Smashed (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8.5)

Jenner had spent a lot of time in Sloane’s bed since she had brought him home for Harley. Though as much time as they spent as lovers, they never seemed to really love one another. Love was a complicated thing for vampires. It was hard to have a genuine emotion toward another in this coven that wasn’t rooted in loathing.

“Excuse me a moment,” Sloane cooed to her guests, playing the role of gracious hostess. She rushed after me, grabbing hold of my arm in the foyer. “Are you really leaving?”

“Are you really asking me that? Of course I’m leaving. Do me a favor? Try to keep him from coming after me.”

I tried to pull away, but she wouldn’t let go. “If you walk out on him, he will never forgive you, Arys.”

“I’m not walking out on anyone. This isn’t about him. I don’t expect any of you to understand.” Repeating myself was growing tiresome. For too long I’d let my vampire family hold me back. No more.

“Good. Because we don’t.” Jenner’s snide tone drew my gaze to where he stood just inside the large, open foyer. “Don’t you think you’ve destroyed enough in this ridiculous pursuit of a woman that doesn’t exist? Or was murdering my fiancé not enough for you?”

“Here we go again,” muttered Sloane.

Walk away. Just walk away.

“Jenner, that was decades ago. Get over it.” I was not in the mood to rehash that particular part of history. Jenner, however, was always seeking a way to throw it in my face.

Becoming a vampire had been a liberating experience. Despite Harley’s overbearing personality and constant need to control others, I’d flourished as a vampire. Not only did I enjoy it, I was damn good at it. I operated on instinct. Hunting, feeding, and regretting nothing. But what I did to Jenner…I did regret that.

It was a dreadful mistake. Tormented by dreams of Alexa, I had sought comfort in the beautiful blonde Jenner had fallen for. Ultimately I’d killed her for not being Alexa.

Harley blamed Jenner for falling in love with a human. It was unfair considering Harley himself had latched onto each of us while we were still human. Playing favorites, Harley pit us against each other. By encouraging dissention among those of us he created, he ensured we never really bonded. I was always certain he did it on purpose so we wouldn’t rally together against him.

“It’s better if you go,” Jenner decided, as if his opinion mattered. “Don’t come back.”

“Jenner,” Sloane admonished. She drifted over to him, grasping his arm and squeezing. “Don’t say such things. You were friends once. Brothers. Don’t throw that away over one human woman.”

He cast her a scathing look. She peered up at him with wide, enchanting eyes, oblivious to his disgust.

“Take care of each other, ok?” Having nothing more to say, I turned to leave. And found Harley standing right behind me.

He was smooth. Powerful and stealthy, he’d cloaked his energy and come around the house from outside in order to head me off at the door. He had abandoned the robe in favor of silken lounge pants. Without a word, he backhanded me.

It was a blow fueled by rage and power. There wasn’t a lot to hit in the foyer so I bounced rather harmlessly off the wall. I picked myself up and faced him with a wrath that had been three centuries in the making.

I tried to leave in peace. Harley was determined to keep that from happening. If a fight was what he wanted, then a fight he would get. With a frustrated war cry, I rushed him. Launching myself at him, I took him to the floor and began to throw punches. Each one was backed by power, causing his head to snap from side to side with each blow. It was a beating I’d been dying to give him for years.

Sloane’s shout for us to stop went ignored. Jenner stood by and watched with amusement as I fed our sire hit after hit. It became a futile effort when he ceased to defend himself. Laughter rippled from Harley, fueling my hatred.

“Oh, Arys, this is why I love you so,” he managed to get out between punches. “So wonderfully aggressive. Your spirit is unbreakable.”

He allowed me to pummel him, likely expecting that I would soon get it all out of my system. When I didn’t let up, Harley flung a hand up in my face, slamming me with a psi ball big enough to blast a hole in the wall.

I landed painfully on the floor just inside the sitting room. Sloane and Jenner’s human friends gasped and fled for the door. Before I could get up, Harley was there, dragging me to my feet by my shirtfront.

“I will kill you before I let you walk out on me,” he viciously spat the words in my face.

Unfazed by the damage I’d done to his face, he threw me against the wall, driving his foot into my stomach when I slid to the floor on my hands and knees. Again and again his foot connected with my middle. The sound of bones cracking was almost as painful as the sensation. When his foot came at me again, I grabbed hold of it and twisted hard. There was a snap that brought him down beside me.