Chapter 4
Lily Shaw looked as if she might bolt at any moment. Vampires loved prey. Laurent couldn’t afford that here.
“Settle down, Marco,” he growled. “You’re stronger than that.”
The smell of Lily’s fear riddled her sweet scent—so sweet. He’d smelled many like her over the centuries, each unique, each impossible to forget.
Marco mastered himself, turning away. Laurent’s muscles relaxed. He trusted his second completely, but instincts were instincts.
“Amplifiers are extinct,” Marco said.
“And yet, here she sits—“
“Stop talking about me like I’m invisible. What is an amplifier?”
Laurent shot her a glare, irritated by her question—by her very existence, minus the blood. He turned back to his second.
“You realize what this means, Sarkas? This could change everything.”
“I am aware, but only if I use her when the timing’s right.”
Lily’s jaw dropped. “Use me?”
Marco turned to Lily with an arrogant smirk. “Your blood would make Laurent Sarkas the most powerful vampire in existence.”
“What?” she choked, eyes darting between them.
“That’s what amplifier blood does, pet. It amplifies power. Laurent Sarkas is already one of our kind’s oldest. Your blood would make him…unstoppable.”
Marco had left out one key point. Whatever power boost he would receive from Lily’s blood would be temporary. It might last a few days, but it would fade. It always did.
Lily’s face turned red. She pinned him with her piercing eyes. “You think I’ll let you turn me into a vampire soda machine?”
Laurent blinked.
Marco scoffed and said, “Vampire soda machine? Certainly not. There’d be no refills, pet. He’d wait for the opportune moment. That’s how he operates. Ask him what happened to the other amplifiers.”
She stared at Marco, her fragile heartbeat so beautiful, so quick, so fearful. Marco heard it too and his smirk widened.
“All right, Marco, enough.” He rubbed at the place between his eyebrows. There came a point when living lost its luster. More often than not, he wondered if he’d reached it.
Marco merely shrugged. Intimidation tactics were his specialty. It’s why he did much of Laurent’s dirty work.
Lily jumped to her feet, fists clenched. “You’re all monsters. Fucking monsters. I’ve had enough. Let me go! Now.”
Marco laughed. “Oh, she’s funny. I like her already.”
“Miss Shaw,” Laurent drawled. “Sit down.”
He didn’t will her. Didn’t need to. It would have been easier if he had.
When the silence stretched between them, she finally sat. Her exaggerated glare reminded him of a tiny dog with a loud bark—pointless. Especially when he knew exactly how she felt. Perhaps it was time to help her understand the situation.
“I find myself at a crossroads, Miss Shaw. Alive, you are a liability. If I’m lucky, a weapon. Dead, you even the playing field. How then should I proceed?”
Her mouth opened, only to snap closed.
“I could let you live, let you go home—“
“I vote for that.”
“—except that my enemies would find you almost immediately. Your scent was all over the Yoshiki mansion. That demon I was tracking? He would hunt you down.”
Demon? she mouthed.
“Or I could keep you alive and cared for, right here, under my protection, until I have need of you. I assure you, I can find many advantageous uses for you.”
Her jaw tightened. “Yeah, like auctioning me off to the highest bidder?”
“There’s always that,” Marco pointed out. “The witches would pay a great price for you, pet. They’d harvest your screams, rip them from your lips, keep you alive just enough to get rich off your blood. You’d linger for decades in that liminal place between life and death—“
“Or,” Laurent continued. “I just kill you and be done with it. Dead, I need not worry about my enemies using you against me.”
Her heart quickened again, music to his ears.
He studied her. She wasn’t beautiful in the conventional sense, but the longer he stared, the more compelling she became.
There was something about the defiant tilt of her chin, the way her blue eyes held his without flinching.
In his younger days, the sight of her would have stirred his blood.
Knowing she was his to possess. Now…nothing.
“Something tells me I have no choice in the matter?” Her words were quieter this time.
“None at all. Let’s make a deal, you and I. Cooperate, and I’ll see that you are cared for, pampered, even. Luxury accommodations, pretty clothes, fine food. That’s the sort of lifestyle you’re used to, yes?”
“Like a lamb for slaughter—“
“Marco,” he growled, glaring at his second.
“You’ve just got me all figured out, haven’t you?” Her eyes glittered with hate. He shifted in response, scalp prickling. “Except that I don’t care about being pampered. I want to go home.”
“I am not in the business of giving you what you want.”
“And if I don’t cooperate?”
