I Am the Wild (The Night Firm #1)- Karpov Kinrade Page 0,30
deep.
"We will sort out all that," Derek says with confidence, though I can sense a flicker of unease in him, despite his valiant attempts to hide it.
"And who is she?" Dracula asks.
Derek gestures for me to step forward. "This is our new associate, Miss Eve Oliver. Eve comes highly recommended by Richard Dwarvas and has both an MBA in business and a law degree from Harvard University."
I'm not entirely sure why he's trying so hard to sell my credentials to this guy—to Dracula — but I do appreciate the reminder to everyone else in this room that I am damn well qualified to be here. Aside from me being super frail and human. And I suppose, mundane.
Still. I can hold my own.
I put my hand forward to shake his, but he brings it up to his lips and brushes it with a soft kiss. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance. It seems my sons have certainly done well for themselves."
"Sons?" I say, my eyes flickering to Sebastian, who grits his teeth and clenches his fists.
"We aren't your sons," Liam says, stepping forward, his anger on full display.
Dracula shrugs. "Your birth father gave life to you. I gave you immortality and power beyond measure. Which one sounds like more of a father?"
Click. Pieces falling into place. Dracula turned the Night brothers. I'm having a serious holy shit moment. I feel a bit as if I'm in a farce, playing the part of the only person who doesn't know the joke's on them.
But that bite on my neck. That was real.
I glance at Liam, who looks toward me, as if he knows I'm thinking about him, then he returns his attention to Dracula. "We are paying our debt to you now. We will keep you from being buried alive for all eternity, and you will leave us the hell alone. Forever."
The tension is so thick in the room I can barely breathe. Everyone is frozen, breaths abated, waiting for what will happen next.
"If you deliver justice," Dracula says, "then our blood debt will be cleared. You will be free of the sire bond."
The brothers exchange glances and everyone nods. Well, nearly everyone.
"I need to hear him say it, first," Liam says. "I need to him to look me in the eyes and tell me he didn't do it." Liam walks over to Dracula and stands inches from him, their eyes deadlocked. "Tell me you didn't kill Mary. Convince me of your innocence."
Dracula's face changes, morphing from calm and collected, to monstrous in his rage. And I realize I'm seeing Vlad the Impaler right now. He lifts Liam by the cuff of his shirt and pushes him forward, slamming him against the wall in much the same way Liam did to me earlier. I can't help but feel a little bit gloaty about that.
But when I see the crack in the stone from the impact of Liam's body, I cringe. Ouch, that's gotta hurt.
Dracula growls at Liam, his teeth elongated, full on vampire mode. "I did not kill my wife. I would never harm her. She was my heart and my soul. I am nothing without her."
With those words, the anger and rage seems to drain from Dracula, and he drops Liam to the ground and sways back on his heels before righting himself. He seems to come back to the awareness that he is not alone, and his face, previously so full of raw emotion, clamps down instantly, the mask so effective it's tempting to think I just imagined anything but the haughty, cold, measured way he assesses everyone and everything.
Dracula looks at all four of the Night brothers. "Prove my innocence, and you will get what you want. Fail, and I will not be the only one suffering an eternity of torture. You have my word on that."
Dracula turns to me and bows. "Miss Oliver, a pleasure." He shifts to Matilda. "Madam Night, good evening." And then with a click of his heels, he turns and marches out.
Apparently, he knows his way around the castle.
As soon as he's out of earshot, the room seems to exhale the breath it has been holding for far too long.
"This was a mistake," Liam says. "We will either be freeing the monster who murdered Mary, or we will be at war with Dracula himself. Neither option is optimal."
"We have no choice," Derek says with a shrug. "He pulls our strings until he breaks our sire bond. Until then, we are beholden."