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Castor lifted his chin. “To show the world that the Grand High Pair are not fit to hold their positions. If a man such as me—not a master vampire, not one with a terribly impressive ability—can end the life of one of their pets in their own backyard and then escape, my kind will realise that the pair are not strong enough to lead and protect. There will be an uprising. Someone more suited to being in power will take their place, and then things will go back to the way they were. The new laws will be gone. The old ones will return.”
“Or you’ll just get caught, and this will all have been a waste of time.”
“I see you are banking on your disappearance leading to a search and rescue mission.” He pursed his lips. “Perhaps it will. Damien does seem to be protective of you.”
Hearing his name made my heart squeeze. If I did die here, he’d never know how much I cared for him. Why had it only minutes ago seemed so important that he didn’t find out? And why had I only now realised that I didn’t merely care for him, I loved the big bastard? Okay, so maybe I had known it before now, I just hadn’t been comfortable admitting it to myself.
“Of course he is,” I said, straining to keep my voice cool and even. “I’m his vessel. I’m under his protection. Another reason why killing me wouldn’t be the greatest idea.”
Castor gave me a pitying sigh. “My dear Lexi … how naïve you are. You give Damien too much credit. Oh, he would probably wish to avenge you if you were killed. But it is not because he feels anything for you. You are no more than a toy. One he appears to like playing with very much, but still just a toy.”
Colm nodded with another of those callous smirks. I was seriously starting to despise this dude.
“There would likely be outrage if you were murdered, but it would not last,” Castor went on. “You would quickly be forgotten. Humans pass on each and every day. They hold no real significance to us. In other words, you have left no mark on Damien, despite what you might think. His grief, however deep it might be, would be short-lived. We will not have to test that theory, however, as I do not intend to kill you.”
I fought a frown. He’d earlier said something about ending my life in the backyard of the Grand High Pair, yet now he was declaring it wasn’t his intention to kill me? The vamp was making no sense. But I didn’t point that out, because if his plan to obliterate me had suddenly changed, that could only be a positive thing.
“If you don’t want to kill me, what do you want?” I asked.
“Is it not obvious?” Castor was directly in front of me in the blink of an eye, his face hard as stone, his eyes two pools of scorn. “I intend to give you what you deserve before Colm and I disappear from this godforsaken place. You will pay in blood for the hours of pain I endured because of you.”
“Because of me?” I echoed. “We’re really back to that again? Do you always blame others for your fuck-ups, or am I just special that way? Come on, you can’t possibly have thought that you could flout the rules and not face the consequences.”
“Ridiculous rules,” he muttered. “If I had thought they would be enforced, I wouldn’t have bothered to even apply to reside at The Hollow. Sam and Jared are incredibly stupid if they think vampirekind as a whole will ever see humans as anything other than what they are—food.” He roughly tangled his hands in my hair. “Let’s get this done, shall we?”
My heart slammed against my ribs. “Punishing me won’t punish Chanel,” I blurted out.
He went so unnaturally still it was eerie. “Where did you hear that name?”
“Dion was in a chatty mood.” I licked my lips. “It must be a bitch that you can’t get closure, considering she’s dead and all. But I’m not her.” Fuck, Damien, where are you?
“You are so very like her, though. Isn’t she, Colm?”
“Too like her,” said Colm.
Castor licked the edge of his incisor as he stared at me. “I remember the first time I saw you. You smiled at me, but it was not real, just as her smiles never were. Again and again I approached you at the club. You were polite enough, but it was clear that you didn’t consider me worthy of your time. She was much the same. People were expected to wait on her. No one was considered her equal. I should have snapped her pretty little neck, but I didn’t. A woman much more precious than you or her could ever be died because of that. Chanel had her murdered.”
