I get to the bottom of the stairs before I glance back and find all three of them following me.
“Somebody said drinks,” Vyce says, his eyes heavy and half-lidded. The way he’s looking at me, I can tell he’s eager to move beyond drinks and onto the next stage of this deal. To be honest, I feel the same way.
But I want to see them hold up their end of the bargain before I go through with mine.
“Shall we walk together?” Vyce asks, sliding his arm around one of mine. Sorrow takes up the other side, and I narrow my eyes. But it’s all for show. I’m just enjoying having two sexy men on either side of me. One smells like sour candy, and the other like smoke and ash. “So. What are your plans after you become queen of House Verenim?”
“Plans?” I ask with a snort. Because it’s always easier to play the snarky little shit than it is to admit to any real hopes and dreams. Would I like to live in a world where dhampir are treated better? Sure. Would I like to rid the world of a piece of shit like Rumpel Stiltz? Fuck yeah. But one step at a time, and I learned a long time ago to look after number one first. Me. I need to take care of me. “Who says I have plans? I explained my motivation to you already.”
“Sounds like a load of shit to me,” Wolfe growls from behind me. I pause and unhook my arms from the other two vamps, so I can turn and face the a-hole. His gray eyes meet mine with challenge, and there’s an animosity in his expression that I just can’t reconcile.
“You know what sounds like a load of shit to me?” I snarl back, reaching out and poking a finger into his chest. Wolfe snatches my wrist in mid-air, locking his fingers around my wrist. Holy hell. Heat surges through me, causing my nipples to pucker, my thighs to clench. When we finally do fuck, it’s going to be intense. “You, a fucking turned vamp treating me like dirt on the bottom of your shoes. You should know better than that.”
“He treats everyone like shit,” Sorrow explains, but I don’t pull my gaze from Wolfe’s. Maybe the fucker with the short, dark hair and the stormy eyes and the mad revolver skills treats everyone else like shit. But that’s not going to fly with me.
“You have to sleep with me. Don’t you think you oughta be nicer?”
“It wasn’t my idea,” Wolfe snaps back. “And I’m only required to do it three times, so thankfully it’ll be over quick.” The last word whips off his tongue and hits me right in the face. It feels like a physical blow as he storms around me, his long brown trench billowing out behind him as he runs up and grabs onto the edge of a building to haul himself up.
Easiest way for vamps to travel—over rooftops.
“Three times?” I ask as both Sorrow and Vyce exchange looks. I catch the tail end of it as I turn around. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Why don’t we discuss it over drinks?” Vyce says, voice low and dark, his fingers teasing through his multi-colored hair. His blood-red eyes make it obvious that he isn’t human, but with the amount of sway vamps have over humans, it doesn’t matter. He can convince anyone he speaks to that his eyes are blue or green or brown without even trying. Vampires roll people even when they don’t mean to.
Fuck, Harry’s going to have a field day with this, I think as I storm past the boys and follow along behind Wolfe, leaping rooftops with smooth, easy bunches of my muscles. It’s as simple for me as a human on a morning jog.
By the time I smash down in front of The Dragonfly, I’m not even winded, the other two men landing softly behind me, as light as air. They’re a hell of a lot more graceful than I am, that’s for sure.
We head inside, and Harry catches my eye right away. He’s got that mm-hmm look on his face that says he wishes he could vault over this bar and strangle me for being an idiot. Instead of taking my usual stool, I follow Wolfe the Fuck-Head to the back corner and sit in the seat right next to him.
“What’s your poison, Wolfe Stiltz?” I growl out, refusing to back down. I wanted to have a quick drink with my bestie and then sweep into the castle wearing a fucking ribbed tank and leather pants, and take the crown that Vesnic never thought he’d have to give away. But now I have a point to prove.
I’m not afraid of this crotchety motherfucker.
“Gin and tonic,” he says and I snort. “You have a problem with that?” he snarls, leaning down close to me. I bet he thinks he’s intimidating, and maybe to a lot of people, he is. But not to me. Not even close.
“That’s an old people drink.” I turn to Miri as she approaches the table. “Give us four Heartbeats,” I say and the ogre waitress raises her dark green brows at me, her emerald green hair braided and hanging over one shoulder.
“You sure about that?” she asks, and I narrow my eyes. “Okay, okay, it’s your funeral.” She tucks the silver tray against her chest and turns away, heading for the bar as I lean back in my chair. Vyce sits right next to me, so close that our arms brush together. A touch as simple as that shouldn’t have my mind in the gutter and yet all I can think about is him driving his cock inside of me, piercing me with his teeth.
“What’s a Heartbeat?” Sorrow asks as Wolfe sits back and crosses his arms over his chest, glaring at the wall next to the bar. He’s one of those anal retentive assholes that’s wound so tight he needs a fucking muscle relaxer to take a shit. What a prick. And yet...I’m strangely intrigued.
Yeah, I have a problem.
And Harry knows it, his dark eyes locking onto mine from across the bar. He looks like he’s this close to drugging my drink and then locking me in the wine cellar downstairs until I come to my senses.
“Six different kinds of blood, six different kinds of liquor. Costs like five hundred bucks a piece. I hope one of you has money to spend because I sure don’t.”
Wolfe snorts at me and shakes his head, like I’m too fucking ridiculous to even deal with right now.
“What sort of blood?” Vyce purrs as I flick my attention his way. He’s sex incarnate, this guy, and he knows it. He’s dangerous as hell, too, a bundle of barely restrained violence under a smooth, unnervingly handsome exterior.
“Angel, fae, demon, human, siren, and dragon.”
“Whoa,” Sorrow whistles, leaning back and running his fingers through his hair. “No wonder they cost so damn much. I bet the rush is sick though.”
“Makes you feel like you can take over the world,” I reply, crossing my arms behind my head and watching as the late night crowd trickles in, an interesting mix of species that wouldn’t normally co-exist in the same place. But we all have one thing in common: we hate humans. Well, I don’t. But most everyone that isn’t human, does. “Now tell me about this three time’s a charm rule?” I ask, and Vyce and Sorrow both turn to Wolfe.
“She was going to find out eventually,” he growls as I raise an eyebrow. He meets my stare, not even bothering to sugarcoat the news he’s about to deliver. And fuck if he doesn’t smell like pine trees. Reminds me of those corny green candles Mom used to burn around Christmas. God, I miss her. “Three days of spinning for the king gets you the crown. Well, Rumpel doesn’t like to take chances, and he believes in the magic of numbers. Three days, three men, three fucks. He’s blessed us all with fertility magic. If we couple with you three times, you’re guaranteed to get pregnant by one of us.”
My mouth drops open, and if I weren’t infertile, I’d be sweating buckets right now.
“That’s bullshit! That’s not in the contract!”
At least Sorrow has the decency to cringe and look chagrined.
“We were bound not to say anything before you signed. But what does it matter? At least it limits the number of times you have to have us in your bed.” He winks at me and I scowl, noticing that Harry’s bringing our drinks over, not Miri.