21. Chapter Twenty-One

“You’re an asshole, you know that?” I stared at Mordecai as he sat there, drinking from some random woman in front of me. I was fucking starving. I’d barely healed after the whole incident where Lori had almost ripped out my heart and there he was, just sat there, gorging on blood.

He pulled his fangs from the woman’s wrist, licked his lips and let her just drop to the floor in a heap. “I know. Hungry?”

“No.” Unfortunately, my stomach chose that moment to growl.

“Really?” Mordecai said with a chuckle as he held out his wrist towards me. “Want some?”

“I’d rather die.”

A guard came in and collected the poor woman off the floor. I hope she knew what she was getting into when she signed up for feeding Mordecai. Or at least getting some sort of compensation, but, knowing Mordecai, she was probably meant to feel lucky she was left alive.

He stood from his chair and walked over to me. I was still in the bed, pathetically weak since I hadn’t finished healing completely. I knew he was doing that deliberately. Just giving me scraps to keep me alive, but not enough that I would return to full strength. I could move about, but I wouldn’t be able to take him on in a fight.

“That can be arranged, Jasper. You’re only alive because you’re useful.”

I scowled at him. “When I get the chance, I’m going to rip you limb from limb.”

“I’m sure,” he said as he plopped down next to me on the bed. “Don’t you ever get tired of being so… violent?”

“Don’t you ever get tired of being a dick?”

He barked a laugh. “Touché.” He fixed his red eyes on me, staring with something akin to wonder in his eyes. “You’re really quite something, you know.”

“Really?”

“Hmm.” He crossed one ankle over the other and folded his hands gently in his lap. “Yes. So defiant, even in the face of your demise.”

“I won’t die here,” I spat. I wasn’t going to go out of this world as Mordecai’s prisoner.

“Is that so? You do realise that you’re clinging to life by a thread.”

I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood. I hated feeling so useless. “I won’t be forever, and then—”

“Yes, I know. Limb ripping or something along that vein.” He lay back and closed his eyes.

I wanted to rip his goddamn throat out, but I knew I wouldn’t get within an inch of his neck. I’d be dead before I blinked.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Doing what?” he said on a slow exhale, like he didn’t have a care in the world.

“Trying to destroy everything.”

He peeped at me through one eye. “Do you really want to know?”

“Yes.”

He sat back up, turning his body until he faced me. “The simple answer is that I’m doing it because I can.”

“And the complicated one?”

“Because he took my world from me, and I want to do the same to him. Make no mistake, Jasper, I might be calm now, but beneath the surface is a thirst that is unquenchable.” His eyes brightened and sparkled with manic glee and, for the first time in a long time, I felt a trickle of fear traipse its finger up my spine. Mordecai was mad. Blinded by a revenge that had been twisted by centuries of torture until it was a visceral thing I could almost taste.

He went completely still, like a gruesome statue just waiting for something to happen. He didn’t blink, didn’t even breathe. He was just still and staring at me. It was really quite unnerving.

“Morde—”

He snarled and flew towards me at vampire speed, knocking me backwards onto the bed. I pushed at his chest, but he was like an immoveable rock, heavy and determined to pin me in place. His canines elongated and he sank them into the skin on his wrist, ripping it wide open until blood was dripping down his forearm. His other hand grabbed my chin and forced my mouth open wide before he slammed his wrist over my lips.

I shook my head, refusing to take his blood.

Anything but that.

But it was useless. A drop of his blood hit my tongue and it was positively orgasmic.

Fuuuuuck.

I sank my fangs into his wrist and devoured him. My eyes rolled backwards and shit, I almost came in my pants.

Why did he taste so good? Like the best, richest, sweetest, Jesus fucking—

“Enough!” Mordecai growled as he ripped his arm away.

I snapped my fangs at him, pissed that he’d pulled my meal away from me. I needed more. More.

Wait. What was I doing? I didn’t want more of him.

I took a deep breath, trying not to think about what he’d just done to me. “You fucking asshole.”

He brushed his thumb across the corner of my mouth, but I slapped his hand away.

“You missed a bit. Don’t you know how precious my blood is?”

“I don’t give a shit,” I said, swiping my mouth with the back of my hand, trying to remove the taste of him. I hated that I knew what he tasted like now, that it was burned on my memory.

“You wound me,” he said with a laugh. “Now I’ll be with you wherever you go and killing me just got a whole lot harder for you.”

And didn’t I fucking know it. Sharing blood with another vampire was an intimate thing. It wasn’t like sharing it with a human, that was merely an exchange; something needed for sustenance. With another vampire it was on the same level as sex and carried an intimacy that was usually reserved for loved ones or between Masters and their sired vampires to strengthen their bond.

“I’m still going to kill you,” I seethed.

He just laughed at me again. “Sure. And how will you convince your inner beast that we aren’t connected on some level now?”

I lunged at him, my fangs snapping and needing to tear flesh. I swung my fist at him, catching his jaw with a sharp jab but still he laughed. Would I ever forget that fucking sound?

I tried to pin him, but he was like an eel, twisting and turning, evading my grip. Finally, I wrapped my hand around his throat, and I willed my talons to rip the skin there, but my beast wouldn’t budge. He screamed and thrashed against the edges of my mind as I warred with him. I wanted to kill Mordecai. I knew that I wanted that, but my inner beast didn’t. And now, I couldn’t fucking move.

Mordecai smirked up at me. “Take all the time you need.”

My arms trembled with the effort of trying to move a fraction of an inch, but the beast was pushing back, holding me still and protecting Mordecai.

“God fucking dammit!” I roared and jumped off him.

He rolled off the bed and landed on his feet with all the grace of a big cat. “Always a pleasure, Jasper. Now, I’ve got some demons to recruit, some mages to kill, and some witches to syphon.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, but he just gave a me a little wave and a wide smile.

“Oh, and Jasper?”

“What?”

“Feel free to roam around now. You won’t be able to leave because you’ll just always want to be close to me,” he mocked, and then he walked through the door leaving it wide open.

“Fucking asshole.”

“Love you too, sugar,” came the reply along with that fucking laugh. Man, I really hoped I got to kill that guy.