14. Montana

Iwatched as Fabian headed through a door at the end of the room, intending to follow him, but I was intercepted by Valentina.

Her full lips curved up into a bright smile. “Good evening, Montana.”

“Valentina,” I acknowledged her with a small nod, glancing over her shoulder as I tried to get by.

“Have you made your choice for the ceremony?” she asked, fluttering her long lashes.

“Um...not yet.” I tried to step around her again, but she took hold of my arm to keep me there. Tension rippled through me as I gave her my full attention.

She gave me a concerned frown, then lowered her tone. “I’m sorry you have to go through this.”

I gazed up at her in suspicion, her heels giving her an extra few inches on me. “Why do you care?”

She shifted closer, glancing cautiously around the room. “I don’t want to see you getting hurt.”

“I can handle myself,” I said firmly.

I glanced longingly at the door Fabian had exited through. I needed to hurry the fuck up.

Nightmare hummed frantically on my thigh. Follow, Moon Child.

I gave her a brief smile. “I just need the bathroom…”

I tried to step away, but she took hold of the back of my neck, pulling me close so her mouth was by my ear. “When Erik finds out what you are, he’ll kill you. I’m trying to protect you. You’re the last of our kind. Please, listen to me.”

I tugged away from her in shock, and her eyes flashed like there was a storm brewing in them.

“What do you know?” I whispered, acting casual so no one looked our way.

She stepped closer so she could talk into my ear again. “I know that I have many regrets, and being sired is one of them. If there are slayers being born again, I want to help them. You don’t understand the power you possess, but I can help you.”

Nightmare buzzed angrily on my thigh, urging me to hurry after Fabian.

Doubts trickled through me as I remained there, caught in limbo. I didn’t know if I could trust her. She was just another vampire, another monster, even if she had been something else once. And beyond that, she had been the one who told Erik to get rid of me.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, playing dumb.

She pursed her lips, eyeing my right arm like she suspected what lay beneath the sleeve of my dress, and I took a wary step back.

“Maybe I’m wrong but…” She shook her head, seeming confused.

“I’ve really got to go.” I darted away into the crowd, glancing over my shoulder to make sure Valentina wasn’t following me. She floated toward the bar seeming deep in thought, clearly having no intention of chasing after me.

This was not good. If there was one thing I didn’t need right now, it was more shit in my shit show. How could she possibly know about the mark? Could slayers sense their own kind? I certainly hadn’t sensed anything when it came to her except danger, but that was how it always was around the vampires. What if she was telling the truth? What if she could help me, could get me out of here?

There wasn’t much I could do about it at the moment, I’d just have to add it to the list of headfucks I’d be debating late into the night when I got to my bed later. Right now, I needed to track down Fabian.

Taking a breath and angling my thoughts back on the task at hand, I moved toward the door Fabian had exited by.

When I was sure no one was watching, I slipped through it and quietly shut it behind me.

A dark hallway lined with doors greeted me. I listened, trying to work out which room Fabian occupied. Moving as quietly as I could along the cream carpet, the sound of voices finally reached me.

Creeping closer, I approached the door I was sure Fabian was behind, my breaths coming a little quicker and Nightmare encouraging me on.

Seek. Find. Kill.

The blade was getting carried away with itself, but I felt more confident knowing it was close. Because if I was caught, I was not getting off lightly. Fabian might attack, and I had to be ready.

I willed the fear away, stepping up to the nearest door and pressing my ear to it.

“-if anyone realises I’m involved in this, I’m in deep shit,” Fabian snarled. “I must end this tonight. Promise me it will be handled quietly.”

“It will, your highness, I assure you,” Roger answered, his voice quavering.

“Then pull yourself together!” Fabian snapped, and the sound of a smack rang through the air.

Hide.Nightmare’s voice flared in my mind.

Certain I should obey, I darted toward the door across the hall and turned the handle. It swung open into a pitch-black room and I fled inside, pushing it closed with a quiet click.

I rested my ear to the door, willing my heartbeat to slow as Fabian’s voice carried into the corridor. “I want him dealt with before the night is out. I won’t have him causing us any more issues.”

I pressed myself to the wood, desperate to hear them leaving, but they moved as silently as the wind, so I couldn’t be sure if they were gone or not.

