Page 22 of Fated In Blood (Nocturne Vampire Clan #1)

22

RIORDAN

I was dealing with tedious matters of state when one of my informants materialized into my office, a young vampire Blake and I planted in town to feed us reports of any out of the ordinary happenings in the human world.

Tyrell had his spies, and I had mine.

Unfortunately, his were better equipped and more numerous, while mine were…barely twenty and balked at the sight of a knife. Still, I had Blake for that sort of thing.

Information was more important than ruling by fear, anyway, even if that approach was still working for Tyrell four hundred years after he’d arrived on these shores.

“There’s a fight going down at Valentine’s.”

I didn’t bother lifting my head. “There’s always a fight at Valentine’s. That’s what he does. Exploits the locals and pads his pockets with his lucrative side gigs. Not our problem.”

“It is when Collum is in town and slated to step into the ring in a few minutes. He’s favored forty to one right now. Almost bet on him myself. I could use the money.”

This time, I did look up. “Collum knows if he sets one foot in Nocturne territory, he’s a dead male. He’d never defy Tyrell; he wouldn’t take the risk.”

Because, of course, Tyrell was the one to banish him from the kingdom, not me.

“Maybe, but he’s fighting…” He pulled out his phone and scrolled. “Right now, my king.”

Zachary was a good kid, his family was loyal to the throne, not Tyrell, and he was earnest in the wide-eyed way the young were earnest when they believed there was still good in the world. I hoped he lived long enough to become old and jaded like Blake and me.

“You saw him?”

Zack nodded. “With my own eyes. He looked strong and well fed and out for blood. Fighting some blond chick tonight. Last minute thing Vincent set up, from what I heard.”

I couldn’t explain why the hair on the back of my neck went up, why I was suddenly filled with unease, crushing the papers in my fist as I shot up out of my chair.

“Did you see this blond?”

“Yeah, hang on a second…Here. Someone just sent me a shot right before Collum took her down.”

Zachary lifted his phone and the breath went out of me.

The girl I had just fucking turned was fighting in one of Valentine’s illicit cage fights. Against fucking Collum Lazarov, a psychopath mad enough even Tyrell had banished him from Nocturne soil. She hadn’t even transitioned. She hadn’t…

“She’s sure dressed to kick ass. Weird, though. I’m getting vampire vibes off her, but she almost reads human to me. Damn, she’s beautiful.” The kid sounded wistfully young, staring down at his phone. “Look at those eyes. She doesn’t stand a chance, though, not against Collum.”

I dragged my hands down my face. How the fuck did she ever escape Crimson House and Blake ?

And what were the chances she’d still be alive when I got to Valentine’s?

I landed outside the bar and was instantly swallowed up by the panicked crowd streaming through the front doors like they were escaping the Grim Reaper’s scythe. Their silence told me they’d seen something so horrific, they couldn’t even scream. Not good .

Blake wasn’t anywhere at Crimson House, so I’d come alone, which was probably a mistake, given this place was complete chaos. And Vincent Valentine didn’t tolerate chaos; it was bad for business.

Which meant he’d either lost control or he was dead.

Frightened as they were, the stream of humans split into two groups around me, eyes dropping the moment they saw my face. I looked mortal enough to pass on a dark street, but this close, they sensed what I was. A predator that could tear them limb from limb.

The moment I stepped inside the disgusting excuse for a bar I scented blood.

Her blood .

I was going to kill that fucking lowlife human piece of shit who ran this place. Music blasted loud enough to rattle my oversensitive eardrums. Broken glass and plastic cups crunched under my feet as I strode through the bar, not a soul in sight, not even those two nephews Vincent called bodyguards.

No, I couldn’t kill Valentine, no matter how much I wanted to. Vincent, slimeball that he was, served a valuable function in this town.

He offered neutrality.

And neutrality in a town full of predators and prey kept this place from devouring itself. So I turned a blind eye to his cage fighting and the watered down booze and the myriad petty criminal activities that went on in this place, just like my sire had.

Just like Tyrell had.

I followed the smell of blood to the wide-open door leading to a basement. The girl’s scent was so strong right here my fangs punched out, heart sinking as the truth hit me full in the face.

My secret weapon was dead. No doubt Collum killed her, sadistic bastard that he was.

