-Katherine-
He stood on his knees before me, smoke billowing off his body like steam as the early signs of dawn peek over the Nevada skyline. Covered in tattoos, he looks up at me with a sexy grin spreading across his face; as if his current predicament isnāt dire. His body is a beautiful weapon; usually, I would find him alluring since it is exactly the type of muscular body I love being underneath.
But this is no ordinary man on his knees; heās a vampire bound with chains behind his back.
āTimes almost up; I can make this a quick death or a prolonged one, Hyde,ā I say to the man in leather. I burned his jacket and patch just to fuck with him earlier, but he showed no emotion even though I know itās the highest disrespect for a biker club member.
He looks up at me with blood-red eyes, and a chill shoots up my spine. The eyes of a vampire arenāt that different from an Alpha werewolf or Lycan, except where only the irises of those beasts turn red, a vampireās entire eye, even the white, turns red. Some of these fuckers have the whites of their eyes turn black with only their irises red. We still donāt know what that could mean, though.
āWhat makes you think that I donāt welcome death, hunter?ā He laughs and shakes his head. āUnlike you scum, I have loyalty to my maker and President. Threatening me with death means nothing; give me the sunrise because you wonāt get anything from me.ā
Have to admit that these Devilās Void vamps are fucking tough to crack. Normally vamps would offer up their nest leader in a heartbeat, but not these guys. Theyāre utterly loyal to their President, Gabriel Priest; this is the fifth one weāve caught this week, and they spew the same fucking thing about loyalty. These fuckers kill humans, but they dare to call me scum?
āThen Iāll give you the death you crave,ā I say, then turn and walk away from him just as the sun starts to rise.
The stench of a vampireās burning flesh never gets easier to stomach, and I expect the screaming to follow soon after. But as I said, these Devilās Void vamps are a different breed altogether; they donāt even scream when their entire bodies burst into flames.
When you spend your entire life killing monsters, you become just as cold and unfeeling as them. Another blade to the heart means nothing, even if it is a woman or a child. Thatās what Iāve been raised to believe, and I have to live up to itāKatherine DĆ©cĆØs, hunter and Deathās Temple heiress; the deadliest hunter guild, Deathās Temple.
āStill nothing?ā Xenia Blake, my second officer, asks when I approach the bulletproof SUV, sheās leaning against. Her long, raven curls tied up in a high ponytail, and her hazel eyes are shining with anticipation as she plays with the stake in her hand. But the smile drops when she sees my annoyed expression.
When dealing with the Devilās Void vamps, I like to administer the torture myself because of the bloody history we share. A history that ended up with a Blood Oath Vendetta carved into my skin - one that has me vowing to eliminate them all.
āStill nothing,ā I answer and walk to the back of the truck so that I can pack my weapons away.
āDamn, these fuckers are tough out here,ā she comments. āNormal vamps would have squealed by now.ā
āI am well aware, Xen,ā I huff out and close the back. āBut one of them has to be weak; they canāt all be stupidly loyal like this.ā
Even as I say those words, I know that itās all bullshit. My father dealt with these vamps in his glory days and said the same thing - that none of them would give up the location of their nest and leader.
āThe surprise we left at the one nest last night will get his attention, donāt worry. We literally spat in his face by killing all the vamps there, so heās bound to react.ā She says, getting into the passenger seat just as I hop into the driver's side.
āI fucking hope so,ā I say and floor it away from another vampās death in the middle of the desert.
Iāve come to Las Vegas under my fatherās orders to eliminate the entire Devilās Void nest and their leader, Gabriel Priest. Heās responsible for the deaths of two people closest to me, and I wonāt stop until Iāve driven a stake into his heart.Heās the second oldest vampire in the States, and rumors are that heās taking over as Vampire King from the deceased DA Westcott in New York. He has to show his face here on his home turf, especially after we took out that nest. If he doesnāt, well, then heās a shitty leader.
āFuck, Iām exhausted,ā Xenia echoes my exact thoughts and lets out a sigh.
āDitto; we need rest and to recoup after last nightās exploits. My father will want news on how things are going here, and since we donāt have answers -ā
My words get cut off by my ringing cellphone, and when I look at the caller ID, I see the name of one of my informants and grin.