Their voices sounded further down the hallway, and I relaxed a little, pressing my forehead to the door. I couldn’t believe how close I’d come to being caught. Without Nightmare, I would have been fucked.

I ran my hand over the blade where it was strapped to my thigh, its quiet presence reassuring me.

Nightmare started to hum with a different kind of energy, and I wondered what it meant, but I had no idea how to decipher the strange feelings it gave off.

When I’d waited several minutes, I gripped the door handle and opened it. Stepping into the corridor, I was suddenly crushed face-first to the opposite wall, a strong hand clamped to the back of my neck.

Cold fingers held my wrists behind my back, and I cried out, terrified Fabian had caught me. I tried to get free, wanting to reach for Nightmare as the blade buzzed frantically on my thigh.

Fight, Moon Child.

My captor released me, then flipped me around, and I came face to face with Erik.

A breath staggered from my lungs, but I didn’t know if my relief was justified because he looked fucking furious.

“You motherfucker.” I threw a fist at his chest which thumped hard yet uselessly against it.

“Is he in there?” he snapped, pointing at the room across the hall.

“Who?” I gasped, my heart rioting.

He spat a snarl, then shot away from me into the room I’d just been in. A beat later, he came stalking back to me, his shoulders tight and his eyes a sea of pitch.

“What is your problem?” I demanded.

He boxed me in against the wall, and I sucked in a breath as he pushed a knee between my thighs to hold me in place, then rested his forearm above me, leaning in and devouring the space between us.

“Where’s Fabian?” he growled threateningly. “One minute you’re on the dance floor, the next, you’re sneaking away into dark rooms with him.”

“Are you fucking serious?” I balked. “You’re the one who told me to spy on him.”

“I never told you to fuck him,” he spat, eyes wild, the beast in him unleashed.

“What are you talking about?” I slammed my hands against his chest to try and force him back, but he didn’t move an inch. “He came down here with that Roger asshole. I followed him and listened in on their conversation, then I hid in that room so he didn’t catch me.”

Erik stilled, taking in those words, and the monster in him slowly receded, his jaw locking tight.

“Have you lost your fucking mind?” I hissed, fury darting through my skin. How dare he attack me? This was all his idea, and now he was punishing me for it?

“I am starting to think so, yes,” he gritted out.

“You have no right to be angry with me, even if I had fucked Fabian – which I would never do – what difference does it make to you? One minute you’re demanding I do anything it takes to get close to him, the next you’re throwing me against a wall and shouting at me for the possibility that I used my body to get the answers you want. So what is your goddamn problem?”

The music thumped loudly in the distance, but nothing seemed louder than my pulse, the wild tune of it thrashing in my ears.

“What did you overhear?” he asked, ignoring everything I’d said.

I shook my head at him in disbelief. “It sounds like he wants you gone, and I can’t say I’m surprised,” I said cuttingly.

Though I couldn’t see his expression well in the dark hallway, I could tell he wasn’t distressed. “That’s not news to me.”

“He said he wants you dealt with tonight,” I added. “Or someone else, if not you.”

He barely seemed to be listening, and I stilled as he lifted his hand, skating his thumb across my cheekbone.

“I think the gods are toying with me again,” he rasped. “You torment me like they do. Only this torment is new. It’s deeper than my mind, it’s in my blood, my very veins. I cannot carve you out, and yet that is what I must do if I am ever to be rid of this madness.” He gripped my face tighter, glaring at me. “They designed you for this purpose, I am sure of it.”

“Erik, you’re scaring me,” I whispered, his grey eyes gleaming in the dark, full of untold demons.

“You should be scared,” he said fiercely. “The terror of it should wake you in the night and haunt you deeper than any nightmare ever has. Because if the gods have crafted this desire in me for a creature such as you, then there will be no escaping it. No future in which I do not exist in your waking life.”

“Erik,” I pleaded, grasping his arm and trying to pull his hand from my face. “Stop. I’m not what you think I am. You’ve got it wrong.”

“They have cursed you as they cursed me,” he growled. “If they wish for me to want you like this, to inspire jealousy in me at the thought of my brother’s hands on you, then you are the unluckiest creature on this earth. I am already your captor, but I will become your bane too.”

“Jealousy,” I whispered the word, unable to believe what he was admitting to me.

