fucked it up the moment you decided to keep this one alive. Then you went and mated her and…” He chuckles. “I can’t let you have your woman.”

“I don’t deserve her, yes.” I test taking a step nearer, forcing my attention onto him rather than Harlow though it fucking pains me. “We’ve had spats before, brother, we can figure this out. Let her go. Let her drink.”

“Brother.”His lip curls. “You lost that right when you chose her over Cora.” He releases Harlow with a hard jerk, and she catches herself, her hair whipping over her shoulder when she twists to glare.

He’s an asshole.

Stay down,I command her.Play weak. Bow your head.

She follows my instructions but not before a quick defiant look my way.

“I’ll do anything, Cedric. You want me on my knees? I’ll get on my fucking knees. You want my crown? It’s yours. Castle, lands, title, everything. She’s all I want.”

“And Cora’s all I wanted.”

“I know.” I step forward again, this time shifting my feet slightly, preparing to attack. Cedric thinks he’s winning, so he won’t let Harlow go. I see that. “If you were anyone else, you’d be dead already. The deep history between us is too important, but this is your only chance, Ced. Let her go or I don’t have a choice.”

“No.”

Stay low and move away.

She doesn’t ask why, doesn’t look at me but ducks and rolls out of the way, mere seconds before I’m on top of Cedric, taking us both to the ground.

Leave!I command, begging for her to run, escape, find blood before she collapses.

Her steps scrape against the cement floor and it’s all I pay attention to before giving the rest to Cedric. He hears her escaping too and roars, kicking my stomach and managing to toss me off him, my back thudding against the far wall, it cracking beneath my weight.

Cedric and I are minutes apart in immortal age, so he’s nearly as strong as I am. But he also knows my tells. A lifetime of friendship rolls into his next punch, and my next bite. Of knowing one another’s incoming move even before it happens.

He lunges, but I reach for his ankle, yanking him to the ground. He yells out, rolling, and forcing me to my back. I reach for his head, intending to yank it off his shoulders.

He blocks every oncoming hit with his own.

On and on it goes. Two vampires battling through the old building, every knock into the wall making it deteriorate more, a testament to the life Cedric once had with my sister.

When he grabs onto me again, the ground shakes.

Fifty-Eight

HARLOW

The moment Aleccommands me to move, I know what he’s about to do, so his attack on Cedric isn’t a surprise.

Once making it across the room, I scramble to my feet. Now, Alec is on top of Cedric, fist after fist coming down onto his face while being equally blocked with Cedric’s own hits.

Leave!