Page 23 of Fated In Blood (Nocturne Vampire Clan #1)
23
EVANGELINE
H oly shit was I high .
Like the world is spinning and won’t stop kind of high.
At least I was out of Valentine’s fucking basement. We were at the old granite quarry, east of town. I’d heard about this place; the college kids came out here to party and do drugs and jump into the cold-as-fuck water to prove how brave they were.
The lucky ones ended up in an ambulance.
The unlucky ones died.
I glanced over the edge into that dark sheet of unbroken water reflecting the night sky above us. Some part of me wondered if I’d survive or if I’d sink beneath that surface, leaving nothing but a ripple behind.
Of course I’d survive. I was immortal.
A soulless bloodsucker. Scourge of humans and deserving of a stake through the heart.
And I’d just killed…My whole body went cold, my breath wonky as I replayed myself pinning Collum down, ripping at his throat like an animal. I couldn’t stop myself.
Hadn’t wanted to stop.
Even in my compromised state, I realized how fucked I was. My life was over and would never be the same again. Even now, hunger gnawed at my belly like a rat, Riordan’s heartbeats drumming against the silence, his scent summoning me to come closer. To drink .
I despised what they’d done to me.
I despised what I’d become. But there was no going back.
There was only forward now, whatever that future looked like.
Riordan—the king—was handsome, beneath all that glowering maleness . Inky black hair gathered back to reveal equally dark eyes, a full mouth pinched together in frustration. Here was a male honed into a keen, bitter edge. Whatever drove him was unrelenting, and he would never stop, not until that compulsion was satisfied.
“Well? Are you planning to say something or just stand there and?—”
I tipped my head higher. “My name is Evangeline Silverwood.”
Wicked satisfaction bloomed when Riordan opened his mouth then snapped it shut, the silence stretching out between us as he struggled with the fact he was standing face to face with his arch nemesis.
Well, not me, technically, but my family.
Of course, it only now occurred to me that I was out here alone, defenseless, with someone who would consider me his arch nemesis. Who, not a minute ago, had his hand wrapped around my throat.
Not exactly a stellar plan on my part.
“Silverwood?”
“That’s what I said.” I shooed my hands at him. “Now follow Blake’s lead and leave me to my own devices. I’m sure I can manage the walk back to my apartment. I’ll try not to end up in a fighting ring with a vampire twice my size next time.”
“Fucking hell.”
“Yes, exactly. Now go. Do your disappearing act and don’t worry about me. I’ve spent my entire life taking care of myself, I’m sure I can muddle through this… change just fine.”
I couldn’t stand how he loomed over me, larger than life, and I was standing very, very close to the edge right now. So close, in fact, that one shove would send me tumbling down into that dark water.
And while I might survive, that fall would hurt .
All he did was raise an eyebrow when I took a healthy step toward safety. He pulled out his phone again and aggressively jabbed his finger into the screen like he was trying to poke through the glass.
“You told Blake who you were?” He didn’t wait for me to even nod before he went on. “Poor bastard’s probably drinking himself into a stupor. You’re coming back to Crimson House with me. I suppose it’s up to me to figure out what to do with you next, because I’m sure as fuck not feeding you.”
Like I was a lost, mangy dog.
His head snapped up and the breath caught in my throat at the sharp glint of hate in his dark eyes.
“How many vampires have you killed in this town, Evangeline?”
“A few,” I hedged, quite certain that the king of this place wouldn’t take kindly to me killing over twenty of his loyal subjects. Every single one of them had stalked me, so really, they’d brought their demises on themselves.
“How many?”
“ Twenty-one .” The words ripped out of me, followed by a burst of adrenaline that left me nauseous. “Twenty-two, including Collum.” I rubbed my throat, wondering why the hell he was taking up so much room out here in the middle of nowhere, and why I couldn’t breathe.
“I compelled you because I need the truth and I don’t have time to fuck around,” Riordan said coldly. “Next time don’t make me force you.”
“I’m not your fucking puppet. Next time don’t force me, asshole.” One step closer and he filled my vision, canines long enough to rip my throat apart.
“You’re going to want to be very careful about what comes out of your mouth next, Evangeline. You’re alive because Blake has a soft spot, but your future is in my hands now. You are part of Tyrell’s bloodline. Do you know what that means? He can claim you. Command you. Kill you , if he so chooses. I am all that stands between him and you, and the sooner you accept that, the easier this will be.”
“Nothing about this is fucking easy,” I snarled, my own fangs stabbing down through my gums as temper got the better of me. “I’d made my choice. You should have let me die rather than turn me into this ,” I spat in disgust.
“Maybe we should have.” His words—his cold-as-ice tone—had my stomach turning, wondering if he’d end me out here. Wondering if that’s why he’d brought me to the quarry in the first place.
“Tyrell knew exactly who you were and decided to use you against Blake. Against me. He and my sire used to delight in their games, and over the centuries they became crueler and more extravagant. But this…this took careful planning. Over a long period of time.” His voice trailed off as he considered me, his mouth twisted into a bitter sneer.
“Blake’s family was killed by a vampire hunting family called the Silverwoods. They killed his parents, burned the family estate, and left his sister on the steps of Darkmore as a gift for Tyrell. Hearing your name, knowing he saved the very person who took his family away…well, chances are, he’ll never be sober again.”
“Wow. You really know how to make a girl feel special.”
Not only was this conversation in the middle of no-fucking-where supremely depressing, my buzz from earlier was wearing off, replaced by…I focused on Riordan’s neck, that pulse beating at the base of his throat.
God, he smelled delicious, and I was hungry again, and…
“Do you deny it? Your family killed Blake’s?”
Oh, right…he was still talking. Obviously, the bastard was oblivious to the fact I was seconds away from ripping into his neck like an animal. I fisted my hands, digging my nails deep into my palms until I focused on the sharp bite of pain, not how good Riordan smelled right now.
That was better.
“My family situation is complicated.” I couldn’t go around biting everyone I met and drinking them dry. Okay, so Blake had been a mistake in the heat of the moment, and Collum had pretty much deserved what he got, but if I jumped the king and climbed him like a tree, I’d get a reputation I didn’t deserve.
“But yes. I am from those Silverwoods, though I haven’t seen them in years. They’re monsters, worse than monsters, after what I’ve heard tonight. My mother took my sister and I and ran the first chance she got.”
“So your sister…”
“We’re not talking about my sister. Or my mother.” No need to overshare my traumatized childhood. Not right now and certainly not with him.
“Fine. We’ll save that conversation for later.” His eyes flashed. “I have a proposition for you, Evangeline. We’re fighting a war with Tyrell, and we are losing. You could be the silver bullet—no pun intended—we’ve been searching for. Do you have yourself under control enough for me to take you back to Crimson House?”
“Control? Can you even hear yourself talk?” That heady ravenous hunger turned the edges of my vision dark as I started to laugh.
I was still laughing when Riordan grasped my waist and yanked me against him, a solid wall of muscle wrapped up in that delicious spice scent. Despite my best efforts at restraint, my fangs sank into his throat, right over that beating pulse.
Warm, thick blood hit my tongue, and my moan echoed across the rock-filled gorge.
Riordan tasted like lightning and thunder, like drinking power straight from the source, and I was so lost in the rush, I didn’t even realize we were being attacked.