AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I suddenly wanted to vomit all over those sensible but unattractive shoes. Besides being the ugliest of the three, she was also the smartest and a mistress of the bitchly arts. In other words, she was a complication I didn’t need. With a shaky hand, I kept the gun’s unblinking eye trained on the Domina. “Tanith? What. The. Fuck?”
The businesslike smile accentuated Tanith’s unfortunate features.
“Sabina,” she said. “Forgive my presumption in killing the final guard. But time is money and the wait was growing tiresome.”
I blinked in surprise. Giguhl came up behind my back. His claws hooked under my arms and lifted. My feet hit the ground without my aim ever straying from its target. Adam skidded around the trunk to take up position behind one of the most powerful vampires alive.
“Why did you kill your own guard?”
She scowled and crossed her arms. “Your ambush was an unwelcome surprise at first, but as I sat there waiting for my guards to dispose of you I had a sudden flash of inspiration.” She shrugged. “Killing that last guard was the most expedient course of action.”
“What did this flash of inspiration entail exactly?” Adam asked.
The Domina barely spared the mage a scornful glance. With her eyes on me, she said, “Before we discuss that, perhaps you should enact the escape portion of your plan before the backup those guards called arrives.” She paused and narrowed her eyes at us. If she’d been wearing spectacles, she would have lowered them down her nose. “You do have an escape plan, don’t you?”
Even with my gun, a demon, and a mage surrounding her, she stared us down like we were incompetent underlings.
“Of course we have an escape plan. But I’m seriously considering aborting this mission altogether unless you explain yourself. Why did you help us?”
She tilted her head like something I said didn’t compute. “I’m helping myself. Or rather, you will be helping me. I assume your plan is to trade me for your sister?”
I squinted at her, neither confirming nor denying. But her unmitigated gall left me speechless. Like I’d ever help a Domina again after everything they’d put me through.
“Do you honestly believe Lavinia will agree to a trade?” Tanith snorted. “Of course you do. You get that naiveté from your mage side.”
I took a long cleansing breath through my nose. “How about you spend a little less time insulting me and a lot more time explaining why you think I’d ever help you.”
“Because I know where Maisie is. And I have a plan that not only helps you save her, but also ensures this distasteful war business is taken off the table forever.”
“Where is she?” I demanded.
“She’s not in Los Angeles. That’s all I’m willing to tell you until I have certain assurances from both the Hekate Council and Queen Maeve.”
“Now who’s being naive? Or are you forgetting the army you sent a few days ago to kill off most of the mages in New York?”
She held up a finger. “Correction. Lavinia sent that army. It wasn’t until after the attack that she told Persephone and me that she’s formed an alliance with the Caste of Nod.”
The Caste of Nod is a mysterious sect made up of members of all the dark races. As far as I could tell, their goal was to cause me a lot of f**king problems. In New York, they’d orchestrated several attempts on my life because they thought I was destined to unite all the dark races. That’s the last thing they wanted, because only an all-out war between the races would bring on the second coming of Lilith. In other words, they were total wackos. And homicidal ones, at that.
“Assuming I believe Lavinia acted without your knowledge, why haven’t you confronted her?”
She laughed— an awkward, insincere sound. “Surely you haven’t been away long enough to forget how things work here. Confronting the Alpha Dominae is a death sentence.”
I frowned. “But law dictates the three of you share power equally.”
“Despite what the laws state, your grandmother has been the de facto leader of the vampire race for centuries. Persephone and I assist her in running things, of course, but she holds all the real power. At best, she could have the Under Council strip us of our titles. At worst, well …..” She trailed off, knowing she didn’t need to finish the thought. After all, I used to make my living being the worst-case scenario for vamps who pissed off the Dominae.
“What about Persephone?”
Worry lines creased her normally smooth forehead. “Unfortunately, Persephone remains loyal to Lavinia. She’s too weak to be a real threat anyway. As for why I’m here, well, it’s simple.” She adjusted the French cuffs on her white shirt. “I’m double-crossing your grandmother.” She paused to let the concussion from that bombshell sink in. “I’m going to help you find Maisie in return for the Hekate Council and the Queen’s support in my plans.”
“What plans?” I crossed my arms. This ought to be good.
“My plan to become the sole ruler of the Lilim, of course.” Tanith’s lips lifted, flashing a little fang. “In order to take control of the vampire race, I need Lavinia dead and an alliance with the Council and Queen Maeve in my pocket.”
In the stunned silence that followed that announcement, I literally had no idea what to say to her. Instead, I glanced at Adam and waved my gun to indicate I needed a moment of his time. “Giguhl, watch her. She moves an inch, rip off her f**king head.”
The Mischief demon cracked the knuckles of his claws and waggled his scraggly black brows at the ancient vampire. Tanith tapped her toe on the asphalt but otherwise remained unimpressed. With one last parting glare at the Domina, I went to join Adam for a private confab.
“What the f**k?” he asked, crossing his arms.
“That pretty much sums it up for me, too.”
He nodded absently.
I continued, “I don’t suppose we could just kill her now and save ourselves a lot of trouble.”
He gave me one of his Sabina-be-reasonable looks. “Red, I know it’s a curveball, but our goal was to kidnap a Domina, right?”
“Yeah, but—”
“The way I see it, we have two choices.” He counted the options off on his fingers. “We can stand here all night questioning her motives and risk becoming bull’s-eyes for more of her guards. Or we can continue with the plan and get her to a place filled with heavily armed guards of our own and let the leaders sort it out.”
