Gabriel took her hand. Squeezed. The momentary lightness they’d shared drained away in an instant, and Jaci sucked in a deep breath, trying to gather her strength.
For so many years, she’d fantasized about this day. A day when the man who’d tormented her for years would finally be athermercy, subject to all the pains and miseries he’d unleashed on her. She’d dreamed about mutilating his body, about violating him, about burning him with hellfire from the inside out. She’d dreamed about manipulating his mind so thoroughly it would shatter, sending him into a deep, irreparable psychosis.
She’d dreamed about payback.
But now that the moment was upon her, Jaci didn’t want any of those things. Those were Renault’s methods. His sick pleasures. His games. Now, with the vampire chained and bound before her, completely vulnerable to her every whim, all she wanted to do was speak her fucking mind.
“For seven years, I worked for you willingly,” she said. “I gave you everything you needed from a bonded witch, and a lot more you didn’t need, but merely wanted. Spells for your personal gain, poisons and hexes against your so-called enemies. I performed for you, followed your orders, did whatever you needed me to do to impress your friends. You used me. Fed from me. Passed me around like a party favor. Left me to torture and torment at the hands of demons and vampires who makeyoulook like a sweet little kitten.”
A shudder ran through her body as the memories bombarded her—so many hands on her skin, so many mouths and tongues and teeth and fangs. Breaking, tearing, taking. Pain and threats. Power wielded and abused.
Gabriel moved closer, his hand coming to rest at the base of her neck, squeezing gently. Letting her know he was there. Giving her strength.
“I never understood why,” she said. “Money? Status? Entertainment? Some sick little fantasy you could to jerk off to later?”
“No, I…” Renault coughed again. “I was only trying to—”
She held up her hand, cutting him off. “I used to lie awake at night wondering what I’d done to deserve you. Sometimes I thought it was my fault—bad karma. Other times I thought maybe I reminded you of your mother or some asshole ex-girlfriend who’d done you wrong. I kept thinking if I could just figure out what set you off so badly, I could change it. Do a little glamour spell, change my looks, my voice, something. I wanted answers, Renault. So many answers. But I needed the job—more than you’ll ever understand—so I kept my mouth shut and did as I was told. All of it. Without fail. Even when it was killing me inside. Even when I knew other people—innocent people—would get hurt because of my actions. My so-called loyalty to my bonded vampire house.”
A tear slid down her cheek, but she didn’t brush it away. She didn’t care if Renault saw her crying now. If he thought she was weak. Shewasn’tweak. She wasneverweak.
She was a fuckingsurvivor.
“Now I’ve got you here,” she continued. “Chained up. Broken. I could force you to answer my questions. To put that perpetual ‘why’ at rest. But you know something?” Jaci let out a laugh—quiet and breathy, but real. With every word she spoke, her heart felt stronger, brighter, as if it’d been corroded by everything she’d locked inside it and was just now remembering how to beat. To heal. “I don’t give a fuck anymore, Renault. What you did was wrong, and you know it.”
“But I was only—”
“No. The ‘why’ of it doesn’t matter. Your bullshit excuses don’t matter. What matters is that it’s over. What matters is that you’ll never hurt me—or anyone else—again.”Jaci slammed her hand into his chest, hitting him with another burst of hellfire.
Through a hacking cough, he said, “So this is payback?”
“No. This is leverage.” She ran her hand up the IV line again, disgust curling her lip. Confession time was over. She needed answers of a different sort—the only ones that still mattered. “You’remyprisoner now, you sick fuck. And you’re going to tell me everything I want to know about your plans.”
“What… what plans?”
Jaci rolled her eyes and turned to Gabriel. “You’re up, Bad Cop. Apparently, I’m still not speaking Renault’s language.”
“Bad cop? No, we talked about this. I’m Worse Cop.You’reBad Cop.”
“Prove it.”
“With pleasure.” Gabriel grinned, then punched a hole right through Renault’s thigh, wrapping his hand around the bone.
Renault howled, blood spilling from the wound, his vampire healing abilities dampened by the poison.
“You know the best thing about femurs?” Gabriel tightened his grip, unleashing another screech of pain from the prisoner. “They really are a multi-purpose bone. Good for bashing eye sockets, sure. But also excellent for cracking skulls and knocking sense into the brains of prisoners too stupid to realize they’ve got no other options.”
“I don’t know what you want!” Renault cried out. “You and Dorian… Your brothers… This witch… You took everything from me.Everything!Now I’m just trying to get by, and—”
“Kidnapping and torturing shifters,” Gabriel said. “Breeding grays in a warehouse in Jersey. That’s you’re idea of getting by?”
“I… I’m just…” Renault squeezed his eyes shut, gritting his teeth against the pain. “I’m trying to… to prepare. I need to prepare.”
Gabriel finally released him, and Renault exhaled, his muscles quaking. Blood slid down his leg, pooling on the ground.
“Prepare for what, bloodsucker?” Gabriel asked.
No response.
