Blake rubbed her skin. “I just saw her a few hours ago. She was fine. Fuck me, that hurt.”
Natalya stormed past them towards the exit. As she rushed through the crowd, several people cried out as they came into contact with her skin.
She had no concern for their discomfort. No concern for the confused stares and comments people sent her.
There was a vampire at Evie’s apartment.
Chapter 8
“Smell that, Austin?” Stefano sniffed at the air around Evie’s head, sighing with satisfaction. “Fear. It gives the blood a smoky taste.”
“She smells delicious,” Austin said. The young, white-haired man regarded Evie with the keen interest of a hungry predator. The youngest of Varro’s spawn, he was cruel, violent, and disliked by almost everyone at the estate—including his Maker. He still didn’t have his urges completely under control. He’d killed five slaves just in the past year.
“Varro has been protective of this one,” Stefano said. “You’ve never tasted her. Isn’t that right, Austin? We should remedy that.”
Stefano ran a hand through Evie’s hair, and she flinched away from him. Most of the red dye had washed out, and she was closer to her natural strawberry blonde, except for one side of her head that was bloody crimson. She’d gotten cut whenStefano pushed her to the floor, and she hit her head on the coffee table.
Stefano had enthralled her into complacency when he made her invite them inside, though it was nothing like when Natalya had done something similar. Evie still had agency then. When enthralled, she acted with complete obedience as she invited Varro’s progenies into her apartment and let them gag her with a cloth in her mouth and duct tape over her lips.
He dropped the enthralling when she could no longer scream for help or rescind their invitation. Stefano could’ve made her comply throughout this assault, but that wasn’t his way. He wanted her scared. He wanted her to remember.
Stefano touched her bloody scalp and licked his fingers. He sighed with satisfaction.
“Come have a taste,” Stefano said, gesturing at Austin. “Varro said to return with her swiftly, but I think the Chains are busy enough with all those ferals we spent the past month herding to their borders. I don’t see why we can’t have a little fun. It would be almost criminal if we didn’t when they served her up for us so wonderfully unguarded.”
Stefano lifted Evie up by her hair. She screamed against the gag. “Tasty Evelyn. Or is itEvanow? That was clever. You know we had to use fucking humans to find you?”
He let her go, and she collapsed on the floor. Austin grinned, moving towards her, and Evie shuffled away from him as he advanced. They’d tied her hands behind her back but left her feet free. She could try to get away if she wanted. Stefano had always enjoyed a chase.
“How adorable!” Stefano laughed. “She’s trying to run.”
Austin laughed too, rushing her until he was on all fours, hovering over her body, and Evie was on her back. He pressed himself against her and inhaled. She could feel his erection through his clothes. She froze in place.
“Fuck, that’s savory.” Austin trailed a hand to the hem of her jeans. “Though the slut isn’t wearing her uniform. All covered up like this. Like she belongs to herself. I think I’d like to fuck her while I feed.”
Stefano pulled Austin off her.
“I said you could taste her, not fuck her.” Stefano’s eyes glinted with malice. “You’d make a mess of it, and she needs to stick around for a long while so she can feel just how disappointed we are in our sweet Evelyn.”
The gleeful cruelty in his eyes made Evie even more terrified. She was more than familiar with Stefano’s viciousness. Whatever he had planned would probably make her pray for death. And it definitely wouldn’t be quick.
She started to shuffle away, scrambling towards the apartment door. There was a dark laugh, and then Stefano appeared in front of her, blocking her escape. He was undoing his belt. She turned, but Austin was on her opposite side. He flashed his teeth, showing a pair of yellowed fangs.
“I’ll have first taste then,” he said, slamming her face into the floor. Her forehead smacked against it hard enough to make her head ring and her sight blurry.
There was weight on her back, and then a shredding sound as her shirt was torn open. Cold fingers touched her skin, making her shiver. Evie realized her blurry vision wasn’t from disorientation but from tears.
She knew what was about to happen. Her mind started to go blank.
There was a loud crash, and Evie looked up. She could see the apartment door between Stefano’s legs, saw it shake and tremble, and then swing open, nearly breaking off the hinges. The apartment was dark, but the hallway was lit. It created an illuminated backdrop to Natalya standing in the doorway.
She was a dark silhouette, wearing a black dress torn to shreds from the thighs down. Grayish, violet smoke oozed around her feet, and her hands ended in claws rather than fingers. Contrasted with the hallway light, she was a shadowy form except for her slitted scarlet eyes that glowed with horrible rage. As she stepped into the apartment, the smoke flowed with her like the train of a dress.
“Hello, boys,” Natalya said, and this wasn’t the warm, controlled voice Evie had come to know her by. This was the many-layered rumble of a being made to ruin men.
“What the fuck…” Austin’s weight disappeared from her back.
Natalya’s face was more visible now. There were no whites in her eyes. They were all crimson, and her skin had a scaly, purple sheen. A terrifying being to behold. Evie couldn’t look away from her.