All my plans ruined, and just like that, the faint hope I’d felt for a handful of hours faded to nothing.

But why would Collum risk returning when he knew showing his face was a death sentence?

I hit the narrow steps, ready to explode into action. I couldn’t see what waited for me down below, not until a set of size fifteen feet came into view, then another. The twins, down for the count, and Vincent, cowering against a wall, painted with enough blood he and the wall behind him were an identical shade of red.

I followed the track of Valentine’s wide-eyed gaze and couldn’t explain my reaction to the sight in front of me. Visceral. Primal. Satisfaction.

Pride, maybe, if I was being honest.

Time ground to a halt while I watched her feed on a very unresponsive Collum, the end of her long ponytail soaked with blood, hands stained the same color. She was lost to bloodlust, insatiable, glutting herself in the afterglow of a battle well fought, from the looks of things.

“This is your idea of neutral?” I snapped at Vincent on my way past. “Pitting two vampires against each other? When Tyrell finds out about this, he’ll gut you himself.”

“I didn’t know.” Vincent staggered to his feet then kicked one of the twins with those ridiculous cowboy boots. “Wake up, you’re supposed to be protecting me, asshole. I swear to God, I didn’t know, you have to believe me, Graves.”

“Then you’re fucking blind.” I looped my hands beneath her armpits and dragged her away, pinning her against my chest like a snarling, snapping animal. She fought, completely consumed by bloodlust. “Or you have a death wish.”

“I mean, I knew he was one of you. Told me so when he came in earlier and asked to fight tonight. But Evie…she’s just a normal girl. She worked for me, for fuck’s sake.”

“Not anymore.”

Valentine looked confused, and I didn’t feel the need to clarify that she not only didn’t work for him anymore, she definitely wasn’t human. Hopefully he’d already worked that out for himself, given she’d devoured Collum like a hunk of prime rib.

I had to get her away from this overpowering scent of blood, away from Vincent, who was starting to realize how much shit he’d brought down on himself by sanctioning this fight in the first place.

“Notify Tyrell the fight went sideways. Make the call yourself.” Beneath the coating of blood, Vincent turned white. “Someone will come to claim Collum’s body. I wouldn’t touch him if I were you.” I nudged the bastard with my shoe. “He might not be dead.”

“Riordan, you have to help me fix this.”

I hated that desperate, pleading tone, but goddamn it, Valentine’s served a purpose, loathsome though it was. “Fine. I’ll send Blake over to clean this up. But you fucking owe me, Vincent. And you owe me something big. Whatever I want, whenever I need it.”

“Anything.” The bastard’s bottom lip quivered like a newborn baby’s. “Please, just leave Tyrell out of this. He’ll kill me if he finds out what I did.”

“He fucking should.” Something forbidding took root in my chest. I should fucking kill this worthless piece of shit.

“Wait for Blake and his men. Get these humans out of here before Collum wakes up, and lock the fucking doors. He’s going to be hungry.”

The girl was still fighting like a wildcat when we dematerialized, her elbow predictably sinking in dangerously close to my balls.

I landed us at the quarry outside of town, next to a burned-out campfire surrounded by crushed beer cans and cigarette butts. Nobody out here for her to hurt, nobody for her to drink dry. Except for me.

A thrill of forbidden excitement shuddered through me and settled deep in my gut, my chest expanding against her back as I pinned her writhing body tight against me.

She wouldn’t understand much in this state, but I had to at least try to get through to her.

“Listen to me and listen well. You’re out of the bar. You drank too much blood too fast, and you’re high on the rush.” I spun her so we were face to face, caging her wrists and squeezing her cheeks hard enough to get her attention.

“Collum’s power is tearing through you, and the high will last a few hours. He’s an older, powerful vampire, which is why you feel like you swallowed a fucking hurricane. Eventually, the effect will wear off. You already fucked up my night, so if I were you, keep your fucking knee away from my balls when I let you go, or you won’t enjoy the consequences.”

Another one of those rough, feral growls was my only answer. I had no idea if she was beyond understanding, but I let her go.

She stumbled away, a total mess, tangled hair matted with blood, the front of her shirt soaked. There was a still-healing pink scar on her face and claw marks on one arm. I dodged out of the way when she lunged, bringing her knee up with unerring precision.

