Page 21 of Bloodhunter

I dropped the bag and knelt to retrieve one of the stakesthat rolled free, then snarling with something close to madness, I sprang athim.

Pain dug into my brain and roared through my body.

I didn’t care.

He was there, and I had to kill him, no matter what that didto me.

And for the first time, I realized that not even my home wasoff limits to him. Vampires couldn’t go into a human’s house without aninvitation. Something stopped them—gave them, from what we humans understood,unbearable pain if they tried—but nothing stopped Amias. He was in my home.

I attacked him with everything I had, just as I always did.My mind was on only one thing—getting that stake into his heart. Killing him.Destroying him.Hurtinghim.

Avenging my family.

But Amias was ready for me, and he wanted to talk. It didn’tmatter if I needed to kill him—his strength was enormous, and I was, no matterwhat grew inside me, human. A puny human.

He grabbed me, held me against him with one arm, then rippedthe stake out of my grip. He flung it at the wall with such force the sharpenedpoint lodged in the plaster.

“No more.” His voice was quiet, but the power inside it blastedmy eardrums and exploded into my brain. “You will never make me kill you,Trinity Sinclair.”

As though that was what I was after.Mydeath.

And he was done playing.

He couldn’t mesmerize me—he’d tried before—but he could subdueme with his vampire strength. It wrapped around my body, my mind, my soul, and heldme fast.

I stiffened against him, my mind screaming at me to attack, torelax, to fight, surrender, to hate, to love. I warred with myself with suchviolence that in the end, all I could do was sink to the floor, caught in hisarms, and wail.

“You are mine,” he whispered, the vampire I hated above allthings, and that whisper seemed to reverberate throughout the room. “You belongto me now.”

And I knew it was the truth. He could have proven it yearsearlier, but he hadn’t. He’d stalked me, watched me, waiting for the time to beright to force me to understand one indisputable fact of my life.

I was a master vampire’s servant.

Hisservant.

Amias Sato was my master.

Chapter Seven

He shuddered against me, as though the words he’d spokenwere a release, and tightened his arms around me as I struggled.

“Accept it,” he said. “Accept me. You have work to do.”

“I will kill you,” I swore.“That’swhat I accept.You are physically stronger than I am, but one day, I will find a way to endyour life.”

“You could,” he said, his voice smooth and dark, “were younot mine. Death lay dormant inside you and I activated it when I bit you.”

“When you murdered my family and nearly killed me,” I said.I wanted to rip out his heart with my teeth. The desire to hurt him wasstronger than the pain I felt when I tried.

I slammed my head back and heard his nose crunch, but henever made a sound. Pain shot through me, stealing my breath, and as nausearose into my throat, I had to pause for a moment to concentrate on somethingeven more intense than the hatred I felt for the vampire.

Pain.

It was like I was covered with raw, bloody wounds andsomeone shoved a hot, sharp piece of metal into each one. Slowly and deeply.

“Stop fighting,” he murmured, his lips moving against myear. “Don’t fight it.”

But I couldn’t help it. When he was near, rage explodedinside me. Pure, black rage.