The Ripple Effect (Rhiannon's Law #3)(47)

“No,” Marius snarled, “and don’t you dare open your mark to her. When I am here it is my home, my rules, my way.” Marius grabbed the front of my sweater, lifting me off the ground, and got in my face. “It’s time your human learns she is nothing more than what we allow her to be. She does not come and go from this home at her leisure. Her life is ours to dictate.”

“This isn’t like her, it’s—”

“The amulet, I know.”

Marius wrapped his hand around the leather at my throat and the stone became hot against my skin. Just as the surface of the pendant started to burn, he ripped the leather apart and yanked the amulet from my neck. He thrust it into my face, making sure I saw it in his fist.

“You’ve done wrong by your master for the last time. I’d kill you if he didn’t plead so strongly for your life. From this moment forward, you are nothing more than a servant, a beholden necromancer to our family. You’re going to wish you’d taken things more seriously before I’m finished with you, and you have no one to blame but yourself.”

Grasping a handful of my hair, he revealed my neck and bit me—in the same place Disco had earlier. It hurt worse than any bite I’d ever received. Marius wasn’t gentle or caring. He was cruel and vicious, tearing at my skin, causing the circular wounds created by his huge canines to broaden. After the blood started flowing, he ripped his teeth from my throat and allowed blood to torrent down my throat. He smeared the hand holding the amulet over it, and my heart sank.

He was initiating a blood rite—the only way he could prevent the magical jewelry from returning to my possession.

“You can’t have it!” I screamed, struggling hard against his hand, uncertain of where my rage came from. “It’s mine!”

“This is for the best, Rhiannon. It was time you let that thing go. I’ve told you it’s no good,” Goose said softly.

I gaped at my confidant in shock, growing sick with dawning comprehension. He was the one who told Marius about the amulet and how he had to take it from me. The betrayal was unlike the one I felt with Disco, harsher in a bizarre way.

“I trusted you!” My shout echoed off the high ceilings and rang in my ears.

“I told you I’d do whatever it took in the best interest of the family.” He wouldn’t meet my eyes, lowering his head, a lock of hair resting on his forehead. “The amulet is dangerous. It’s making you dangerous. It’s time you let it go.”

“She doesn’t let anything go. She gives me what I want, when I command it,” Marius corrected.

He moved me from the wall, held me midair, and thrust me back. The base of my skull kissed the hard surface, creating little stars in my vision. I was trying to blink and see clearly when fingers were buried in my face, forcing me to look into the eyes of a vampire who wanted to see me suffer.

“The knife,” he demanded, the words a harsh whisper. “Give it to me.”

Maybe it was because I didn’t have anything left to lose, or maybe it was because I would be left defenseless, but I knew I couldn’t give him the dagger. If he’d attacked me like this, the battle had already been waged. I’d lost one valuable weapon to him. I wasn’t giving him another.


“I don’t have it.”


Marius dropped me and I sank to the floor, a shattered heap at his feet. I brought my fingers to the back of my pounding head, rubbed the wet, stringy surface and placed them in front of my face. Blood greeted me. Lots and lots of blood.

“She said she would bring it with her.” Goose shifted from confident to uncertain. If it wouldn’t have given me away—revealing my determination to defy Marius by any means possible—I would have laughed in my former ally’s face.

“Why didn’t you bring it?” Disco asked.

“Attacked,” I blurted, studying my fingers and the blood staining the surface of my skin. “Outside the club.”

Disco came to me then, shouldering Marius aside. “What?”

“Deena was attacked by the men who were killing strippers. I was leaving when it happened and got caught in the middle. Things got nasty before the cops arrived.”

“They took the knife?” Marius sneered. “Is that what you’d have me believe?”

“No.” I winced as Disco urged me to lean forward so he could see the back of my head. “I didn’t have time to retrieve it after the attack. The police came. That’s where I was this morning.”

“Convenient,” Marius retorted.

“She wouldn’t lie about something I could so easily discredit,” Paine said as he came into the room. I could see the anger in his eyes, the absolute outrage over my rough handling. “I have an informant at the station. It would only take one phone call to learn if she’s telling the truth.”

“Make the call,” Marius barked.

I heard Paine leave. Disco was shaking—hard. Our mark opened just enough for me to know he was furious. “I’m going to close the wounds on your neck. Stay still.”

I closed my eyes as he ran his tongue the length of my throat—one, two, three laps. His hand covered mine and squeezed as he silently offered me comfort and support. The blood I’d taken from him was already working on my body, but it was a slow process. I’d drained a lot of my energy fighting off murdering rapists and using the amulet.