Freak Show (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #7)(18)

I raised a hand in invitation, allowing him to feel me out. It wasn’t too invasive since I didn’t resist. Jenner’s metaphysical touch was sensual, bathing me in heat. He lingered longer than necessary, but I remained without reaction.

“I bet you taste as good as you feel.” Jenner’s gaze strayed to my neck, seeking what lay beneath the choker I wore. “You’re dangerous though. I suppose a smart vampire wouldn’t want to tangle with you. They all seem to end up dead.”

I waved a hand dismissively. “Only the ones that hurt me or try to use me as leverage because they’re too weak to earn their power. I’m actually quite a nice person when I’m not being treated like an object.” I swung my foot and ran a hand through my hair, beaming at him as if I knew something he didn’t know.

“I’ll bet you are.”

“Is there a reason for this, Jenner?” Arys cut in, impatient with the way we were sniffing one another out. “The phony chatter, it’s not necessary. I’d hate to think I sat through staring at your bare ass for nothing. Make with the threats so we can get down to business.”

Jenner’s low laugh was like the smooth skin of a snake, wrapping around me in places that could not be touched. “I just wanted to welcome you to my city, and to tell you to hurry up and get the hell out of it.” His expression never changed, but the atmosphere grew heavy with malice.

Sloane stiffened noticeably, her eyes darting from Jenner to Arys. I didn’t move a muscle though I was ready to react. As were Jez and Shaz, I was sure.

“Ah ok,” Arys said with a nod and a smirk. “So this is the part where you parade around like a self-appointed god and try to run me out of town. Predictable, yet entertaining. What else have you got?”

Roscoe snickered but said nothing. Jenner shot him a dark glare.

It wasn’t hard to figure him out. He thought we were here to make a play for Harley’s territory. We weren’t. At least, I hadn’t thought so. The challenge Arys issued made me second-guess that.

“Does it have to come to that?” Jenner captured Sloane’s hand and decorated it with small kisses. She pressed her lips together tightly.

“This isn’t your city, Jenner. It was Harley’s. He was the master vampire. You have no more right to his authority than any of us.” With a slow, calculated gait, Arys came to stand beside my end of the couch.

A dangerous light flashed through Jenner’s ice-cold eyes. “You’re the reason he’s dead. You turned your back on this city and forfeited any right you may have had to it. Get out before I forget that I once called you brother.”

This was going from sketchy to downright deadly fast. Arys’s growing rage echoed within me. He drew on our connection, and my stomach clenched. It took a lot for him to get to the point of tapping our shared power. I knew Harley was still, and maybe always would be, a touchy subject for him. Perhaps it was worse than I thought.

“Can I just state for the record that we came to Vegas as tourists?” I interjected, sliding a glance at Arys. “At least, I did.”

“Like hell you did,” Jenner spat. “You came to finish what you started when you murdered my sire.”

Oh boy, here we go. I somehow managed to resist the urge to roll my eyes. “Let me remind you that Harley came to my city to force me into a blood bond. I had every right to defend myself. I am not sorry, and I don’t give a rat’s ass about what he left behind here.”

Jenner mulled that over, clearly unhappy with my refusal to be apologetic. He fell silent, almost sullen. He pressed Sloane’s hand to his face, thoughtfully staring at me with a devilish spark in his eyes.

At last, he dragged his gaze back to Arys, his expression changing to one of violent accusation. “How could you let her do it? He loved you.”

Arys perched on the arm of the couch beside me, shaking his head. Sorrow flickered briefly in his eyes. “We’ve been over this. I told you last time I came that he brought it on himself. I stopped her once. I told him I wouldn’t stop her again.”

“He was so hard headed when it came to you, Arys,” Sloane said with a sigh. “Nothing we said or did would stop him from going after you once he learned that you’d actually found her.”

I frowned, unhappy with being talked about as if I wasn’t present. Apparently, every vampire in Harley’s little blood-sucking family knew about Arys’s dreams and visions of me from before I was born. I didn’t get the feeling they understood it though.

“Yes,” Jenner added bitterly. “Nothing could come between Harley and his favorite.” He pinned me with a chilling stare. “Nothing except you.”

Sibling rivalry. Typical enough, yet Jenner’s words still sent a chill through me. I’d have thought they would be beyond this kind of thing. I guess hundreds of years only intensified those things rather than erased them.

I leaned forward on the couch, never taking my eyes off Jenner. “What is it that really bothers you? That you weren’t Harley’s favorite? Or that I killed him? Claire and Maxwell failed to take me down. So will you. Think carefully about what you want to do here.”

It was a ballsy thing to say, and I was more than a little concerned it would blow up in my face; however, he had me backed into a corner here. If I didn’t come out swinging, Jenner would have the advantage, and he would know it.