He observed me carefully, his knowing gaze missing nothing. Was that a twitch of his mouth? The rich bastard probably found it amusing to play god with the little people. I regretted ever drooling over him.
Finally, he inclined his head. "Of course. I am not completely unreasonable."
Lord, give me patience. My nose flared again as I inhaled shallow breaths to calm down, but then that delicious scent invaded my senses once more, and I almost closed my eyes in bliss.
"Was there anything else you wanted from me, Mr. Angelou?" I sounded breathless and hypnotized, even to my own ears.
His pupils dilated, bleeding dark again. He really did have the most hypnotic eyes. I had never seen eyes that captivated me so thoroughly that I couldn't drag my gaze away.
Except in my dreams.
An invisible pulley had me stepping forward, my eyes boring into his. Just as quickly, his eyes returned to their typical setting. Back to that mesmerizing icy blue. I frowned, sure that I was seeing things. I glanced up at the high ceilings, taking note of the intricate, subtle lights sunken into them. Contrasting with the tint of the floor-to-ceiling windows, it was plausible that they were altering the shadows.
A brush of skin stroked against my hand, and I jerked my gaze to his, alarmed. But Acheron Angelou was still standing in the same spot; his stare remained concentrated on me. I rubbed at the tingling space on my hand. Did he touch me? I was so sure I'd felt something. But, no. That would be weird.
"Is there anything else I want from you, Alice?" he repeated.
"Yes," I croaked, "before I head out." I now had to spend my evening rearranging my schedule instead of relaxing with my husband as I'd envisioned.
Mr. Angelou's mouth quirked. "There is nothing further Iwantfrom you tonight. However, there are things Ineedfrom you." He paused. "But they can wait."
My brows pulled down at that cryptic comment. "Uh. Right. Well, if that's all, I'll be off then."
My feet were already moving backward toward the door. I had to get out of here. Everything was fucking with me—Acheron Angelou, that maddening scent—my equilibrium was off-kilter.
His full mouth tensed as his eyes tracked my movements. "Farewell, Alice. Until we meet again."
Silently, I turned on legs that weren't quite steady, hurrying to exit the penthouse. His words rang like an ominous threat in my ears.
It was then that I realized the scent—that maddening, pleasure-inducing scent that played havoc with my pheromones—it was coming from him.
Chapter 8
Acheron - Eighteen Months Prior
All seven Territory Kings stared at the spread of photos in silence. The collective unease we all felt at the gruesome scenes was palpable.
Twenty-two bodies were shown in full, explicit color, all piled neatly in the middle of a dark, abandoned warehouse thirty miles outside of Spokane. Their bodies were pale, their faces relaxed in death, the glaring antithesis to what we knew would have been a horror-filled and painful death. To the human eye, the killings appeared to be random, with no rhyme or reason. Men, women, and children were slaughtered indiscriminately.
I surveyed the photos with a clinical eye, noting the position of bodies, the puncture marks, and any other notable disfigurements. As graphic as the photos were, I had seen far worse. Heads decapitated, bodies burning alive. Hell, I had done far worse to those who crossed me. The many BloodKin I had captured had their fingers, toes, and tongues ripped from their bodies before I butchered them without thought.
But there was one glaring difference between the killings laid out on this table and the ones doled out by me. Those Otherly Beings came from the vile dregs of society and deserved their punishment.
These victims, shown so graphically in full color, were innocent. And worse, they were humans—innocent humans torn apart by our own kind.
A few human killings here and there over the years by the BloodKin, while terrible, could easily be excused away to inquiring human minds. A random burglary gone wrong, a suspicious accident, a drifter passing through town. Even though blood draining was highly unusual, it was always explained away by some fumbling coroner.
But twenty-two humans—innocent humans—all drained of blood and left in a careless pile to be found;thatwas difficult to cover up. Once the story leaked, news crews descended on the location in droves. This type of killing did not just make national headlines; it was a worldwide breaking story. Every news station had picked up on the gruesome details and run with it. The limited information they were drip-fed by contacts in law enforcement were discussed at length on news panels and opinion pieces. The media were well-known for sensationalizing their stories, but in this case, there was no need for such embellishments. If anything, their stories were tame, and their theory of a human trafficking ring, while plausible in the human world, was entirely off the mark.
They could not comprehend that the common denominator in these killings, that vital life source that was drained without mercy, was the driving motivation behind the senseless acts. Of course, if they ventured down that path, they would eventually reach a dead end unless they opened their minds to what they deemed impossible.
"They're becoming bold," King Harkin of Ashua commented, breaking the tense silence.
"That’s a fucking understatement," King Damon grumbled. He picked up his gold goblet, downing the contents in one go. His bond-servant stealthily appeared at his side, silently refilling his goblet before disappearing from sight.
The BloodKin's acts of violence against humans had indeed increased. They were no longer hiding their kills or keeping the numbers steadily low.
The mass killings equally horrified and baffled law enforcement. Notable scientists, doctors, and psychologists were flown in for their expert opinions on how and why these killings occurred. Unless one of those experts was versed in the field of Parapsychology, then none of them would come close to the truth. Amateur internet sleuths and conspiracy theorists were more on the money; in fact, they were eerily accurate. But with scientific facts and non-circumstantial evidence as the framework for human deductions, we knew they would never consider a more paranormal conclusion—that Other Beings walked among them.
