After I Fall (Immortal Billionaires #1) - Melissa Sercia Page 0,62

her restraints. Her mouth was covered with tape. Camille pushed her to her knees. She grabbed a fist full of her hair and yanked her head back.

“This is my gift to you, Raven. This despicable girl has had it out for you since day one. Now is your turn to get payback.”

This wasn’t happening. I pinched myself, hoping this was all just a bad dream, but nothing happened. It was very real. “But I don’t want payback. Please just let her go. Let both of us go.”

Camille laughed. “Not until you see the truth.” Her face began to change—her eyes darkened, shadows creasing across her face. Something strange was taking over her expression. Something dark and twisted. She pulled up her lips and two sharp fangs protruded out. She looked feral, like a wild animal.

I couldn’t move, frozen in place with a fear I had never felt before. In one swift motion, Camille pulled Tori’s head to the side and sank her teeth into her neck. Tori made a sound that was unnatural as Camille drank from her.

Oh shit, oh shit. She was drinking her blood. My heart was beating so fast and so hard I couldn’t catch my breath. I was starting to see stars in my peripheral. Calm down, Raven. Just breathe. I couldn’t pass out. I had to keep my wits about me. This was fucking insane.

Tori’s eyes rolled back and her body slumped. Camille lifted her face and locked her feral gaze on me. Blood dripped down her lips, staining her chin. She smiled as she released Tori to the floor. She was dead.

Panic set in and my knees began to shake uncontrollably. “You…you killed her. Are you going to do that to me? Am I next?”

Camille wiped her mouth with a silk handkerchief. “No, my dear. I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to make you like me… Like Ozi.”

The pieces were starting to come together in my head—the blood bags, the warnings of danger, all the secrets and the lies. Even though I already knew the answer, I needed to hear her say it out loud. “What are you? What is Ozi?”

Camille’s grin grew wider. “Vampire,” she whispered.

We wandered through the warehouse’s first floor and found it empty. But I could smell the blood. If I strained my ears, I could hear tiny, muffled voices coming from the upper level.

At the top of the stairwell, my suspicions were confirmed. Two of Camille’s men stood guard. I motioned for Cassius to follow behind me and we crept up the stairs. Before the guards knew what hit them, we grabbed them from behind. I put one hand over his mouth and twisted his head, breaking his neck. Cassius mirrored my movements with the second guard.

“Look at the marks on his neck,” I said, pointing to two fang marks just below the guard’s jawline.

“Human blood bags. Clever.” Cassius stepped over the contorted bodies.

Some vampires kept humans around to feed on. It was extremely risky as you’d have to make sure to know when to stop before killing them. The idea of Camille having any restraint was ludicrous but there they were. It was even more astounding that she had double downed and used them as guards as well. Unfortunately for her, this only made them easier to kill.

“Well at least this will be easier than I thought. Camille isn’t that clever. Surrounding herself with humans when a vampire and a werewolf are about to crash her party.”

Cassius chuckled. “That bitch always was overconfident.”

I found the door to the second floor and yanked it open. I almost dropped to my knees when I saw her. Raven was passed out on a velvet couch, one of my waitresses was dead on the floor, and Camille’s face was covered in blood.

“Ozi, I was wondering how long it would take you and your pet wolf to find us. Welcome to Raven’s rebirth party.”

“What have you done, Camille?” I scanned the room and counted six human guards.

“Nothing yet, my darling. But soon your precious Raven will be just like us. Sad, tortured, immortal…famished for blood. And it will be all your fault because you couldn’t protect her. Payback is a bitch, isn’t it?” She stalked around Raven like a cat circling a mouse.

Cassius was breaking off from me while I had Camille distracted. He inched closer to the two guards at the other exit. But it wasn’t the guards I was worried about. It was how dangerously close Camille was to