Once Bitten (Shadow Guild: The Rebel 1)
The guards could do the dirty work, sure. But it was the Devil you had to watch out for. He was all tightly leashed power, but when he released it…
He studied me in silence, then raised his hand. The guards melted into the shadows at the edge of the room, disappearing.
“You’ve come to me,” the Devil said, his voice dark and low.
There was a quiet arrogance there—the kind that kings carried. Kings who had gained their power with sweat and blood and charm and knew that they would never suffer defeat because the world was theirs to control.
I swallowed hard, trying to force back that strange combination of attraction and fear.
Please don’t use your mind control. “What do you know about the murder of the man with the dragon tattoo on his neck?”
He tilted his head, the shadows slashing across his face and making him look even more dangerous. He gestured to the chair in front of his desk. “Please, have a seat.”
And lose the ability to chuck my potion and run? Hell, no. “I’m fine, thanks.”
He rose from his chair, graceful and dangerous, and moved around to the front of his desk. Every bit of me screamed to move, but I held my ground. His gaze flicked to my neck as if he could see my violent heartbeat.
Vampire.
I kept my gaze averted.
Instead of approaching, he leaned against his desk, facing me. There was a good two meters between us, but it felt like a handbreadth. I could detect the barest hint of his magic—the scent of a fire and the sound of thunder—but it was well under control.
Everything about him was well under control but, somehow, I knew…beneath the surface, there was more than ice.
“Did you kill the man in the alley?” I asked, wishing I already had that truth serum.
“No.”
“That’s it? Just…no?”
“Just no.” He strode toward me, his movement impossibly smooth.
My heartbeat thundered as he approached, and my skin chilled. It took everything I had to hold my ground, but I refused to run. There was too much on the line here, and he was an apex predator. I couldn’t show fear, or he would attack.
Even if that wasn’t true, I couldn’t bear to let him know I was afraid.
Instead of coming straight for me, he moved past, so close that I could smell the fire of his scent. Every bit of me tightened as I turned to follow his back with my gaze, and my shoulders relaxed when he went to the sideboard on the other side of the room.
He looked back at me over his shoulder. “Coffee?”
“Um…no.” I wasn’t going to drink a possible murderer’s coffee.
He poured himself a cup, and the wild thought burst into my head that he also drank blood.
But where were his fangs?
My gaze flicked to his mouth, but I saw none. When I looked at his eyes, I realized that he was smiling at me. Not a big smile, but he was definitely amused.
7
The Devil
I watched the woman. She stood still as a hare spotted by a fox, her gaze carefully averted from mine. My body screamed with an awareness I hadn’t felt in years. Hell, that I had never felt.
What was it about her that made me feel alive? She had eyes that seemed to see right through me, though she wouldn’t make eye contact. The back of my neck prickled as if I were being watched from all angles. Like she could see right to the heart of me and all the terrible things I’d done.
Was that what so intrigued me?