Page 7 of The Vampire’s Hunter (Rogue Brotherhood #2)

7

C orbin lay in the dark with his eyes closed as sleep failed to claim him. Unconsciousness had done so only briefly, but even that moment of respite had done little to abate his mounting frustration with himself.

What the fuck had he been thinking?

“You were healed hours ago, but you couldn’t be bothered to face your own fucked decisions, could you?” Kharis’ voice came from where he stood near the door.

Corbin opened his eyes then, staring up at the ceiling, a bottle of whiskey clutched in his hand, though he didn’t bother to look at Kharis.

Not until he’d solved this massive clusterfuck he’d created for himself.

“I warned you,” Kharis said, speaking once more. “I warned you this might happen and yet you failed to listen.” Kharis pushed away from the wall near which he stood, stalking across Corbin’s bedroom toward him. “Stay out of my sex life, Kharis,” he mocked. “She won’t be a problem, Kharis.” The underboss shook his head as he roared, “Like fucking hell she will!”

Corbin voice was cold, distant, as if it’d been raked over coals and dragged back again. “Are you finished?” he rasped, drawing the whiskey bottle to his lips and taking a generous sip.

Kharis waved a dismissive hand toward him.

“It was an error in judgement.”

“An error in judgement?” Kharis scoffed, still pacing. “You might as well have handed all our heads over to Lucien on a plate. Fucking error in judgement my arse. If we survive this, we’ll be dealing with the repercussions of this for years. Decades!” he hissed.

“I said, are you fucking finished yet, Kharis, so that I might speak?” Corbin muttered from where he lay.

Kharis growled at him, only daring to do so because they were friends, because he’d earned that right over the years. Through loyalty and good judgement.

Traits which Corbin apparently had very little of.

“You were right,” he said, calmly, his hate aimed only at himself and himself alone. “I made a mistake. But she can still prove useful. We can—”

“Do you even hear yourself?” Kharis sneered as he shook his head in disbelief. “You just single-handedly ensured Lucien continues to haunt us, if he doesn’t manage to kill us all first, and all you can think about is a bit of human cunt?”

Even Corbin was surprised at how fast he moved, his hand clutching Kharis’ throat in an instant. “I told you never to speak of her that way again.”

“Did you?” Kharis lifted a brow, unfazed.

With a rough shove, Corbin released him, pacing the length of the room, whiskey bottle still in hand. He hadn’t bothered to change out of his blood covered shirt, the unbuttoned material still littered with bullet wounds, though his body had rejected the blasted things hours ago.

It took more than a handful of bullets to kill an ancient vampire, that much was true. Only a stake to the heart or decapitation brought his kind to an end. As he’d asked his men to do with every associate of Lucien’s who’d been in that room.

“Turn her and let’s be done with this. Once and for all,” Kharis said.

It was the logical solution, the sensible solution, and yet…

“I can’t.”

“What in flying fuck do you mean you can’t?” Kharis snarled. “You can’t be serious, Corbin. It’s been years. Centuries, even. You cannot mean to tell me you’re still afraid of—”

“The only thing which fills me with fear is the thought of more human blood on my hands.” Corbin glared over his shoulder at his friend. “She stays human.”

“God fucking damnit,” Kharis whispered, watching as Corbin turned toward him. Shaking his head, Kharis started laughing then, humorless chuckles, his face unamused. “You right piece of shit, I don’t know how I didn’t see it before.”

Corbin looked toward him.

“You love her, don’t you?” The ancient Greek lifted a brow.

Corbin scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous, Kharis. I—”

“Oh, shut up, Corbin, before you make yourself even more of a fool.” Kharis scowled, finally stepping away from the wall. “You’ve been saving Dani for years. Don’t tell me you haven’t realized it?”

Corbin stayed silent for a long beat, for once, uncertain what to do.

As he’d been the moment she’d pulled that skeleton key from round her neck.

He was a vampire. He wasn’t capable of love. He shouldn’t be, and yet…

“Good God, man,” Kharis swore, raking a hand over his face, “you really are fucked in the head, aren’t you?”

Corbin couldn’t bring himself to look at Kharis. “I’m handling it.”

