Page 70 of Wicked Thirst
I peeked through the crack in the door only to see Clive pressed up against the wall with a fair-haired vampire standing in front of him with a knife pressed to Clive’s throat. He lowered his voice. “You seem to forget that while vampires are immortal, they die every day.”
He pressed the knife up under Clive’s chin and blood trickled down the shiny, silvery blade all the way to the hilt.
Clive’s throat bobbed as he swallowed nervously. His eyes widened and he went up on his tiptoes. “With interest!”
The man stopped pressing his knife upward. “I require forty percent.”
“Twenty-five,” Clive countered, and I couldn’t help but think how stupid the vampire was to negotiate from a position of weakness. But Clive was always the rabbit who tried to catch the snake.
The man gave a deep chuckle and took a small step back. He pulled the knife away from Clive and slid it into the holster at the small of his back under his suit coat. “And yet you’ll still be giving me forty.”
Clive gave a heavy sigh. “Very well. Partners.”
“Not partners, you’ll be paying a debt.” He gave a dark chuckle. “I rather fancy having a king in my pocket.”
Clive moved from my vision, but a moment later I heard ice hitting a glass and the sound of liquid being poured. “And I rather fancy being a king and returning things back to the way they belong.”
“Whatever that means,” the man said, dismissing Clive’s words.
The ice clinked on the glass as Clive raised it to his lips and came back into view. “It means that my desires will benefit us both in the end.”
The man walked up to Clive and clapped him on the shoulder. Yet he never turned to face the door so that I could ascertain his identity. “Your greed knows no bounds. It’s to your detriment and my gain.”
Clive chuckled as if this were a joke and not the truth. “We’ll see.”
“There’s no we’ll see. You had better keep up your end, or I’m afraid the future looks bleak for you.”
“My future never looks bleak. I’m Clive Cristiano.” Somehow, over the course of five minutes, he went from begging for his life to bartering for it and then to claiming he’s the best thing since electricity. His ego knew no bounds, but I would relish the day when all the pieces fell into place. Because there was no doubt in my mind Clive would die . . . I would see to it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
ATLAS
“There are many things in this world I find intriguing:how the sunflower raises its face to the morning rays, how in a world of perfect symbiosis one cannot believe in a higher power, and how humans find the existence of the supernatural to be nothing but a mere myth. However, as of late, I find how you came to be lying beside me in a graveyard the most interesting of all.”
Theon lay on the ground at my feet with his head lulled at a hard angle to one side. Whoever broke his neck had done so with enough force to render him helpless. Which, given the current state our world was in, rendered me intrigued. Theon was believed to be among the traitors to our kind. His reputation for being a staunch ally of Marius had been solidified over the years. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small, square folding mirror that I carried with me in case of emergencies. I placed it on the ground next to him, then pulled my cell from my pocket. “I need medical and transport. I’m sending my location now.”I hung up and quickly sent my coordinates, then closed the phone. Theon just blinked up at me with those wide green eyes. I squatted down over him. “You interfere with my hunt.”
Though if I was going to roll with the honesty I prided myself on, I found the intrusion to have occurred at the perfect time. The hunt was taxing to my soul. I found little value in the world or beings around me. Only three vampires had my loyalty, only three vampires had my respect, and only one had my friendship, a friendship that’d seen me through things I cared not to dwell on. A friendship that indeed brought value to my world. Yet now I found myself in the position of failure. It was not a position I was used to occupying. I excelled at the hunt, I excelled at the kill, I excelled at the execution of orders. But this vow was the hardest one of all to keep. I was not a man who thought of futures nor believed that I had one. The only future I saw for myself was loyalty to The House of Shade, and now I was failing that too.
Like a wounded animal or terminally sick creature, it was a kindness to end their suffering. No one should have to live through the pain and anguish of such a life. I knew this was the kind of torture that Grayson felt. To not be himself physically or mentally or to hurt innocents would be the deepest kind of pain he could feel. Yet I could not find it in myself to do the right thing and end his suffering. With such a weakness, I didn’t deserve to be called a friend. Each time I encountered him, I found myself pulling punches, hesitating to deal the death blow, or even worse, I would fear his loss so intensely his pain might as well have been my own.
How could I do this? But how could I not? I made a promise! A vow! A vow I wanted to break with every fiber of my being. I’d tussled with Piper, but it was a half-assed attempt if I was being honest with myself. Deep down, I wanted her to win. I wanted her to be right, even though Grayson was no longer in there. I didn’t want to kill the belief that he still might be able to be saved. The desire to see him saved was overwhelming. In truth, I didn’t want to give up on my friend.
Theon made a small grunting sound at my feet and blinked several times at me. “I find the blinking unhelpful. Do stop it. You look absurd.”
More blinking.
I pointed my finger in his face. “Do not make me regret saving your life.”
The mirror glowed and a vampire dressed all in black shoved his way out of it a little at a time. He placed his arms on the ground beside the mirror and pulled the rest of his body through, all the while grunting with the effort it took. He was slim, with a chiseled face and dark eyes. When he was fully through the mirror, he knelt down and reached back in to pull out a large duffle bag. “I hate coming through tiny spaces like that. It does no favors for my bollocks.”
I rolled my eyes. “Just do as you’re told.”
The vampire swallowed and his eyes widened. “Atlas?”
When I arched my eyebrows at him, he swallowed and held his hands up. “Apologies. I’m new.”
“Clearly.” I looked toward the sky, where the dark-navy had begun to turn to purple. The first rays of light would surely burn Theon to death if we didn’t move this along. “You want to hurry this up before the sun chars him to death?”
