Andre dropped his arms and stalked towards us, all sinuous, rolling movement. The muscle in his cheek clenched and unclenched.
Under normal circumstances Andre would’ve been at my side in an instant, but this Andre … he was calculating. Guarded. None of his subjects knew we were soulmates, and if these old, hardened vampires were to be conned, Andre had to act entitled but not enamored.
Andre came to a stop in front of the three of us, and his eyes flicked between my two captors. “You both better have amazing explanations for why you kidnapped a fellow vampire, tied her up, and …” His nostrils flared, and I saw his entire body tense. He smelled my blood.
Andre’s jaw worked, and for a moment I wasn’t sure whether our little charade was up—because I swear he looked murderous. But he didn’t lose control.
He calmly glanced between Vicca and the other vampire. “You drew blood,” he stated, his voice pitched low.
My muscles tensed at his tone. Andre was one wrong comment away from snapping.
“She glamoured me,” the male vampire said.
“I know what she did Fredrick; I was on the phone with her.”
“Then you know—”
“That it’s against the law?” The lines on Andre’s face deepened with his anger. Oh Freddy had just poked a sleeping beast, and now it was awake.
Fredrick nodded uncertainly. Faster than a human eye could follow, Andre slammed the vampire against the wall and held him there by his throat. “Don’t you fucking tell me what is against the law. I am the law.”
Fredrick choked out a nonsensical reply.
“What’s that?” Andre asked, squeezing his throat so hard that his windpipe must be collapsing.
My breath caught at Andre’s brutality. He was so good to me that I forgot that he was also a ruthless leader.
“Did I hear you mention the Politia?” he asked. Andre squeezed Fredrick’s neck until the vampire nodded.
“Then you should know that the only reason you are not dead is because your prisoner prevented the Politia from dissolving our truce, you ungrateful fool.”
When Andre’s grip loosened, I assumed he was done. I assumed wrong.
So did Fredrick.
As soon as relief flooded Fredrick’s features, Andre threw him clear across the room. I cringed at the sound his body made—the meaty slap of skin when it met resistance, the sickening crack of splitting skin and breaking bones, the smell—the horrible smell—of blood. Stolen blood.
Vicca’s hold on my arm slackened, though she didn’t run. Either she didn’t fear Andre’s wrath, or she knew she couldn’t escape it. I snuck a glance at her. Other than a small smile, her expression was unreadable.
Andre moved to where Fredrick lay crumpled. “And as for glamour, it is sanctioned when used in self-defense. Trust me when I say that I know it was in self-defense. I know the sound of fear when I hear it. But perhaps I am wrong. You could always remind me.”
Andre pulled his foot back, and I cried out at the same time Fredrick whimpered. Well, I tried to anyway. My voice came out sounding more like a dying mummy.
Andre hesitated, glancing over his shoulder at me. Something in his eyes flashed. Guilt? Remorse? Whatever it was, it passed by too quickly, and then he was the vicious vampire king once more.
His leg, still poised to strike Fredrick, lowered as his gaze passed from me to Vicca. “Let her go,” he commanded Vicca. The warmth I was so used to seeing in Andre’s eyes had seeped away, leaving them cold and unfeeling. He was in control of himself once more, but at the cost of his emotions.
I tried not to shudder at the sight of him playing the undead, inhumane overlord. It was a horrible reminder that my soulmate was not a good person. At least, not always.
I felt Vicca’s grip tighten and her nails bite into my skin—like she was considering defying him for a moment—but then she pulled her hand away.
“Why do you care about her so much?” she asked accusingly.
Andre looked down his nose at her, and his gaze bore into hers. “I do not owe you an explanation,” he said, “and I will not be asked to defend myself.” His voice took on a lethal edge. “You, however, owe me an explanation, smuggling Gabrielle here like a common thief,” he growled.
For the first time since I’d laid eyes on her, Vicca lost her superiority. She looked chastised and, judging by the flash of her eyes, vulnerable.
He stepped away from where Fredrick lay moaning and approached her. “Vicca, Vicca, Vicca,” he said, making her name sound like a reprimand. For the moment I was totally forgotten, though I got the sense that Andre was perfectly attuned to my presence. “What is an Elder like you doing fetching a witness?”
An Elder? That was the second time I’d heard that word this evening. I scoured my brain for its meaning, and then I remembered. The term referred to the vampires Andre himself had sired. My eyes shot to Vicca once more, and a hot, foreign emotion coursed through me. Jealousy.
I pushed the petty emotion down, though it wasn’t one to be easily ignored. Who cared if my soulmate screwed this chick an eon ago, and then changed her so that she could be his special friend forever and ever?
I felt my fangs drop and the siren pulse angrily just beneath my skin. Okay, I was a liar on top of everything else. I wanted to rip this woman to shreds. And then Andre, because I was an equal opportunist like that.
Andre’s eyes flicked to mine, and I belatedly realized that he could smell the change in my mood. I wish I could telepathically send him my immense displeasure.