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Viktor
I couldn’t keep punishing myself for past mistakes. I’d made so many, and was sure that I would make more before the end. I had to find a way to forgive myself for failing Kat, and to make it up to Delilah. I felt like I’d used her, and I hated myself for it. Did I? Or did she use me to forget temporarily about what had just happened to her?
I probably should have told her that Kat is dead, so she didn’t feel like a whore for fucking a married man. I just couldn’t bring myself to say the words. Maybe it would make her want to stay away from me if she thought I was still married. That would be safer for her anyway.
I couldn’t put the business on hold, so I had to pull myself together. After all, I’d given her the day off today. Maybe we’d be able to pretend like nothing had happened. With any luck, she would hate me now and we could resume our employer-employee relationship.
Every time I told myself that, I flashed back to the shower. I would never forget her legs wrapped around me, or the look on her face when she climaxed. I couldn’t get the feeling of being inside her out of my head.
Stop! This is torture. I need to stop thinking about Delilah and her tight—no, I have to focus on work. I won’t get anything done if I let myself get distracted.
I decided to start with Strain. He had to be dealt with sooner or later. I wondered how pissed he would be at losing his hand. I’d made sure that it was hidden when his men picked him up so he couldn’t have it reattached. It was petty, but he deserved a reminder to keep his hands off things that were mine.
That line of thinking was dangerously close to circling back to last night with Delilah. I had to do something besides thinking of her. I locked myself in the office and picked up the phone. I shouldn’t have called him and I knew it. I would push his buttons and he would reciprocate with mine until we were fighting again.
I dialed the phone anyway. When his secretary answered, I was respectful and charming. She transferred me immediately. I almost felt bad for her having to deal with his wrath after.
“This is Strain, what can I do for you?” The voice that answered was pleasant. That seemed strange to me.
“You can start by sending an official apology letter to my employee that you injured,” I said gruffly.
“Maxwell, you son of a bitch. You’re lucky I didn’t have you arrested for assault. Where is my hand, anyway?” I was already getting under his skin.
“In a trophy case where it will be displayed to warn others not to try to take what doesn’t belong to them,” I retorted.
“What do you want? I should come after you for this,” he was pissed and yelling now.
“I just told you, I want an apology for the girl you hurt while trying to kidnap her from my bar. You could have easily broken her arm and you know it. And I want you to pay your bill with no further complaints. In the future if you have an issue with your bill, I want you to object in writing through the proper channels instead of coming down to the bar and throwing a fit,” I explained calmly. I knew that being condescending to him was a bad idea, but I couldn’t help myself.
“You bastard. If you think for a second that I’m just going to roll over and let you double the fees, you’ve lost your mind. You want a war, you’ll get one.” I knew he wasn’t one for empty threats, and suspected that this was what he’d had in mind since he found out I was the one who’d taken over.
“I’m not the one making threats, Strain.” I tried to remain calm, but he was testing my patience.
“You know you can’t overcharge like this without some sort of compensation. Give me the girl, and we’ll call it even for now.” He growled, edging closer to becoming unhinged.
I couldn’t believe that he thought I would just agree to hand her over. “No. I won’t give you anyone as compensation. There’s nothing to compensate for. You can either pay my fees or get your supply somewhere else.”
“You’re willing to start a war for some blood bag? What is she to you, anyway?” He snarled at me through the phone, and I was glad that I wasn’t close enough to remove his other hand. I wanted to rip off his head. I paused for a moment to regain my composure. When I responded, I made sure to speak clearly and without emotion.
“She is one of my employees. You are the one who constantly wants to go to war. If that’s what you need, then nothing I offer will stop you.” I decided to cut my losses and hang up on him, before I said something that would have him headed my way. I needed to plan for anything he could throw at me. I slammed the phone down, then started pacing the office.
Strain was big on explosives, so I would have to increase security. I would need to make sure a detail kept an eye on Delilah. I hated that I couldn’t tell her what was going on, but she just found out about vampires yesterday. Could I really expect her to understand a decades old rivalry that had turned bloody and was about to go to war?
I made the necessary calls to put the increased security in place. Then I went out and relieved Vinny from behind the bar. I sent him to clean the whole area while I tended to the few customers we had. I needed to gauge the interest in changes, and there was no better way than to interact with the customers.
Chapter 12
Eli
Vik’s call had put me in a foul mood, worse than when he’d sliced off my hand and knocked out one of my fangs. Although with that, he may have done me a favor. Now I would have an excuse to try out our newest prosthetics. If they worked correctly, I’d be stronger and faster than I was before. It would be almost like connecting directly to the computer. And we’d been working on genetic advances that would allow me to regrow the fang within a few days. It wasn’t like I would go hungry, but I wouldn’t be able to feed in the manner I preferred.
Mike from my tech department had handled the new hand fitting personally at three in the morning. I didn’t usually bother my team after hours, so they knew if I called it was significant. Even more so if it was Scott who called. He assembled the medical team and met me at the lab. There was no way I was taking that mess to my house. I ended up staying here last night and was in the office early. If it hadn’t been for Viktor, I wouldn’t have been here for his call. That dick would have to pay.
I hadn’t planned to take a blood slave when I’d gone to Midnight. I was going to negotiate with Vinny and get the invoice straightened out. I saw red when he said he’d sold the bar to Maxwell. I had been pressuring Vinny for years to sell the bar to me. I couldn’t believe he would betray me like that, selling to my biggest competition.
I had grabbed the girl as a matter of convenience. I didn’t plan to keep her. I just wanted to make a point. Her scent caught my attention. I figured I’d just missed a meal. I didn’t even get a good look at her until after Vik attacked me. But once I saw her face, my resolve to take her was renewed. Something in her eyes pulled at me. I needed to know who she was and I was determined to find out. I wasn’t trying to hurt her, but I couldn’t stop myself. I had been so close to losing control.
I could feel her sense of panic grow as the situation escalated. I knew that I shouldn’t have grabbed her so hard, but I wanted her to come with me. After Vik severed my hand, I felt the girl start to freak out from another room. I pushed everything I had into calming her and letting shock take over so she didn’t end up with a heart attack or stroke from the excitement. Her heart had been racing so fast. Something about her had grabbed me in a way that I decided she was more important. Even after losing my hand, I didn’t want to see her upset or hurt. That had been what allowed Vik to defeat me. If I hadn’t been preoccupied with calming the girl down, I could have finally taken him out. Or at least that was what I would tell myself.