āYou better have good news for me,ā is what I greet them with, and they chuckle.
āHello to you too, Kitty Kat. Does knowing that Gabriel Priest will be at his club tonight count as good news?ā he taunts, and I slam on the brakes to the ire of Xenia next to me.
āNo fucking way,ā
āFucking way. Get your ass ready to be at The Void tonight; the King is showing up to take his so-called crown.ā
I turn to Xenia with wide eyes, and excitement courses through my veins for the first time in ages. Tonight Iāll be able to get closer to Gabriel than anyone in the guild ever has in the last fifteen years; tonight, I might get my revenge!
āI owe you big time!ā I cry out before killing the call and turn to my second, who looks just about ready to burst. She shoots me a look and lifts her eyebrow, waiting for me to tell her what I just found out.
āWe got him; heāll be at his club tonight,ā I say, and her eyes widen even more, but she doesnāt say anything.
We donāt say a word as we continue to make our way to our rented apartment outside the Strip. No words needed to be said because not only is Xenia my second officer, but sheās my best friend. She was there for me when I couldnāt stop crying after my mother and little brotherās deaths at the hand of Gabriel Priest. She comforted me when I blamed myself, and she promised me that we would get revenge.
And tonight, we will make good on that promise.
-Katherine-āI hate this,ā I mutter as I stare at myself in the floor-length mirror. āI fucking hate this.āIām used to black jeans, a t-shirt, and combat boots with my hair in a ponytail, but now Xenia has me dressed up in a tight-fitting black dress, mile-high heels, and red lipstick. This isnāt me at all, but itās the me I need to be to lure Priest out.āI know, but youāve gotta suck it up, babe; this is the type of meat Devilās Void vamps love. Gotta put it out there to get their attention,ā she says while doing my hair. Sheās also dressed up, but we wonāt be entering the club together. No one can know that Iāll be coming with backup, especially not with her. Sheās more ruthless than I am when it comes to taking these fuckers out, but thatās because her entire family was killed by a vamp horde back in DC. They left her for dead after nearly draining her dry, but thatās when my mother found her.Sheās more than my best friend; sheās my sister.After finishing up with me, we head t
-Gabriel-I knew Katherine was in town before Fenriz even called me in to take care of the problem, and as I walked out of his hotel, I set up a meeting without her even knowing I was behind it.The Deathās Temple guild has always been a thorn in my side ever since their first generation took out half of my family back in Romania. My siblings, my cousins, and nearly all of the Purebloods were taken out because they assumed we were to blame for the spate of recent killings in the small towns below our castle.Well, they werenāt wrong; my 50-year-old cousin decided to turn one of her human servant friends into a vampire, and the boy went on a rampage. 50-year-old vampires would be about ten years old in human years, so she didnāt know any better.But that little act of naivety cost half of our family, and we were forced to either fight back or flee. My father, the oldest vampire at the time, decided that we should lay low in Bulgaria for a few years before we returned home. By the time
-Katherine-I feel like Iāve been hit by a bus; my head hurts, my body feels bruised, and my mouth feels dry as shit.āFuck,ā I grumbled, sitting up in my bed and not daring to open my eyes because the sunlight would assault me further. But as I sit up, I realize that the apartment Iām renting does not have silk sheetsā¦ nor do I sleep naked.Wrenching my eyes open, I look down and find myself completely naked in a room I do not recognize. Not only that, but I can feel someone behind meā¦ someone in the bed with me. My heart slams against my ribcage, and dread sets into my bones when I feel cold sweat dripping down the middle of my back - because I have a feeling that I know who it is.How did I get here? What happened last night after I left for the bathroom to get away from him? Standing so close to him, inhaling his sexy cologne, made my head spin, and I needed some space before I did something I would regret. And now it seems that I have.I spot my clothes lying on the floor and th
