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Silence fell before the room erupted in laughter.
“That’s fair. Kaden’s fire-wielding bitch has been fucking up a lot of our routes and efforts.”
The guy across from me hissed, “Don’t speak her name.”
The man next to him laughed. “Why? Are you afraid of summoning her? Don’t be such a superstitious coward.”
“Coward? Or smart? Look what’s left of the Vanderkais and Camilla’s coven. They are nothing more than ashes and ruin. They say you hear a clap of thunder before she arrives, but it’s not thunder. It is its wings. Winged death. Then all that’s left is fire, fire hotter than the sun—”
“Blow me, Emmett,” the man across from him snapped. “Stop listening to everything someone whispers to you.”
The man next to me scoffed. “Please, she got what she deserved.” He leaned back, folding his arms. “I don’t know what she expected after betraying Kaden, killing Alistair, teaming up with the World Ender, and then fucking him. It’s her own damn fault. She is the reason the world is fucking shut down, and we have to meet in rat-infested dive bars.”
Silence fell once more, and I stared at the cards in my hands.
“You know,” the man closest to Edgar scratched his uneven beard, “I wonder if they were screwing while Kaden murdered her sister.”
A chorus of laughter and crude jokes followed, but I heard nothing, my blood boiling. The pounding crescendo filled my ears like drums on a battlefield. Darkness whipped in every corner of the room as an ache, deep and primal, grew in my belly. He had voiced the one thought that plagued me, the one thing that haunted me more than anything.
The truth.
It’s her own damn fault.
A lock on a door in a house rattled.
“For the record,” my voice cut through their laughter as I gazed at the cards in my hand, “I never fucked the World Ender, and I’ve fingered myself more times than he ever did.”
The room fell silent, and every eye turned to me. By the way the color drained from their faces and their heartbeats stuttered, I knew the piercing red glow of my eyes shone beneath Malone’s disguise. I felt the Ig’Morruthen in me stir, all fangs, teeth, and impenetrable scaled armor. Unbreakable, primal, and pissed.
I didn’t see anything, my vision blurring with bloodlust. They laughed over her death as if she deserved it when she was the kindest, most loving person in the world, and now she was gone because of me.
I gripped the edge of the table and pushed so hard it severed the man sitting across from me when it collided with the wall. The remaining men jumped to their feet, reaching into their waistbands for weapons. I turned to the low-life next to me and ripped his head off his shoulders, his body slumping forward, painting everyone nearby in red.
Donte grabbed the gun from the far corner, and I heard several shots echo in the room. I didn’t feel any pain, only that roaring, vengeful wrath pumping through my blood. First, I needed to secure the leader. I would worry about the others in a second. Edgar’s eyes fixed on me, and I could see the moment he figured it out. He knew why I was here. I stalked forward, and he took a few steps back.
I kicked out, slamming the side of my foot against his knee. It shattered, and he fell into a heap, his mouth opened on a silent scream. “Stay here. We need to talk.”
Santiago’s man with the gold chain tried to run, but I ripped the leg off the overturned table and threw it so hard it went through his chest. His knees hit the floor hard as he dropped.
The pop, pop, pop sound behind me told me Donte was still emptying his gun into me. When I spun, I saw the flash of his next round.
“Where’s Webster, you bitch?”
I looked down at my suit and stuck a finger into a hole in my shirt, feeling my skin knitting back together. I raised my hand, licking the blood from my fingers as Donte watched, his eyes widening.
“Webster is in pieces. Do you want to know what he tasted like?” My form melted, the black smoke drifting away as the cloak of Webster disappeared, leaving only me.
“Devil,” he whispered, and to him, maybe I did look like the demons from his legends. I wore a red pantsuit with a matching jacket and heels, my hands covered in my own blood.
“Actually, it’s Dianna.” I pushed him against the wall, his gun clattering to the floor. I reared my head back before I sank my fangs deep. His body shook as he tried and failed to fight me off. His screams turned to whimpers, then to silence as I drank deep. The ever-present hunger roared, demanding more, never sated, never full, never… complete.
Memories flashed quickly through my brain, moving at a blurring speed. I pulled away when I heard movement behind me. I turned, allowing Donte’s body to slide to the floor with a thud.
Edgar’s head whipped toward me, his face scrunching in pain as he tried and failed to stand. He held onto his leg, scooting back and away from me.
“You know, I have been feeding more than I ever have, thanks to my dead sister. You know, the one you all love to taunt,” I said, walking toward him, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. “It’s unlocked this whole new world of power in me. It is pretty fun. Want to see a trick I learned?”
I raised my hand, and the growing darkness in the room crawled toward me. It whipped and curled as if it understood every thought and feeling I had.