My hand easily spanned the slim column of her throat when I slammed her to the ground, pinning her down as she clawed and hissed like an animal.

“That’s how you reward me? By kneeing me in the balls? Be glad I reached you when I did. A few more mouthfuls and you would have been too far gone. You would have needed a healer, if your brain hadn’t melted out of your ears.”

She stopped fighting, hands banded around my wrist, eyes glowing like sapphires.

They were a curious silvery shade, casting a pale aura over her beautiful face.

Beneath my palm, the delicate tendons of her neck flexed as she swallowed, and a traitorous shiver of lust went through me when fear flared in her eyes, my cock hardening. My thumb traced down the pulse thrumming like a rabbit’s, swallowing her rich scent with every inhale.

If she tasted half as good as she smelled…

I let go. The girl wasn’t mine to fuck.

But she was mine to use in different ways, so I crouched over her, never breaking our stare.

“You can still reason, then? Good. Listen hard to what I’m about to say. You have been a vampire for barely twenty-four hours. You need to feed daily…in small amounts. Glutting yourself leads to a condition we call Darkblood Syndrome. If the excess iron doesn’t blind you, the devouring hunger eats you away a little at a time until you’re no better than an animal.”

She blinked and the glow ebbed like a dying candle, revealing lovely gray-blue eyes brimming with intelligence, her pupils completely blown.

I ran my hand through my hair, silently cursing Blake, wherever the fuck he was, for taking his eyes off her. He knew better than to allow a brand-new vampire to run amok, especially in this town.

“Everything you’re going through is normal, and this hunger…will ease over the next few weeks.” I softened my voice. I needed her pliable, willing to do my bidding. Compelling another vampire, even a newborn, took effort, and I was already stretched thin.

“You should never have been left alone.” Some worthless impulse made me want to push her tangled hair out of her face, but I rose, plunging my hands into my pockets instead. “And you won’t be, not until you’re through your transition.”

“Where…where am I?” She looked around, confusion written all over her face. “What happened at the club?”

“You stepped into a ring with a seasoned vampire. You’re lucky you’re not dead.”

“Collum.” She sat up slowly, struggling to focus through the blood haze. “I fought him. He was so much stronger. I found silver but…not enough.” The light in her eyes flickered out, her cheeks paling as she surveyed her bloodstained hands. “ Oh God .”

“Like I said, you’re fortunate to be alive.”

“I didn’t choose to fight him,” she muttered to herself, climbing unsteadily to her feet. “I would have run the other way if I could have gotten free of that fucking basement.”

“Good to know you have some sense. So you conveniently ended up in the fighting ring…dressed like that?”

One eyebrow went up—she might as well have told me to fuck right off. “First, it’s none of your fucking business how I dress, and secondly, yes, ending up in Vincent’s secret fight club is such a fucking convenience . I should do it more often.”

I grit my teeth together and prayed for fucking patience. “That’s not what I meant.”

Where the fuck was Blake? She was not my problem. She was my secret weapon, just another tool in this war I had to win. I had bigger issues and the sooner I spirited her back to the house, the better.

“Where is Blake?” I snapped. “Why isn’t he with you?”

“Because he’s got a fucking stick shoved up his ass, that’s why.” But the sour scent of remorse and shame seeped from her like acid, her eyes sliding away from mine to a stand of trees at the edge of the quarry.

“He knows better than to leave you alone.” I pulled out my phone. No signal. Of fucking course . “I’m taking you back to Crimson House where you can get cleaned up. You look like you bathed in Collum’s blood.”

She took a step back, dangerously close to the edge of the quarry. “That’s not happening.”

“Oh, it’s happening. If you think I’m leaving a newborn vampire free to roam the streets of Thorndale and attack every human you come across because you can’t control yourself, you can think again.”

She shivered and took another step, her heels teetering on the drop-off.

“No, you’re not taking me back there because of who I am. Blake couldn’t put enough distance between us when he heard the truth, and I expect you’ll do the same.” She squared her shoulders and widened her stance, her gaze flickering over me, mouth tightening into a line.

She looked like she was ready to go to war, and fuck me, but another of those illicit shivers resonated through me.

“Try me. You’ll find I’m not as judgmental as you believe.”

She snorted. “Yeah? You think you’re open-minded? We’ll see about that.”