“I want you,” he said darkly. “Not to love and adore, but to own and possess. I want every piece of you, and I have denied it to myself too long. The thought of you with him tonight has cracked my resolve. I resent you for that, despise you for it even, for awakening this insanity in me and destroying the plans I have laid. But it does not change the fact that I must have you.”

He took my hand, holding it to my heart where it pounded violently beneath my palm, like it wanted to break free.

“I don’t want this,” I said, breathless from his proximity, his declaration.

I could see his desire as clear as day, even if he hadn’t spoken the words, but the worst part of it was how I desired him too. Between the hate and the bitterness I felt towards him, that forbidden, carnal need crawled from the shadows of my heart and demanded I bow to it.

“Liar,” he accused, pressing his knee deeper between my thighs, and I swallowed back a whimper. “You think I don’t see the way you look at me or hear every drum of your heartbeat when I get near?”

“I fear you, that’s all,” I insisted, denial all I had left, but my resolve was crumbling before my eyes. I wanted to break, just for a moment, to let chaos reign and forget the consequences of this choice.

“I would believe it if you hadn’t kissed me back,” he said, the truth cutting and impossible to refute.

I gripped him by the collar, fingers knotting, choking him with the material despite him not needing air. Before I knew what I was doing, I was drawing him closer, breaking, shattering, letting the madness take over.

His mouth clashed with mine and he growled, crushing me to the wall and sinking his tongue between my lips. His kiss was rough and wicked as I wrapped my hands around his neck, then clawed at his hair. The rougher he was, the more I bit back, the more I took out my anger on him for the way I felt. For allowing this and revelling in every second.

“Finally,” he sighed against my mouth, his fangs raking over my lower lip and drawing a moan from me. I shouldn’t have liked that. This was so fucking wrong, but I couldn’t stop now I’d given myself to this feeling. It was lust and heat and everything, and I needed him to release it from my body in the most sinful way possible. But the truth was, I had never let any man near me like this. I’d avoided the opportunities I’d had to claim pleasure from men, never wanting to get that close in case I got attached. Or worse, we had sex and I fell pregnant. But there was no risk of that here.

Erik hooked my dress up and I cursed, feeling Nightmare hum louder but he didn’t come near it as I parted my thighs for him, and he sank his hand into my panties. His fingers were cold and I gasped, my back arching as I held onto his neck for support, our mouths parting long enough for him to look me in the eye and watch as he slicked his fingers between the hot wetness he found waiting for him. There was no denying my lust for him now, and I didn’t want him to stop.

He growled his approval, then kept his gaze on mine as he sank two fingers deep inside me, inching them in like he was enjoying every second of his victory over me.

I cried out at the new sensation, my head tipping back as he ground the heel of his palm down on my clit, and my cry turned to a moan. He showed me no mercy as he pumped his fingers in and out of me in hard, firm strokes, and I adjusted to the feel of it, liking it more and more.

“Is this what you want from me?” he asked roughly.

“Yes,” I sighed, the perfection of his touch unlike anything I’d experienced before. “I want to take and take from you and give nothing back.”

He snarled in anger, then used his free hand to yank my head sideways by my hair and expose my neck to him, grazing his fangs over my pulse point.

“And how would you stop me?” he breathed, making my heart judder.

For a second, I feared he was going to bite me, and alarm rang through me, my shoulders tightening. But then he moved on, tugging my earlobe between his teeth and sending a line of fire down my spine. I’d never been touched like this before, with a skill that had me shivering, bowing to the power of his body over mine.

He drew his fingers out of me, sliding them over my clit instead, circling and rubbing that tight, sensitive spot and making me cry out in pleasure. I gripped his arms, furious at how easily he was bringing me to the edge of bliss, yet wanting it more than anything. It was wrong, so goddamn wrong that I was allowing this monster to lay his hands on me before any other had, but I couldn’t pull away, lost to the pleasure he was feeding me and aching for more.

“You’re the Devil,” I snarled, my fingernails tearing at his shirt, but he slicked his fingers over my clit again in a motion that made me moan louder. He laughed coldly at me, forcing my legs wider with his knee.

“In the flesh, but you’re still going to come for me,” he growled.

I ground against his fingers as they worked me so damn perfectly that I knew he was right. The first wave of my orgasm crashed over me, and Erik pinned me to the wall with his body to keep me up, his fingers rolling over my clit, drawing out the ecstasy. His fingers slid into me again, two at first then three, stretching me and feeling my pussy pulse around his hand.

