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“What’s he ever done to you? If you were that hungry, you should have gone hunting for something your own size, or—God forbid—even come to me. You didn’t h-have to…k-kill…Eddie.” Her spike of fury disintegrated into sobbing, hiccupping, and inconsolable misery.
He shook his head in denial and disbelief. “No, no, no.” He took the three steps required to reach the two huddled women and dropped to his knees. Flattening both hands against his chest, he tried again. “I did not do this. You know this. You know me. You know!”
Cassidy bolted to her feet, hands curling into fists at her sides. “I know? Hell, no, I don’t know! You won’t let me know anything about you anymore. You’re too busy being a vampire, doing God-knows-what and fuck your humanity. Fuck us.” She was shaking now. “Why the hell are you even still here? I’m done with this. I’m done with you. You hear me? Done!”
He stared up at her, as helpless as he had ever been, awash in shock and agony.
“Your destiny will not be denied, blood-child,” Serge said quietly. “You know what you must do.”
Did he? He certainly knew what he wanted to do—take her into his arms, drink from her, flow into her mind. Show her the truth of what he had actually done rather than what she only imagined.
“No,” he whispered, getting up. That could not happen.
Cassidy stooped to retrieve Eddie’s body and turned toward the door.
“Wait,” he said, grabbing at her elbow with the tips of his fingers. “Whether or not you believe me, I did not do this. But someone did, and for all our sake, I need to know who.”
“Get. Your hand. Off me.”
Samantha took up position beside Cassidy, her eyes—bright blue and suddenly hard as her brother’s—running him through where he stood. “You heard her.”
Dominique moved his hand from Cassidy to the feline body in her arms. So soft, like silk brushing his fingertips. His heart dropped to his knees. He had never touched the little brother like this while he lived. Bending forward, he inhaled. The killer’s scent was well masked in the animal fur and ragged wound, but it was there. Something sweet, floral…
Gardenia.
He took several quick steps back and spun around, all his senses stretching to their limits. No other trace of her drifted in the night. No vampire aura glowed in the shadows. In the east, the sky glowed pale gray. By now, she must be near her sanctuary and miles away.
Serge took an assessing sniff of the body and gave a soft growl. “It is she then?”
“It is her,” Dominique confirmed as fear slid into his gut. She had been here—in his lair—while he was distracted, grappling with the demons she had set loose in him. While Cassidy slept upstairs, defenseless.
Bijou would have been in the house to find Eddie, and could have just as easily left Cassidy’s drained and broken corpse on the front porch for him to find.
The realization made him gasp.
Cassidy sneered with disgust. “You’re taking a page out of Jackson’s book now and blaming someone else? Fuck off. Both of you.”
“No, wait,” Samantha said, stopping Cassidy from retreating. “She? She, who?”
Serge looked between Samantha and Dominique, imploring him to speak up, but he couldn’t. The horror of knowing how close she had come to dying blanked his mind and robbed him of speech.
“There is another blood-drinker,” Serge offered, fidgeting. “She has been driving Dominique mad.”
“She?” Cassidy said, and Dominique’s heart clenched against his ribs. Acid dripped from her tongue. “Well, that explains everything now, doesn’t it? Obviously, Jackson was right when he said you’d get tired of me. What’s it to be then? You walk away? Turn me?”
“Mon Dieu, non!”
“So you’ll kill me then? Good to know.”
“No!” Shock reverberated in his bones. Jackson, that piece of filth, had lost no time cultivating her fears and doubts. Pain and contempt blazed in her eyes—pain of his betrayal, contempt for what he was. Jackson could not have landed a cleaner blow had he slashed Dominique’s throat.
“Cass, no. Hear them out. There has to be a reason.”
“Oh please, Sam. It’s obvious.” She thrust her chin toward Dominique. “He’s having way too much fun screwing a vamp bitch to even think about the silly little human girl anymore.”
Dominique tried to catch the pieces of his battered heart before they disappeared into the void opening up beneath his feet. He reached out, but stopped himself from touching her. “Cassie, mon amour, I beg you, listen to me. Yes, there is another who has found me, and she is torturing me with demonic games. Games that have nothing to do with you and must never have anything to do with you. Not because I’m hiding indiscretions; I’m trying to protect you from her. Because I love you. Because you mean everything to me. You are the best part of me. Cassidy…I don’t exist without you.”
Fresh tears pooled in her eyes, and he felt his own sting. “I want to believe you, Dominique, but—” She glanced down at the dead cat in her arms, her silent accusation speaking louder than any screams. He may not be directly responsible for the animal’s death, but he might as well be. Bijou had come here because of him, and he had been too stupid with lust and confusion to even consider that possibility.
