Page 87 of The Vampire Court

I scoff. “I belong to no one but myself.”

Maybe I’m wrong about his motivations. All he’s done is talk. If he wanted to kill me, he would have done so by now.

I step around him and hurry toward the door, but he moves fast and cuts me off.

“It’s too late,” I say, “and there’s nothing that can change that. Even if he’s not around, I am still bound to him.”

“Not so fast,” he says.

I inch to the side, but he matches my movements seamlessly.

“Eshroth,” Alexander calls out.

There’s a quiet chattering noise, and then a large spider crawls onto his shoulder from his back. Bile burns its way up my throat, and I stumble back several steps. No spider should be that large, but I suppose it’s not really a spider at all, but his demon.

He doesn’t seem to notice my reaction.

“There is still something that can be done about that pesky mark of his,” he says casually. Those words are enough to draw my attention from the creepy demon back to him. “We can make it so it’s as if the mark was never there.”

The back of my heel bumps up against a stack of wood, sending spare pieces of planks or framing clattering to the floor.

Undo the mark?

He lifts the spider from his shoulder and stretches his hand out to me. I lean away.

Alexander sighs then, with a dramatic eye roll, yanks on my hand, and sets the spider in my palm. My muscles strain to pull out of his grip, but he continues to hold me.

The spider’s long, needle-like legs dance over my skin. They move up my arm to my shoulder. I want to slap them away. I’ve never liked spiders, but I never feared them before. Seeing one this size is… unsettling.

The demon sniffs, and I feel the tiny scratching of two legs that prod at the bite marks on my neck and shoulder. The demon turns and skitters back down my arm into their master’s hand, chirping the whole way.

The vampire glowers at whatever they say.

Alexander’s mouth turns up at the corners. “Interesting,” he murmurs, relinquishing his hold on my wrist. I take several steps back until I bump into the wall. He looks like he’s planning something I know I won’t like. “You’ve been getting yourself into more trouble than I could have guessed for a humanAlaricpicked out. Who knew he has such… curious tastes.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

The vampire lists his lips. “I am quite pleased Elise persuaded me to try again to reclaim you.”

“If you want to kill me, then get on with it,” I say, tired of his endless droning.

I need him to make a move. If I draw my dagger too early, then I will have lost before I begin. I need to catch him off guard.

“Oh, no, my pet,” he says, placing his spider demon back on his shoulder. They scurry away, back to wherever they were hiding earlier. “I have no plans to kill you. I will bind you to me, overriding the mark.”

I shake my head, not understanding. “The mark is for life.”

“Normally, it would be, unless…”

I don’t ask what the condition is because that’s what he wants.

He pulls me away from the window and presses my back against his chest. I hadn’t planned on throwing myself out, but the way he’s looking at me makes me reconsider.

“You and I will take the oath, and it will bind you to me, like the mark binds you to Alaric.” He paces the room, stopping when he’s at my back. “The oath is stronger, and it is for life. Our bond will be unbreakable. You will live as long as any vampire, and you will only die in the ways a vampire can die. You will essentially have the powers I have, except of course, you will not have your own demon, nor will you be able to overpower me.”

“That’s… impossible,” I whisper.

“You and I will be bound.Forever.” He runs his fingers over the scars of my neck, thumb caressing the nape of my neck.