Page 80 of Don't Bite the Director
There was no mistaking the squelching sound that filled the air. A dagger sinking into flesh, sliding past bone to bury itself into a heart.
Bianca’s heart.
The deranged vampire’s eyes grew wide, and she released Cora to step back, staring down at the jeweled hilt sticking out of her. A crimson stain quickly spread out from the wound like a deadly rose blooming among the cheery sunflower pattern of her dress.
Cora straightened and smoothed down the front of the black dress that had to be one of Raven’s. Turning, she grinned at him. “You know, I think I could get used to long flowy skirts with pockets. Easyto hide things in the folds.”
Saiden opened his mouth to say something—he had no idea what he might say since he was still in shock—but Bianca beat him to the punch.
Leaping forward, she crashed to the ground on top of Cora and pummeled his mate’s face repeatedly before yanking the knife from her own heart and plunging it into Cora’s stomach. “You will pay for that,” she hissed. “If I die, you die.”
Saiden jolted forward, prepared to tackle Bianca and potentially set off the bomb early if she killed Cora.
Before he could make the call, Cora held up a hand, and it stopped him in his tracks. It took less than a heartbeat to see the determination in her eyes. His mate wanted to claim the kill, and if anyone deserved revenge, it was her.
Cora wrenched the knife from her own stomach as if it hurt no more than plucking a speck of lint off her shirt and slammed the dagger into the side of Bianca’s head.
The blonde vamp collapsed to the ground, blood pooling around her adorable curls as her life seeped out all over the concrete floor.
“But… you were mine,” Bianca wheezed, and Saiden could hear her ruptured heart slowing down as it pulsed out its final beats. “You were m-mine.”
“No, Bianca. I wasn’t,” Cora replied, standing up and pulling out a pair of long black earplugs. Definitely not the thin orange ones Eliana had given her earlier. “I was never under your spell.” Cora glanced back to Saiden and added, “Who knew I could ever be such a good actor? Maybe I’ve been wasting my time with directing.”
Saiden couldn’t believe it. His mate, his perfect mate, had fooled them both. And now she was cracking jokes seconds after stabbing someone when she should be doubled over in pain from her ownwounds.
He truly did not deserve her.
Blood burbled up out of Bianca’s mouth. “You think this ends with me?” the dying vampire choked out. “She might overlook you killing her rabid children, but she’ll never let my death go unpunished. You think all the new rogues are just coincidence? You have no idea what’s coming for you now.”
Saiden was tempted to try to save Bianca. Stabilize her just enough to take her prisoner and find out what she knew. But the fading thumps in her chest told him it was too late for that. They would have to deal with any other threats when the time came.
If it ever came.
Awkwardly nudging a piece of glass aside, Saiden resisted the urge to run to Cora, wrap her up in his arms, and never let her go.
She had come for him. She saved him. Did that mean…?
He was too afraid to say anything, so they both silently watched as Bianca succumbed to her wounds. It was only after he could no longer discern even the faintest of heartbeats that he turned to face his mate. His future. However short it may be.
Cora stepped over to him shyly, her small feet crunching in the glass that still coated much of the warehouse floor.
She looked up at him, and he would have given anything to be able to read her mind. To know what she was thinking. Did his family force her to come? Did she want to be here? How did she pull it all off? Did her showing up mean that things had…?
“Did you really threaten her with a bomb for me?”
Well that was the last thing he expected her to ask.
Saiden glanced down at the C-4 still strapped to his chest. “For you? I’d threaten her with a nuke if I had one.”
Shaking her head admonishingly, Cora made a tsk tsk noise. “That’snot very vampiric of you.”
“Yeah, yeah, so she told me.”
Cora glanced around at the warehouse, then her eyes slid back to his, a mischievous glint sparkling in their depths. “Kinda seems like a shame to waste it at this point.”
“Why Cora, you little firebug.” He stepped forward, testing her limits. When she didn’t move away, he risked it all to run a hand gently over her messy hair. Cora leaned into his touch, and he almost lost it with that subtle but tender movement. He felt like he was the one who had a knife in his heart, and she’d pulled it free.
“Just saying,” she murmured as she stepped closer to him, less than a few inches away now. “I always wanted to have the budget to put a big explosion scene in a movie.”
