Freak Show (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #7)(66)

“On the run. Jenner figures she’s already out of the state.”

It felt so damn good to be free of Falon’s manic energy. It would be a cold day in hell before I’d do that again.

I took a few minutes to use the en suite bathroom. It was small yet still somehow maintained a semblance of class. Instead of just a shower, it boasted of a tub big enough for two. A perusal in the mirror showed a pale blonde with disheveled hair and tired brown eyes. Ah brown, that was what I wanted to see. A faint bruise darkened the skin around one eye. A pink scar was all that remained of both dagger wounds.

All things considered, I felt better than I should. I also felt hungry. Demanding nourishment, the bloodlust echoed my mortal hunger.

We went downstairs to where Arys and Shaz sat around a table with Jenner and Roscoe. “They don’t have him locked up or something?” I asked Jez as we crossed the noisy dance floor in making our way to them.

She shrugged, her lips twisting into a disapproving grimace. “That’s what I said, but apparently being family or whatever gets you some kind of free f**k up pass.”

“Not in my family it doesn’t.”

I stalked through the nightclub with one thing in mind. My pace quickened. I wasn’t at full strength, but one should never underestimate how strong rage can make you.

Arys looked up at my approach. His relief immediately turned to shock when I grabbed Roscoe by the throat and dragged him out of his chair. I forced him down on his knees before me.

“Give me one reason to let you live,” I growled into his face.

Jenner flew to his feet, and I flung up a hand to ward him off. Without saying a word, Arys shook his head, and Jenner sat back down.

I put the squeeze on Roscoe, just enough to let him know I meant business. He demonstrated his ballsiness by daring to push back. There was no way he could out strength me, and we both knew it. I was the bigger bad here. It had taken me almost a year to see and accept it, but Harley was right when he claimed my power to be bigger than his. That made it bigger than that of every vampire sired by him. Except for Arys.

“Let me try this one more time. Start with the sweet talk or end up as dust in the vacuum.”

It was becoming easier all the time to take hold of a vampire’s life force and bend it to my will. I turned up the pressure until Roscoe groaned and abandoned his efforts to withstand my assault. Blood filled his eyes, dripped from his nose and trickled from the corner of his mouth. For a moment, it appeared that he chose death.

Then he coughed out a stream of words that ran together. “My loyalty is to this family first. Linden promised to leave Jenner alone if I kept working for the blood ring, rounding up and delivering victims. I never meant you or your friend any harm. You were supposed to be out for a few hours, safe and out of the line of fire.” Spitting blood, Roscoe stared up at me with the intensity I’d come to expect from this damn bloodline.

I loosened my hold, considering his words. “Then why was Jez locked in a hotel room with a vampire standing guard over her while you supposedly looked for me?”

“I was going to stash you both there while you slept it off, but you lost your f**king mind and took off like a rabid maniac.” Roscoe’s long hair fell forward to hide his face. He peered up at me from under that wild mane. “I f**ked up. I get that. Kill me if you’re going to but at least believe me.”

The light glinted off his gold fang, and at this proximity I was certain it was a replacement rather than merely gold plated. Who did a vampire piss off to have a fang yanked out of his face? Ouch.

“How did you lose the fang?” I asked. Manners went out the window long ago in this place.

“I pissed Harley off one time too many.” His grunted response was only mildly surprising. It confirmed what I’d already known about Harley. He was a ruthless bastard.

Playing queen to Arys’s king didn’t mean acting like a super bitch running a dictatorship. If Arys trusted Roscoe enough to keep him in the fold, then perhaps so should I.

“I don’t hand out a lot of second chances,” I said. “For instance, Sloane will not be getting one. You, however, don’t strike me as a liar. So I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt. This time. And only this time. You owe me one.”

I released him so fast he almost fell backwards. Jenner was glaring daggers my way so I made sure to slide into the chair closest to him at the table.

“Is there something you’d like to talk about, Jenner?” I taunted. “Looks like there’s something you want to say.”

“So I guess I don’t need to ask how you’re feeling.” Arys’s low chuckle was music to my ears. “Jenner and Roscoe are a little unhappy about my choice to re-establish my place in this city. Of course, I’ll be doing it from Edmonton, so they should be grateful for that.” He gave each vampire in question a pointed look before continuing. “Jenner will stay in charge, but he’ll answer to both you and me. And somehow we’ll find a way to take down the blood ring.”

There was a question in his expression as he awaited my yay or nay. “That sounds fair. Certainly can’t hurt to set up a stronghold here too. Two strongholds in two major cities. Couldn’t hurt.”

From day one in Vegas, I’d been pretty sure Arys was leading up to a takeover of his former home. He’d spent many years here. Naturally, he wanted to stake his own claim now that his sire was gone. Claiming Vegas as ours was not on my list of happy things. However, someone had to do it. If it wasn’t us, Linden’s crew would continue to run rampant like an infectious disease. Las Vegas had enough crazy shit going on without the growth of that organization.