Chapter 3 #3
Slowly, he unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled up his sleeves, one by one and that uneasy feeling in my belly grew a bit bigger. Those dark eyes finally rose up to look at me again. Sitting here before him like this made me feel small and for a second, I hesitated.
What was he after? What did he want from me?
When he rounded the table, I remembered myself, lifting my chin in rebellion.
I wouldn’t be bullied into anything. Adrian Black didn’t matter.
I had my sister’s location now. I had no need for this man.
With each step he took, I evaluated my surroundings for an exit plan.
I could use the glass table to vault away from him.
I could sweep my leg out so quickly that he wouldn’t see it coming until he was flat on his back on the floor.
I could see in his face that he didn’t expect much from me, that he was underestimating me and that delighted me in a way that never grew old.
If he thought he was going to take me, he had another think coming.
When he reached for me, I threw myself to the side to avoid him.
I slipped just outside of the range of his fingers as I leapt up and used my momentum to push myself up high enough to jump off the glass table.
I heard it crack beneath my foot, but that didn’t slow me down.
The look of surprise on his face was one hundred percent worth it and I used that to my advantage too.
I whirled hard and slammed my elbow down with the intent of hitting him in the back of the neck, but he spun around faster than I expected and caught my arm between his fingers.
There was something off about the way he was moving. It was almost too fast. I’d have to step up my game.
I threw a punch and he countered. I quickly spun into it and brought my knee up with the intention of hitting him straight in the balls, but he blocked that too. I jumped back and his eyes appraised me with a cool glare.
“You can fight me, Natalia, but I promise you that I will win,” he declared, and I practically hissed at him.
“You have no idea who I am. What I can do,” I spat back in return.
“Not yet, but I intend to find out,” he replied cockily, and I sneered openly. I took a step back, ensuring that the glass table was between us once again.
With a swiftness that can only come from years of training, I reached beneath my dress with both hands and un-holstered the two guns strapped to my thighs. Neither gun was equipped with a safety, so I just leveled the barrels so that both were aimed directly at his head.
“You won’t lay a hand on me,” I scoffed.
“No. I don’t just intend to lay a single hand on you. I have much more than that planned for you,” he threatened, and my fingers twitched at the triggers.
I didn’t like what he was implying.
“You were kind in giving me the information I needed. I’m going to leave now. Don’t make me shoot you,” I warned him in return.
Something flashed across his face, something I didn’t quite understand.
It was as if he was daring me to do it. No one had ever looked at me like that before.
I took a deep breath and decided to ignore it, walking around the table in the direction of the elevator I’d come up.
There was no hesitation in my stride, simply confidence and that seemed to provoke him even further.
His jawline twitched with tension and when he took another daring step toward me, I pulled the trigger and shot off a warning blast not less than half an inch in front of his toe.
He paused and his grin widened. “You are such a delightful surprise, Natalia. I’m going to enjoy this far more than I could have ever imagined,” he murmured and something inside me tightened in anxious anticipation of what that might mean.
He’d said he was going to punish me.
I swallowed hard, pushing that curiously deviant thought straight out of my mind and back into the fiery depth from wherever it came.
I pressed my lips together and glared back at him, challenging him to take another step toward me.
For several seconds, we just stared at each, neither making a move.
Eventually though, I grew tired of waiting and took another step toward the foyer. His grin widened and he practically flew at me. The speed at which he came at me forced me to make a quick choice. It was either me or him and I was going to make sure it was me.
I lifted my right hand and aimed for his heart. With zero hesitation, I pulled that trigger and the roar of the gunshot popped off loudly in the room.
My aim was true, practiced from years of relentless training. From this distance, I couldn’t miss. I could shoot a man from five hundred feet away and Adrian was barely seven feet away from me right now.
I expected him to yell. I expected blood and gore and there was none of that. Instead, the bullet appeared to hit his chest, stop short and fall to the floor in a crumpled metal ball.
A surprised squeak escaped my lips before I could stop it.
Was he wearing a high-tech bulletproof vest under that tight shirt? Would that even be possible? Maybe his shirt was lined with something.
My mind did everything imaginable to try to explain the impossible, but in the end, none of it made sense. I’d shot him point blank and he didn’t even have a mark to show it.
“What’s wrong, little human? Did you think your gun would work against me?” he asked deviously, and I snarled with annoyed aggression.
“You are a vampire,” I demanded angrily.
“I am not a vampire, Natalia. I never lied to you, but I also didn’t tell you I was human now, did I?
” he continued, and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from saying anything at all.
I had to figure out what was going on and fast before I found myself in the hands of whatever this man was.
Quickly, I surveyed the area around me. There were a number of clean glasses on the bar. There was an ice pick and stirring spoon, as well as what looked like a bowl of freshly chopped lime wedges. Next to the bowl was a sharp-looking cutting knife.
My gaze flicked back to him. He knelt down in front of me and captured the mangled bullet between his fingers.
He stood back up and placed it in his palm, holding it up before me so that I could see it even more closely.
It looked like I’d shot it against a wall of metal, squished and flattened in a way that was as curious as it was disconcerting.
With terrifying swiftness, he tossed it to me, and I caught it.
I held it up and surveyed the bumpy ridges, needing to see it up close so that I could believe whatever this was.
“Your bullets will not affect me,” he said simply.
“You are wearing armor of some kind, yes?” I asked.
“No,” he replied. As if he knew I needed to see some kind of proof, he began to unbutton his shirt and a single droplet of sweat rolled down the length of my spine.
I shivered hard and I told myself it was from perspiring rather than the sight of the thick chest hair that wrapped around his muscles in a vision of perfection.
Every single inch of his chest was defined.
As he slowly revealed himself, I stopped counting the number of chiseled ab muscles when I got to six.
After that, I just stared at the carved statue of a man that stood in front of me.
He pulled the shirt out of his slacks and shrugged it off his shoulders.
For a moment, I was distracted by the chunky silver watch on his wrist. He crossed his arms over his chest, and I finally remembered to stop gawking at him and glare at him instead.
“What kind of trickery is this?” I pressed.
“You’re out of your depth with me, my little human,” he replied.
“Stop calling me that. I’m not yours and I never will be,” I snapped.
He just smirked and took another step toward me. I shot him again, this time right in between the eyes. The only indication that I’d even hit him was a pale pink spot that quickly evaporated in the seconds following the bullet’s inevitable drop to the floor.