Jaci didn’t know which was more annoying—the sting of his sloppy bite, or the pencil-dick erection poking her stomach—but she didn’t resist him. Just tried to relax as he took his fill.
Slurping. Gulping. Moaning.
Her stomach turned. How she’d managed to live with this pig for so many years without roasting his ass was a damned mystery.
The panther caught her gaze and winked. His pants had tented too.
There was a special word for men who got their kicks overpowering women. Afewspecial words, actually. And as the slimy vampire sucked and slurped from her artery, every last one of them raced through her head.
But tonight, inthismoment, her heart lighter than it’d felt in decades, Jaci had a different word for Renault Duchanes:
Defeated.
Chapter Three
Ten seconds. Fifteen. Thirty.
And away we go…
A new tremor began in Renault’s fingers, terrible and obvious, vibrating into Jaci’s upper arms where he tried in vain to hold tight. One by one, his fingers loosened, finally releasing her. His fangs slid back into his gums, and he sucked in a rattling breath, then unleashed a bloody cough.
Jaci took a step back, narrowly avoiding the spray. “Something wrong, Renault?”
He reached for her again but missed, stumbling and falling to his knees.
“What thefuck?” The asshole panther guard tried to grab her from behind, but Jaci was ready for it. She whirled on him, hitting him head-on with a burst of hellfire.
He was a pile of charred bones before he could even scream.
“Barbecued panther,” she said with a satisfied grin. “That’smykink, asshole.”
Renault coughed again, damn near choking.
“Food allergies?” she asked with a shrug. “You should be more careful about checking the nutrition label before you help yourself to someone’s artery.”
“You’re a… demon?” Renault wheezed. “What… what have you done?”
“Only what you asked me to do. Devise a poison strong enough to kill a vampire? I mean, it didn’t actuallykillDorian Redthorne, but he’s a lot stronger than you.” Jaci shrugged and crouched down in front of him. “Should I start taking bets on how long you’ll survive? Truth be told, you’re not looking so hot, Ren.”
“You… you used my poison? On me?”
She cringed and wrinkled her nose. “Is this, like, an intellectual property thing? I never signed an NDA, so I just assumed… Well, damn. This is awkward.”
One hand clutching his throat, the other reaching for her, Renault turned the loveliest shade of purple. “Give me… the… antidote.”
“I’d love to.” Jaci stood up and stretched, letting out a lazy sigh. “But there’s only one place in the world the antidote exists, and unfortunately for you, it’s not in this warehouse. So if you want to avoid tonight’s express train to hell, you should probably do exactly as I say.”
Lies. There was no antidote, just like there was no imminent death on Renault’s horizon.
The poison she’d crafted tonight was a modified version of the one she’d made on Renault’s orders all those months ago. Unlike its deadlier predecessor, this one was designed to infiltrate Jaci’s bloodstream without harming her, but severely weakening any vampire who fed from her.
Left untreated, it probablywouldkill Renault, but not for a few days at least.
Plenty of time to get what they needed from him.
Gabriel had wanted her to kill the vampire outright, but Jaci refused. Not only was the promise of the non-existent antidote their best leverage for getting Cole back, but the vampire’s heart was the key to breaking the Redthorne curse. She needed him to stay alive tonight.
Besides, making her former master suffer? That was just fucking fun.