“Are you?” Kharis shouted, ripping the whiskey bottle from Corbin’s hand and throwing it against the drywall. The bottle smashed upon impact, the contents and broken glass scattering across the floor. “Well, fucking handle it better, because from where I sit, unless you do, you’re about to lose everything that matters to that monster that fucking sired you, unless…” Kharis’ gaze swept over him, his eyes going wide in horror, like he’d never seen him before. “Unless this is what you wanted, didn’t you? Unless you did this as some fucked penance to punish yourself for what happened to Ros—”

“Do not speak her name in my presence, do you hear me?” Corbin sneered. “You’re not worthy of it.”

“And neither are you,” Kharis yelled, stabbing a finger against Corbin’s chest. “Then or now. Nor do you deserve that poor woman in there.” He gestured wildly in the direction of Corbin’s living room, where Dani no doubt waited.

Corbin’s face remained still, even as his undead pulse beat. He’d expected her to leave, to place distance between them, never wish to see him again, like she was supposed to do, though Dani never had made choices in her own best interest, had she?

“Yes, she stayed,” Kharis answered his question, before Corbin even had a chance to ask it. “Somehow, you haven’t managed to chase her away just yet. I was as surprised as you.” Kharis stepped forward then, gripping Corbin by the back of the neck, and pressing their foreheads together as they used to on the streets.

Brother to brother.

“You don’t get to decide what gifts life gives and takes away from you. You only get to decide your actions, what you do, and so help me God, brother, you best decide soon, because until then, my job here is through.”

Abruptly, Kharis released him, stalking toward the door.

“You don’t fucking mean that,” Corbin called after him.

“Like hell I don’t!” Kharis shot over his shoulder, still angry. Rightfully so.

And then Kharis was gone, leaving Corbin alone in his thoughts, to stew on his mistakes once more. Which served exactly as the kind of punishment Kharis had intended it to.

Dani sat on the sofa in Corbin’s living room, glaring out at the darkened night, the Chicago skyline illuminating the shadows of the city below. She’d sat here for hours, waiting for who or for what she never knew. Perhaps sunrise, or maybe, her own death considering Lucien was still on the run, whichever came first. It wasn’t as if she had anywhere else to go, anyone else to run to. Save to her brother, of course. But when was the last time Quinn had helped her?

He’d likely just tell her what an idiot she was, because once again, she’d allowed herself to be fooled, because that’s what vampires did, didn’t they?

They fucked you.

In more ways than one.

Corbin included.

Dani’s hair was still damp, the strands dripping about her shoulders from where one of Corbin’s men had deposited her in the shower upon their return. Fully clothed and weeping, she’d lain there sobbing for long enough that the water running over her bloodstained clothes and body had run clean, until finally, she’d managed to peel herself off the shower floor, and pulled herself together. Because that’s what Dani did best.

She survived. She endured. Whatever life threw at her.

No matter how fucked and twisted.

And this about topped the levels of fucked, even by her measures.

She shifted her weight, adjusting herself where she sat, naked save for one of Corbin’s shirts she wore. It smelled like him. Like frankincense, orange, and cedarwood. All things that’d once been a comfort to her. That were still a comfort to her, no matter how much she didn’t want it to be true. What would he have to do to her for her to want to leave?

Dani wasn’t certain she knew the answer.

She was still mulling that over when Corbin finally decided to join her in the living room, looking as alive and well as ever, despite his blood-soaked, open shirt, and unkempt hair.

That’s what the undead do, she thought to herself. Survive. Only to fuck you once more.

They always lived to see another day, no matter how horrible they were to one another. Now that he was truly dead, even Cillian still lived on in the ghostly memories that haunted her.

But what else was new?

No one had ever said life was fair, and Dani had known that from a very young age. From the first time someone had fucked her like this.

“I suppose you thought, ‘what could it hurt’?” she whispered, breaking the pressing silence between them. “What could it hurt for poor, pathetic Dani to be fucked one more time?” She lifted her gaze toward him, repeating the same question that’d been on her lips before. “How could you?”

Corbin refused to look toward her. “It wasn’t about you.”

