AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You may begin.” Phillip’s words fell as flat and cold as his icy expression.
She worked faster on her internal walls as an assault began against her mind’s defenses. In a fraction of a second, she’d been stripped of all fortifications, and a mental presence demanded to know her purpose in attacking the vampires last night.
No!
He pressed harder, and her mind screamed with the pain he inflicted while he searched for the information.
She rattled off the reason, shoving the thoughts to him, endeavoring to keep him from invading her mind more.
The strategy worked, and he ceased his search yet kept a hold on the path he’d laid bare to her mind. “She knows the vampires were on a killing spree and believed the KBA and clan security weren’t acting on the deaths.”
She wanted to release a shaky breath but didn’t dare, lest he sense she had far more to tell.
“Release her ability to speak.”
The telepath pulled from her mind. For now.
Caro swept aside the desire to curl into a mental ball with the man’s retreat. Despite the probability he’d enter her thoughts with ease once more, she hastily tried to rebuild her defenses. If they discovered the full extent of her work against the clan, she’d be in extreme danger. Helping to take down the blooded demon lord who made you wouldn’t be looked upon kindly, and the betrayal was the least of her actions.
The female, a mage or sorcerer to be wielding spells, murmured several words over her palm. With a small burst of her breath, a fine, shimmering dust settled over Caro.
The steely tension in her jaw, throat, and tongue diminished. Free. She flexed her jaw, then licked her dry lips and glared at Philip. “You didn’t have to do that.”
The anger in her tone didn’t appear to move him. “I don’t have time to waste figuring out your motives. Tell me the whole story, or I’ll have him in every corner of your mind for days.”
She began to form a plan, covering with a swallow and subsequent coughing fit. Admitting her part in the fall of a demon like Lord Lequare, the demon who raised her, would be suicide in the Sanguis world. She had to give a plausible reason why she went to the club last night. The telepath discovered the top level of her reason for being there. From her former life with the CIA, she knew the best lies stuck to the truth as much as possible.
Once she’d stopped coughing, she met Phillip’s eyes, trying to appear humble. “Your telepath was correct. I had intel about several women who visited the club then were abducted and killed. Since they’d gone missing at the same location without a hue and cry from clan security, I took the chance they’d be back. I guessed correctly.”
“Who is your Lord?”
If she could’ve, she would’ve tilted her head to look down her nose at him. “I am a free vampire, contracted to none.”
His lips flattened, probably unhappy with her deflection. “Who made you?”
Damn. She’d hoped he wouldn’t take this line. “Amon Lequare.”
Recognition flared in his eyes, then his brows dropped. Who in the clan hadn’t heard how King Kriann stripped the demon of his title, freed his vampire vassals, like Caro, then divided his wealth among his son and a woman the former lord had blood-abused? His son, a demon, would be forgiven because feuds amongst the demon strata were tolerated. Vampires taking personal revenge against demons, especially one who raised them, was an entirely different matter.
She must keep her part in his downfall a secret. One thing demons couldn’t stomach was disloyalty, even in an enemy. Those loyal to Lequare would hunt her down and kill her if her actions were discovered.
“How long ago?”
“Two years.” Two years where cold hate and frigid logic kept her focused on her goal. Kill the vampire who kidnapped and tortured her sister, then left her for dead.
Lord Lequare don’t care if you kill them, her supervisor had said, while rubbing his hands together as if they tingled with the memory of how his victims’ skin felt under his fingers.Don’t get caught, or he’ll kill you himself. Then you’ll have wished you’d cut out your own heart with a spoon.
Once she’d found out how Lord Lequare sanctioned the behavior, she knew he would pay too. Easy enough when he chose to focus on kidnapping who he thought to be his son’s lover instead of paying attention to his own house. Not shooting his captive thus allowing the female to testify against Lequare was the best act of defiance Caro had ever taken.
“Why go after the vampires? Did they offend you?”
She pulled herself from the memories.Stick to the truth.“Preying on the weak is offensive to me like it should be for all members of the clan, regardless of law.”
“Yet you were of Lequare’s house. Rumors had been circulating for years that he allowed his vampires to kill at will, though no one could prove his illegal acts.”
“I didn’t know when he recruited me how little he cared for Sanguis law. He needed an assassin. I fit the bill.” She allowed the bitterness residing in her dead heart add to the truth of her words.
“What did you do when human?”