“If you let another man between your thighs, I’ll kill them and make you watch,” he warned, leaning back to glare at me.

“You’re insane,” I panted.

“Fucking deranged,” he agreed, then pulled his fingers out of me sharply, making me curse.

He ripped my panties, tearing them off me and rubbing them between my thighs to wipe away my arousal, then pushed them into his pocket. I shoved my skirt down as he gave me more space, and Nightmare thrummed angrily against my leg, but it thankfully hadn’t drawn his attention.

I stared up at the vampire who I had just let do the unthinkable to me and tried not to hate myself as deeply as I hated him.

“What now?” I demanded, and he smirked, looking me up and down.

“Now we go back to the party.” He strode away from me, and I stared after him in disbelief.

“Erik,” I snapped, but he didn’t turn back. “What about the plan? Fabian? All of it?”

He said nothing and I marched after him in fury, finding my legs unsteady from all he’d done to me.

He shoved through the door back into the party and I was forced to chase him, finding a throng of people looking our way. Their eyes scraped over us, over the lipstick on Erik’s mouth that was no doubt smeared across mine too. I rubbed at my lips to get it off, but that only drew more attention, and I swore beneath my breath, picking up my pace.

He didn’t glance back once, his long stride outpacing me back to the seating area where Paige smiled dreamily up at me.

“Hey, where have you been?” Her eyes scraped over my hair, my ruffled dress. “And what have you been doing?” She gave me a knowing look, and heat blazed along my cheeks.

Erik released an obnoxious laugh, then swept on over to join Miles and Warren, who had taken the seats that Fabian’s associates had vacated.

“Nothing,” I insisted, snatching my drink from the table, taking a long swig to get the taste of Erik off my tongue.

“Where’s Brianna?” I asked, and Paige pointed into the crowd. She was dancing with her arms in the air, grinding her hips against a male vampire, her eyes hooded and a lucid smile on her lips.

“Oh shit,” I breathed. “What’s she doing?”

“I dunno. I think it’s those drinks...that make you feel all swimmy.” Paige smiled lazily, and I quickly put my drink back on the table. The last thing I needed was my head to feel more messed up tonight.

“Paige, I’ve done something stupid,” I whispered, leaning closer to her.

“No shit,” she laughed. “You look like you had a good time doing it though. I knew he was into you.”

“It’s not like that.” I pressed my fingers into my eyes, regret ripping through me. When I looked up again, my gaze fell on Erik, who was manspreading in his chair, his ankle resting on his knee. A waitress handed him a fresh drink and he took a swig, watching me over the rim of the glass, the asshole exuding smugness. He hadn’t even bothered to wipe away the lipstick that was smeared over his mouth and cheek, wearing it like a goddamn trophy.

I despised him more than ever before as I realised all those words he’d spewed at me had been bullshit. He didn’t think I was some temptation from the gods, and he had no intention of making me forget the plan with Fabian at all, or he would have said it there and then. It wasn’t like he’d gotten much out of it himself, but maybe the triumph over me was enough.

Shame washed over me, and I had a mind to go snatch that drink from his hand and throw it in his fucking face.

Shit, Callie would kill me if she knew what I’d done. How stupid I’d been.

My eyes slid back to Paige, who was bouncing in her seat, clapping along to the music, and I envied her of her carefree night.

Erik suddenly lurched from his seat, making a beeline for Brianna through the crowd, roughly pushing people aside before snatching her arm.

“Hey!” she shouted at him, but he didn’t let go even when she shoved at his arms.

He guided her toward the sofas and planted her down in a seat, looking furious.

Joshua stumbled out of the crowd with a bemused look, and Clarice came bounding after him.

“Just rest for a minute,” she urged, pushing him toward the sofas.

“Miles,” Erik snapped, and his brother looked up. “The humans are getting drunk.”

“So what? They’re having fun,” Miles said with a shrug.

“The press are watching, that’s what.” Erik’s jaw ticked as he turned to Paige, seeming to assess if she was affected like the others. “What about you?”

“I only had one,” she insisted, pointing at her empty glass on the table as evidence.

Erik shifted his gaze to Brianna and Joshua on the sofa, now leaning against one another for support. “Right, they’ll go back to the castle.” He snapped his fingers at the nearest waiter to get his attention. “Have my car brought out front.”

