September Moon (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8)

“I’ll kill him.” I uttered the oath beneath my breath, but Falon heard. Once the idea took root in my mind, I wanted very badly to do it. That would teach Shya to fuck with Arys and me.

“Kill him, and Shya will never let you leave here. Do you want to spend centuries as his prisoner? Don’t be an idiot.”

Falon’s warning faded away on the night. I knew what I had to do. Maybe Shya wouldn’t let me kill Gabriel tonight, but there was something else I could do. I approached Gabriel, forcing myself to take small, calculated steps. Rushing into that mayhem would be the end of me. Falon shadowed me, a constant presence at my back.

Ignoring him, I stopped several yards from Gabriel and dragged a claw over the veins in my wrist. It was a shallow cut, just enough to produce a few drops. But it was enough.

Gabriel’s head snapped up, and he looked at me with wild eyes. No longer could I see the naïve teenager in them. That person was long gone, eaten alive by a power too dark to be contained by him. He rushed me as I’d hoped he would. Holding up a hand, I grabbed hold of his vampy energy and brought him to a halt. By the time Shya realized what I was doing, I’d already pressed my bleeding wrist to Gabriel’s lips.

With a push of power, I sought to twine our two energies together, to create the force that would make him mine as I had with Kale and Jenner. Shya would be sorry for messing with me when I had more control over his prodigy than he did.

Gabriel’s tongue flicked over the wound. It wasn’t the most moral way to deal with this situation, but since nobody else was playing the game with morals intact, they left me no choice.

The slap of burning hot demon magic broke the spell. I cried out and grabbed my head as Shya’s power sought to find its way into me.

“Did you just try to do what I think you tried to do?” Shya was suddenly there, standing between us, holding Gabriel off even as he struggled to get to me.

The pressure in my head eased off, and I pulled myself to my full height to face him. “If you think I just attempted to bind him so he’ll crave me and do anything I want, then yeah. I did. Thanks to you, it didn’t work.”

I never saw the backhand coming. Shya’s slap was no mortal slap. My head snapped sideways, and I went down hard. I tasted blood, having cut my tongue on my fangs. There was no way in hell I was giving him the satisfaction of acting wounded. I glared up at him with vehemence blazing in my eyes.

“You’re going to be sorry you tried that,” Shya seethed. “I hadn’t planned to torture you, but I just need you alive. I don’t need you sane.”

“Joke’s on you,” I laughed, risking another smack. “I haven’t been entirely sane for a while now.”

“Keep fighting, Alexa. I do love a challenge. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t fantasized about breaking your rebellious spirit.” Shya became aware of the demons’ curious attention as they gathered. He couldn’t lose face now. “I got my vampire from Arys. Now you’ll give me a wolf.”

I opened my mouth to tell him to shove it. Arys’s cool wind swept through me, and I knew he was there. This was going to go from bad to worse. When he came around the side of the house, he was promptly swarmed by demons. Shya barked an order to restrain him, to make him watch.

Watch what? I wanted to ask but already knew the answer.

I met Arys’s dark-blue gaze and shook my head, willing him to stay calm. He shouldn’t have come.

‘How could I not?’ He asked inside my mind. ‘I can’t leave you here with him.’

Shya seemed reluctant to touch me. He told Falon to pin my arms behind my back and hold me steady. With my back to his chest, Falon held me so tight I thought my arms might pop out of the sockets.

“Gabriel, select one of these lovelies, whichever you prefer, and bleed them. Slowly. Make sure Alexa gets a good view.”

Having sated the worst of his hunger, Gabriel managed to do as he was told. Dragging a blonde from the pool, he pulled her close, pressing her wet, naked body to his. He whispered something in her ear, and she fell under his spell. Crap. He was good for such a newbie. She stared up at him with a silly smile, oblivious to the bloody bodies littering the ground around her.

Gabriel had changed. The quiet, brooding teenager was gone. In his place stood a vampire with the confidence and command that only came with power rooted in darkness.

“Why are you doing this, Shya?” I dared to ask. “Like really, what’s your goal here?”

Gabriel ran a hand down the woman’s body, and she quivered at his touch. Her arousal was enticing. I was eager for her to bleed despite the many he’d drained already. The bloodlust rode me, and I was slipping.