“That’s disgusting.”
He stepped closer and stroked my cheek with the back of his hand. “You can’t fool me, precious. You’re curious enough about blood sharing that you would have preferred me to drink from your neck.” He leaned forward, his lips against my ear, his words a soft whisper. “Deny it.”
I shoved him back when another bullet clinked against the floor. “Not everyone thinks you’re the Adonis of the modern era. Are you done playing with your food, or can I finish off that Mage?”
All emotion erased from his expression, and he inclined his head. “You need to make yourself absent now. What I’m about to do to that man will give you waking nightmares for the rest of your life.”
I shuddered at the black look he gave me and hurried away. Before entering the stairwell, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Christian turning to face the fire, watching the Mage place an iron poker into the flames.
When I reached the third level, a blanket of darkness surrounded me, forcing me to sharpen my Vampire eyes. I slowed my pace, opening each door I passed and searching the dark corners. Most of the rooms were empty, but some had sitting chairs and other casual furniture. Two were garishly decorated—stuffed full of abstract paintings, silver candleholders, and zebra-print sofas. If that was where he seduced his women, no wonder he was single.
I stopped in my tracks when I noticed a faint light seeping through the edge of a bookcase. Not bright enough for the human eye to detect, but enough that it made me go in and check it out. There were hinges on the left side, so I thought about it like a door, assuming something functioned as a lever. In the place a doorknob might be, I noticed a dragon-shaped bookend. I pulled the head and heard a click.
The heavy case quietly pushed open, and I entered a small room. Pale light skimmed across the floor from another bookshelf to my right, and that was when I realized that someone had done a masterful job at constructing a secret room within a secret room. I drew in a deep breath of stale air, looking around at the two sitting chairs, thin carpet, and wood paneling.
Unarmed, I searched for something sharp or heavy. The only items that fit the bill were a pair of toenail clippers and a floor vase that looked heavier than a small cow.
Didn’t matter. Whoever was in that room was about to die.
Chapter 26
I surged into the secret room, coming face-to-face with an empty leather chair. The light hurt my eyes, and I noticed my shadow stretched in front of me to the right, joined by another. I turned, taking a few steps back from Darius, who stood beside a tall floor lamp. The door quietly closed, leaving us alone in this confined space.
“What treachery is this?” he asked calmly, quietly. “We had an arrangement. How dare you bring them here… to my home!”
Darius had on gym attire: black pants, no shirt, and white gauze or cotton wrapped around his hands. By the looks of the sweat still dripping from his hair, we’d definitely taken him by surprise. My eyes flicked up to a longsword on the wall behind the lamp.
Darius kept his eyes steady on mine. “You foolish child. You could have had everything.”
“If you wanted to know what an imbecile looks like, all you had to do was look in the mirror. Oh, it doesn’t seem like you have any here in your hidey-hole. You’re a courageous man, Darius. Truly.”
He advanced, forcing me to step back. “I value my life. It doesn’t look like you can say the same.”
“You got that right. I’m here because it’s not just my life I value, but the people you threatened to harm.”
I flashed around him, but he caught me by the waist. Darius flung me against the wall, and I fell hard on my back. When he came at me, I kicked his leg and he stumbled, giving me enough time to scramble to my feet. The few maneuvers Niko had taught me were defensive tactics for escaping, and when Darius seized my wrists, I had reason to test their effectiveness.
I twisted my arms and broke his grasp, then kicked him in the stomach. Before I could withdraw my leg, he grabbed it tightly and swung my entire body around. When he let go of my leg, I crashed into the chair, scooting it several feet across the floor before landing on my side.
Darius fell over me, striking my face twice before I shielded myself from the attack with my arms. I tried to buck his weight, but it was useless. I had the wind knocked out of me, but I was in survival mode and not ready to give up the fight. When he made the mistake of resting his left arm against the floor to prop himself up, I lurched forward and sank my fangs into his fleshy bicep.
He shoved my head away, scrambling backward to put distance between us.
I stood up and tested my jaw to make sure it wasn’t broken. “Why do men like you exist?”