Page 17 of Reapers Don’t Ride

“I have two portraits of Tralcon. They might be interesting to you, angel. He was a rare demon. He had so much control and planned for every exigency. We all knew that Blood would kill him. You can’t train someone to kill that thoroughly and not expect the blade to turn in your hand eventually. Odd that you didn’t kill Good.”

“He didn’t train me nearly as well.”

He flashed me another irritating smile and then we stopped in front of a large picture of a group of us standing in front of a copse of trees, bodies littering the ground, me wearing nothing but blood, crouched at my master’s feet like a dog. My stomach flipped, and I had the strongest urge to turn and rip out the king’s throat. Again. How dare he show Gavriel how I’d been before I remembered how to wear shoes?

The king gestured at Tralcon. The artist had been truly gifted, capturing my former master’s grace and beauty very well. He’d also captured my fangs, my claws, and the look in my eye that told you that I was counting how many ways I could kill you. It was true. I spent a great deal of time counting death possibilities, but I’d managed to change that to counting the silences between heartbeats instead.

“The demon, Tralcon, rose in power over the course of centuries, but never as swiftly until after he had our dear Lady Blood.” He shot me a red-eyed glance, then looked over at Gavriel, who was studying the portrait with a great deal of boredom. “Some say that demons are even more beautiful than angels.”

Gavriel looked at him then. “And some say that angels are more destructive than demons. People say a lot of things.”

The king’s smile became cunning. “And your partnership with Lady Blood. Do you find it satisfactory?”

Gavriel glanced at me, then at the picture of me, and shrugged. “She did gain entry to one of the most exclusive events in the world. Have you seen Tralcon in the last decade?”

“So forward and direct. Isn’t that like an angel? No, my new friend, I haven’t seen Tralcon. No one has seen him, but I do happen to know one who is linked to the new rising threat that has everyone so intrigued. I can give you a location, but you’ll have to do something for me.”

“I already played your sword game,” I said, turning to scowl at him.

He smiled down at me. “That was for an audience. For answers, you’ll need to do more than that.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. If he wanted me to kill someone, one death, for one name, I supposed I could do that, except that I’d promised Gavriel that I wouldn’t kill. Fine. He could kill, and I could help make sure he did it properly. Not that an angel of death wouldn’t know how to properly kill someone. “There are six ways that I could kill you,” I said without any inflection. I’d spent a lot of time thinking about how to kill people, and the Vampire King wasn’t an exception.

“Six? That’s interesting.”

“I could tell you how I would do it, and you could know how to protect yourself better.”

His red eyes glimmered. “You’re negotiating? Not bad for a youngling. But I can’t let you leave here without a single scratch, not when Lady Anastasia had some dear friends who are clamoring for your head. You’ll have to use your persuasive qualities another time. Although…” He studied me for a moment and then smiled. “If you chose to work for me⁠—”

“I wouldn’t.”

He shrugged slightly. “I suppose that’s to be expected. You’re so deliciously reserved these days. Before, you looked like death coming, but now, you’re practically civilized.”

“I’m not. I’ve never been interested in killing. That was Tralcon’s obsession, not mine.”

“What is your obsession? I do have a rather fine library, and if I recall correctly, you spent some long hours perusing its depths. Tralcon once told me that you worked in a bookstore. He saved the poor spinster from a life of quiet misery.”

“I preferred your crypt to the library. Pity you’ve gone to technology.” We reached the end of the gallery, and a balcony that looked over the ballroom. We’d looped around and there was the Host’s court, waiting for us. “Are you going to set your court on us, good hunting?”

He shook his head and then patted my cheek. I would have killed him for that, but rage swept over me at every vampire down below staring up at us, at my angel, smelling his blood, wanting to touch him. I would kill them for that.

I slipped away from Gavriel and the Vampire King, leaping over the balcony overlooking the ballroom and into the melee. A haze of red was over everything; the other vampires practically frozen compared to my speed. Stab, slash, drop two, and now for the final stroke…the team leader’s voice came to me, the oath I’d made not to kill strong enough to crack through the rage. I jerked my hand back before I performed the death stroke, then turned to another victim instead.

I fought, ripping apart the court, but I never killed, no matter how thick the red haze grew. This new dance was delicious enough. I danced with the court until a click snapped around my wrist and then another, and a pulse of electricity swept through me from the cuffs, making me jerk and flail. Gavriel picked me up and flew like a breath of despair back up to the Vampire King where he stood at the top of the stairs, watching the show.

“Give us the address and the name, or I kill you now,” Gavriel growled. He had the most delicious growl, and his arms were so strong around me, bringing me back to my own mind, my own will.

I blinked, reeling with horror at how mindless I’d been. I’d been the Vampire King’s slave, just like I was Tralcon’s. No, worse because I hadn’t even realized it. The rage was his, only pierced by the team leader, probably because of the brooch and hairpin Gavriel had given me.

The Vampire King stood still, the point of Gavriel’s beautiful sword at his throat. “The where is Song’s Lament, and the who is Cupid.”

“Cupid? What kind of—” My question was cut off as Gavriel sprang into the air, flying directly towards the ceiling. I squeaked and flinched as we exploded through the plaster in a spray of dust and rubble out into the clear dark night. He held me close as we flew far away from the vampires and the rest of the world below.