Page 2 of Hunters and Prey

Those watching her from their ornate windows in their elegant manor house, pulling silk and velvet curtains an inch, hiding in the shade, didn't feel like failures. They remembered that they were butchers.

Most vampires were killers, predators, but they killed to eat, or to defend their land, their territory, their family. The massacre in Skyhall had been nothing short of a slaughter, born of greed and fear. They'd used the one day the Eirikrson gathered to celebrate every year and, descending upon them with an army, they'd killed them all.

Viola parked her bike in front of Skyhall, attempting to hide her irritation. A man was waiting for her. Before she'd even smelled him or seen him from a distance, she'd known who it was.

"Punctual as usual, slayer."

She ignored him altogether, pretending his six-foot-three of muscles and sexiness didn't exist.

In another life, she'd seen every single piece of his skin, kissed it, touched it, claimed it. He'd done the same to her, and worse.

"Come on, Vi. You lived with those monsters for a mere hundred years. It's been five hundred years since they've been taken care of. Time to let it go, don't you think?"

Most years, she managed not to say a thing. This time wasn't one of them.

"Taken care of," she repeated, baring her teeth.

Her fangs came out, sharp and pointed.

Alexius wisely held his hands up in surrender.

"Easy, darling."

"I'm not your darling, I'm not a slayer, I'm not anything. Leave me the fuck alone."

Alexius sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"True. But you could be. I don't know one family on this hill who wouldn't sell their heirs to have you defending their banners. You were spectacular, Viola. You still are."

Viola snorted. Yes, she was very good at killing, like anyone trained and turned by the Eirikrson.

"So, that's what you want? For me to serve you?"

She should have guessed.

Alexius's jaw tightened.

"I want you back in my bed, and at the head of my table, and on the council, where you belong. But you swearing to another house—any house—would be a start."

Viola snorted. "I don't think you understand how vows work, for those of us who have honor."

She's sworn to the Eirikrson, and that was that, end of story.

"You swore to serve them until death. Theirs or yours. Well, newsflash: they're dead, Viola. All of them are dead."

"You cowards saw to that."

He ignored her jibe. "Which releases you from that vow."

It should have. The mark at the nape of her neck should have disappeared as the last of the Eirikrson bled out on the marble of Skyhall.

But the mark was still there. Wordlessly, she turned, lifting her hair to show him. His eyes darkened.

"You know why this is still there. It doesn't mean a thing. He's as good as dead."

Alexius was talking about the monster locked deep inside the hill to their right, the creature who'd founded the Eirikrson house.

He didn't understand. Viola's vows had been said in private, and he'd never heard them, but they'd been very specific.

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