Page 85 of Dusk Macabre

Everything went silent, other than the electronic beat of the club’s music. It pounded nearly in time with my heart, the rumble of bass rising and swelling before crashing down. Then, two super shiny heads of hair became visible on the staircase—one a deep red and the other as black as midnight. My hands curled into fists, my dagger digging into my fingers and palm.

The atmosphere crackled. That was the only way I could describe it. I could practically taste the magic and dark intent in the air, and it wasn’t just because Adrian and Leander were dressed for war. Kiam vibrated with power, and my skin tingled with static electricity where his arm brushed my own.

He moved beside me and I realized he was carefully tucking the stone in his pocket.

Every eye in the room was laser focused on the two Fae as they casually strolled across the floor, weaving their way between the tables. I had to remind myself to breathe and my chest shook as I filled my lungs.

“We have unfinished business, Brittney,” Leander announced, placing his fingertips on the table’s surface when they reached us. He leaned toward me like we were old friends.

I glanced at him and then Adrian. “No,” I croaked out.

Adrian dismissed me with a glance and said, “Mister Hawthorne, you must return our property.”

“I have no business with the Fae,” Kiam said, reaching for his glass and taking a sip. He was acting like nothing was happening, like we were just hanging out at a nightclub.

“It is our business when you have stolen from our Emperor,” Adrian said, giving him a pointed look.

Leander stepped around his friend, placing himself closer to me. “If you’d like, we can go downstairs and discuss this,” he said to me.

He smiled again, a soft and gentle smile that was completely out of place with his leather armor and the swords hanging from his sides. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought he was the nicest, sweetest person in the world. “I’m not going anywhere with you,” I told him. “You guys wanted to kill me.”

“Oh, that hasn’t changed,” Adrian said, answering for Leander. He glanced at Kiam again. “The diamond, please.”

He held his hand out, but Kiam didn’t move and instead set his wineglass down and fiddled with the stem. What was he waiting for? I wanted to jump up from my seat and run one of my knives through the Fae while he was just sitting there like the four of us were hanging out.

“Brittney owes a blood debt for her thievery, and you possess one of our gemstones. There are consequences for your actions,” Adrian told him.

Adrian glanced at Leander, and the next thing I knew, I was removed from my seat, my back flat against Leander’s chest. The knife I’d held in my hand had vanished. He held me by my upper arms, and I kicked the heel of my boot against his shin, but he didn’t budge. “Let go of me you fairy freak,” I yelled at him.

Leander’s hair fell against the side of my face as he whispered, “Don’t worry, I will.”

Stomping on his foot did nothing but make him dig his fingernails in even harder. “Let go of me,” I snarled at him, trying and failing to do anything to free myself from his clutches.

“The diamond, please,” Adrian demanded, staring Kiam down.

“Let go of her,” Kiam ordered.

It dawned on me that he wasn’t going to give the diamond back. I pretty much knew that in the back of my mind, and yet I’d been telling myself that if push came to shove, he’d hand it over. I both wanted him to and didn’t want him to. It wasn’t like Leander was going to let me go if he did. But what if we were suddenly freed?

The worst was that nothing was happening. I was trapped against this Fae asshole’s chest, and he would have been a million times stronger than me even if he didn’t have magic. Kiam was sitting there without a care in the world like this was a dinner party.

Leander had me trapped in a way that I couldn’t reach any more of my knives, and the one that I’d been clutching had mysteriously appeared on my seat. It was at least seven feet away from me. I’d never reach it.

“You know we can’t do that. The only way you're getting her back is if you turn her into a bloodsucker like you.” Adrian paused and then added, “Either way, her life is forfeit.”

One thing I’d never thought of was being turned into a vampire. Did I want that? Nope, not really. The idea of going around and drinking people’s blood didn’t appeal to me at all. I didn’t mind that Kiam had made me drink some of his, but that was different. It was just him, and we’d exchanged plenty of bodily fluids.

Kiam tilted his head to the side. “No one will touch her.”

Leander shoved his knee into the back of my leg before slipping his own between my knees and locking my entire body against him. I’d been wiggling like a snake and now every move I made felt more intimate. His chest rubbed against my shoulders and with horror, I realized I was turning him on, and I froze. My skin crawled and I heard his low chuckle. His thumb rubbed small circles against the back of my arm. Maybe he hated humans, but he certainly didn’t hate everything about them. The truth of that fact was pressing into my lower back.

Desperately, I glanced at Kiam and his eyes flickered. I closed my own and thought about my crow, begging him to come and do something to help me so I could beat the shit out of this fucking flirty Fae. All my effort and concentration went into trying to collect the energy Kiam had been trying to teach me to harness. I’d had mild success, but was it enough?

“Nice try, pretty girl,” Leander hissed in my ear. My eyes popped open and immediately, everything went dark.

Slowly, the light came back but this time, it was dim. I could hear the electric beat of the club’s music, but it was muffled. The air was full of mist or smoke, I couldn’t tell which, but a thin layer was evenly suspended in the air.

I was staring at the ceiling, I could see the steel beams holding it up, but it looked different in a way I couldn’t describe. It felt false and real at the same time. All I really knew was that it was wrong.