Page 141 of Vampire so Virtuous

Thirty-four – Antoine

The clock showed half past four, but Antoine was done waiting.

“Go to bed, Marcel,” he said, sweeping up his coat from the arm of his chair as he strode toward the door.

“I think that is a good idea, sir,” Marcel said sleepily. “Do an old man a kindness and take the Lamborghini? I left the keys in the hall.”

With the roads empty, it took only twelve minutes for Antoine to pull up outside Roberto’s house, and he didn’t wait for the thrall who stepped forward to open his door. The Lamborghini’s engine ticked as it cooled.

“Where are Lady d’Aubigny’s rooms?”

The thrall saw his expression and took a hasty step back. “In the west wing, my lord.”

Antoine walked past him, ignoring the others flanking the main door. They hurried to open it for him.

The large living room where they’d gathered previously was mostly empty, but Matteo and Nico sat together in one corner, glancing up as he entered.

Figures they’d be here. Minh clinging to Roberto’s coattails, and his allies in attendance.

He spared them no further thought, walking through the room toward the western part of the house. The hallway stretched long, giving him plenty of time to see the two thralls that waited outside the door to Belle’s rooms.

One raised a hand as he approached. “Apologies, my lord, but by Lady d’Aubigny orders, these rooms are off limits.”

Antoine kept walking.

Both the thralls tensed, reaching inside their jackets. “I must insist you stop and turn around, my lord.”

They held their ground until he was a dozen feet away, then withdrew their hands, each gripping a sleek, heavy-duty taser, dual cartridges in each snub-nosed barrel.

Interesting choice.Obviously, they’d work on vampires—otherwise they wouldn’t have them—but Antoine had no intention of experiencing itfirsthand.

His shadows flooded the hallway, obscuring him. The thralls didn’t hesitate—they fired immediately, not waiting for his attack.Smarter than Minh’s grunts. They spread their shots, the probes fanning out to cover the maximum area. Even with his vampiric speed, two came dangerously close. He swayed aside, letting them whistle past, trailing their wires, then pressed to the wall and closed the gap.

The men reacted without hesitation, moving closer together, weapons raised, shifting so both faced outward.

Better trained and faster, too. Where did you find them, Belle?

If thralls like this had been in the nightclub, things might have gone differently.

His shadows didn’t quite reach them, but he didn’t need them to. Even their heightened reflexes weren’t enough to match him at full speed—especially when they stood between him and where he wanted to be.

He burst from the darkness into the first man’s face, striking twice in quick succession. The first blow landed just beneath the sternum, knocking the breath from him. The second caught him mid-collapse, carefully weighted, helping him into unconsciousness. Thralls like this were too valuable to kill.

But it had still taken valuable seconds, and the other thrall was fast enough for that to be all he needed.

The man reached past his fallen comrade and fired at point-blank range. Two barbed probes pierced Antoine’s jacket, embedding themselves in his skin beneath, delivering fifty thousand volts. His muscles spasmed, every nerve igniting in cramping, searing pain. For a heartbeat, he couldn’t move.

Then he clenched his jaw, ripped the weapon from the thrall’s grasp, and crushed it in his fist. The pain receded in a rush, leaving only a lingering ache.

“Ow,” he said through gritted teeth, glaring at the thrall as electric tremors still flickered through his body.

The thrall staggered back, eyes wide, reaching inside his jacket again. But Antoine was on him a second later, slamming the unfortunate man into the wall. The impact bounced him back, and a sharp blow to the neck finished the job.

Antoine pulled the probes from his flesh and let them drop, then took a breath and shook his head.

This was so much easier when all they had were swords and muskets.

He spared the two thralls a glance. Both were unconscious, neither dead.Belle wouldn’t likely care either way, but they were only doing their job—and doing it well. They’d have stopped most vampires in Boston—including him, if he hadn’t fed on Minh. That was a concern. Thralls shouldn’t have so much power.