Page 12 of Trapped By the Blood Ruby

“Amplifiers are extinct,” Marco said.

“And yet, here she sits⁠—“

“Stop talking about me like I’m invisible. What is an amplifier?”

Laurent shot her a glare, irritated by her question—by her very existence, minus the blood. He turned back to his second.

“You realize what this means, Sarkas? This could change everything.”

“I am aware, but only if I use her when the timing’s right.”

Lily’s jaw dropped. “Use me?”

Marco turned to Lily with an arrogant smirk. “Your blood would make Laurent Sarkas the most powerful vampire in existence.”

“What?” she choked, eyes darting between them.

“That’s what amplifier blood does, pet. It amplifies power. Laurent Sarkas is already one of our kind’s oldest. Your blood would make him…unstoppable.”

Marco had left out one key point. Whatever power boost he would receive from Lily’s blood would be temporary. It might last a few days, but it would fade. It always did.

Lily’s face turned red. She pinned him with her piercing eyes. “You think I’ll let you turn me into a vampire soda machine?”

Laurent blinked.

Marco scoffed and said, “Vampire soda machine? Certainly not. There’d be no refills, pet. He’d wait for the opportune moment. That’s how he operates. Ask him what happened to the other amplifiers.”

She stared at Marco, her fragile heartbeat so beautiful, so quick, so fearful. Marco heard it too and his smirk widened.

“All right, Marco, enough.” He rubbed at the place between his eyebrows. There came a point when living lost its luster. More often than not, he wondered if he’d reached it.

Marco merely shrugged. Intimidation tactics were his specialty. It’s why he did much of Laurent’s dirty work.

Lily jumped to her feet, fists clenched. “You’re all monsters. Fucking monsters. I’ve had enough. Let me go! Now.”

Marco laughed. “Oh, she’s funny. I like her already.”

“Miss Shaw,” Laurent drawled. “Sit down.”

He didn’t will her. Didn’t need to. It would have been easier if he had.

When the silence stretched between them, she finally sat. Her exaggerated glare reminded him of a tiny dog with a loud bark—pointless. Especially when he knew exactly how she felt. Perhaps it was time to help her understand the situation.

“I find myself at a crossroads, Miss Shaw. Alive, you are a liability. If I’m lucky, a weapon. Dead, you even the playing field. How then should I proceed?”

Her mouth opened, only to snap closed.

“I could let you live, let you go home⁠—“

“I vote for that.”

“—except that my enemies would find you almost immediately. Your scent was all over the Yoshiki mansion. That demon I was tracking? He would hunt you down.”

Demon? she mouthed.

“Or I could keep you alive and cared for, right here, under my protection, until I have need of you. I assure you, I can find many advantageous uses for you.”

Her jaw tightened. “Yeah, like auctioning me off to the highest bidder?”