“What do you intend to do with him?” Devon inquired as he gazed at where Earl sat on the floor before Julian.

Julian glanced at Devon when his friend stepped off the stairs and into Clint’s hidden room beneath his garage. Julian had never liked Clint, the man who owned the bar where Quinn worked, mainly because the guy knew how to irritate the hell out of him. However, he had to admit he did respect the man who was born a Guardian but had been hidden away in this town by his parents to keep him safe from The Commission.

Clint knew there were vampires who killed humans and those who didn’t, in this world. Because of that, Clint had watched out for Quinn and cared for her when she’d first come to town, even though he’d eventually come to realize she was a vampire. Julian may be tempted to break Clint’s neck half the time, but his loyalty to Quinn had secured his life.

“I intend to do plenty with him,” Julian replied as he returned his attention to Earl. “Release him from your mind control.”

“Julian—”

“Release him, Devon. I’m many things, but I’ve never been one to torture the helpless. Besides, it won’t be much of a fight between what Quinn did to him earlier and the fact that I’m far stronger than he is.” Julian knelt before Earl and pointed the tip of one of the foot-long knives he’d taken from where Clint had them set out on one of his benches in this room, under Earl’s chin. A bead of blood formed on Earl’s skin from where the knife pricked him. “You’ll never be able to take control of my mind.”

Earl’s eyes flickered, and sweat beaded across his brow, but he remained immobile while his mind was firmly locked within Devon’s control. Julian set the other knives he’d take from the bench on the hard ground for later use.

Julian rose to his feet and stepped back before looking to Devon again. “Release him. When I’m done with him, you can take control again to make sure he doesn’t get into anyone else’s mind.”

Devon bowed his head, and in the next instant, Earl leaped to his feet. Julian grabbed him by his nape and dragged him back. The man kicked and squirmed in his grasp, squealing as he writhed to get free. Julian felt him trying to dig at the edges of his mind and chuckled as he clamped down harder on Earl’s neck.

“Won’t work on me. I’m too old for you,” Julian murmured.

Lifting him up, he smashed Earl back down. Earl howled when something in his back cracked, but the sound was quickly cut off when Julian plunged a knife into his sternum to pin him to the ground. Earl’s hands and feet kicked against the ground, and his fingers clutched at the knife, but Julian leisurely pulled one of his hands away. Smiling at Earl, he held the hand to the ground as he drove the knife through Earl’s palm.

“It’s not as much fun when it’s you, is it?” Julian murmured to him.

He leisurely pulled Earl’s other hand away from the handle of the knife in his sternum. Flattening it against the ground, Julian slammed a knife through his palm to pin it down as well. A thrill of pleasure went through Julian, and his lips skimmed back to reveal his elongated fangs. So often he struggled to keep his brutal nature in check, but with this man, he planned to savor every second of his torture and eventual death.

Earl’s eyes rolled in his head as he struggled against the knives pinning him down. Julian had driven them deep enough that he wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

“Julian,” Devon said in a warning tone of voice.

“Earl and I, we’re not done yet,” Julian replied, his gaze raking over Earl as he lifted a knife from the ground and flipped the handle of it in his hand. “He’ll pay for what he’s done to Quinn over the years.”

Bending over Earl, Julian smiled as he sliced the man from his right temple to the corner of his eye. The cut was a mimicry of one of the wounds Earl had inflicted on Quinn when he’d tortured her while she’d still been human.

Quinn still bore that scar and all the others that Earl had left on her body. The wounds had healed when she made the transition into a vampire, but Quinn had continuously reopened them over the years to keep the scars from fading away. She no longer had to do that; the scars had been opened enough over the years that they were now permanent.

Quinn believed she deserved to wear those scars as punishment for having drained the rest of the blood from her dying uncle when she’d first awoken as a vampire. Julian knew she didn’t deserve them, or the guilt she carried for her actions; he could only hope that one day she would know it too.

Earl tried to turn away from him, but Julian seized hold of his chin and cut him from the bottom of his lip to under his chin. Much of the suffering Quinn had endured in her short life had been because of this man. And then this bastard had taken her from him. Earl had twisted her mind to his will and kept her imprisoned. It was bad enough Earl had dared to touch her the first time, that he’d done so again while knowing she belonged to him was something Earl would pay dearly for.

“Julian, you could be playing with fire if you do this,” Devon said.

Julian shrugged as he walked over to one of the workbenches lining the walls and grabbed three more knives. Clint’s room was fully stocked with all kinds of things capable of destroying a vamp, but for now, Julian only wanted the knives. “Then I’ll get burned, but I’ll be able to put the flames out.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I can do anything for her,” Julian replied.

Walking back over to the ugly little vamp, he grinned down at Earl before kneeling and gripping one of Earl’s feet. He turned Earl’s foot to the side before stabbing the knife through his ankle and deep into the earth. Earl howled and awkwardly struggled to break free, but there would be no escaping this.

Leaning over him, Julian grabbed Earl’s other foot and drove another knife through his ankle. He sat back on his heels and tilted his head to the side to admire his handiwork. Earl hadn’t pinned Quinn’s feet down like this, but he’d done the rest to her. Julian couldn’t resist inflicting this extra pain on him, and he was only getting started.

“You like making little displays,” Julian muttered as he ran another knife across Earl’s cheek.

While he’d been stalking Quinn, Earl had left a few repulsive displays of humans throughout the town to frighten her and remind Julian of his past. Earl was also the reason Quinn carried the added guilt of killing the Hunter, Zach. While under Earl’s mind control, Zach had staked Julian through the back. Quinn had drained Zach’s life from him in order to save Julian.

“How do you like this display?” Julian asked.

Unwilling to hear Earl’s reply, he drove the last knife through Earl’s throat, silencing the future screams he would make. Earl’s eyes bulged grotesquely from his head. His feet kicked on the ground as he jerked against the blades embedded within him, but he remained pinned.

Julian glanced at Devon as he walked by him to remove a chain from one of the walls. Devon remained standing at the bottom of the stairs, his gaze focused on Earl. Devon may be concerned Julian was walking a fine line between the murderous vamp he’d once been and the better one he labored daily to become, but Devon wouldn’t stop him from doing this.

Julian may not kill innocents anymore, but he was still a killer and nothing would change that. Devon understood that better than anyone. If it had been Cassie that Earl had tortured and stalked, Devon would be the one standing here with the knives and Julian would be worrying about him.

“I don’t think he likes it much,” Julian said as he wrapped the chain around Earl’s calves, just above the knives, and ran it toward one of the large metal hooks on the wall.

“I don’t think so either,” Devon replied.

Julian encircled the chain around Earl’s wrists next and ran them to another hook. Walking back over to Earl, he smiled down at him as he pressed his foot into his chest.

“I’d almost forgotten how entertaining this can be,” he said. He bent closer to Earl. The man gurgled and wiggled, but there was nowhere for him to go as Julian loomed over him. “You and I, we’re going to have some fun before I kill you. I am going to make you pay for everything you did to her, and then some.”

Earl wriggled against the chains and knives but only succeeded in tearing a bigger hole through his flesh and bone. He’d eventually succeed in ripping free of the knives, but the chains would keep Earl’s body bound and Devon would take control of his mind again.

“Take his mind back now,” he said to Devon. “Give him free will, but make sure he can’t latch onto anyone else’s mind or escape this room.”

Devon stared at Earl for a minute before giving a brisk nod. “Done.”

Julian didn’t look at Earl as he stepped over him and joined Devon at the bottom of the stairs. Devon turned and climbed the steps ahead of him.