Page 63 of Don't Bite the Director
Boom. No more serial killers plaguing the town.
It still ate at him some nights. How they never even knew it was coming. Never had a chance to decide they wanted to be different.
If this woman sired those vamps, then he could understand her anger. It didn’t change anything, but a hint of empathy was there.
Saiden’s senses never left Cora as he ignored the blonde’s rant and acted oblivious about Montrose. Cora’s heartbeat started to slow, the stream of blood down her neck flowing steadily. He estimated she had less than a couple minutes before she bled out completely which meant he needed to piss this vampire off. Needed to force her to make a mistake.
He shrugged his shoulders in an exaggerated movement. “Why would I remember a specific kill? They’re all just rogues. It’s not like they matter.”
Bullseye.
An unholy shriek ripped from the girl, and she shook Cora like a ragdoll.
It took all his energy to keep up the casual façade when he wanted nothing more than to pull his mate from the psychotic vampire’s grasp and hide her away somewhere safe where she’d never suffer so much as a papercut for the rest of her life.
Please help me, Lilith, he pleaded. Less than one second was all he needed to tear the vamps head from her shoulders, yet it might as well be an hour so long as her nails continued to dig into Cora’s flesh.
“To you!” the blonde screeched. “They don’t matterto you. But they mattered to me. They were my children, and you murdered them because we don’t want to follow your stupid rules. Why do you get todecide, huh? Maybe it’s time for someone else to be in charge.”
Saiden held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Then take it up with the Ruling Coalition, and leave me to my meal. I get cranky when people steal my food.”
“Oh, is that what this is?” she asked, digging her nails in tighter so two more thin streams of blood raced down alongside the first.
Cora wouldn’t survive the torture much longer.
Blood dripped onto the blonde’s shoes, but she didn’t seem to notice or care. “This human is just a snack to you? That’s funny because I’ve been watching you for a while now, and you don’t do ‘snacks.’ In fact, if scent is any indication, then I’d say this lovely creature was your mate.” She took a deep inhale. “Yes, you smell delicious together.”
The words drained every bit of blood from Saiden’s face, and he dropped his mask of indifference. If the vamp knew what Cora was to him, then there was no point in trying to hide it. It was time for intimidation.
“If you know who I am then you know exactly what I’m capable of. The kind of torment I can inflict. If she dies, there will be no limit to my wrath. You will beg for a death that will never come. I will spend every waking second of eternity ensuring you remain in a permanent state of unending agony.”
“Hmmm…” the blonde mused, tilting her chin and staring into the dark as if considering something. “See, the problem is that we find ourselves in a bit of a pickle. You murdered three of my children, and I’ve spent years tracking you down for my revenge. It only seems fair that I get to murder someone you love. In fact, I’m the one with the raw end of the deal because I’m only going to kill one person. I’m willing to call it square, though, given that this one happens to be your mate.”
She bent down and ran her tongue down the length of Cora’s neck,lapping up the small bit of blood that pooled in the hollow at the base of Cora’s throat.
“I must say, Saiden, she tastes delicious once you get past that mortal medicine. If I were you, I’d have a hard time turning her and losing all that precious human blood. Consider this a favor from me to you. I’ll remove the temptation.”
“There is nowhere you will be able to hide if you do this,” he threatened through clenched teeth.
“Maybe that’s true,” the vamp acknowledged, idly stabbing another hole in Cora’s skin. Then another. “Maybe it’s not. Maybe I don’t care.”
He couldn’t even see Cora’s neck anymore, it was so covered in a thick sheet of bright crimson blood. She might not even survive another sixty seconds.
He had to do something. He refused to watch her die without a fight.
Coiling every muscle in his body, he slid one foot back to rest against the stair, preparing to pounce.
“Oh, you’ll care,” he purred. “You know, I think I’m going to kill you the same way I did your children. Do you want to hear about it? How I shattered their legs and tore their arms from their shoulders. How I poured gas over their twitching bodies and set them ablaze. How I watched their skin slowly blister and peel while they screamed for help. They died begging for you, thinking you might come and save them, but you never did.”
His words, despite being completely fabricated, had the intended effect. The vamp curled her fist in anger pulling those sharp claws away from Cora’s delicate throat long enough for him to make his move.
The marble step cracked like a starter pistol as Saiden pushed off the step, flew through the air, and tackled Cora out of the vamp’sgrasp. Letting his senses guide him toward the best possible outcome, he twisted his body midair and wrapped himself around her. He braced for impact as the force of his launch propelled them into the surrounding forest.
They crashed into a poor oak tree a dozen yards from the edge of the driveway, sending a fracture line up through its center. Saiden didn’t even feel the pain of the broken ribs or his freshly dislocated shoulder, the entirety of his focus on the bleeding human in his arms.
Her heartbeat was so weak he needed his vampire hearing to even know it was there. Seconds. His mate would be dead in seconds if he didn’t prevent it.
“Guess you have a choice to make,” the blonde called, and Saiden whipped his head up to see her standing next to the Aston Martin with its keys spinning around one manicured finger. “What’ll it be? Save the girl or get revenge. We both know that I win either way.”