“Then I’ll kill you. Which will it be, Miss Shaw?” He waited for her answer. When she remained silent, he said, “I can see this is too much for your mortal mind. I’ll give you the night to think on it. I expect an answer come the morning. Now, it’s late. I’ll show you to your rooms.”
Her cheeks splotched with red, but she stood.
“Marco, you know what to do.” His second nodded and disappeared.
He escorted Lily through the manor, finding it difficult to keep his eyes from darting toward her face. In the span of an evening, he’d seen a range of emotions cover her features. At the moment, she simply looked coiled tight—ready to spring.
“What happened to the other amplifiers?” she blurted.
He stopped, spinning to face her. “I killed them. All twenty-nine.”
Her expression didn’t waver, but the slight hitch in her breath, the faint scent of fear, gave her away.
“You were entirely correct in your accusations of me. I am every bit the monster you claim, perhaps worse. Think about that when you contemplate your next move.”
“So, what? I get to be number thirty?”
He flinched. The motion was too minute for her to notice. “Perhaps it doesn’t have to be that way.”
Her brows pulled together. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He hesitated.
It was too late to retract his statement. Placing the idea in the open made the truth impossible to ignore. Because there was another way, a much more dangerous way.
“If my enemies cannot have you, they cannot use you against me. If they cannot use you against me, you are no longer a liability.”
He ought to stop talking.
“And if I’m no longer a liability…?”
“Then you may yet live.”
Her snort was soft. “I hope you don’t expect me to fall to my knees and thank you.”
An unexpected scene flashed through his mind, her falling to her knees before him, unbuttoning his jeans, taking his cock into her mouth.
He cursed silently and pushed the image away.
“If I wanted you on your knees, Miss Shaw, I’d have you on your knees.
Surely a girl like you is familiar with the position. ”
She made a choking noise as anger washed over her face. “How dare—?!”
“Come,” he said, cutting her off. “I tire of your presence.”
She threw him a withering glare. He ignored it, leading her to the suite beside his. He opened the door and all but pushed her in.
“I’ll have Zola check in on you to ensure you have all you need.” He glanced around the room. It was a comfortable space, with a bed, sitting area, and small dining table. He spotted the tea tray and small sandwiches. Vittorio was nothing if not thoughtful. Even for a vampire.
A door opposite them led to an en suite bathroom, and another was locked, leading to his own rooms. Lily seemed to take everything in quickly, eyes darting over her surroundings, lingering on the windows.
He breathed in her scent, holding himself still to keep from moving closer.
“Is there anything else you might need?” he asked, surprising himself. She whirled toward him, her expression disgusted—answer enough, he supposed. “Very well, Miss Shaw. Good night.”
She didn’t respond, instead walking across the room to look out the windows. He backed into the hallway, closing the door behind him.
He stood motionless for a moment, listening to her heartbeat through the door.
The sound called to something primal in him—something he couldn’t afford to indulge.
He forced himself to walk away, each step deliberate.
There were other matters that required his attention, matters interrupted by her arrival.
Marco was already waiting in his study.
“Everything’s taken care of?” he asked, eyeing his second.
Marco hummed, setting Laurent’s fountain pen back on his desk.
“Extra patrols are in position. Six in total, staggered about the property. If anyone discovers she’s here, there will be attempts.
” Laurent grunted in agreement. “I cleared out the youngest from the house. Sent them to stay with some of your older children in the city. Only myself, Astrid, Demetrius, Kian, Lixin, Vittorio, and Zola remain. For now.”
Laurent’s most trusted family.
He rounded the desk and sank into his chair. They stared at each other for long moments before he let his head fall back, closing his eyes.
“Did all of that really happen?” Marco asked.
“Yes.”
“Thought so.” Marco hesitated. “Think she’ll stay put?”
“No.” He opened his eyes, pinning Marco with his gaze. “In fact, I’d be surprised if she didn’t try to flee at least once. It might get her killed, but then, that would save me the trouble.”
He said the words, even if he didn’t mean them—but not because he cared for her life.
He was calculative. He’d spent centuries protecting his house, making sacrifices to ensure it thrived. Power, ultimately, kept them alive.
“And if she remains problematic?”
“Then I’ll kill her myself.”
“Perhaps it is still better to kill her now.”
Laurent scrubbed a hand over his face, desperate to change the subject. “I tracked the dealer to the Yoshiki mansion. Naturally, I didn’t get further than that, considering…”
“Naturally.”
“I was close—would have had him until I smelled her.”