-Gabriel-The moment an ice-cold chill shot through my body, I knew what had happened. I didnāt want to admit it at first, but my body moved before I could think that there had been a mistake. There was no way Myrcella could be deadā¦thereās no way my only relative would have met her demise so quickly.But that frozen shard slamming deep into my heart tells me different - the blue Thread of Fate tying me to my family has been severed. I am now the only Preutescu Pureblood left.āNO! Myrcella!ā I cry out when I see her small, lifeless body lying amongst the blood and debris. That shard gets embedded deeper into my heart as I hold her closer to me, feeling no warmth in her skin and seeing no rosiness on her cheeks. My little sister is dead.The sound of an erratic heartbeat snaps my attention to the figure standing in front of me with a gun outstretched, and the guilty blue eyes of Katherine meet mine. I look down at Myrcella, the red dot on her chest telling me that she was killed by a
-Gabriel-I spot Andreas, Fenrizās Beta, waiting for me at the entrance of the hotel. Heās powerful, second only in strength to Fenriz, tall, lean and muscular like Church, and has a scar running down his face courtesy of Katherineās father. His long hair is tied up, and when he sees me, he cocks his head in greeting.āFenriz told me,ā he says. āMy condolences; Myrcella was a little spitfire on her own.āI chuckle at this. āThank you, and she truly was,ā I say as he leads me to his Alphaās office. I would never have dreamt of coming to the Lycans for help, but they have a score to settle with Deathās Temple just as I do. Andreas especially, since his fated mate was raped and brutalized by them - his human mate, might I add.We reach Fenrizās office door, and Andreas turns to me. āGotta warn you, heās in there with his mate, and she might be a little different to the women youāve seen with Fenriz. Try not to look too surprised.ā He says, and I am about to ask him what the fuck he mean
-Katherine-Xenia and I look at one another when we hear the screams and heavy footfalls above us. We shouldnāt allow them to fight our battles, but if I die, then the guild dies with me. Theyāve found us; somehow, they fucking found us, and if they know weāre down here, then weāre dead.āWe need to make him understand that you didnāt fire that shot,ā Xenia whispers, pacing the floor on her sprained ankle. I shake my head. āWhat good will that do? She died with one of our bullets in her heart, Xen; in his eyes, I might as well have fired it,ā I say, thinking back to how Gabrielās eyes were blazing with hurt and anger.āI wonāt let anything happen to you, okay? I promised your father that I would always be at your back looking out for you,ā she says.Wrapping my arms around her, I hold her tight and hope that it wouldnāt need to come to that. That Gabriel would leave here so we can find a way out of Vegas to nurse our wounds.She lets go of the embrace, looks at me, and sighs then cro
-Gabriel-I slide the heavy barrel bolt lock in place and slip on a padlock before making my way back up the tombās jagged stone steps. Itās probably cruel to leave Katherine alone down there, but I doubt sheās spared any thoughts of cruelty when my men suffered at her hand. In the last few hours, Iāve had myriad emotions pass through me; grief to anger to total numbness. From the tremble in my hands to the burning in my chest, I know that right now, I am a combination of all three. But I donāt know when Iāll finally snap and murder someone I shouldnāt.ā...the fuck! I am going to kill all those fucking cunts!ā I sigh when I hear the voice of my third, Church, coming from upstairs. If anyone was closer to Myrcella than me, it was Church - she called him her second big brother, and he was extremely overprotective of her.āGet the fuck off of me! Where is Gabe!ā āIām here,ā I say when I walk into the living room, only to see Valentine holding Church back by gripping him in a chokehol
-Katherine-I donāt know how long itās been since Iāve been locked up down here, but the five styrofoam takeout containers and water bottles tell me that my time is up. Priest hasnāt been back down here since he left me with that bombshell, and when I wake up, thereās already food and water waiting for me.Yeah, I know that I should probably not have eaten whatever it is that my captors have given me, but the downside to this baobab mixture is that it makes you incredibly thirsty and hungry, especially when it wears off.I sit down and lean my head against the wall before getting up to resume my pacing. On the first day, I couldnāt sleep knowing that Priest had put me in a tomb with dead Pureblood vampires; I didnāt even switch on the flashlight and stayed rooted in the spot.How can I know that heās telling the truth about the color of their eyes? For all I know, heās stringing me along so I can feel guilty for killing his kind. I must admit that I felt guilty at first, but the more