Iniquitous (The Marked #3)(62)

It was in my blood, my entire makeup—inside the blueprint of my being.

He swung out at me again, stumbling forward into air as I easily stepped around him. It was almost as though the room were moving in slow motion for me, waiting patiently for me as I carefully anticipated his next move. It wasn’t normal, but it felt natural and right, like this was the way I was always meant to be.

The Rev shook his head frantically as though trying to regain his composure, to chase away his bloodlust. But it was futile. He couldn’t control it, even as his survival instincts screamed at him to flee.

“I just…need…a taste,” he croaked, madness in his eyes. “One. Small. Taste.”

“Get in line,” chirped Dominic, his voice flat and distant.

Frowning, I tightened my fingers around my stake and then grabbed his neck with my free hand, pulling him into me—giving him what he thought he wanted. What he unknowingly would die for.

My touch seemed to infuse him, to broil him into a frenzy that had him dangling from my hands like a headless chicken. Frantic and desperate, he tried to bite out at me, to have himself just the tiniest of tastes, but it was a fruitless attempt that only made me smile at him victoriously.

“Not today,” I whispered and then plunged the stake through his chest.

He crumbled to the floor like waste.

My pulse immediately slowed down to a gentle, steady thrum. It was as though my body instinctively knew that the threat—the thing that I was destined to destroy over and over again for the rest of my life—was gone

“That was…” I pulled in a sharp intake of air. “Amazing,” I said, completely surprising myself. I didn’t expect to feel this way afterwards—I never had before, but it felt invigorating to finally be in control. To not be afraid. And I kind of wanted to do it again.

I mean, not really, but kind of.

“You’re getting very good at this, angel.” I looked up and met Dominic’s pointed gaze. He was still sitting on the counter as the store clerk stood motionless behind him with the phone frozen mid-air. “I’m starting to wonder if I should be afraid of you.”

“You should,” answered Trace in a rough voice. He was standing in the same place I’d left him, watching me with such intensity that it made my heart lose a beat.

I wished I could read his emotions the way he read my thoughts, but his face gave nothing away.

His gaze peeled away from me as though it pained him not to look at me. “Do one of you two want to take care of that?” he asked Dominic and Gabriel, ticking his chin to the traumatized store clerk.

The poor guy didn’t look a day over twenty and he was completely shell-shocked.

“Already on it,” said Dominic, turning on his butt and then hopping down on the other side of the counter. Roughly, he unlatched the phone receiver from the clerk’s hands and then forced him to meet his eyes.

As he compelled his memories away, I turned my attention back to the Rev.

“I always knew you had it inside you,” said Gabriel as he walked up and joined me. He’d never seen me vanquish a Rev before—at least not out in the real world where it mattered most. There was definitely a smile on his face and while it was small and collected, I could see the pride in it.

“So, what are we supposed to do with the body now?” I bounced a glance between Gabriel and Trace who was still watching me with great fascination. “I’m guessing no one brought any Cinder?”

“We don’t need it.” Trace’s dimples popped as he stalked over to me. “I got this.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re putting him in the trunk.” The thought of it grossed me right the hell out. I had zero interest in gallivanting around town with a freaking dead vampire in the truck.

“No, I’m not putting him in the trunk.” He made a face at me like he was offended. “I’m a Reaper, Jemma. This is what I do,” he said as he leaned down over the body and touched it.

The air rippled around him as though the wind had suddenly become visible, and then he was gone.

My mouth dropped open. I’d never actually seen him port from this angle. And definitely never this close.

“Don’t forget to take the surveillance video,” said Gabriel to Dominic.

“Does it look like this is my first time,” retorted Dominic at the front of the store. “I already have it,” he said, waving a VHS tape and then tucking it inside his overcoat. “Some credit please, brother.”

Gabriel grumbled something under his breath as my gaze shifted to the store clerk. He was sitting contently in a chair behind the cash register with a book in his hands, fanning the pages with his thumb. He was inhaling the scent as though it were a hot apple pie straight out of the oven.

I burst out laughing and Dominic winked at me.

“Why is he doing that, Dominic?” asked Gabriel, eyeing the store clerk, not amused in the slightest.

I wanted to answer him, but the confusion and irritation in his face only made me laugh harder.

I doubled over, holding my belly.

As if on cue, Trace reappeared in front of us. His brows immediately pulled together as he tried to figure out why I was laughing hysterically. “What’s going on? What’s so funny?”

“I have no idea.” Gabriel looked annoyed as the two of them shared a look. “Apparently, it’s an inside joke.”