“I just might,” I said, my voice nearly as growly as Joe’s.
“I promise,” Peter said. “Do your clairvoyant magic or whatever. I’m just touring around and thought I’d say hello to my sister.”
“Sister?” Joe asked, looking at me.
“Sire-sister,” I explained. “We share the same evil vampire sire. And this wanker is working for the enemy.”
I lunged forward, tattoo gun held out. The cord came loose, and the buzzing stopped, but I didn’t care—I would jab the pointy needle into Peter’s eye.
Peter moved to the side, so I spun halfway to keep him directly in front of me. Any minute now, Peter would throw out his special power—pestilence and disease. It was just a matter of which form it took. He usually favored skin ailments.
“What’s it going to be?” I asked in a taunt. “Necrotizing fasciitis? Leprosy? Scabies?”
Joe ripped off his jeans and shirt—boxers, too. Sadly, I was too busy keeping an eye on Peter to get a good look at Joe’s sculpted form. I could see general shapes from my peripheral vision, though. And that arse—perfection. Too bad he was a shifter, or I might be in danger of finding him worth my time.
White light surrounded him, and a wolf took his place a second later.
Joe growled, showing his teeth.
“Kelly!” Peter shrieked. “Call off your guard dog! I’m only here to visit for a few days, to take in the sights.”
I felt a lot less panicky with a slavering wolf at my side, so I took a moment to think. Usually my visions popped up when something momentous—usually dangerous—was about to happen. Like the vision of my ex showing up, which had yet to happen. I hadn’t had a vision of Peter’s arrival, though. Which meant he was likely telling the truth. A harmless visit.
A harmless visit from Peter, though?
I kept my tattoo gun pointing in Peter’s direction.
The tattoo parlor door opened again.
Fuck my life.
Framed by the doorway, the newest arrival stood. He was just as tall, just as well-built as Joe. Even though he faced me, I knew his arse was just as perfect as Joe’s, too.
How did I know about his perfect arse? Because he was Xavier. My ex.
3
XAVIER
Two vampires at each other’s throats. The third was a shifter, likely under the influence of the female vampire’s compulsion. In his wolf form, he defended her, placing himself between the two vampires. I’d kill both bloodsuckers in the confusion, and save the shifter.
I leaped forward, landed on the female vampire to pin her down, and whipped a stake from the sheath on my forearm.
Then I looked down and saw her.
Kelly Flowers lay still beneath me, my legs pinning her arms to her sides, her body flat on the tile floor. My Kelly. I’d spent the past five years eliminating every vampire I could find for vengeance, for penance, since I hadn’t been able to save her.
And here she was, alive.
No.
Undead.
My hand wavered with my conviction, the stake still held to her breast.
“Xavier Breene, as I kinda-live and don’t breathe.” Kelly looked over my face, her blue eyes wide, her expression sharp.
She still had that candy-apple-red hair. How had I not known right away that it was her? Her scent was different—that had to be it. Still, Kelly had been my world. How had I not known she was still alive? I’d thought she might be my mate, but something had always held me—us—back. But I’d cared deeply for her. I’d missed her. And my entire life since her death had been about her.
“I can tell you’re surprised to see me,” she said. “I can’t say I’m glad to see you either. Would you mind getting up? You’re ruining my silk shirt.”
Words failed me. She was here. Right here. Finally, I came up with one sentence and forced out the syllables. “You’re not dead.”
“Well—”
I’d dreamed of this moment, of finding her, only in my imaginings she was truly alive. I’d been mistaken, and she hadn’t been killed. But this fate was worse than death. Kelly was a shell, a soulless monster. Death would have been a kindness.
The wolf slammed the vampire male into the desk by the door and knocked him to the floor. The shifter returned to human form and wrestled the vampire’s arm behind his back.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t stop this from happening to you.” I pressed the point of my stake to her skin. One quick thrust and her suffering would be over. Still, my hand didn’t move.
I couldn’t do it, not when I looked at her. She wasn’t Kelly anymore, I told myself. But my heart said she was.
A dark flash crossed Kelly’s ocean eyes. Before I could think to move, she freed her arm from beneath my knee and hit me, smack in the nose with the palm of her hand.
My nose crunched with a stab of pain. I flinched and reached for my face. A metallic scent filled my lungs and blood dripped down into my throat.
It was just enough of a distraction for the still-naked shifter to plow into my shoulder and knock me from my perch atop Kelly. Quickly, I rolled and regained my footing.
The male vampire bolted for the stairs, drawing everyone’s attention for a second, but just as quickly, the shifter turned his sights back on me.
“Who the fuck are you?” he growled, his eyes still looking wolfish. He pulled on a pair of pants.
“It’s fine, Joe.” Kelly touched his arm, and put herself between him and me.
A shot of jealousy surged through my veins. Funny, given the circumstances. This wasn’t Kelly. She was a monster, a bloodsucker. I killed bloodsuckers for a living.
“Back away from the vampire,” I told Joe.“Whatever spell the monstrous bloodsucker has cast on you will end with its second death.”
“Wow.” Kelly crossed her arms, waving a lock of ruby red hair from her pale face. “That’s a hell of a way to say hello. Tackle a girl to
