Chapter 36 Ezra #2
My shadows explode, detonating against skin and bone. Darkness slithers down my thigh, then lashes out with a whipcrack of rage. Another snaps through the air, so fast it nearly lands.
They swarm, hissing and thrashing, completely hellbent on obliteration.
A dark laugh rumbles through me just before I tightly wrap my hand around Vesna’s neck. My patience is nearly gone, and I no longer give a fuck about manners or decorum, especially when it comes to this soul-devouring cunt.
I lift the vampire by her throat until only the tips of her toes graze the floor. My shadows writhe, apoplectic, blistering the air with the promise of violence.
And then? She. Fucking. Moans.
The sentient void noodles freeze. I swear they fucking blink, too stunned to move.
Then they answer, not individually, but as something singular and ancient.
“Fuck, yes! Choke me harder, Ezra,” Vesna rasps, a blissful smile spreading across her face.
A shadow squeezes my throat, silently begging me to end this.
I pull her toward me until our noses are mere centimeters apart.
“Vesna, this will not happen,” I whisper, my voice soft and venomous. “You will back off, or I’ll have no choice but to get violent. You have no clue what I am or what I’m capable of.”
I sigh, then drop her to the floor with a loud thud. Vesna gasps between girlish giggles that don’t suit her as my shadows twitch in the background, clearly unsettled. One mimes a gag, full theater and no subtlety.
Cheeky little shit.
“This is a strange sort of foreplay, but I expect nothing less from a man like you. You can fuck me all night long. Do anything you want to me. You can carve your name in my ass while you fuck it raw. Or you can choke me until I pass out, then pump me full of your cum while I’m unconscious.
Or would you rather slit my neck while you shove that huge cock down my throat? ”
Angry obsidian asps climb up my body in full DEFCON 1. A cool, inky tendril clamps over my throat while the rest coil up my arm, wrapping around my shoulders, pressing against my face.
They’re physically trying to shield me from her words. I appreciate the effort. Truly. But I’ll still need to bathe in the Lethe to forget this abhorrent conversation.
“No,” I growl, letting the shadows snap between us.
Fuck this.
I call the Cù Fèidh. It’s a risk. She belongs to Aurora. But right now? I’m counting on her to answer me.
When the shadow beast appears, she stalks toward Vesna, backing her into a corner.
My body tenses, ready for the inevitable fight with the guards, but no one comes.
Somewhere behind my ribs, my shadows coil. Still wary, but quiet. Even they know this moment belongs to me.
A smirk tugs at the corner of my mouth.
“It seems, my dear, you underestimate me. Sending all your guards away so you can play with the handsome monster. Not very smart, Vesna. My friend here is the Cù Fèidh. She protects my partner, the Daughter of the Morning Star. She’ll do anything to protect her mistress. Best not to piss us off.”
The shadows pulse at the word partner, wrapping tightly around my chest, pressing against my throat.
Christ. They’re worse than I am.
A vicious smile spreads across my face as the beast stalks closer. Blood and brutality hover on the horizon, and I live for this shit.
“Now, may I please have the location and the notes Renato promised me? Or do I have to destroy your safe little community here? It would put the vampire population at a severe disadvantage when our queen takes her throne. Choose your next words wisely, Vesna, for they could very well be your last.”
The Cù Fèidh sits at Vesna’s feet, her growl sounding otherworldly and out of place in the vampires’ McMansion.
“Ha! You would choose a half-human whore over me? The Daughter is a joke. She holds no true power. But you, Ezra, have so much power. I can feel it from here. If you join me, we could become an unstoppable force.”
The temperature drops.
The shadows go deathly still.
No twitching. No theatrics. Only the kind of stillness that aches with the promise of pain.
I manage to keep my voice calm, despite the bone-deep urge to tear her spine out through her mouth and wear it like some fucked-up crown.
“You choose your words poorly, vampire. You dare call the Daughter—my queen, the flame I kneel for—a whore? And to my face?”
With a flick of my wrist, the shadow beast attacks the miserable bitch. And in the background, the revenants wave like blood-drunk jesters, gleeful little freaks dying to drop the guillotine.
The Cù Fèidh’s menacing growl echoes off the empty foyer as she sinks her teeth into Vesna’s shoulder. The shadow beast gives a savage yank of her head, ripping the vamp’s arm from her body. Thick, black blood pours from the missing chunk, cascading in a curved, hollow flow.
Vesna screams, clutching the wound, as iridescent ichor the color of midnight pours between her fingers.
