Page 2 of Marked for Execution
My legs dragged behind me over concrete and carpeted flooring as the one called Tiara continued to pull me.
Oof. The wind was knocked out of me when she threw me a few feet in front of her. My arms automatically extended to cushion the fall and I instantly knew my mistake. Hopefully no one else noticed.
A boot landed on my back the same moment I tried to push myself up. Darius stomped on me again and my face slammed on the ground, rattling my brain.
“So, this is she?” said another woman with a bored tone.
My anger rose with every breath. I should cool it. I shouldn’t lose my temper, but these vampires were testing me.
“Not much of a hybrid, is she?”
Tiara’s statement was the last straw. The adrenaline in my body morphed into something that overtook my senses. It’s only happened a few times. The moment my father found out was the moment everyone else did.
The smell of their blood still lingered in my nose to this day.
Twisting quickly, I grabbed Darius’ ankle and broke it with a loud crunch. He howled in pain and the smile grew wider on my face. The others in the room pulled him back when he lunged at me, screaming profanities. I looked over my shoulder and blew him a bloody kiss.
Queen Cassie stood from her throne and stepped forward, looking down at me with disgust. As I stared right back at her with one knee on the ground, the feeling was mutual.
“Deliver her at nightfall. Make sure you drop her right at their doorstep, and they see your face, so they knowwhocalls for them. Tiara, you will accompany Darius to make sure the proposition of the peace treaty is articulated correctly and effectively.”
“Yes, my Queen.”
She bent down, grabbed my chin, and forced my face toward her. Her eyes bored into mine with such internal hatred that I could not help but reciprocate the same energy. My body was buzzing with the need for bloodshed, but my mind knew I was outnumbered amidst this horde.
Suddenly, the room dropped in temperature. Cassie’s hand shot out and her claws pierced my throat, lifting me up.
“Fool. You arenothingto me! Clan Shaye will be destroyed by my hand.” Her grip tightened, and my eyes rolled back. “They think to offermea truce?”
Another set of nails dug into my neck, and it felt like my soul was trying to leave my body.
Her growls echoed in the room and bounced in the back of my skull. “The descendants of Damon will all die!”
She pulled her arms outward, and everything turned into darkness.
Chapter 1
Eliseo
“We’re organizing the next group; you in?”
I gave the kid a look. He must be new to have asked me such a stupid question. I was usually the one who led the scavenge groups.
“Yeah, I’m in.” I gave him the benefit of the doubt. He might just bethatstupid.
We got so many new people here that I became uneasy around unfamiliar faces—his included. The last hunt ran us into a small human encampment that threatened to be overtaken by new, rogue vampires. We couldn’t just let them be slaughtered like a buffet, and we couldn’t leave them to fend for themselves after most of their fighters were taken down in bloodshed.
Standing from my spot, I walked away, ending the conversation. He could find me when they were ready. I didn’t need to babysit his ass.
I headed toward Samuel’s residence and knocked on his doorway.
“Fucker! Are you up?”
“Shit, with you banging on my door, I’m up now.” A groan floated past his hung curtain door. Why he chose to never find a wooden replacement after his last fight with someone’s husband, I’ll never understand. This fucker was justaskingfor trouble.
Samuel popped his head out shortly after with his hair all over the place and his dick out, glistening for all to see. This was what happened when the world went to shit, respect and decorum went out the damn window.
Ignoring what was in front of me, I continued. “We got a group rounding up.”