“Oh, it wasn’t?” She lifted a sarcastic brow. “Then exactly who was it about when you lied to me, Corbin? When you told me there was nothing in it for you? When you tried to claim my revenge as your own? I thought you were doing me a favor.”

“I was.” He finally looked toward her then. “You want Lucien dead, too. Don’t deny it.”

She shook her head. “That’s not what we agreed.”

She’d planned her revenge and killing Lucien hadn’t been a part of it.

Only seeing him locked up for an eternity would do. Caged like the animal he was.

Unable to escape the consequences of his actions, like she was unable to escape the memories of him hurting her.

Or so she’d thought, until tonight.

Facing him had been enough, until the bullets had flown.

And then she had realized Corbin was right. She wanted Lucien dead too, but that didn’t excuse the way he’d lied to her. What kind of woman did that make her?

“You lied to me,” she hissed, doubling down. It didn’t matter that he was right, that she wanted Lucien dead as much as he did. She should have been informed.

Corbin’s expression hardened. “You were offered everything you asked for in exchange for attending a party, nothing more. I apologize if that was a chore for you.”

From the smug look on Corbin’s face, he knew that it wasn’t.

Heat flooded her cheeks. Shame, too.

What do you expect when you literally begged him to touch you? she chastised herself.

How could she have been such a fool?

“There was never any journal, was there? That was all part of the lie too.”

Corbin didn’t answer, he simply watched her, his expression as unmoving as a statue.

“And now, I suppose you expect me to say thank you for nearly getting me killed?”

Corbin scoffed. “Nearly is a matter of semantics and dramatics, darling. You could nearly die at any moment. It’s part of being human, yet here you stand, living and breathing among the undead, don’t you?”

“And I suppose I should be thanking you for that too?” She sneered.

Corbin returned the look. “You were supposed to be safely upstairs. Had you been injured you would have been collateral damage. It wasn’t personal.”

“And that’s supposed to make it better?” she shouted at him, jaw clenching. “I don’t know what to do with you.” She waved her hands as if she were prepared to storm off, though she didn’t know where to. Not with Lucien still at large.

“It’s simple, Dani. As I’ve told you dozens of times before.” Corbin stepped forward, pegging her with a hardened stare. “Leave, and don’t come back to this world,” his gaze raked over her, hot and wanting, the next words he spoke new, “or else I’ll ruin you too.”

She dropped her hands to her sides, exasperated. “What does that even mean?”

“Already I see the ways this world, the ways I have changed you.” Corbin’s glare was like diamonds then, so intense and sharp it could cut. “It means that if you had even an ounce of fucking self-preservation you wouldn’t parade yourself before me the way you do.”

“So now it’s my fault?” Dani’s jaw dropped. “Not you too. Now you sound just like my brother, trying to make my decisions for me.”

“At least he has the goddamn bloody sense not to risk himself!”

“Fuck you!” she shouted at him, drawing so close to his face, she could practically breathe him in, though she hadn’t planned to. “Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, Corbin. The only fault here is with you.” She stabbed one slender finger into the stone wall of his chest, causing him to snarl at her. “You never once questioned why I kept coming back, did you? Why I would never take the goddamn hint and leave?”

Stalking past her, Corbin wrenched open the penthouse door, attempting to wave her through it. “I have little use for you now, human. Leave, before I change my mind.”

“You really don’t realize, do you?” She stared at him, incredulously. “All this time, all this risk I’ve placed myself in. You’ve never once realized it’s all been for you. In a desperate, ridiculous search for your attention, all in hope that one day you’d finally notice, and—”

“I have noticed you, Dani,” Corbin hissed, stopping her short. “I do nothing but notice you.”

Dani’s breath caught, her stupid, foolish heart hammering away inside her chest.

“Every time you walk into a room, every smile you gift to another. I’ve noticed. All of it.” Corbin looked toward her then, his eyes meeting hers.

“And yet, it meant nothing to you?” she whispered. “Am I that undesirable?”

“You are many things, Dani,” Corbin shook his head, easing toward her, “but undesirable isn’t one of them.” He prowled toward her then, his stride languid, his steps true. “What would you have me do?” he whispered, his voice velvet and smooth, a seductive touch against skin. “Keep you, turn you? Is that what you want?” He held her face in his hand once more. “I haven’t even fucked you, Dani, and already you have me wrapped around your finger.” The tortured look in his eyes tore through her. “What else would you have me do?”