She won’t die. But she’ll wish she could.
The vampire watches in horror as the Cù Fèidh lays down at my feet to devour her treat. The satisfying sound of cracking bones and ripping flesh punctuates the vamp’s anguished wails.
“YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!” Vesna roars, cradling her already-stemmed wound.
“No, I don’t think I will,” I reply. “I’m here to keep my promise, to pay my debt to Renato.
And if I told him about your little plan for me …
how long do you think he’d let you live?
” I tilt my head. “I noticed a lovely patch of dandelions on my way in. Would Renato force you to crawl around in the sunny little flowers until your body convulses and the flesh begins to rot and slip from your bones?”
Her jaw drops right before the tattoo on her chest flares to life and she shifts into a fucking sugar glider.
With a loud, angry meep, Vesna launches into the air like an injured, shrieking little death Muppet.
She’s not flying, exactly, just throwing herself in a direction with confidence.
Vesna flings herself toward the rafters, a screaming marsupial blur hellbent on defying gravity.
I turn my head. So does the Cù Fèidh. So do the shadows.
We all just … watch.
She ricochets off a support beam and crashes to the floor in a bloody, furry heap, right back where she started.
Sometimes, I fucking love the universe.
My shadows hesitate. They flicker around me, trying to process the sheer absurdity unfolding in front of us.
One, bolder than the rest, slithers forward and gently pokes her twitchy little rodent body.
The moment she squeaks, it flinches and zips back.
Another shadow bristles, writhing with aggression. It doesn’t care that she’s the size of a rat. It still wants to destroy her.
This might actually top watching Renato shift into an ankle-biting chihuahua, and I really didn’t think that was possible.
I crouch, smirking at the mangled excuse for a predator whimpering at my feet.
Vesna’s shock isn’t surprising. Few know that dandelions are deadly to vampires.
Why they are? No one really knows.
It’s one of those mysteries lost to the universe.
Which just proves how fucking ridiculous it really is.
One smear of a happy little dandelion, and a vampire rots from the inside out.
It’s as brilliant as it is stupid.
“I never took you for a coward, Vesna. Shift back, or I’ll let the Cù Fèidh loose, and we’ll see how well you aggressively glide with half a spine.”
In a flash of wispy, iridescent vapor, she returns to her pathetic, broken human form.
“I don’t give two shits if Luca is Renato’s son or his lover. He asked me to find them and convince my sibling to allow the vampire to leave. I will do as he asks, fulfill my promise, and hopefully never see either of you again.”
As the Cù Fèidh crunches on the last few bites of Vesna’s arm, I call her back to me, then send out my shadows to restrain Vesna.
And they readily comply.
They lash around her body, twisting and tightening, eager to imprint their shape into her skin.
Twin shadows snake up her throat, wrapping loosely. A few others coil tightly around her remaining arm, flexing just enough to make her squirm.
Sadistic little bastards. They enjoy this as much as I do.
“Now, you will give me the notes and the location, as promised, or I will find Renato tonight and tell him about your conspiracy to overthrow him.”
Vesna’s gaze darts to a red folder with a sticky note slapped on top. I flip it open and sigh. Upstate New York.
By the endless fucking dark.
My shadows press right against my chest, pulsing with irritation.
They know.
That adds at least two days to my journey.
The universe loves to fuck me rough, without lube, any chance it gets.
“Thank you, Vesna,” I say with an exaggerated bow.
The shadows unwind from her in slow whorls, savoring the moment.
“You’ve been most helpful. When I return with news of Luca, I will make sure Renato knows just how cooperative you’ve been.
” I pause, smiling as she trembles. “Oh my. I do hope that arm grows back before he returns.” I tilt my head, almost sympathetic.
“I hear he has … strong opinions about disobedience.”
“Renato will never accept your whore queen!” Vesna shrieks.
The room falls silent. The revenants freeze, still as death, humming with violence.
I crouch down in front of the wounded vampire, knuckles dragging along her cheek as her violet-stained lips curl into a snarl.
Vesna finally gets it. The truth she’s been too arrogant to see hits her all at once, and when fear flickers in her dull, butcher-paper eyes, I shudder with pleasure.
“My dear Vesna,” I murmur, fingers curling around her throat, “your husband has already bent his knee to my queen.”
Her breath hitches.
The shadows pulse, not angry or vengeful, just … satisfied.
They can feel what’s coming, and they fucking savor it.
I squeeze until I feel the satisfying snap of tendon, the revenants rippling across my skin with violent delight.