“Sam’s a double agent? That’s a surprise.”
“He’s not.”
“Pillow talk? That’s unprofessional.”
Brandt cocked his head, “Never said Sam told her a thing. But she’s got eyes and ears all over that island. That big house that’s all windows? We’ve been investigating and knew plenty about Dr. Samantha Jasper. Brandy wanted Kyle and she was reporting to me on the coalition’s plans. I know Tristan is in Phoenix and heard you three were back at the island.”
If Kyle’s blood made Brandy even-out, why did she want Kyle? Maybe even with the bitch switch turned off, she was still just a greedy bitch.
Kyla felt thrumming start up inside of her body.
Oh God. He’s tracking me! Please let him be close.
When this had happened in Victoria, he’d been close. She prayed that’d be the case again now.
But Brandt had a dagger. What if he hurt Tristan? Kyla’s head started to pound with the tension.
Then it occurred to her.
If Brandt drank her blood he’d become very ill. Sergey had said that and told her she’d probably murder a vamp who tried to drink her blood for his efforts.
“You probably won’t even like the way I taste. Don’t vampires have a preferred type?”
“How do you know you’re not my preferred type?” he asked.
“I’m just saying. You might not even like the way I taste.”
“Rumour has it that Liam Donavan is dead because he tasted you. Although I’m not sure why, other than that you’re supposed to be enchanted. You don’t smell enchanted to me. You smell good, but you just smell like a woman. Nothing special. Your brother, though… he smells enchanted.”
“Well, Tristan did kill Liam because he couldn’t stop himself from tasting me. The same for Claudio.”
Brandt looked startled.
“Tristan killed Claudio for tasting you?”
“For tasting me, yes.”
“I heard Claudio committed suicide.”
“Nope. Tristan ripped his head off for drinking my highly-enchanted blood. I’ve been told it’s like mixing baking soda with vinegar once it’s in a vampire’s system.” She shrugged.
His eyes widened. “So, why don’t you smell enchanted to me? I’m very attuned to these things.”
“I’m not bleeding.”
“It doesn’t matter. I have an acute sense of smell. I know what enchanted smells like.”
Kyla shrugged, “Maybe I’m an anomaly. Or maybe your sniffer isn’t working properly.”
He put a knee to the end of the bed and crawled up toward her. She gulped.
“You’re not real bright, are you?” Brandt asked her.
The thrumming inside of her was getting very loud.
She was glad it seemed that Brandt was the one who wasn’t too bright. He couldn’t stop thinking about her blood. He couldn’t wait to try it.
She wanted to send Tristan a warning, that there was a dagger in the room, but she didn’t know how. All she knew was that if she could get this guy to drink from her, he could get sick and that could give her, and maybe Tristan if he got here really soon, an advantage.
She also knew that vampires loved to prey on the weak so she whimpered, “Please don’t hurt me.”
But inside, she was feeling the cold fury rise. She had to keep it down for now so he’d bite her and hopefully become violently ill.
His nose was in the crook of her neck.
“Let me be the judge of whether it’s extraordinary or not.”
Kyla braced and fought the overpowering urge to fight him. It wasn’t easy.
His teeth sank into her throat and the sound that came out of him made her blood feel like it was curdling. He leaned back and said, “Holy hell! How the… you taste like fucking heaven! I’ve never tasted anything like that in my life!”
Oh no. Oh god, no. Kyla felt doomed. Would she now get drained? Was Sergey wrong? Those words were very similar to what Tristan had said the first time he tasted her blood. But these words didn’t make her skin rise with goosebumps. These words now terrified her.
All of a sudden Brandt leaned back and rolled over onto his side and began retching off the side of the bed.
This horribly putrid odour filled the air. His face was black like coal and he was puking blood. Her thrumming halted.
The door burst open and Tristan, Sam, and Sergey were there.
Tristan’s eyes were black. He whooshed straight to Brandt, who looked like he was rotting with that black skin, blood gushing from his mouth.
“He has the dagger!” Kyla screeched but it didn’t matter. Brandt hadn’t stopped throwing up blood when Tristan got to him, leaned over, and ripped his heart clean out of his chest. He whipped it against the wall and then Tristan’s black eyes were on Kyla’s throat, which was bleeding.
She leaned forward, showing him that her hands were tied and he looked to Sam and Sergey.
“Untie her,” he went to the bathroom and turned the water on.Ouch.
Sam rushed over and started untying Kyla’s hands.