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THE WIND RACED THROUGH my hair just as fast as the questions scorched my thoughts. Viktor held me tight while he ran us to safety. His broad, muscular chest pressed against my cleavage and his distinctive smell enticed my nose. I let my lips rest gently against the small amount of skin exposed at his neck while he deftly ignored my touch.
Time seemed to warp as we traveled, so when we finally came to a stop I had no idea if we’d been running for five minutes or five hours. Viktor set me down on a park bench I hadn’t noticed. Nausea and fear rolled through me along with the faint trickle of excitement that tickled my bite. Placing my fingers against my neck, I let them brush lightly over the two small wounds. The raised bumps on my skin were the only indication that my life had drastically changed tonight. A vampire hunter marked by a vampire. What did that mean? I wanted to ask Viktor so many questions—how did he plan to get rid of my mark? What would happen to me if he didn’t? How long would the sensations be heightened and what would be the consequences if I acted on them?
Viktor paced back and forth in front of the bench, punching numbers into his cell phone and making multiple calls. Many of them occurred in his native language, and one I unfortunately didn’t understand. But when he reached Ezra, I made sure to listen closely.
“No!” Viktor shouted into the phone, his accent coming to the surface. “We must meet now.” He paused and rubbed his hand against his forehead. “Ezra, you’re not listening to me. I will not discuss this over the phone. You must understand that it is important for everyone to gather tonight.” Another pause. “No. Now.”
I found myself shrinking back into the bench a little as Viktor became more and more agitated. My neck burned with fear and desire. The more Viktor took control, the more I wanted to take control of him. Reaching out to him, I grabbed his hand when he paced close enough to the bench. With a gasp, he turned and stared at me. His eyes bled black, fangs appeared under his lips, and he stopped moving all together.
The hungry look he devoured me with should have ignited my natural instincts to fight. But instead I found myself struggling with the urge to slam him to the ground and take him as my own. My blood pulsed with sexual desires—some thoughts even too graphic for me and Silas. What would Viktor be like in bed? Better yet, what could Viktor do to me on this park bench in the middle of the city?
Viktor hissed and yanked his hand away from mine. “You need to stop that,” he growled. Returning to his phone call, he dismissed whatever Ezra had asked him, and told him that we were on our way.
Clenching my legs together, I tried my best to fight the urges pulsing underneath. If being marked meant that I’d have an uncontrollable libido, I didn’t think I wanted it. At least not during a time when I should be scared for what Sebastian planned on doing to me next. Thoughts racing, I finally focused on my words and looked up at Viktor. “Where are we going?”
He’d moved ten feet away from me and made no attempt to step closer. With his hands firmly in his pockets, he didn’t even face me. “To Ezra’s pub.”
Ezra had a pub? In New York? For as long as I’d worked for the man, I was surprised I didn’t know this. “When are we going?” I asked when Viktor didn’t move.
He sighed. A deep, long, and drawn out sigh that I knew he really didn’t have to do. Was he seriously that angry at me for touching him? Slowly and methodically, Viktor turned to look at me. “Are you in control of yourself?” he snapped.
Taken aback by the abrupt change in mood and also a little pissed that he’d speak to me that way, I stood and crossed my arms. “Excuse me?”
“What you felt before is nothing compared to what Sebastian’s marking will do to you.”
I stood still, waiting for him to explain. Once I raised my brows, he finally caught on and continued.
“A vampire bite, and not one meant to feed, can have a very powerful effect on a human.” He paced back and forth, an uneasiness radiating off him that I didn’t like. “Sebastian scented you the moment you arrived—”
“Scented me?” I interrupted.
Viktor eyed me like a child. “Your sexual desires were practically written on your forehead. He knew you craved the bite. The fact that you were one of Ezra’s only made it that much more enticing to him.”
“I didn’t crave that,” I whispered, the lie barely crossing my lips.
“It’s nothing to be ashamed about,” Viktor stated. “Most humans do. At least those that know of our existence.”
“But I’m a vampire hunter. Not a vampire whore. My instinct is to kill, not be seduced or taken or spelled.”
“No one said you were a whore,” Viktor said softly, hearing only one part of my proclamation. He lifted his hand, beckoning me toward him. “And no one else needs to know about your secret desires.”
