Zane's Tale (3 page)

He staggered backward as if
struck.

He’d wanted her to miss him, but seeing
the pain on her face? That hadn’t been what he wanted at all. He
wanted her to be…happy. Her happiness came before his. There was no
question in his mind. He’d do everything he could to keep her
happy.

The thought was a sobering one. When
had he become such a selfless bastard?

“
Noah?” She said into the
phone, interrupting his thoughts. “Oh, he’s here, but he’s asleep.
It’s night and all.”

Shit. Noah.

The Serim dickhead the three of them
were about to off.

His most hated enemy.

Zane swore, alighting back onto the
railing of the balcony and thinking hard. Jackie was leaving New
City tomorrow with Noah, she’d said. She needed to fuel her Itch
every two days. If they killed Noah tonight, not only would the
archaeological dig she was anticipating never happen…but she’d be
forced to find another man to fulfill her needs.

For some reason, the thought of her
being driven to another stranger’s arms instead of Noah’s didn’t
fill him with the satisfaction he thought it would. Jackie would be
devastated by the death of a master, he knew. She might even have
feelings for Noah. The thought made him clench his hands in anger.
Her world would be ruined if Noah was destroyed.

And Zane couldn’t be there to pick up
the pieces.

He swore. Once. Twice.

And then he went to approach his
brothers.

Arching his wings to catch the breeze
again, he darted across the balcony and leapt back to the other
side. Like a parachute, his wings caught the air and allowed him to
glide forward, and he landed on the balcony outside the bedroom
with a light, noiseless thump.

The other two vampires awaited him with
gleaming smiles, their fangs bared.

“
This bastard’s in his night
hibernation. We don’t even need to juice him up with unholy water.”
The look on Barnabas’s face was pure delighted evil as he pulled
one of the molotovs out of his bag. “Anyone on the far side of the
balcony?”

Zane lit a cigarette and jammed it
between his lips. “No one.”

“
Really?” Barnabas said in a
sly voice, his mouth curving into a smile. “We heard he had some
hot piece of ass living with him.”

Fucking bastard. They knew perfectly
well who was living with Noah Gideon. And they knew how Zane felt
about her. His hands clenched hard and he grabbed the molotov out
of Barnabas’s hands before he could light it. “I said, there’s no
one over there. And you two jackasses have to listen to what I
say.” A thin smile curved Zane’s mouth. “Don’t talk back to your
prince.”

Barnabas rolled his eyes and pulled out
another molotov. “Fuck you. You want to be the prince, act like it.
We ready to do this?”

Zane stepped backward, as if
acquiescing to the other two vampires. He gestured for them to
begin, and took another step backward, feeling the iron railing of
the balcony against his wings. As he watched, Barnabas took his
cigarette and held the lit end against the rag sticking out of the
bottle. He lifted it, grinning, preparing to throw it through the
window and incinerate the sleeping Serim within.

As he moved to toss, Zane twisted and
leapt off the balcony, falling through the skies, his wings tucked
close. Above him, he heard the bottle smash against the glass
window, and heard the cries of the two vampires as they were caught
in the molotov’s fireball.

“
Dumbasses.” He spread his
wings, halting his fall, and began to pump steadily upward once
more. As he passed the balcony, he saw the frantic motions of the
two vampires – blinded by the fire that had liquefied their eyes,
their burning hands desperately patting the delicate feathered
wings that were burning like flash-tinder. He hovered near the
balcony for a moment, the fanning of his wings starting to put out
some of the flames. And he delivered a warning.

“
You don’t fuck with that
succubus. Either of you. She is under my protection, and because of
that, so is the Serim. Understand?” He loomed over them, out of
reach of the licking flames, furious with his brothers. Furious
that they had set this up purely to fuck with him – and his
feelings for Jackie. “You need to remember that
I’m one of the bad guys too
.”

With that, he tossed the molotov in his
hands onto the balcony below, and ignored their angry
cries.

They’d heal up in time if they were
smart enough to get out of the fire. But they’d remember his
warning, and they’d leave his succubus alone.

*~*~*~*~*

The queen was not pleased. Caleb and
Barnabas had limped home near dawn, charred pieces of meat that
needed serious healing. The queen had allowed them to have one of
her precious human pets as an appetizer and had left them locked in
a room, ignoring their hoarse screams for revenge.

Revenge was always, always the queen’s
decision and no one else’s.

She approached Zane as he knelt before
her throne, her face pinched with anger even if her steps were slow
and even. He recognized the look on her face. She was not pleased
at what she’d learned – no doubt Caleb had spilled the beans as to
why Zane had saved a Serim asshole and torched his own
brothers.

He’d do it again. He wasn’t sorry. And
he found it hard to put the appropriate contrite look on his face.
Instead, he couldn’t stop the satisfied smile on his face, even if
she was going to make him regret it.

“
You have betrayed
me…again.” The queen’s voice was icy. She paced around him, moving
behind him.

“
Mercy,” he said, continuing
to stare straight ahead, at the throne she had vacated. “I betrayed
your trust, and for that I am sorry.” It was not a true apology.
He’d never apologize for maneuvering around her.

Not when it kept Jackie
safe.

The queen seemed to sense his
reluctance. She reached forward with her hand, her fingernails
tearing claws. Ripping pain shuddered through his wings, and
feathers rained down around him.

He screamed. His body jerked with
pain.

“
Hold him there,” she
hissed, her voice low and full of rage. Two other vampires
approached, held him down. Anchored him there as she tore at his
wings again, ripping out one handful of black feathers after
another. Over and over as she screamed at him.

Agony whipped through him, his world
nearly blacking out. The vampires grasping his arms would not let
him slump to the ground. Would not let him escape as she clawed
away his reason for living.

No, he thought even in the
haze.
Not his only reason.

The delicate bones of his wings were
half-bare from her ministrations, the web of skin covering them
resembling butchered meat. Zane closed his eyes, shuddering,
unwilling to look at the destruction.

"You came to me and I gave you wings. I
can take them away again," she purred in his mind. Always in his
mind.

Not his wings. Not again. He’d do
whatever it took to keep them. So he said, “I'll do anything you
want.”

Her black eyes grew fierce
with anger, and she clenched a bloody hand. “Show obedience to me
and
only
me.”

He knew what that meant. Stop thinking
of Jackie. Put the queen first. Always first. She was furious that
he’d worked against his own kind to save a lowly Serim and an even
lower succubus. For that, he would suffer…unless he acquiesced and
showed her his loyalty. A feather fell to the floor, landing on his
clenched fingers and leaving a pink stain.

He had to do it. Somehow. What else did
he have to live for?

The clawed hand slashed against his
wing again, ripping once more. He screamed in pain, nearly
collapsing.

“
I will do it. I am yours to
command.”

He could feel the queen’s smile in his
thoughts. “Of course you will.” She released the handful of bloody
feathers in her grasp, let them trickle to the floor. “Do not
disobey me again, my darling prince. What I gave you, I can take
away again.”

The vampires released him. Zane
collapsed to the floor, his wings a shredded, white-hot mass of
agony.

And yet…he was still glad he’d done
it.

For her.

* * * Not the end... * * *

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