Page 186 of Vampire so Virtuous

“What?” Minh spun to face the one who had spoken, turning Cally with him. Joon’s students lay scattered across the dojang like so many broken dolls, and she clenched her jaw, her horror giving way to anger.

“He has fallen, my lord.” The thrall who was speaking had his phone low in his hand and kept his eyes on the screen, as if in fear for the messages he was relaying.

“Did Matteo kill the Outcast?” Minh’s voice dropped dangerously low.

“No word, my lord.”

“Find. Out.” Minh bit off each word. “Bring me news, and kill his thralls.” His fingers closed on Cally’s neck, unhurriedly squeezing her throat, blocking her airway.

“Yes, my lord.”

Cally gasped silently, trying to draw a breath that wouldn’t come.

“You see what I have to deal with here?” Minh said in her ear, his tone conversational once more, like he was sharing a complaint by an office coffee machine.

Cally flapped one hand in the air, indicating she wanted to speak, and he eased his grip.

“It’s your thralls,” she said around a shuddering breath. She was dead anyway, so what did it matter? “They’re amateurs. Couldn’t even shoot straight on the interstate. Antoine’s thralls were laughing at them. I don’t know if it’s because you pick any imbecile you run across, or because Antoine and Gabe are so much more powerful, but—”

His fingers clenched around her throat again, cutting off her words with a gasp. She wondered if she could heal a ripped-out windpipe, and how much it would hurt. Then her thoughts filled with Antoine, and how he would die without her—if what Belle had said were true.I’m sorry, she sent to him, wondering if he would ever know that had been her last thought. She reached out for him through the mark, and it didn’t tug her toward Fisher Hill, but southeast. Was he heading toward Gabe’s place? Maybe even expecting to meet her there?I’m sorry for not staying put. I had to warn Joon.

For what little good it had done.

“I see why Antoine treasures you,” Minh said, his fingers digging deeper. “Shame I won’t see his face when he learns I killed you.”

Cally tried to speak, to give him another reason to kill her quickly, but all that came out was a choked gasp.

“No, my lord,” said the thrall with the phone. “Matteo is dead. Apparently, the Outcast still lives.”

I could’ve told him that.

“Fuck!”Minh yelled, throwing Cally away from him to sprawl across the mats, rolling onto one of Joon’s dead students. She scrambled back, clutching at her bruised throat. “How the hell did he kill Matteo and all his thralls?”

“I don’t know, my lord,” the hapless thrall stammered.

Without warning, Minh closed the gap to him, tearing his throat out with a savagery that made her wonder why her own was still intact.

“That was rhetorical,” Minh said, as the thrall collapsed at his feet, gasping for a breath that would never come. Minh pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket, wiping the thrall’s blood off his fingers. He sniffed and waved at Cally. “Bring her. The Outcast will track her. He will come straight to the club.”

Two of the thralls bent to pull her to her feet, a hand gripping each of her arms.

Minh smiled, snakelike and creepy. “It seems I’ll still get to see your lover’s face while I kill you.”

Why does everyone always assume we’re sleeping together?

“Then I’ll die knowing you’ll be on your way to hell the second I’m gone.”

Minh glared. “Bring her,” he said again, “and if she makes any more witty comments, rip her tongue out.”

“Yes, my lord.”

That’s fine. I can make them in my head. They were for my own amusement anyway.

Anger surged through Cally, dulling the fear as they dragged her toward the door of Joon’s dojang. There she waited, held by two of the thralls, while others doused the mats and walls with gasoline. She stared at Joon’s body, right up until they lit a rag and threw it into the room, then pulled her away.

Behind her, the flames caught swiftly, feeding on the dojang and feeding her anger. She might be powerless in this game, but if her blood made Antoine more powerful, then he could have as much of it as he wanted until all her enemies lay dead. Minh. The vampire who had killed her mother.

Hell, even their spawns and sires.