“I’ll keep that in mind,” Anthony sneered. “And I will, of course, continue to share whatever intel I receive. Are there any questions?”
Christian couldn’t imagine what questions there could possibly be since nothing new had been discovered. It made him wonder again what the true purpose of the meeting had been. He stood to leave, but Anthony detained him with a raised hand.
“Stay a moment, Duvall,” he said, making it sound more like an order than a request.
Christian considered telling him to shove it up his ass, but it occurred to him that Anthony’s motive in inviting him to this meeting might finally be revealed. He gestured for Marc to go with the others, then lingered until Scoville, who was the last to leave, closed the door behind him.
“I don’t like you,” Anthony said plainly, taking a stance behind his desk with both hands on his hips.
Christian tilted his head sideways dismissively. Was he supposed to care whether Anthony liked him or not?
“You’re bad for the South, and bad for the continent.”
Christian kept his gaze on Anthony and waited.
“As Lord of the South, I’m asking you to leave my territory.”
Christian almost laughed out loud. Really? Did he think that would work? “Regrettably, Anthony—” he said, intentionally omitting the lord’s title, “—you surrendered that authority when you announced your resignation. Once the challenge was live, you granted territorial access to any and all challengers, until it’s resolved.”
“The challenge isn’t live yet,” Anthony snarled. “Not until this weekend.”
“I beg to differ,” Christian replied, noting the obvious signs of Anthony’s growing rage. “You unofficially opened the challenge when you sent poor Noriega out to ambush me. Tell me,” he continued, taking a step closer to the angry lord. “Did you honestly believe he could defeat me? Are you that blind? Or was he only a sacrifice to rally the troops? To gain support for whichever one of your children you really want to succeed you?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Anthony snapped. “That was Noriega’s decision, I didn’t—”
Christian tilted his head in sudden understanding. “It’s not Scoville either, is it? He’s the only one of your children left in the open competition, but he’s merely the next stalking horse. So who is it, Anthony? And how do you expect him to triumph, if he’s too weak to even compete openly?”
“Get out of my office, you foreign guttersnipe. We’ll see who triumphs, and who doesn’t,” he growled.
Christian would have dismissed his words as empty posturing, but there was a gleam in the old vampire’s eye, a hint of victory in the sneer he aimed Christian’s way. It gave him a very bad feeling, and when he examined the source of that badness, he could find only one cause.
Natalie.
He turned and walked out of the office without another word, gathering Marc on his way. He waited until he was out in the hallway, then pulled up his cell phone and called Natalie’s number.
“Straight to voicemail,” he said tightly, heading for the stairs and Jaclyn’s office. Marc followed, his own cell phone in hand.
“Cibor’s not answering either,” he said, and Christian had to force himself not to race to Jaclyn’s office, not to give Anthony that satisfaction. But the four vampires who tried to block his path were another matter entirely.
Christian slowed to a stop. He didn’t recognize any of them, until a fifth vampire pushed his way to the front.
“Wait,” Christian ordered Marc quietly, then acknowledged the fifth vampire. “Scoville,” he said. “I really don’t have time for this.”
Scoville didn’t say anything, just placed himself at the head of the group, taking a position a step removed from the others to make it clear that he stood on his own.
“Are you tonight’s sacrifice then?” Christian asked him. He was outwardly calm, but inside, he was raging at this delay. It had to be more of Anthony’s scheming, except that Christian couldn’t believe he had managed to subdue Cibor, much less Jaclyn. He couldn’t believe Anthony would even have had the balls to try, given that Jaclyn and all of her people belonged to Raphael.
He forced these thoughts aside. Right now, it didn’t matter what was happening in Jaclyn’s office. What mattered was the vampire in front of him who didn’t have a hope in hell of defeating Christian. That was, unless Christian permitted himself to be so distracted that he got in a lucky hit. And that wouldn’t do Natalie any good either.
“Sacrifice?” Scoville repeated, with a puzzled frown.
Christian shrugged. “Noriega was the first. Anthony sent him against me knowing he’d die. Tonight, it’s you.”
“Lord Anthony didn’t send Noriega anywhere; you murdered him.”
Christian shook his head impatiently. “You know better than that. Or you should.” He released a fraction of his true power, enough for the other vampire to get a good taste of him. “Why would I waste my time challenging someone like Noriega?” he asked.
Scoville’s eyes widened briefly, an automatic response that was beyond his control.