She doesn’t answer, but she does move away from me. “I know who made you. It was Lucca… Lucca Della Morte.”
Ah hell.
Sixteen
VAUGHN
Iget up slowly, but only because Sophie is looking at me with innocent doe eyes, and I’m afraid that will change if I make any brusque movements. Maybe it’s all in my head, and she’s just pretending right now before she pounces. Just because she isn’t projecting an aggressive stance, and she was in a pitiful state a minute ago, doesn’t mean she isn’t dangerous.
“You got that from drinking my blood?” I ask.
She braces her hand against the coffee table, and on impulse, I offer her my hand to help her get back on her feet. She stares at it for a couple of beats before she accepts the help.
Tingles spread from my hand and up my arm. I must be imagining things. There’s no chance that touching her did that to me. Weirdly enough, she massages her palm once I drop her hand.
“Yes. I told you blood remembers. Lucca never bothered to teach you that?”
I take a step back, not keen to answer the question. “What else did you learn?”
She tilts her head, and then her gaze darkens. Oh shit. Here we go. The truce is over.
“I saw what happened to you. How you became a vampire. Boone led the attack against your friends. You were collateral damage.”
I curl my hands into fists, and I know my eyes must be glowing red because I feel pretty mad about the topic. “Yes.”
“And Lucca killed him?”
Her pulse accelerates. That means something, I’m just not sure exactly what.
I nod. “He ripped his heart out with his bare hand. Does that upset you?”
She winces almost as if she wasn’t expecting the question. “Boone was no friend of mine. I hope he rots in hell.”
Now it’s my turn to be surprised. “Aren’t you on Tatiana’s side?”
She opens and closes her mouth. Then she crosses her arms. “I’m not answering that.”
“After our encounter at Night Crawlers, I tried to find out who you were. I couldn’t get much information, but one thing Idoknow is that you aren’t one of King Raphael’s supporters.”
Her nostrils flare, and a flash of red shines in her eyes. “You mean the usurper king?”
I arch my brows. “Usurper king? Is that what you guys call the rightful king of your race? Do you even know why Tatiana hates his guts so much?”
A myriad of emotions swirl in her eyes, and I wonder what lies she’s been fed her entire life. If she got glimpses of my memories through drinking my blood, then she knows Lucca is not the bad guy.
“Hellooo. Can someone get me out of here?” the talking cat whines from inside the wooden chest. I totally forgot about her.
“Tish? What are you doing there?”
I move farther away from the chest in case the cat decides to come after me again.
“Lover boy stuck me here.”
“It was that or toss you out the window,” I retort.
Sophie takes Tish out and holds her against her chest. I’m grateful for that because the cat is seriously giving me the death glare.
“You got the information you wanted from me,” I say. “Am I free to go, or do I need to fight you to get out?”
