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“Deaths?”
His throat bobbed, and he brought a hand to the back of his neck. He averted his gaze, slowly turning his head to look behind him. As he moved, I ran my arm through the narrow bars, gripping his throat in my hand. I basked in the vibration of his low scream, reverberating in his windpipe. Grasping tighter, I forced his face against the wrought iron until we were inches apart.
“There is no peace,” I spat, our noses almost touching. “No happiness, only relentless torture beyond this veil. Do you fear death, Hamza?”
His eyes widened, a thread of fear swimming in his dark stare. A tremble shook his fingers as he clawed at my own, but rage locked my grasp on him tight.
I continued. “The Reaper hides in the shadows, knowing a person’s fate. She knew mine until Olivia changed it. I was supposed to die down here, yet destiny now has me on the other side of these bars. But you…” A sadistic smile crept over my lips. “…you will die today. There will be no reprieve or escape. You will never feel pleasure again.”
“If you kill me, you’ll be signing your own death warrant, too,” he warned.
“I don’t care.”
“All of this for some girl,” he spat back, clenching his teeth.
“It’s not just her,” I growled, digging my nails into his skin until his breaths grew shallow. “You don’t get to take away anyone’s free will.” He struggled to force another word, but I didn’t want to hear what the sack of shit had to say. “The Reaper is here. I can feel Death in this room, and she’s ready to drag your soul to the underworld.”
“No,” he spluttered, fighting to push back, but the poison they’d given him slowed his movements. I remembered being fed the vile drink, which stole my strength, then starved of blood, making me too weak to escape.
I lifted my chin. “I no longer fear death or darkness.”
His panicked pleas slowly faded, and he laughed as his blood ran like streams between his teeth. “Do you search for redemption?” he gurgled as I loosened my grip on his neck. “Sebastian Vangard, the first vampire to go to the heavens.”
I shook my head, the cold seeping into my bones as death neared. “It’s not my soul you need to worry about.” As soon as I let go, he stumbled to the back of the cell, rubbing his throat. I pulled the key from my pocket, dangling the heavy thing from a piece of string. “I lied about why the guards left. They didn’t believe me when I said Sargon was allowing me to see you,” I explained, rebuking his assumptions earlier. “But there are ways to get even the loyalist of men to turn the other cheek.”
“How didyoumanage that?”
“Everyone assumes Zach’s wife is a nobody.” I smiled to myself. “Anna prefers it that way. Who takes notice of a mere mortal in a castle of vampires? She’s always been the best keeper of secrets, moving between immortals, invisible. She knows everything there is to know about everyone here, including the guards who were protecting you.”
His nostrils flared, pressing his back up against the wall. “You mean keeping me here?”
“They were all that stood between you and me.” I swung the key around my finger. “I don’t want to be redeemed, Hamza. It’s too late for creatures like you and me, but it's not for someone like Olivia, Anna, or Erianna. If the only good thing I do in my life is to take you out of their world, then I will die with a smile on my face.”
“You took the key from them.”
“Every man has a price. The guards have secrets Anna found out, ones we could use against them.”
“What are you going to do, Sebastian? Kill me? Don’t be so predictable.” He wiped the last of the blood from his mouth. The wounds on his throat from my fingers had already healed. “I have connections, you know this. You’re a smart man. We can come to an agreement.”
“I will never make a deal with you.” I unlocked the cell and strode inside.
He put his hands up as I closed the distance between us. “You don’t want this life either. Being a prince consort means you’ll be just as much of a prisoner as me. Ruling under Sargon’s commands, with no power, forced to marry someone you don’t want. It will destroy you. I can help you get away from here. My friends from the south are coming. I sent word after she melted me.” His lip twitched, his nose scrunching as he relived the memory. “That’s why I’m not dead yet. Sargon won’t anger all those loyal to me. He doesn’t know what to do, and if you kill me, they will hunt you for it. But if you let me go now, we can both escape.” He nodded. “You are not my enemy. I know you’ll make the smart decision.”
Laughing, I ran my fingers through my hair and looked from the ground up to him. “I’d rather die than make a deal with you.”
“You’re not a killer.” He balled his fists, and I stepped back, leaving a couple of feet between us. “You were always better than that.”
“Those are the words of a desperate man, and you’re wrong.” I pulled Erianna’s dagger from my pocket and ran my fingertip along the sharp blade. “This dagger is infused with magic. It ensures that wounds don’t so easily heal, even on immortals.”
“Wait! Don’t! What are you doing?”
I spun the dagger in my hand, licking my lips. “Let’s just say you'll wish you were dead when I’m done with you.”
***
The hour Zach, Anna, and Erianna had given me was up. I slumped back against the wall, blood soaking every part of me and the cell. Some had dried, clinging to the rock. A pool of crimson surrounded Hamza’s head. His still heart was discarded against the dirt in the dungeon's corner, a rat nibbling on the meat. I’d enjoyed torturing him—more than I wanted to let on.
As I sat, surrounded by body parts, I smiled. He would no longer hurt anyone else. The sick fuck took what he wanted, making others powerless against him, and it brought me great joy to take that from him in the end. His pleas for mercy still rang in my ears from when I cut him apart.