“Yes, your highness.” The waiter scurried away.

“Oh, leave them be, you’re such a buzzkill,” Miles complained, throwing an arm over Warren’s shoulders.

“No, Erik’s right,” Clarice said anxiously. “They can’t stay here like this. People are beginning to stare.”

Erik leaned down, pulling Brianna to her feet, and Joshua stood, wrapping an arm around her waist.

“Can you walk straight?” Erik asked them.

Joshua nodded and Brianna started hiccoughing her ABCs.

“Fucking hell. Just follow me,” Erik ordered, turning on his heel.

He caught my arm as he passed by, tugging me from my seat. “That includes you, rebel.”

I shrugged him off, giving him a cold look, but followed all the same. I was done with this place and craved the silence of my room to process the bullshit of this night.

I glanced at Paige. “Do you want to come?”

“Stay!” Miles called from behind us, patting his seat. “Come on, Paige, we’ll have fun without these boring motherfuckers. I’ll teach you to do the bachata.”

“You can’t do the bachata for shit,” Warren laughed.

“I could bachata the fuck out of you and you know it,” Miles challenged.

Paige broke a smile, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “I’ll stay,” she said to me, squeezing my hand. “See you tomorrow?”

I nodded, saying goodbye and heading after Joshua and Brianna. Erik took the lead, moving at a steady pace as we guided the others downstairs, him holding Joshua up while I helped Brianna.

“Q, R, S,” Brianna hiccoughed. “T, U – damn, what comes after U again?”

“V,” I offered, and she burst out laughing, slapping me on the arm.

“Oh my lord, how did I forget that one? V for vampire. V for vein, V for…vaginaaa.”

Joshua snorted loudly, looking back at Brianna, then losing his footing on the grand staircase, nearly slamming onto his ass, but Erik caught him by the shirt and shoved him back upright.

We soon arrived in the entrance hall and exited onto the street where the temperature had plummeted, causing me to shiver in the frosty air. Thankfully, the rebels had moved on and a guard was removing the cordon on the other side of the street, whistling softly as he did so.

A car was waiting for us, and as Joshua and Brianna got into it, Erik took my arm to stop me following. “You’ll come to my room when we get back to the castle.”

“No chance,” I hissed, trying to tug my arm free.

“Just to talk,” he growled.

He held me tighter, and his ashen eyes turned to liquid silver in the moonlight. I shivered harder, and he shed his jacket, putting it around my shoulders before I could refuse. He gripped its lapels, keeping me trapped as Brianna tugged the car door closed.

We were bathed in the golden light of the porch as the sound of the engine filled my ears, and I feared we were going to be left behind.

“There’s nothing to say,” I whispered angrily, my breath fogging before me. “You made me come, good job. Do you want a medal?”

The guard’s eyes slid our way, looking awkward as he clearly overheard what I’d said.

Erik’s eyes blazed, fury gripping his features. “Montana, I-”

Fire flared and a loud blast tore through the air, ripping the world apart. Something collided with me and I hit the concrete hard. Pain exploded through the back of my head and all I could see was black hair as the weight of Erik crushed me down.

He forced me onto the stone floor, and a roar of noise told me something terrible had happened.

I pushed my head out from beneath him and ash sailed down over my face from the blazing fire. Shrapnel lay around us on the ground, the back of Erik’s shirt torn to shreds from pieces that must have hit him, bright red blood wetting his back. Smoke billowed into the sky, and I stared at the car which had been reduced to a burning husk, shock jarring through me. Two figures lay still in the back seats; Brianna and Joshua, their corpses ablaze and the scent of death spilling into the air. The driver stumbled out of the front seat, rolling on the ground and crying out in fright as he worked to put the flames out.

My ears rang so hard, it swallowed every other sound but the thumping of my heart.

Erik was saying something, but I couldn’t hear him as I tried to decipher the movements of his lips.

He cupped my cheek, and I felt hot blood trickling down the back of my neck. He held the wound I couldn’t feel, cradling my head, and his shirt sleeve turned red. His lips moved in a bellow for help, his face swimming in and out of focus.

Nightmare thrummed fearfully against my thigh, and just before the darkness claimed me, it spoke words in my head I didn’t understand, the mystery of them chasing me into oblivion.

A warrior born but monster made, changes fates of souls enslaved.