Death Wish (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #5)(12)

“You know what we should really do?” Jez continued, pausing only to sip from her drink before going on again. “Road trip. Seriously. We have never done anything like that. Let’s go somewhere. Oh! Let’s go to Vegas! You have some ass to kick there, Lex. It would be a blast.”

“Vegas? Oh hell no.” I shook my head despite my mild intrigue. “I can’t begin to imagine the kind of trouble we’d find there.”

“Then let’s not imagine. Let’s go. Pick a date.”

Kale laughed and relaxed in the booth beside me. Just inches kept us from touching. “Knock yourselves out. Most road trips aren’t exactly vampire friendly.”

“They can be.” Jez shrugged off his protest. “We can hit hotels during the day. Really damn expensive ones. It would kick ass.”

What was she doing? Kale and I on a road trip together would be all kinds of bad news regardless of whether or not she was there too. Not to mention the fight with Arys that would ensue. I hadn’t considered leaving town at all recently, although a chance to get away didn’t sound like a totally bad idea.

Las Vegas had made me curious in recent months. Arys had ties to the city through his sire, Harley, the most powerful vampire in Sin City, or at least, he was.

“Besides,” the feisty leopard went on. “You guys need to spend more time away from this place. Both of you. It’s a menace to your mental health.”

“Can’t argue there.” I tossed back another mouthful of whiskey. A vacation from this place sounded like heaven.

Right on cue, the rear door separating the back rooms from the rest of the club opened, and Shaz strode through. My stomach plummeted in a nauseating free fall when she appeared at his side. They didn’t touch, yet there was an unspoken intimacy between them. I was going to be sick.

I knew very little about her, the vampire Shaz had become acquainted with. She was a tall, leggy thing with long black hair. I got the sense that she wasn’t an old vampire but not brand-new either. I didn’t even know her name, but I hated her more than I’d ever hated anyone or anything. Even Raoul.

It wasn’t just her. It was everything she represented. This world…my world. And now, because of me, it was Shaz’s world, too. He’d promised me that he wasn’t sleeping with her, but that had been weeks ago. Things change, and I didn’t have the guts to ask.

Besides, a sexual element always tinged such encounters; the absence of intercourse didn’t mean it wasn’t sexual. Of course it was. My own personal proof of that sat beside me, a dark dream in leather. The carnal tension had been running high between Kale and I long before our night in the rain. It was only a matter of time until Shaz made all of my mistakes.

Worse than sexual tension was the chance of emotional entanglement. That was the fear that gripped me as I watched them from across the room. I held my glass in a white-knuckled grip, willing myself to react. I was frozen.

Feeling the weight of my stunned stare, Shaz met my gaze across the distance. We shared a moment of horror, and then he looked away. So, he hadn’t expected to see me. Should that make me feel better?

The chatter at my table fell quiet as my companions followed my gaze. I watched Shaz whisper something to the vampiress who immediately turned my way. He was trying to get away from her without making a scene. I could tell by the tension in his shoulders as he pulled away. She stopped him with a hand, ensuring I was watching before she slid a hand into his platinum hair and laid one hell of a kiss on him.

The glass in my hand shattered into several little shards. Whiskey splashed the table and covered my hand. Blood welled up from the cuts I’d sustained, but I barely noticed. I was already fighting my way out of the booth.

I snapped. Rather than throw Kale out of my way, I leaped across the table, hitting the floor at a run. Jez’s voice was quickly lost in the crowd as she called my name. The wolf inside me exploded in a territorial rage. I was suddenly all fangs and claws, ready to kill.

The crowd was thick, and I shoved people out of my way with more force than necessary. Both Shaz and the vampiress looked up at my sudden approach. Fear flickered in Shaz’s jade green eyes. He reached as if to stop me, but I threw him back with little more than a thought.

The power exploded inside me, overflowing to wash throughout the building. It was magnificent. The vampiress had no chance to brace against it. Using my bloody hand to guide the force surging through me, I drove her to her knees. I was lost in the hypnotic rush of life and death, as the vampire and werewolf power I possessed became one writhing, demanding entity.

I saw nothing but her. The rest of the club ceased to exist as I stared down into her frightened brown eyes. I wanted her to hurt. In response to that thought, she screamed. I envisioned her insides on fire, and her shrieks became deafening.

A wicked smile pulled at my lips; it didn’t feel like mine. “Don’t you realize who you’re messing with? I will break you.” My voice was exceptionally calm, almost detached.

She cowered before me, grasping her head in agony. I could feel it, her true death. I could have it. The power went out from me with surprising ease. It was almost disappointing that I could kill her so easily.

“Alexa, please.” Shaz lingered nearby, his voice an annoying reminder that if I loved him, I couldn’t destroy her. He’d put up with too much from me in the name of love.

I growled, shooting him a dark look. I didn’t release my hold on her though. No, I wanted her to know she’d gone too far. Her heart was there, in my mind. I could feel it, ready to burst at my command. I had killed more than one vampire this way, and every time it got easier.