The effect was immediate. Cassius’s confident advance faltered, his expression shifting from predatory hunger to something approaching fear. “That was a long time ago.” His voice had lost its certainty.
“Not that long. I remember it perfectly. The way she begged. The way she screamed. The way she finally broke when I showed her exactly how creative I could be with a set of silver shackles and a very sharp knife. Do you know shebeggedfor it? She hated you. Loathed you. Never wanted to be turned in the first place. She wanted freedom. Wanted to be broken. I was more than eager to do it. Mother told you not to make her, and you did anyway. And I was sent to clean up your mess. Ironic, really, when you think about it now.”
Nadi felt her stomach turn. This was a side of Raziel she’d heard about but never witnessed firsthand. The psychological warfare and the casual cruelty that had made him the most feared enforcer in the vampire world were legendary.
But it was working. Cassius’s hand that gripped the switchblade was shaking slightly.
“You see,” Raziel continued, beginning to approach the older vampire like a predator stalking wounded prey, “I learned something important that night with her. About you. About how you failed to give her what she really needed. She prayed for death because you failed her.”
“Shut up,” Cassius whispered.
“She called your name, you know. Right at the end. ‘Cassius, help me.’ Over and over again. But you couldn’t help her, could you? You couldn’t even find her body when I was done.”
“Shut up!” Cassius lunged forward, slashing his knife through the air in a blind arc at the other vampire.
Raziel wasn’t there.
He easily stepped around the blade, smooth and effortless, one hand catching Cassius’s wrist while the other drove up under his ribcage.
Cassius grunted, his eyes wide, frozen in horror and pain.
“Beg,” Raziel whispered. “Beg me for your life, and I might make this quick. Fight me, and I’ll take my time. I’ll make that night with your little pet look like a child’s game compared to what I do to you.”
The proud vampire’s resolve cracked. “Please,” Cassius gasped. “Please, I?—”
Raziel’s hand drove upward, fingers punching through muscle and bone with a thick wetsquelch.
Cassius had time for one last gurgling scream before Raziel ripped his heart from his chest, the suctioning sound almost making Nadi heave up her breakfast onto the floor.
Raziel held up the heart with idle fascination, observing it in the facility’s flickering light.
“Disappointing.” Raziel’s tone was disinterested as he let the body and the heart drop to his feet.
“Mother moon…” Nadi whispered. She’d known Raziel was capable of violence, but this level of psychological manipulation followed by clinical brutality was something else.
A fresh hail of bullets sent Raziel ducking behind the container where Nadi had taken shelter. “I am beginning to suspect this whole effort was a setup.” Raziel smirked. “I think we should get out of here, little murderer of mine.”
Nadi didn’t want to consider it. But their lack of company from the other Iltanis was fairly obvious. Either things wentspectacularlywrong, or they had no intention of ever joining them. “I think you’re r?—”
“What a massive mess this all has turned out to be!” A voice cut through the bullets. “Enough with all the noise, will you? Shit, it echoes in here. You’re going to give me a headache!”
The voice made Nadi’s voice run as cold as ice.
No. No, it couldn’t be.
Raziel grimaced, baring his fangs.
It wasLana.
But she wasn’t alone. There were multiple sets of footsteps with her. And angry voices.
“—told you this would happen,” a woman was saying. “This marriage has made every fae clan think they can take shots at us with impunity.”
“Both of you, shut up. They’re not being bold, they know this is their last stand. I shouldn’t be surprised you’re both still alive! Oh, do come out, brother dear, won’t you? And Nadi, we can still sort this out.”
Nadi grabbed Raziel’s arm, pulling him into the shadows behind one of the massive processing vats.
“Who is that with her?” Raziel whispered.
