a long time before he nodded. “Of course.”
The news of a tracker hidden under the vampire’s skin didn’t make him so much as blink.
Matthias sat on a wooden chair he pulled out from the small corner desk and sat on it backward. The towel split, showing off a long line of his pale thigh right up to the hip.
“It’s below my right shoulder blade and very small. So small that I never knew it was there. But now that I do, I was able to find it easily during my shower.”
Declan pulled his silver blade from the leather sheath at his right hip. He used that blade to kill vampires when he wanted a change from the gun he kept filled with silver bullets. One to the heart did the trick as well as a knife would, provided the bullet penetrated all the way through.
He approached Matthias with the knife in hand. I was surprised Matthias trusted him enough to do this. Not only to turn his back on a known vampire hunter, but to do so willingly. However, a glance at his knuckles showed they were white as he clutched the side of the chair, which told me he wasn’t as at ease with the situation as he might want us to believe.
I tried very hard not to think about what had happened between me and Declan earlier, but it was impossible. The look in his eye—that rage that seemed to be completely gone now, that had come out of nowhere—it bothered me a lot.
Matthias said it wasn’t because of the serum or my blood, it was simply because he was a dhampyr. And it was only the beginning.
The thought chilled me as I touched my tender throat, the throat I’d thought for a split second he’d wanted to tear out.
“Here?” Declan touched the spot Matthias mentioned.
“Yes.”
“I feel it. It makes me wonder how you didn’t notice it before. It had to get in here somehow.”
Matthias turned his head. “My play is sometimes a little rough. Spilled blood—mine or another’s—can be part of the fun.”
“Your play .”
“Sex, dhampyr.” Matthias’s lips curled. “A woman’s fingernails can be used to show her passion. I’ve found that the harder they scratch, the more they are enjoying themselves.”
Declan’s jaw clenched. “Or the more they’re trying to fight a man taking them against their will.”
“I’ve never taken a woman against her will. I think you have me confused with my brother.” He hissed as Declan sliced into his skin. “No warning?”
“Hurts less if you’re not expecting it.”
Declan spread the cut flesh and felt about for the tracking device. A fresh well of blood spilled down Matthias’s side to stain the stark white towel. He didn’t move, but his face grew more tense.
It reminded me too much of earlier and seeing the blood servant with his hand deep in Matthias’s gut, searching for the key.
“If Kristoff’s really so bad, you don’t think Meyers will have second thoughts about freeing him?” I asked, although I already knew the answer to that.
Matthias’s pale gaze moved to me. There was sweat on his brow and pain in his eyes. Declan wasn’t trying to be particularly gentle during this operation. “No. I have no doubt he’ll free my brother, but I didn’t think it would be so soon.”
“What are you talking about?” Declan asked.
“I had a key surgically hidden inside of my body from the time I imprisoned Kristoff. The room my brother was placed in is rigged with explosives if anyone attempts to release him without the key.” His expression darkened. “I told only two people the location of this prison and where the key was. I trusted both of them. One is dead. The other a traitor who carved the key from inside of me less than an hour ago.”
I remembered the greed in Meyers’s eyes as he pulled the bloody key from Matthias’s body. “He seems very determined to have Kristoff sire him.”
“I’ll kill him long before that happens. But I must also find a way to kill my brother. It should have been done decades ago.”
Declan yanked out something from
The news of a tracker hidden under the vampire’s skin didn’t make him so much as blink.
Matthias sat on a wooden chair he pulled out from the small corner desk and sat on it backward. The towel split, showing off a long line of his pale thigh right up to the hip.
“It’s below my right shoulder blade and very small. So small that I never knew it was there. But now that I do, I was able to find it easily during my shower.”
Declan pulled his silver blade from the leather sheath at his right hip. He used that blade to kill vampires when he wanted a change from the gun he kept filled with silver bullets. One to the heart did the trick as well as a knife would, provided the bullet penetrated all the way through.
He approached Matthias with the knife in hand. I was surprised Matthias trusted him enough to do this. Not only to turn his back on a known vampire hunter, but to do so willingly. However, a glance at his knuckles showed they were white as he clutched the side of the chair, which told me he wasn’t as at ease with the situation as he might want us to believe.
I tried very hard not to think about what had happened between me and Declan earlier, but it was impossible. The look in his eye—that rage that seemed to be completely gone now, that had come out of nowhere—it bothered me a lot.
Matthias said it wasn’t because of the serum or my blood, it was simply because he was a dhampyr. And it was only the beginning.
The thought chilled me as I touched my tender throat, the throat I’d thought for a split second he’d wanted to tear out.
“Here?” Declan touched the spot Matthias mentioned.
“Yes.”
“I feel it. It makes me wonder how you didn’t notice it before. It had to get in here somehow.”
Matthias turned his head. “My play is sometimes a little rough. Spilled blood—mine or another’s—can be part of the fun.”
“Your play .”
“Sex, dhampyr.” Matthias’s lips curled. “A woman’s fingernails can be used to show her passion. I’ve found that the harder they scratch, the more they are enjoying themselves.”
Declan’s jaw clenched. “Or the more they’re trying to fight a man taking them against their will.”
“I’ve never taken a woman against her will. I think you have me confused with my brother.” He hissed as Declan sliced into his skin. “No warning?”
“Hurts less if you’re not expecting it.”
Declan spread the cut flesh and felt about for the tracking device. A fresh well of blood spilled down Matthias’s side to stain the stark white towel. He didn’t move, but his face grew more tense.
It reminded me too much of earlier and seeing the blood servant with his hand deep in Matthias’s gut, searching for the key.
“If Kristoff’s really so bad, you don’t think Meyers will have second thoughts about freeing him?” I asked, although I already knew the answer to that.
Matthias’s pale gaze moved to me. There was sweat on his brow and pain in his eyes. Declan wasn’t trying to be particularly gentle during this operation. “No. I have no doubt he’ll free my brother, but I didn’t think it would be so soon.”
“What are you talking about?” Declan asked.
“I had a key surgically hidden inside of my body from the time I imprisoned Kristoff. The room my brother was placed in is rigged with explosives if anyone attempts to release him without the key.” His expression darkened. “I told only two people the location of this prison and where the key was. I trusted both of them. One is dead. The other a traitor who carved the key from inside of me less than an hour ago.”
I remembered the greed in Meyers’s eyes as he pulled the bloody key from Matthias’s body. “He seems very determined to have Kristoff sire him.”
“I’ll kill him long before that happens. But I must also find a way to kill my brother. It should have been done decades ago.”
Declan yanked out something from
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