Freak Show (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #7)(76)

“And you clearly don’t understand that I’m not asking.” Again, I chose to hold my cards, a pair of fours. Not the best hand by any means but still worth a shot.

Arys watched our exchange with thinly veiled amusement. I think he had been waiting a long time for this moment, when I would become a thorn in the side of his vampire kin.

“You know, Alexa,” Arys said with a chuckle after I lost the next hand. “Sometimes you have to fold. It’s not always worth the risk.”

“Even the shittiest hand has the possibility of being a win,” I retorted. “I just have to be a better liar than a vampire.”

“Which you aren’t,” Jenner quipped. “You’re still too human.”

That shouldn’t have been an insult, but for some reason, I took it as one. Jenner wore his disdain of me like a fragrance. He stunk of it. He had every damn right. And yet, he’d put me in a position of having to prove myself to be vampire enough to rule at Arys’s side.

I held Jenner’s gaze, a coy smile curving my lips. “Did you taste anything human in my blood?” I taunted. Without twitching a finger, I reached out to him with a gentle push of power, just enough to envelope him in a seductive haze. I didn’t even have to touch him to make him want me. It was so wrong for so many reasons, yet I felt empowered. This time I raised the bet, feeling a little cocky. Having an advantage felt liberating. It didn’t happen often enough.

Jenner stiffened and broke eye contact. “What the hell do you want me to do? Since you’re laying claim to this city, that makes the blood ring your damn problem. Not mine.”

I let Arys field that one. It was his choice to take control of his former home city. I had my hands full enough with Edmonton. Piling Vegas on top of that was bound to give me a nervous breakdown.

“While I’m away, you will run the city. You will also, however, answer to me. Be my right hand, Jenner. We can reign here, together.” Arys tossed some chips in as a bet, but his eyes were on the other vampire.

Jenner mulled over the offer. We played another hand, and I actually won. The thrill was instant and a little addictive. Fun rush, though I’d had better.

“I won’t be your whipping boy, Arys. If I act as your right hand, then I get a say in what goes on here too.”

“Of course.”

“The blood ring relied heavily on us for their supply. We lured people in for them. Now would be a good time to try a takeover. But it’s not going to be easy.” He looked from Arys to me and back again. “I want one thing. Sloane. When she turns up, I deal with her. Not you guys.”

“Fuck that,” I protested at the same time Arys said, “Deal.”

I shot my twin flame a dark glare. Jenner didn’t try to hide his enjoyment of our conflicting responses. I jumped in, just barely restraining myself from an angry tirade.

“You damn well better gain control of that blood ring. No children. No expecting women and no rape or abuse. Or I’ll be coming back here for you.” My threat lacked the satisfaction I usually felt when issuing one. Leaving the blood business running in any way didn’t sit well with me. Still I knew Jenner was right. Something like that couldn’t be dissolved overnight.

“Start replacing the innocents with evil doers,” Arys added. “There are more than enough here. Rapists, murderers, pimps, whatever. Find them. Sell them. Tell the buyers that’s what they get now. If they don’t like it, they hunt their own prey, and then you kill them.”

Jenner sat back in his chair, fuming. The anger rolled off him like steam. “All I want to do is run The Wicked Kiss, my way. I walked away from the blood ring for a reason.”

“Then have Roscoe or someone else do the dirty work. Just get it done.” Arys’s tone had dropped to a deadly low.

I was with Jenner on this one. I wanted nothing to do with the blood ring. I just wanted it gone.

“So you get to come here, issue commands and leave me with the mess. Sounds about right. You’ve always been the flighty one.” Jenner’s insult rolled off Arys who shrugged.

“The mess was here when we arrived,” I interjected. “In fact, I’m pretty sure you would be ashes in the desert right now if we hadn’t been here.” Leaving Jenner brimming with hate and rage was not going to be in anyone’s best interest. Swallowing my pride, I angled at a ceasefire. “According to Hurst, our bloodline is crazy powerful. We need to be united, not divided. Especially now.”

Jenner’s chips clicked together loudly as he threw them down to place a bet. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

I laughed bitterly. “I’ve had that feeling since I got here.”

The hunger that burned in his gaze was startling. He watched the pulse in my throat and licked his lips. The backlash from what I’d done to him might be cause for concern. If he went down the same road as Kale…but no, that couldn’t happen. Kale’s madness was due to much more than a taste of my blood.

“I’d rather die than be yours.” Jenner’s admission was low, a murmur, yet I heard it clearly.

“You’re not the first to tell me that,” I quipped. “Should I just kill you now and get it over with then?”

Much to my surprise, Jenner folded. He tossed his cards down and gave up the win, which had he held out, would have been his. His loss felt symbolic.