I huffed and kept my arms firmly crossed over my chest. “You’re right. No one needs to know because they’re my desires.” My cheeks flushed the second I realized what I’d just admitted.
A commotion down the street suddenly grabbed our attention. The loud crash sounded like someone had just tossed a dumpster. Or a car.
“We need to go,” Viktor said, grabbing my hand and not even giving me a moment to rebel.
A second later, we were zipping out of the park and dashing down back alleyways and tunnels. The lights blurred past me, making a rainbow of streaks that ironically kept me calm. I envied Viktor for his ability to move so fast. While I may have inherited an instinct for identifying vampires, he had gained all of the other strengths when he’d been created.
We stopped in a darkened corner of the street where very little cars seemed to be. Trying to get oriented, I looked around the sky for some kind of landmark or building. Spotting a familiar neon sign, I snapped my head toward Viktor. “I know this place.”
“You do?” he asked, an amused tone glinting on the surface.
Giving him a questioning look, I decided to answer. “Yes. We’ll meet here occasionally. Paddi’s Pub,” I said as I read the sign. “How do you know about this place?” Vampire hunter meeting places were kept secret for a reason.
“It’s Ezra’s,” he said as though it was the most commonly known fact in the world. “Come on.” Viktor pressed his hand to my lower back and pushed me inside. I wanted to yell at him for being so aggressive, but when I noticed his eyes scanning the streets, I reminded myself that he was the one who had saved me from the hoard of thirsty vampires.
As we entered the pub, it suddenly hit me that the place had been emptied. In fact, it was always empty every time we had our meetings. Why had I not caught that before? Perhaps it was because I’d always assumed Ezra had ways of making things happen. I’d never suspected it was because he owned the bar.
And speaking of Ezra, he was the first person to approach us the second we walked inside. His old body moving faster than I’d seen him move in a long time. Pinched eyebrows expressed concern but his harsh glare bore right through the vampire standing next to me.
“Kaska, what did you do?” Ezra grabbed my cheeks between his fingers and turned my head from side to side. The moment he spotted the bite, I could feel his muscles tense. “Did you do this?”
Had I not been trapped in Ezra’s grip, I would have smiled. The parental instinct, the need to protect me, suddenly made me feel loved. And loved in a way that I’d never really felt with my real family.
“Of course not—”
Viktor’s words were cut off the second someone wrapped their hands around his neck. “You son of a bitch!” Silas growled. “I will kill you right now!” The veins in Silas’ arms bulged, his muscles shaking with the tension in his grip. He’d shoved Viktor up against the wall, and much to my surprise, he seemed to have the vampire trapped.
Ezra dropped his hand from my cheeks and ran over to Silas. Jaelle quickly joined them both. “Silas, you should probably let him go,” Jaelle coaxed. Nadya and Broch stood by the bar, but they were ready to pounce if needed.
“What the fuck did you do to her?” Silas demanded.
Viktor simply held out his arms and attempted a smile. I think Silas squeezed a little harder by the way he suddenly grimaced.
“I don’t think he can answer you when you’re holding him like that,” Jaelle, the ever practical one, stated.
“Silas, please. He didn’t do this,” I begged, but didn’t move any closer. I guess there was a part of me that liked seeing Silas being protective. The heat I’d pushed away earlier started to tingle in my bite and move closer to the spot between my legs. Viktor closed his eyes and flared his nostrils. I didn’t think anyone else noticed his reaction.
Silas turned to look at me, rage racing through his eyes and fear dancing across his skin. “He should have never taken you to that club,” he managed to say through gritted teeth.
“It wasn’t his fault,” I said, trying to calm my own voice. “Please, let us explain.”
“Us?” Silas hissed, causing me to flinch under his words.
“Silas,” Ezra warned. “Please let go of Viktor so we can get to the bottom of this.”
Silas hesitated a moment longer. His dark brown eyes searched my own, looking for some kind of answer. I nodded my head ever so slightly and Silas finally dropped his grip around the vampire’s neck. Viktor rubbed the skin where Silas had held on, taking a moment to regain his composure.
“May we sit?” Viktor asked, jerking his chin toward a small, round table near the bar.
Ezra complied and the rest of us followed. Viktor pulled a chair out, distancing himself from everyone, especially Silas. Silas helped me sit first, and then grabbed his own chair. Making a small scene, he spun the seat around, finally lowering himself backward and close enough to me that our knees touched each other. Another rush of sensations darted through my blood. This damn bite was quickly turning me into a sex maniac.
