Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79726 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79726 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Ah. Part of the blood magic, I take it. Before I can ask more, though, I feel my head getting heavy and my sight going dim.
Dammit, not now, I think, as my vision starts to go. This is an incredibly delicate political situation we’re all in, not to mention how things are with Lo-Ren. Remus better not screw anything up—
But then my vision goes black as I fall into deep, undreaming sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
REMUS
I wake up to find myself standing in an unknown room. I quickly take inventory. Obviously, I’m still within the vampire compound. Layden and the head vampire’s granddaughter are the only other ones in the room, but I can scent others were recently here. Abaddon and more of the bloodsuckers.
The granddaughter—Phoenix, I think was her name? She’s watching me oddly. How much has Layden told her about us?
I start to head out the door without a word. If I follow Abaddon’s scent, I’m sure it will take me back to our quarters and our women. It’s only once I’m outside that I pause, fully thinking through the ramifications of my time lost to Romulus, considering where we were when I passed out.
The shower. I was inside my woman after my brother had just woken up. An impossibility, and yet there he was, awake and so suave and sure, suggesting we share her.
My hands clench into fists.
How long has the tactician been working against me? He not only woke when I was supposed to be in control of the body but then kicked me out. What did they do together after I was gone, their naked bodies slathered in soap in that shower?
Has he allowed me to play the fool, thinking that I have the upper hand when he’s been plotting against me this whole time? My teeth clench, threatening to crack.
I am no fool.
When warriors come against me with tactical perfection and coordinated strikes, I meet them with overwhelming chaos and rage. After all this time, still, my brother does not know me.
I lift my nose to the air and ignore the scent that would take me back to Lo-Ren. What is the point of going back to enjoy her sweet embrace for short moments if they will soon be stolen by my brother, who seeks to oust me?
No. I will come out on top, once and for all, and put an end to this endless struggle. I head in the opposite direction, toward the smell of blood and death.
The eldest vampire does not look pleased to see me when I knock on the door where his scent trail has led me.
Not that he’s the one to greet me at the door. I can barely see him past the shoulder of the two brutes in black who block the door.
“I would speak to Vlad,” I say.
The two men in dark suits glare back at me, saying nothing.
I crack a smile and hold up my hands. “I come in peace. Ready to bargain.”
“What do you have to bargain with?” Vlad asks from the room beyond where he’s seated, a young, naked blonde woman in his lap. They appeared to be necking, but as her head lazily flops against his shoulder, I see two dripping red marks on her neck.
“I have information,” I say. “Information you want.”
Vlad’s lips are red with blood that he lazily licks as he welcomes me in with a swipe of his hand.
The two men move to the side to allow me in. I take in the scene without a word. I’ve seen many dens of sin in my long life. My father loved to acquaint himself with the most powerful leaders in the world, and they usually enjoyed living as laws unto themselves, beyond the mores of society.
So, I’m not surprised to see the many naked women draped around the room. It’s only new to see them being used more as feeding fountains than for their other pleasures, though I suspect this is only the morning routine and that at night, things may. . .
Well, it is none of my business. After a brief perusal to get my surroundings, I keep my eyes locked on Vlad. “Can we talk alone?”
His eyes narrow. “Do you think I am a fool to leave myself undefended?”
“Do you need defense?” I ask. “From what I understand, you are a great warrior.”
“And you are an unknown enemy. For all I know, your family has come here with all your stories as an elaborate trap for me.”
I chuckle at that. “I have known paranoid men like you.” I bow my head the slightest bit. “You are wise. It is how you stay in power. But I will still bargain only with you. Would you have everyone in this room hear the information you are so hungry for? Because I’m ready to tell you exactly what type of creatures my brothers and I are. But I would prefer it to be for your eyes and ears only.”