Page 11 of The Vampire’s Hunter (Rogue Brotherhood #2)

11

C orbin’s signal to his men didn’t make the hit any less sudden.

The sound of gunfire was never really something one got used to, or at least Corbin hadn’t, in all his many years. It rattled in his eardrums, ricocheting off the walls as he dropped to the ground beside Dani, dragging her to the ground with him, exactly as they’d planned to do, with some help from Kharis, too. They’d agreed the combination of their individual tactics would be the best move, helping them both claim a swift and fierce revenge.

One their enemies would no doubt whisper about for years to come.

The first round passed rather quickly, leaving the floor teeming in blood and bullets. The shattered shards of the stained-glass windows sparkling like jewels.

Slowly, Corbin staggered to his feet. To his surprise, Angelo was the first to move, twitching awake from where he and Cassandra had clutched each other. The other vampire rushed him, meaty fists heaving, but Corbin was ready for him. He fired a shot point-blank, his aim straight into Angelo’s forehead. The other vampire dropped to the ground like a fool.

Corbin would leave his men to finish Angelo for good later.

Mickey came next, his strike swift and sure, his blade cutting across Corbin’s cheek. But Corbin relieved him of his weapon swiftly. Mickey may have been fast on his feet, but Corbin was far older, far more powerful. He gutted the bastard.

Thankfully, for now, the others stayed down, which meant, he’d deal with them later. Swiping the blood Mickey had drawn from his cheek, he climbed the stairs of the altar, retrieving the wooden crucifix Dani had pointed him to. He broke the end of it over one knee, splintering it in two. It wasn’t exactly as a sharp of a stake as he would have liked, but it would have to do.

He made his way over to where Lucien lay then, gurgling as the blood beneath him pooled. He was helpless and vulnerable, as Corbin had once been when Lucien had attacked him, changed him.

“Contrary to what one would think, I’m not one to stand on ceremony, so I won’t ask if you have any last words,” he said, raising the stake in his hands. “You wouldn’t deserve such an utterance anyway, but here are mine and Dani’s last words delivered to you.” He leaned down, drawing so close that only Lucien could hear.

“I hope the devil shoves a blinding hot poker up your arse every day from now until the end of time itself,” he hissed. “Oh, and we can’t forget Dani’s contribution, can we?” Corbin smiled devilishly. “She told me to simply to stab you through your bleeding, undead heart with a cold and rousing fuck you.” Corbin raised the stake over Lucien’s chest. “So, cheers to that, old boy.”

Corbin plunged the broken crucifix down into Lucien’s chest, ending the other vampire in an instant. Blood spray spattered over him, coating him from head to toe, practically bathing him in it. He had half a mind to wear it like a badge of honor, at least until he made love to Dani later in the day.

Dani, who was supposed to be standing at his side, watching him see their plan through.

Corbin rose to his feet, wiping the blood from his eyes with the back of his hand, though it was equally soaked. “Well, I’d say you all played your roles rather well, especially you—” He turned to where Dani should have stood, to where Kharis and Quinn, and the others who’d agreed to join his ruse had started to rise.

But Dani was still lying on the floor, her chest hardly moving.

“Dani?” he said, taking a tentative step toward her. “Dani!”

True fear raced through him.

Suddenly, Corbin was at her side, not even having felt himself move.

He ripped the bulk of the coat she wore away, the one meant to hide the bulletproof vest she’d been supposed to wear beneath, but there was no vest there. In its place, there were nothing but blood. Her sweet, sweet blood, and the thin material of her dress.

Corbin was shaking, barely capable of forming words, as he clutched hold of her face, tapping at her cheek to rouse her awake.

Dani let out a pained groan, her eyes fluttering open to stare up at the cathedral ceiling.

“Why didn’t you wear your vest, darling? Why didn’t you wear the vest I gave you?”

