‘Now you may try and kill me,’ he said. There was a patient, almost amused edge to his smile, as if he’d been standing there, waiting for some time.
I clenched my fists round the chain. What was going on here? I might be distracted enough by eye-candy to not notice time passing, but the imps, not so much, I’d have thought. Ignoring the shooting pains in my biceps that forced me to lift the chain, I glanced at Darius, then back into the flames that flickered like blue gas jets in Malik’s eyes.
‘Your eyes usually glow red, not blue,’ I said, tilting my head speculatively to one side as I added two and two and got rather more than four. ‘Darius is of the Blue Heart blood-family. And the Earl had a habit of stopping time; it was one of his favourite tricks’—except the Earl’s eyes hadn’t lit up; his skin would just turn blue, like fine porcelain, but hey—‘so I’m guessing you didn’t just feed off Darius, you somehow managed to gain some of his bloodline’s power?’
Malik’s smile widened, letting me glimpse fang. ‘Feeding off other vampires has its compensations.’
‘Great,’ I said through gritted teeth as claws raked along the inside of my hip. ‘Any chance you can keep me and the imps suspended until dawn, then let me catch up or something?’
‘The effects are not long-lasting, but it would be possible.’ He stepped towards me, a smooth, careful motion that wasn’t meant to spook me but nonetheless made my heart up its beat. ‘But I do not have until dawn, so we must see how this trick can benefit us now.’
‘Why don’t we have until dawn?’
‘Darius’ blood was poisoned; half an hour is the most time we have.’
Fermented flowers—Nightshade!‘Fuck, so that’s what Hannah meant when she said she’d evened up the odds.’ His vamp-healing would eventually clear the poison from his body, but not before the poison knocked him unconscious while it worked its way through his system, which is never a great option when someone is looking to wrap a chain round your neck and use it to decapitate you.
‘What about him?’ I jerked my head at Darius.
‘I have removed enough of the poison that it now only incapacitates him; it will not be fatal.’
Maybe Malik wasn’t such a messy eater after all.
‘I take it you’ve got a plan?’ I asked, almost doubling up as the imps sent a wave of sharp-teethed pain through my stomach. ‘Because I’m not sure I can hold off from trying to kill you for much longer.’
‘Of course.’ He inclined his head, an amused smile crossing his face. ‘We shall give them all what they want: a show.’
‘Okay,’ I said doubtfully, ‘except I’m not sure there’s going to be much “show” on my part.’
He spread his hands, his mouth quirking. ‘Ladies first.’
I swung the lighter cuff end of the chain, twirling it in short circles around my head, getting its momentum up, then snapped it out with a flick of my wrist, the movements as automatic as if I’d performed them a hundred times before ... which maybe my body had, just not with me in it. The chain snaked out lasso-like and thudded around Malik’s neck—
—or actually, rattled into empty space and thudded on the carpet.
Malik was standing three feet to the left, his arms loose and easy at his sides, his gaze steady.
I yanked the chain back, whipped it low behind me and lashed out again. He shifted and raised his arm, catching the chain and holding it firm while I started to pull, using all my vampire strength. I might have been trying to heave a mountain. He laughed, the sound shivering over me like a teasing spring breeze with just a hint of the heat to come, then let go, and I stumbled back, crashing into the desk, sending the laptop bouncing to the floor. I screamed with rage and the imps inside me jumped with excited glee, egging me on. I hefted the chain, reversing it so I was swinging the collar like a mace. The weight of it felt wrong, lopsided, but I let it fly, aiming for his chest, willing it to keep straight and true. He dodged, but it caught him a glancing blow in the ribs, and the sound of them cracking was as loud as breaking ice. Inside me the imps cheered as he staggered back, nostrils flaring, blue fire blazing in his eyes.
‘A lucky hit,’ he said softly.
‘Maybe not,’ I said, just as softly, remembering how he’d opened the bedroom door earlier. ‘ Isn’t Rosa your blood, and don’t you have some sort of kinetic powers?’
‘ Rosa is of my blood, but she did not inherit all my abilities.’
‘Don’t bet on it.’ I said as I pulled the chain back and swung it round, all in one easy movement, then let it loose again.
Malik moved like a pale blur over the bed, but I was ready, using my will to guidethe chain, aiming for his head. He dived and rolled, and the collar connected, though it hit his shoulder blade instead of his skull. He rolled again, coming up hard against the window, and I flicked my wrist, the chain snaking out towards the larger target of his torso.
But before it hit he was rolling again, regaining his feet and lunging at me. His shoulder thudded into my stomach, lifting me up and driving me back.
My back hit the wall first, then my head, and the plaster gave way, debris exploding everywhere. I dropped the chain and grabbed for Malik as it clanked to the floor. I screamed, digging my fingers into his back and scoring my nails down his skin.
Hissing in pain, he heaved me up and over his head, throwing me into the glass wall. It cracked with a sound like a thousand gunshots, bowed outwards ... and gave way, and I stared down into the empty air, feeling the music thumping like a giant’s heartbeat in my head as tiny chunks of glass fell like sparkling ice cubes towards the oblivious dancers thirty feet below.
I hung suspended, my toes balanced on the edge, my arms windmilling back, desperately trying not to fall.
It would hurt, a lot, but it wouldn’t kill me; Rosa’s body would heal the damage.
But the crowd of humans below? Their bodies were way more fragile.
The imps chortled with glee while, panicked, I tried to force myself back—
Then relief washed over me as I realised I was suspended, in time as well as space; I wasn’t going to fall.
Malik’s arm encircled my waist and the hard edges of the gold-metal bikini dug into my back where he pulled me hard against him. Then the gold collar closed round my neck and his voice shouted in my mind, ‘ Now we fly, Genevieve!’
My pulse started speeding, the imps squealed in ecstasy and he stepped out and launched us into the air.
‘But vampires can’t fly,’ I screamed, the sound lost ...
Chapter Twenty-Two
We floated in time and space as the lights strobed around us in a brilliant multi-coloured net of beams, and music, too loud, too harsh and too fleeting for my mind to decipher any recognisable rhythm, bashed against my ears. Salty sweat and clashing scents—perfumes, aftershaves, deodorants and fruity drinks—rose up on a miasma of body heat that visibly shimmered in the criss-crossed strobe lights. And reverberating through it all, like a beacon call to my blood, was the discordant bass-beat of a thousand hearts pulling me under, a tidal wave of pulses drowning me in the metallic tang of hunger and longing and need, until all that existed was prey...
An expanse of empty floor opened below us: the hot, glowing bodies of the excited humans were being herded by cooler shadows—vampires, their hearts still and quiet, their faces blank and closed—who were putting themselves between me and my prey.
Not that it would save them.
My bare feet touched down on the wooden floor, the arm around my waist loosened and I straightened, breathing in the scent of recently taken blood. The ache in my jaw intensified and I knew I couldn’t be content with a sip this time; the incandescent itch in my veins urged me on. The encircling crowd drew away as I stalked towards the nearest rosy-hued humans, the anxious, high-pitched laughs and frantic pulse-beats almost lost beneath the heavy beat of the body-vibrating music. I reached out with my mind, intent on locking them in place, not bothering with my usual cat-and-mouse; just needing to devour. The nearest was young. He grinned nervously at me, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. My gaze snagged on the pulse jumping under his jaw and I snarled, lips curling back from my fangs. His eyes widened, pupils dilating in sudden fear, then my mind closed like a steel-trap around his, his face blanked with mind-lock and the connection between us quivered like a plucked string. I reached out and grabbed the minds of a dozen glowing bodies around him, anchoring them to my will, holding them ready: easy prey.