Page 25 of Can't Bite This Feeling
“I just want what’s best for my community,” she lies.
“Of course you do, deary.”
The words taste like sulfur on my tongue. I sound likehim.And yet… it thrills me.
I handed her the tools—the blood-dagger, the parchment, the black quill. She doesn’t hesitate. Another name, another soul.
I continue through the market, high on power, my skin buzzing with it. I’ve exceeded my quota by months, and still I hunt more.
Until something snags.
Not outside me. Inside.
A gap. A hollow. Something I’ve forgotten.
Her.
Drusilla.
My footsteps falter, and for the first time in days—weeks?—the rush ebbs. Panic slithers in to take its place. I can’t rememberthe last time I saw her. Touched her. Two weeks ago? Three? My pulse kicks hard, dread scratching at the back of my throat like claws on stone.
I turn sharply, ready to blink to the manor I built for her, only to collide with a presence far colder.
Lucifer.
He stands in front of me, wearing a grin too wide for his face.
“What have you done?” I growl, refusing to bow. I never bow to him. I neverwill.
“Oh, nothing dramatic,” he purrs, circling me like a predator in velvet. “You’re doing brilliantly, Rapha. Better than Mammon, honestly. He fell apart the moment he fell in love with Priscilla.”
“Penelope,” I correct, though Gods know why I bother.
Lucifer waves a dismissive hand. “But you, Rapha? You’ve embraced your purpose.” He bats his lashes, coy and cruel. “You’ve almost forgotten about her.”
His words burn worse than holy fire.
“I haven’t?—”
“Oh?” He tilts his head. “Then why haven’t you visited her? Held her? Touched her?” A cruel smile blooms. “You were going to ruin her. Youwantedto. But now… you crave the ruin itself. She’s just a memory, isn't she?”
A figure materializes behind him, and I stagger.
Cassian.
Her father.
The man who drove a stake through her heart.
“What did you do?” My question is a snarl.
Lucifer giggles, waving a lazy hand. “He had such a tragic little story, didn’t he? I figured we’d let him tell it himself. Maybe she wasn’t the innocent you made her out to be?”
He snaps his fingers, and we’re instantly transported to a decadent villa overlooking the sea. The pool glows with soft magic. Lucifer drapes himself across a sun lounger like a serpent sunning itself.
Cassian steps into the light, his armor ancient, his face hard and haggard, but it’s hisaurathat makes me flinch. He isn’t human anymore. He’s a revenant, reborn with cursed magic and infernal hunger.
“She betrayed our bloodline,” Cassian spits. “Laid with a vampire. Became a creature of darkness. I cleansed her.”
