“Your breath still stinks, and it doesn’t help that you talk too much.”
He leaned in tight, the vein in his forehead pulsing. “Whatever you have going on in that head of yours, better not. It’s illegal to kill your Creator. Do you think they’d care why? The Mageri shows no mercy, and even if you get away with it, they’ll find out sooner or later. And you’ll be locked away… if you’re lucky. Want to know what happens to the unlucky ones?” He made a menacing slice of his finger across his neck. “Off with their heads. Doesn’t matter if you’ve made yourself a pillar of society. In fact, that’ll make it much worse. It’ll haunt you for all the days of your life.”
I thought of Niko. Even though he hadn’t committed the crime himself, he still feared someone discovering the truth all these centuries later. Centuries! Gem had once relayed a story about a similar incident, all unearthed because of some information she found on a cup. Those men are in Breed jail now.
“You better talk,” he grumbled. “Rachel can take over my job for a while, but I’m not about to live my life on the run.” Fletcher grabbed my throat and squeezed. “What does the Mageri know about me?”
I flicked my gaze up. “Do you think I’d really put myself in this position just to steal your fucking money? I’m a lone wolf. I don’t give a damn about your money.”
He stood up and kicked me in the stomach. I gasped and coughed, the pain gutting me. Reacting on instinct, I swung my leg out and hooked it behind his ankles. Fletcher’s arms windmilled before he fell onto his back with a thud.
I crawled to my hands and knees and gathered up the slack in my chain. Stars flashed in my eyes when I staggered to my feet, and I realized I needed food, or I wouldn’t be able to fight him off any longer.
Fletcher rose like a man about to commit murder. When he neared me, I lifted the chain and hooked it around his neck. Before I could figure out how to tighten it, he jerked it off and punched me in the face. Blood poured from my nose and trickled down the back of my throat.
Tipping forward, I delivered a two-fisted punch to his stomach before ramming into him with all my might. But instead of losing his balance, he pirouetted out of the way to keep from falling. Fletcher turned, fury stamped on his face. His blue eyes shrank to slivers as he charged at me like a bull.
Using the chain to propel me, I ran out of his grasp and hurtled past him before kicking him in the back. When I hit the floor, I quickly got up and smacked his head several times with the chain.
Fletcher was a powerful man but not skilled in fighting techniques. His only advantage was strength, so I did my best to put distance between us. My stomach ached, the pain in my nose blinding.
He came at me slowly this time. With the chain stretched taut, I had nowhere to run but back to the wall. In a bold move, I threw myself at him as if I were giving him a hug.
More like a kiss.
My fangs punched into his neck and instantly retracted. Blood gushed from the wound, and I guzzled fast and hard until he made a plaintive sound.
Vertigo lasted a split second as he body-slammed me against the floor and my mouth unlatched from his neck. Fletcher pinned my head to the ground with one hand and beat me with the other.
In a quick motion, he ripped off my dress and tossed it across the room, snuffing out one of the candles.
“Your privileges have been revoked,” he rasped, gripping my neck. “What was your father’s name again?”
Chapter 21
Niko ambled through the club, Gem guiding him with the skilled touch of a spooked horse.
“Um, there’s a table on your left. This way!” She jerked his arm, and all he could do was trust she wouldn’t let him fall on top of anyone.
Usually Blue knew how to describe a place he’d never been so he didn’t have to rely on others, but Blue hadn’t been in the mood to go out with the guys tonight. Gem had invited the team to join her at Nine Circles of Hell while she waited for Hooper to end his shift, but Niko and Shepherd were the only ones who’d taken her up on her offer.
“We desperately need a diversion. Everyone’s so glum,” she said, jerking him to a stop. “You can sit here.”
Niko reached out and felt the back of a chair. The sound bouncing off the surface to his left and in front led him to believe she’d chosen a corner table. He sat down in the wooden chair and felt the surface of the table, noting there wasn’t anything on it. Some places put condiments in the middle or menu stands for specialty drinks. Niko liked to know everything about his surroundings so nothing caught him by surprise.
Force of habit.
“I hope Shepherd can find us. It’s crowded tonight,” she said, sitting on the other side of the table. Shepherd stayed at the bar while Hooper fixed their drinks. “I think I like this room best. Everything’s pink.”
Niko smiled. “Which sin is that supposed to be?”
“Greed,” she said dramatically.
Nine Circles had a running theme with deadly sins. Their specialty drinks were spiked by Sensors, and from what everyone told him, the rooms were different colors. Niko passed on alcohol and asked Hooper to set him up with a glass of sparkling water. He preferred drinking at home where he could disappear into his thoughts. It was challenging enough to navigate a public place blind, but alcohol impaired his senses and made it impossible.
Gem’s light appeared dimmer than usual, and she was uncharacteristically quiet. Each of them had to process Raven’s absence in their own way, but it wasn’t productive to obsess over things they couldn’t change. They remained optimistic that a lead would eventually turn up, and Viktor had dedicated two weeks to her investigation. But when a separate Vampire trafficking case presented itself, they came together as a group and decided to accept the job. It didn’t mean they would stop searching for Raven, but it made no sense to sit idly by when others needed their help. Aside from that, Christian hadn’t stopped looking. In fact, his obsession concerned them all.
Gem sighed. “I wonder where she is.”
“Raven will find a way out of her situation,” Niko said, trying to offer Gem hope. “I’m sure she’s just waiting for the right moment.”
In truth, Niko knew firsthand how slowly time passed for a man enslaved. The only way to survive was to take each moment as it came and not think ahead.
“It’s been a month,” she said sullenly. “Maybe she got lucky and her buyer’s an Arabian prince in search of true love.”
“I thought we came here to forget our troubles?”
“I know, but it’s hard to forget. I miss her banter at the table. And sometimes late at night I think I hear her walking the halls, but when I peek through the door, it’s just Claude coming back from the kitchen. Do you think it’s wrong that I sometimes wish she were dead? Death can be a gift when your life is nothing but pain and misery.”
Niko gripped the edges of his hood, wondering how Gem could know such a thing.