“Explain,” Ezra said, his gaze passing over both Viktor and me.
“Yeah, explain,” Silas added, glaring at Viktor. Ezra gave him a look and Silas relaxed ever so slightly.
“She’s been marked,” Viktor said in a calm voice.
“How?” Ezra asked, the tension in his question filling the tiny bar. Nadya and Jaelle stared at me and Silas ground his hand into my thigh.
Viktor filled everyone in on the details, leaving out the part about the demon twins and how he’d left me alone for a short amount of time. A part of me wanted to correct his story, but another part of me, the survivor part, encouraged me to stay silent. It wouldn’t get us anywhere if everyone was pissed off at Viktor.
“Wait,” Jaelle interrupted. “You’re telling me that Sebastian Branazio attacked Sophia?”
“I’m going to kill him,” Silas hissed.
“No, you’re not,” Viktor replied calmly. I had to grab Silas’ arm to keep him in the chair.
Ezra studied Viktor for several seconds and then turned his gaze toward Silas. “No, you’re not,” he repeated. “We need Sebastian to come to us. And we need the support of the Order to take him down.”
“Why?” Nadya jumped in. “Sebastian can’t be working for them anymore. Not if he marked Sophia. He knows what the consequences will be.”
I sat still a moment wondering if I was the only idiot in the room. “I don’t understand,” I said, shaking my head. “What am I missing here? What will happen to Sebastian?”
“They’ll destroy him,” Ezra stated. “The Order creates vampires. And they can extinguish them without getting close enough to shove a stake into their hearts.”
I thought about that as I rubbed the bite on my neck. “Do you mean the necromancers?”
“Yes. The necromancers, and the witches, and the sorcerers,” Viktor chimed in. “Anyone of them could put us back into a lifeless state with just a few words. They created us. They can destroy us.”
I looked at Silas who then turned his attention to Ezra. “So why did he risk biting Sophia?”
Ezra shook his head but Viktor made a small noise, drawing our attention to him. “Because he wants to track her. To track you all. He knows that the Order won’t kill her, and he’s counting on that.”
“What do you mean?” I asked in a shaky voice.
“It means that you’re not safe and neither are any of your friends as long as you’re around.” With the word friend slipping out of Viktor’s mouth like a disease, he trained his eyes on Silas. The notion that we were just friends didn’t slip past the hunter by my side.
“We can take care of ourselves,” Silas snapped.
“Can you?” Viktor asked and quickly lifted his hands in the air when he saw our reactions. “Sophia, tell them what happened when we tried to leave the club.”
All eyes turned to me and I swallowed the giant lump of fear growing inside my throat. “He’s right. They are too many of them for us to fight. We need to get help.”
“Fuck that,” Silas mumbled.
“No, she’s right,” Ezra conceded. “I need to meet with the Order.” He faced Viktor again. “And you need to come with me.”
Viktor shook his head. “I need to watch over Sophia.”
“Absolutely not!” Silas jumped to his feet and leaned over the vampire. “You will not be anywhere near her after this meeting.”
“This is not up for discussion,” Viktor said coolly.
I noticed how Nadya and Jaelle scooted back in their seats at the same time Ezra began to rise. He placed a hand on Silas’ shoulder. “Yes, it is,” Ezra stated. “Now tell me why it is that you think you need to watch over one of my best hunters?”
I smiled at the compliment, but that smile quickly disappeared the moment Viktor opened his mouth again. “Because she’s been marked. Do you understand what that means?” He looked around the table at a bunch of empty stares. “Sebastian will come for her. She is a beacon in the dark night now. They will all chase after her.” He focused on me. “And she won’t be able to turn them away.”
“Of course I will!” I shouted, realizing I’d jumped to my feet.
“Sophia,” Viktor chided quietly. “You know what I’m talking about.”
Viktor alluding to my uncontrollable sexual cravings had me flushed with heat and anger in a matter of seconds. “How dare you,” I whispered, sound barely able to make it to my lips.
Silas grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the table. “We need a minute,” he said.
And as he dragged me into a small room off the side of the bar, my eyes focused on Viktor’s baby blues and the apologetic look on his face.
*