Bloodspell (The Cruentus Curse, #1)(100)

He pulled the stop button in a smooth motion and the elevator lurched to a sudden stop. Her hands gripped the rail, white-knuckled.

"So why are you here, Tori?" He said her name with a caress, and it sickened her just like it had the last time he had used that suggestive tone at the masquerade.

"It's not really any of your business, is it? After all, you won't even help your own brother. You disgust me," she said. His eyes widened at her arrogance. "For everything between you and Christian, if you were in danger, he would be the first person at your side, just like he was the first person here when the Council wanted to kill you. He saved you from that fate." The bored expression on Lucian's face incensed her, but when he finally raised his eyes to hers, they were filled with a simmering, dark hatred.

"That's one of my brother's greatest flaws. His need to save people who don't need saving," he said. "I, on the other hand, leave the cards to fall as they must."

"So you would just let him die?"

"If it is meant to be, who am I to stop it?" He looked at her with hooded eyes.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," she said, staring at him with undisguised loathing, wanting nothing more than to escape his cloying presence. She glanced at the control panel, releasing the stop button with a quick thought. The elevator whirred to life. Lucian smiled his despicable smile.

"Why in such a hurry? Care to stay for a bite?" he asked, grinning widely, his teeth gleaming and sharp.

"Trust me, Lucian, you won't like what you get," she said. "And I don't want to hurt you." Lucian laughed, a deep full-throated sound that echoed in the elevator.

"You ... don't ... want ... to ... hurt ... me?" he repeated with staccato-like mockery. At that precise moment the elevator glided to a stop on the tenth floor, and they stared at each other in the charged silence. As if things couldn't get any worse, Lena walked in, her face the picture of surprise at its unexpected occupant. Lucian looked even more infuriated by her untimely entrance.

"You did say to meet you on ten," she said, addressing Lucian and eyeing Victoria with barely veiled distaste. The venom from their last encounter before the Council hung thick in the air, and Lena's flawless face with its ice-blue eyes, generous lips and white-blond hair taunted her with its perfection. Victoria stifled her jealousy, knowing that she was in a very small space with two hostile vampires who would kill her without a second thought if she faltered for an instant.

Christian loved her, and that was all that mattered.

"Lena," she acknowledged.

"Baroness, actually," Lena returned coolly.

Lucian had settled back into his teasing humor after the passing flash of annoyance had disappeared. He'd enjoy watching Lena have her way with her after he was done. The witch had been stupid to come to Paris without his brother's protection, although Christian had certainly seemed incapacitated when he had checked. Before they broke her, he would find out exactly where Christian was and save himself the legwork of trying to locate him to ensure his long-awaited demise.

"Tori and I were just discussing dinner plans," he said to Lena.

Lena's eyes narrowed. She had warned Lucian about this witch's abilities and still he didn't listen. His arrogance would cost him. She glanced at Victoria, whose skin was flushed as if she'd just finished running a marathon, even though her breathing was slow, calm. Lena couldn't see why Christian was infatuated with her, this woman-child. She was quite ordinary, with the exception of her eyes, which were an unusual emerald color.

Victoria turned from Lucian to Lena, her look measured. It was at that same moment Lena realized that she had been mistaken about the color of Victoria's eyes. They weren't green at all ... they were jet black.

"Lucian," Victoria said carefully, watching them both, "if you try to hurt Christian in any way, I will forget my promise not to hurt you because you are his brother."

Lucian was incredulous. He couldn't believe that she was still threatening him. Why he ought to kill her right there! His glance dropped to his mother's ring gleaming on her right hand and anger flooded into him, fueling his rage. With inhuman speed he lunged toward Victoria but to her magical, blood-inspired senses, it looked like he was moving in slow motion. She let him get within inches of her.

"Confuto," she said, as she'd done with the other vampires. Lucian's body froze in mid-leap. Lena snarled but she found that she couldn't move either. Victoria's blood boiled and without thinking, she almost said the words of death it whispered seductively.

Careful, she warned herself, the blood would kill deviously and without conscience, and losing control to it was the one thing she could not afford. She tore her eyes away from Lena with effort.

For the first time since he'd met her, Lucian looked at her with new awareness. Too late. She leaned forward and touched his face, feeling his muscle flex beneath her touch. "Like I said, because you are his brother, I'll be generous, but come near him, Lucian, and I won't be this kind," she said.

She could see the rage, the hatred and the new fear burning in his eyes. He wanted to hurt her so badly that she could smell it. Slowly, unhurriedly, she took out the pocketknife she had used with Enhard, and Lucian's eyes narrowed. "It's not for you, don't worry."

Victoria repeated the cut, slicing diagonally across her palm, letting the blood pool in her cupped palm. She knew they could smell its heady scent in the confined space and she was careful not to let a single drop fall. Lucian's body strained against the magical bonds and his eyes were feral with uncontrollable hunger, as were Lena's. Victoria smiled and said, "Transeo."