Page 28 of The Vampire's Hunter

“You don’t fucking mean that,” Corbin called after him.

“Like hell I don’t!” Kharis shot over his shoulder, still angry. Rightfully so.

And then Kharis was gone, leaving Corbin alone in his thoughts, to stew on his mistakes once more. Which served exactly as the kind of punishment Kharis had intended it to.

Dani saton the sofa in Corbin’s living room, glaring out at the darkened night, the Chicago skyline illuminating the shadows of the city below. She’d sat here for hours, waiting for who or for what she never knew. Perhaps sunrise, or maybe, her own death considering Lucien was still on the run, whichever came first. It wasn’t as if she had anywhere else to go, anyone else to run to. Save to her brother, of course. But when was the last time Quinn had helped her?

He’d likely just tell her what an idiot she was, because once again, she’d allowed herself to be fooled, because that’s what vampires did, didn’t they?

They fucked you.

In more ways than one.

Corbin included.

Dani’s hair was still damp, the strands dripping about her shoulders from where one of Corbin’s men had deposited her in the shower upon their return. Fully clothed and weeping, she’d lain there sobbing for long enough that the water running over her bloodstained clothes and body had run clean, until finally, she’d managed to peel herself off the shower floor, and pulled herself together. Because that’s what Dani did best.

She survived. She endured. Whatever life threw at her.

No matter how fucked and twisted.

And this about topped the levels of fucked, even by her measures.

She shifted her weight, adjusting herself where she sat, naked save for one of Corbin’s shirts she wore. It smelled like him. Like frankincense, orange, and cedarwood. All things that’d once been a comfort to her. That werestilla comfort to her, no matter how much she didn’t want it to be true. What would he have to do to her for her to want to leave?

Dani wasn’t certain she knew the answer.

She was still mulling that over when Corbin finally decided to join her in the living room, looking as alive and well as ever, despite his blood-soaked, open shirt, and unkempt hair.

That’s what the undead do,she thought to herself.Survive. Only to fuck you once more.

They always lived to see another day, no matter how horrible they were to one another. Now that he was truly dead, even Cillian still lived on in the ghostly memories that haunted her.

But what else was new?

No one had ever said life was fair, and Dani had known that from a very young age. From the first time someone had fucked her like this.

“I suppose you thought, ‘what could it hurt’?” she whispered, breaking the pressing silence between them. “What could it hurt for poor, pathetic Dani to be fucked one more time?” She lifted her gaze toward him, repeating the same question that’d been on her lips before. “How could you?”

Corbin refused to look toward her. “It wasn’t about you.”

“Oh, it wasn’t?” She lifted a sarcastic brow. “Then exactlywhowas it about when you lied to me, Corbin? When you told me there was nothing in it for you? When you tried to claim my revenge as your own? I thought you were doing me a favor.”

“I was.” He finally looked toward her then. “You want Lucien dead, too. Don’t deny it.”

She shook her head.“That’s not what we agreed.”

She’d planned her revenge and killing Lucien hadn’t been a part of it.

Only seeing him locked up for an eternity would do. Caged like the animal he was.

Unable to escape the consequences of his actions, likeshewas unable to escape the memories of him hurting her.

Or so she’d thought, until tonight.

Facing him had been enough, until the bullets had flown.

And then she had realized Corbin was right. She wanted Lucien dead too, but that didn’t excuse the way he’d lied to her. What kind of woman did that make her?

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