Page 42 of The Vampire's Hunter

“Quinn,” Dani echoed, as if it were a chore for her to breathe. She came to stand beside him then, staring at her brother, shaking her head a little, as if for the first time ever he’d disappointed her too. “What did you do?” she breathed, eyes darting toward Lucien momentarily.

“I warned you, Dani,” Quinn said, slipping off his Stetson and placing it over his heart as if in apology. “I warned you there was a split in the organization.”

Corbin didn’t need to hear the steady beat of Dani’s heart to know it’d been ripped in two, decimated by a man who had the gall to consider himself her family. “So, you decided to throw your lot in with the vampire who raped me and come for my boyfriend, too?” She gaped at him.

“To be clear,” Corbin said, in an attempt to lighten the mood, “I am too old to be called anyone’s boyfriend, darling. Only lover will do,” he said, glaring directly at Quinn.

Apparently, he was now taking his cues from Cassandra and Angelo when it came to pettiness. But in this case, he’d take whatever shot he could take.

“There was nothing I could do.” Quinn swallowed. His apology appeared sincere. “I’m sorry, Dani.”

“And I suppose it’s the same for you?” Corbin asked, turning to address the other members of the bloodsucking crowd. “You’d all continue to war amongst yourselves sooner than bow to another?”

Angelo shrugged. “It’s politics. Nothing personal, Corbin. But between me and you, it’ll always be me I choose.” He stroked a hand down Cassandra’s leg. “And Sandy, of course.”

Sandy?Corbin lifted a brow toward Cassandra as if to say,You sell me out and this is the idiot you go running to?

Cassandra shrugged her expression implying,He’s better than you.

At least that was one area in which they were in agreement, because while the other vampires in the room were just as ancient, and lethal as he was,hewas the snake in the Garden, the one precious Eve had been tempted to, and for a man who’d crafted his life as if it were a stage, his last act was hardly through.

“Of course,” Corbin said, his smile twisting into something fierce. “Which is why I planned for your betrayal. All of you.” His eyes turned toward Quinn and Lucien, then to the other bosses of the syndicate. “Consider this fleeting moment my goodbye gift to you.”

11

Corbin’s signal to his men didn’t make the hit any less sudden.

The sound of gunfire was never really something one got used to, or at least Corbin hadn’t, in all his many years. It rattled in his eardrums, ricocheting off the walls as he dropped to the ground beside Dani, dragging her to the ground with him, exactly as they’d planned to do, with some help from Kharis, too. They’d agreed the combination of their individual tactics would be the best move, helping thembothclaim a swift and fierce revenge.

One their enemies would no doubt whisper about for years to come.

The first round passed rather quickly, leaving the floor teeming in blood and bullets. The shattered shards of the stained-glass windows sparkling like jewels.

Slowly, Corbin staggered to his feet. To his surprise, Angelo was the first to move, twitching awake from where he and Cassandra had clutched each other. The other vampire rushed him, meaty fists heaving, but Corbin was ready for him. He fired a shot point-blank, his aim straight into Angelo’s forehead. The other vampire dropped to the ground like a fool.

Corbin would leave his men to finish Angelo for good later.

Mickey came next, his strike swift and sure, his blade cutting across Corbin’s cheek. But Corbin relieved him of his weapon swiftly. Mickey may have been fast on his feet, but Corbin was far older, far more powerful. He gutted the bastard.

Thankfully, for now, the others stayed down, which meant, he’d deal with them later. Swiping the blood Mickey had drawn from his cheek, he climbed the stairs of the altar, retrieving the wooden crucifix Dani had pointed him to. He broke the end of it over one knee, splintering it in two. It wasn’t exactly as a sharp of a stake as he would have liked, but it would have to do.

He made his way over to where Lucien lay then, gurgling as the blood beneath him pooled. He was helpless and vulnerable, as Corbin had once been when Lucien had attacked him, changed him.

“Contrary to what one would think, I’m not one to stand on ceremony, so I won’t ask if you have any last words,” he said, raising the stake in his hands. “You wouldn’t deserve such an utterance anyway, but here are mine and Dani’s last words delivered to you.” He leaned down, drawing so close that only Lucien could hear.

“I hope the devil shoves a blinding hot poker up your arse every day from now until the end of time itself,” he hissed. “Oh, and we can’t forget Dani’s contribution, can we?” Corbin smiled devilishly. “She told me to simply to stab you through your bleeding, undead heart with a cold and rousing fuck you.” Corbin raised the stake over Lucien’s chest. “So, cheers to that, old boy.”

Corbin plunged the broken crucifix down into Lucien’s chest, ending the other vampire in an instant. Blood spray spattered over him, coating him from head to toe, practically bathing him in it. He had half a mind to wear it like a badge of honor, at least until he made love to Dani later in the day.

Dani, who was supposed to be standing at his side, watching him see their plan through.

Corbin rose to his feet, wiping the blood from his eyes with the back of his hand, though it was equally soaked. “Well, I’d say you all played your roles rather well, especially you—” He turned to where Dani should have stood, to where Kharis and Quinn, and the others who’d agreed to join his ruse had started to rise.

But Dani was still lying on the floor, her chest hardly moving.

“Dani?” he said, taking a tentative step toward her. “Dani!”

True fear raced through him.

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