She fell silent then, uncertain what to say. “So, you’d rather say goodbye before ever even giving us a real chance? Leave me alone to die like I meant nothing to you?” She shook her head, pulling away a little. “Like you said, we haven’t even fucked.”

“Does that matter?” Corbin asked, his gaze piercing through her. “Do you want to?”

Dani crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to look at him.

But she could feel his gaze on her, hot and searing.

“Is that what it’ll take to convince you to save yourself from all the ways I am unable to protect you?”

Her eyes shot toward him then.

She’d never once considered that the danger she placed herself in might affect him to, might…concern him.

“You do want that, don’t you, Dani? And that thrills you.” He eased closer, gripping her flush against him, so that she could feel the hardened length of his cock against her. “Is that what you want, Dani? To fuck a monster?”

“You’re not a monster, Corbin.” She shook her head a little. “No matter what Lucien has done to you.”

He laughed then, dark and wicked. “Foolish, foolish, girl.”

Before Dani even knew what he was doing, he was holding her by her throat once more, making it difficult to breathe.

“I am a monster,” Corbin whispered, the heat of his breath tracing over her chin, “the kind which preys upon innocents like you.” His tongue ran over his teeth then, his fangs lengthening. “A shame you weren’t smart enough to see it.”

His grip on her loosened, and Dani stumbled back slightly, her base instincts getting the better of her.

Corbin chuckled, fangs flashing. “Don’t bother to run, Dani. It’ll only make things worse if you do.” His dark stare pierced through her. “Because if you run, I will chase you, and I will find you, and then I shan’t be held accountable for what happens next.”

Dani shuddered, before instantly going still.

“Are you scared now?” he whispered, crimson eyes staring at her.

She really was a fool, but she supposed she always had been. For him, at least.

She shook her head a little. “No.”

“Pity.” Corbin stepped toward her, stroking one slow languid hand over her the exposed skin at her collar. “You’ve no idea what I’m about to do.”

Dani bristled. She wasn’t some virgin to this, untried and new. “I’ve been bitten before.”

“Oh, darling.” He chuckled. “Not like this.”

Corbin moved so fast she didn’t even see him throw back his head, his strike on her neck swift and fierce, filled with all the venom of a poisonous snake.

But it wasn’t poison she felt course through her.

It was desire. Pure, and raw, and lustful.

More intense than any bodily experience she’d ever known.

She was coming in an instant, finding release, and still begging for more.

More.

More. More. More.

Pleasure the likes of which she’d never known coursed through her. She was hot, wanton with need. It was enough she nearly lost herself to it, enough she would have been happy to stay right there, locked in his arms for eternity, for the rest of forever, even as she felt herself grow weak, even as she felt herself grow cold.

Dani teetered on the edge of consciousness, ready and willing to slip into the dark, until suddenly Corbin pulled back, releasing her, slamming her back into reality.

Dani blinked, coming to senses, for once truly frightened.

Because unlike when Cillian and Lucien had hurt her, she hadn’t been drugged, hadn’t been filled with fear. She’d seen the Angel of Death and welcomed him with open arms.

And she couldn’t find two fucks to give.

“ La petite mort ,” Corbin whispered against her ear, whilst still lapping her blood from his lips. “It’s French, and modern scholars will tell you it means this,” Corbin’s hand dove beneath his shirt which she wore, roughly parting her legs and finding her clit, instantly causing her to come once more. She shuddered against him, ecstasy barreling through her.

His bite was orgasmic, and she was still high from the sensation of it. She’d never be able to finish like this on her own.

“But in truth, the phrase is far older, and it means to this,” he laid a soft kiss at her throat, the spot where he’d marked her, bitten her. “A vampire’s kiss. A little death.”

His tongue circled each small puncture, sealing it closed as she let out a pleasured groan, his mark still apparent.

“The true question is, Dani,” he pulled her close, claiming her lips in a soft, tender kiss, as he whispered, “How much do you want to die?”