Page 54 of The Serpent’s Bride (Bloodlines #1)

He’d known since the bullet had been pulled out of her that something was amiss with “Monica Valan.” But the pieces had been there all along, now that he knew the answer to the puzzle. But how many times had she had the opportunity to kill him, yet she hadn’t?

How many times had she looked at him with a desire too raw to be a lie?

How many times had he met her desire with his own?

A creature full of surprises.

Raziel watched as his fae assassin walked to the bench and sat down before the shape of Monica shimmered and fell away.

And Raziel could only stare.

Long, jet-black hair reached down to a narrow waist. It curled in waves that reflected the setting sun in shades of green and blue. Her skin was pale, with a hint of sea-green if he looked closely.

Where Monica was curvy, his fae was lithe. Muscular. Meant for movement. For agility. To move through the water with strength and speed like a shark. But still with curves in the places he wished to dig his fingers into.

Her lips were black, and he knew they weren’t painted that way.

But her most notable feature was…her tail. From the waist down, the transition hidden by the black silk of the dress she still wore, she had the long, tapered tail of a fish. Her scales were oil-slicked black, shining in every color of the rainbow.

Her fins resembled torn black lace. He wondered what they looked like floating in water.

Suddenly, he wanted to see her nude, like this. Wanted to see her in all her glory. Wanted to study her. To touch her. She was eerie, but graceful. She was like a spectral thing, haunting, and ghostly. In the waves, she must look like a spirit come to lure wayward sailors to their deaths.

She was the single most beautiful thing he had ever laid his eyes on.

When she cast her gaze up to him, expression full of hatred and spite, black eyes that glittered like opals in every color under the moons, he wanted to kiss her and taste that fury.

Wanted to feel those tiny fangs of hers prick his lip.

Wanted to feel her unbridled loathing for him as he claimed her throat again as his own.

He had come here fully intending on killing his little assassin.

Now? He supposed they both had a choice to make.

When Raziel did nothing but stare at her in silence, expression blank, Nadi sighed and looked away. She shifted her form, wearing a glamor of herself in her human form. “The tail is inconvenient on land,” she muttered.

She stood, and suddenly she very much wanted a drink before he killed her. Ignoring him and the gun he still had pointed at her, she walked back to the table and sat down in her chair.

Picking up her glass of red wine, she chugged it and poured herself another. “Let Monica go.”

He shook his head. “Unfortunately, she has to die. I can’t have loose ends. John is already dead, I’m afraid.”

Cringing, she looked away. He was right.

Nadi hated it, but she couldn’t argue against his logic.

It was her loose ends that got her caught.

If she’d killed Monica and John, she wouldn’t be in this mess.

And to a vampire with no morals, there was no point in leaving them lying around.

“At least make it quick, please. She doesn’t deserve any of this. ”

Monica screamed, muffled into the gag.

“Only because you said please .”

He moved faster than she expected. Damn vampires. A blur of motion, and a crunch , and Monica’s head was twisted at a horrifying angle. Her eyes were wide, caught in a moment of fear—but no pain.

“Fuck.” She sighed. “I’m sorry,” she murmured to the dead girl.

“Mm.” He patted Monica on the head. “I liked your version of her better. This one wept too much. She was precisely what I had been expecting. You were not. That should have been my first and loudest alarm.” Sitting back down with a sigh, he went back to eating like there wasn’t a corpse sharing the table with them.

To be fair, they’d already done worse with a corpse in the room. “Name.”

“Nadi.”

“Nadi.” He repeated it as if testing it on his tongue. “Lovely. I much prefer it to Monica.” He glanced at the real woman. “No offense.” He looked back to Nadi. “Clan name?”

The look she gave him would have lit the void on fire and frozen it over again. After a long, painful pause, she finally let it hit like the brick that it was. “Iltani.”

Raziel cackled in laughter. “Oh, that’s too good! What was Luciento to you, then?”

“My uncle. You killed my family eighty years or so ago. Maybe a little more.”

“Oh, yes. I remember now! Some parts of it. A warehouse under one of the road junctions, I believe? I can’t even tell you how many I killed that night.

” He ate the food he had prepared and abandoned minutes prior.

“You’ll forgive me if everything runs together after all this time.

I don’t remember. But you murdered your uncle in the name of revenge for me.

How wonderfully complete your hatred must be. ”

She stayed silent and only stared at him in venomous silence.

“Which only deepens the mystery.” Raziel studied her. “You had plenty of chances to kill me. Instead, as far as I can tell, the only one of my people you’ve managed to murder so far has been Hank. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he made a move on you and forced your hand.”

“I baited him. But you’re not far wrong.” She was already halfway through her second glass of red wine. She didn’t care. “I figured it would be easier to kill you with only one of your guards on this trip.”

Raziel chuckled. “Fair.” Grasping the bottle of wine, he topped off her glass. “Which still leaves me with the question, why haven’t you killed me yet? You’re a practiced assassin, clearly. So, it isn’t nerves.”

“I’m an assassin because you murdered my clan. I wanted to know what I was doing before taking you on.”

“Smart. Now, answer me. Why not kill me when you had the chance and be done with it? Why drag it out? You put yourself in danger, and now you’ve failed.”

“You murdered my entire family in front of me. I decided I wanted to do the same for you. And…besides. You’re just a symptom, not the cause of what happened to me. The Nostrom family line is a plague.” Nadi glanced at the poor dead human girl. What a waste.

“A symptom not the cause. I like that. Well, then, my darling Nadi. My wife. I would like to propose a deal.”

“A…deal?” She furrowed her brow. “Let’s hear it.” If it was a way to survive—even just for another hour—it might be worth taking. There might still be a way out if Raziel was foolish enough to let her live.

But why would he let her live? What could he possibly have planned for her?

“I have need of someone with your particular talents.” Raziel’s eyes shone almost amber in the setting sun. “So here is my proposal, Nadi. I will let you live…”

The next words out of his mouth changed the path of her life in a way she would never quite be able to comprehend.

“ If you help me murder my entire family. ”

To be continued…