Flesh and Blood

‘No, but—’

‘Then don’t do any thinking for me. Understood?’

He bristled at her words but said nothing. Time was running out to appease the ire of the ancient ones. Possessing the ring was paramount. Nothing else mattered.

A shiver of magic unsettled the air. Behind Nasir, the shifter had become human.

Tatiana walked around him to face the creature she was to become. ‘She’s a lot smaller in her human form. Interesting.’

‘You’re about the same size, I believe,’ Nasir said.

She glared at him.

The girl shook, her brown eyes large and liquid. ‘Where am I? What do you want with me?’

Tatiana leaned down, careful to stay beyond the girl’s reach. Instantly, the shifter lunged. Her eyes snapped wolfen blue, and her canines jutted longer and sharper. Tatiana didn’t flinch. Instead, she shed her human face and snarled back. To the girl’s credit, she didn’t retreat.

‘Shifter, know this. You do not frighten me any more than a bit of refuse blowing in the wind. You are beneath me.’ She pointed at Octavian while keeping eye contact with the girl. ‘Your life is worth less to me than that human’s. Do you understand?’

‘I understand.’ The girl nodded and trembled with what Tatiana suspected was rage, not fear. ‘I also understand you wish to die by varcolai hands, bloodsucker.’

She could break this one if need be. Or let Nasir do it. ‘The only one in this room who’s going to die by varcolai hands is you, should you choose to take your own life.’ She stood, straightening herself to her full height. ‘Your name?’

‘Go screw yourself.’

Tatiana cracked her palm across the girl’s face. ‘Your name. Now.’

‘Mia.’ The girl’s head was down, her face hidden in a sweep of brown hair. She lifted her chin. Blood welled from the corner of her mouth, the scent hot and earthy like an ancestral forest after a summer rain. ‘You won’t get away with this. My pack will come looking for me. My brother works at the club. He’ll notice I’m gone.’

‘Really, Mia? Somehow I think otherwise.’ Tatiana laughed and turned to Octavian. Time to remove him from the room. She preferred her servants didn’t have a full grasp of her powers. Besides, a little havoc in the city would make things more interesting. ‘Set the Nothos free to hunt the comarré. Remind them to return her alive.’

‘Yes, my lady.’ Octavian bowed and trotted off to do her bidding.

She refocused on the girl and opened herself to the power the Castus had bestowed upon her. Sensation tingled through her. The girl’s eyes rounded and her mouth dropped open. Tatiana knew her change was complete and exact.

The shifter scuttled backward until she hit the wall. ‘How did you … You look just like me.’ Regaining her composure, she shook her head, her jaw working. ‘You’ll never pass for me.’

Tatiana pictured the girl’s wolf form in her head, and a second later, she was down on all fours looking out through animal eyes. Another second and she was back in the girl’s human form. The sudden back-and-forth left her light-headed and queasy, but she hid the ill effects by snapping her fingers for Nasir. He was at her side in a flash, and she grasped his arm as if preparing to leave.

Steadied, she retook her own image before addressing the shifter one last time, holding tight to Nasir as a new bout of dizziness spun her head. ‘As you can see, I will pass for you quite easily, and if you don’t give me the information I need, no one will even realize you’re missing until your carcass turns up as roadkill. Do we have an understanding, or do I need to make myself clearer?’

Mia tucked her knees to her chest and shook her head slowly. ‘No. I understand perfectly.’

Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot. Chrysabelle concentrated on taking steady, even steps back to the house, but the air had become thicker, the earth slightly tilted, and her body traitorously warm since Mal had tried to make up for drinking her blood by kissing her.

Right foot, left foot. She could do this. She could make it into the house without wobbling or sighing or anything else that might give him a clue that what he’d done had affected her exceptionally more than she was ever going to admit.

After his reaction to her sending blood to Dominic, she knew he wasn’t going to like her needing to see Dominic about this new way of getting to the Aurelian, but he’d helped Maris through the ritual. Besides, who else was she going to ask?

She wished she could gather enough real anger to match the acting she’d done when she’d pulled away from Mal, but there was nothing to draw from. Painful as it might be to admit, he was right and she was wrong. If he did still own her blood rights – which he most likely did – sending blood to another vampire was the human equivalent of cheating on a spouse.

In noble society, he could demand his blood money back. Or worse. She glanced over her shoulder to see where he was and jumped, a small yelp escaping her before she could stop it.

‘Scare you?’ he asked from where he walked beside her.

‘No.’ Yes. Like he didn’t know. ‘I hate that silent speed thing. Worst vampire ability ever.’

He made a sound like strangled laughter. ‘I’ll try to make more noise in the future.’

So he assumed they’d be spending more time together? ‘No, you won’t.’

He tucked his hands into his pockets. ‘Have a little faith.’