Page 97 of The Huntress
“Miss you, Dad,” she said to the silence coating the stale air. She pushed herself out of the chair and slipped onto the balcony through the shattered sliding door. The pseudo-battle loomed, and with it an opportunity to mold her suckblood life into something worthwhile.
She vaulted into the air, seducing the wind into carrying her to the de Winter Hold. Blood ruled a suckblood, death or life. It was the only thing they understood. If any of them hindered her, they’d find out what a killer she could be.
As expected, the fools denied her entrance. Why? What was Syl hiding from her? Didn’t he think of her as family? Or had the guards simply reacted to her stiff posture and bared teeth? Her deliciously wicked laughter skirted the edges of insanity as she’d darted between them, snapping a neck, ripping out two hearts, and smashing a face into a wall.
She giggled, throwing the Hold’s wooden doors open with enough force to rip them off their hinges.
“The first day of freedom, my true self gave to me, one broken neck, two beating hearts, and a face in a stone wall,” she sang as she skipped across Syl’s throne room. “I still haven’t found what I’m searching for.” She twirled, arching her back to echo her voice off the high ceiling.
A young man stormed across to her, his nostrils flaring, no doubt smelling the blood dribbling off her chin and fingers. She dragged her forearm across her mouth. She stared at the bright crimson streaks staining her arm before licking the blood off her lips. It wasn’t as appetizing as Gabe’s, but it would do.
She bolted forward, morphing between physical and mist, but as she stretched her arm to yank out this one’s heart too, he jerked back. With a familiar snap, he collapsed.
Leo was here.
Growling, she scanned the hall.
“Callie, what are you doing?” He leaned his bulk against a wall as if she hadn’t forced her way into the Hold and injured three suckbloods with plans to harm more if need be.
“I want Carter’s daughter. Be a dear and summon her for me or get out of my way.”
“What are you planning?” He pushed off the wall to approach her.
“Read my mind and you’ll bleed,my friend.” She grimaced, fighting the growing red haze tainting her vision. Seductive voices whispered, demanding she rip her so-called friend’s heart out. Oh, the temptation was delicious.
“Relax.” He held up his hands in supplication. “I see you mean business.”
He stilled, with his focus far away, she assumed to summon the woman then he gestured to her to take a seat. She did so on Syl’s throne, testing out the soft leather with her backside.
“I’ve questioned her already.” Leo eyed Callie. “She’s prepared to confront her father and reveal her existence.”
“How magnanimous of her,” she said, looping a leg over the throne’s arm to swing her foot. “It’s not as if her deception didn’t force her father down this path.”
“What happened, sweetheart?” Leo conjured a chair to drop his bulk into.
“Betrayal.” That one word said it all, widening the fissure in her heart.
She expected some sort of reaction. There was nothing, which meant he’d known about it. That confirmed everything her rabid mind had come up with. The pain consuming her was breathtaking. Shards of white heat filled her where once she’d held hope, love, and acceptance.
“I was a fool to trust you, Gabe, or Dimitri. I should’ve listened to Mike, should’ve remained neutral.” She ran a hand over her face as if it could rid herself of the stench of blood, of the tears stinging her eyes. “Now I need to make the best of this situation. I’ll meet Carter and Duhamel tonight. Have done with this investigation so I can move on with my undead life.”
“Undead?” His lips twitched, irritating her frayed nerves.
“My rant.” She burst to her feet, ready to hunt this woman down. If she didn’t show soon, Callie would face Carter without her. That was acceptable to her. A dead senator and her file on him made public would cause chaos in the suckbloodandhuman worlds. She could live with having attained a justice of sorts.
“When you say move on, do you mean without Gabriel?”
“Don’t be obtuse, Leo, that’s exactly what I fucking mean.” She shoved aside her heart, wailing its displeasure.
He sucked in a sharp breath, and sadness emanated from him. Like she should care? “Adsumocouples cannot be apart for extended periods.”
“They cannot harm each other either, Leo. But pain comes in many forms.”
He stilled, as if he spoke to the bastard. “Gabriel says you’re overreacting.”
She jerked as if Leo had slapped her. She released her breath in a rush, and tears cascaded down her cheeks, unheeded. “I thought hediedtoday, Leo. IbelievedStavros would kill me. I had no weapons, no warning, just a desperate need to escape to see if myoh-so-lovingworthless piece-of-shit husband was still alive. I could kill him for what he put me through, but I won’t. You played me.” She clapped her hands in sarcasm. “Well done to you both.”
She glanced around the silent throne room and conjured a sword as a realization dawned on her. She half-misted as she pressed the blade against Leo’s throat. “You’re stalling me?” Her laughter was hoarse and cold as the need to pursue this investigation, to fight for justice, drained from her.