Dani let out a shuddering breath, as if speaking had suddenly become a chore she didn’t care for. “You told me to leave,” she rasped. “You told me to leave and I…I couldn’t do this without you. I…won’t be anyone’s plaything, Corbin. I won’t allow others to make my decisions for me. Not even you, so, I…took a risk, made a choice.”

“And so, you chose this , instead?” Corbin shouted his fury.

At her or at the heavens, the fates, he didn’t know who.

He didn’t know fucking anything anymore. Up or down. Left or right. Right or wrong.

None of it made any fucking sense. Not if he was going to lose her.

Just after they’d finally found each other.

No. No, he couldn’t lose her, goddamnit. Not like this.

Slowly, Dani’s face twisted toward him. “It’s what you wanted, didn’t you? For me to,” she sputtered, coughing up blood, “l-live a full life? To die before you? Of…of natural causes.”

“There’s nothing natural about my men putting a bullet in you!” he cried. “Goddamn it, woman!” Sweat gathered on his forehead, beading there, now that fear ruled him.

He couldn’t lose her. Not like this. Not like this.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, trying and failing to touch his cheek. “I…I need to ask you to save me one time more.”

One time more.

As if before she’d even come here, she’d somehow already known everything he’d held back from her before. About Rosalind. Elias. Gertrude. Even about the skeleton key. About how he’d tried to protect her from the worst parts of himself, only for that singular decision to place her in more and more trouble along the way. He could fall on his knees before her, grovel for the rest of his years, and still, it wouldn’t be enough. He wouldn’t be enough.

Which was exactly why he’d left her.

Though she’d never resorted to anything this drastic.

Never alone anyway. And now, he was going to lose her.

Corbin’s eyes combed the room, searching and finding his target. “You,” he snarled at Kharis, voice trembling. “You did this, didn’t you?”

Kharis shrugged, like he failed to see how it mattered. “I might have helped her a little along the way.”

Corbin snarled, baring his fangs.

“Self-sacrificial doesn’t suit you. We needed something to snap you out of it.”

“And so, you thought it might be a good idea to kill the woman I love?” Corbin roared his fury, standing and pacing beside where Dani now lay at his feet. He gripped at his scalp, fisting his hair so hard his knuckles turned white. “Fix this,” he demanded, pointing toward her, to where she was barely breathing. “Fix this, Kharis. Hell, turn her if you must.”

“Do you really want her to be mine that way?” Kharis said, his expression unmoving. “Are you truly so afraid of losing her that you would hand her away for forever? To me of all people?”

Like all vampires, Kharis had more than a little darkness of his own. They all ended up that way, twisted, corrupted over the years.

“Corbin,” Dani rasped, blood gurgling out of her mouth, reaching up in search for him.

Corbin fell to her side again, hands clammy and shaking. “I’m here, darling. I’m here.” He gripped her hand, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face.

“I’m…cold,” she whispered. “So cold.”

For the first time in a century Corbin felt his emotions catch inside his throat. “I know, darling. I know. It’ll end soon enough.” Corbin shut his eyes then, surprised to find himself crying. He hadn’t even known he was capable of it anymore.

“Turn her, Corbin,” Kharis said, from where he stood beside them. “If you love her, turn her. Then maybe this tragedy can become a celebration another day.”

Corbin was shaking, struggling to fight his own fear. “I love you, darling. Now and until we both shall meet again in the next life,” he whispered, his words almost feverish.

“It’s what she wants, what she demands of you,” Kharis continued. “It’s what Rosalind wanted, too, but what you were too young to see then is that it was as much her choice as it was yours. It’s the same for Dani. She made her choice, and she chose you.”

Kharis crouched down, holding Dani’s head so that her neck tilted toward Corbin. The last fluttering beats of her pulse almost at a close. “So, drink now, brother. You’re stronger than you were before. Drink now and drink deep.”

And with one final, striking bite Corbin took his fill, until he felt Dani slip away in his arms.