Standing to his feet, Fionn decided it was time to end this interlude with the vampire. Rose had proven herself brave and strong, but her confusion was clear. Fionn needed to determine how much or how little she knew. He was hoping she knew little.
It would be so much easier to manipulate her if she was clueless.
“What the hell are you?” the vampire asked from below.
“I think I might be hard to kill,” Rose answered.
Fionn smirked at that.
Oh, she had no idea.
Not even a second later, his smirk melted as the vampire broke Rose’s neck. She crumpled, not dead, but out for the count.
Possessive fury roared through Fionn as he stepped off the rooftop. Rose Kelly was now his to kill at the right moment. No other fucker would dare touch her until then.
The vampire whirled around as Fionn dropped to the ground on light feet. The blood drinker bared his fangs, hackles raised.
Fionn lifted a finger and waggled it at the vampire. “We mustn’t touch what isn’t ours.”
The vampire lunged and Fionn used the force against him, punching his fist through the vamp’s chest, feeling the warm, wet muscle of his heart pulsing in his hands.
Then he tore it out.
The vampire’s body burst into ash that floated in the still night air. The wet muscle in Fionn’s hand disintegrated into dust too.
Fionn stepped around the cloud of dead vampire and kneeled in the alley to brush away Rose’s dark hair from her face. She was beautiful in a subtle way. All Aine’s fae were attractive. It was part of their weaponry.
He perused her body. She wasn’t short, but she wasn’t tall. She had a gentle feminine flare to her hips. Still, she was lean and strong, like an athlete because she had been. Bran discovered articles on her. She’d been a gymnast in high school, en route to the US Olympic team, until she’d mysteriously walked away from the sport.
Despite the spell, she’d been stronger than the average human.
Had she guessed that she was different?
So many questions, Fionn mused.
He pulled out his phone and called Bran. As soon as the vamp answered, Fionn informed him, “It was the bartender. Someone put a spell on her to repress her abilities and energy. I don’t know how big that energy blasting off her was, but it would be enough to alert any nearby supernaturals. I need you to check for movement from the Blackwoods or anyone else of interest.”
“Jesus Christ, only a bloody powerful and ruthless witch or warlock could do that.”
“I’m aware. Any headway with the birth parents?”
“Well, I was just about to go to bed, but I’ll get on it right away.”
“You do that.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Discover how much she knows. I’m hoping it’s less than zero.”
“And then?”
“I’ll convince her she needs me. Once I have her trust, it should be easy enough to lure her to Ireland. Call me if you see movement and when you find something of use.” He hung up and stared down at Rose again.
She was a pig to the slaughter, he thought dispassionately.
Unfair for her, true, but what was one small woman against a two-thousand-year-old vendetta?
Fionn reached beneath her and lifted her into his arms with ease. Even if he didn’t have supernatural strength, she would have felt slight in his arms. A growl burrowed out of him as he heard bone slipping back into place.
She was healing from that neck break.
The vampire had deserved a drawn-out death because a broken neck couldn’t kill fae, but it could hurt like fuck.
Rose would wake soon.
There was no time to dawdle. Curious supernaturals might already be on their way.
5
As Rose’s mind swam up out of a bizarre dream, she grew aware of the mattress beneath her and realized she was in bed. Yet, as she tried to let go of images of bloodied fangs and glowing golden lights, it occurred to her that the mattress in her crappy apartment was lumpy and didn’t feel like a cloud of softness. The one beneath her did.
Her eyes flew open. Confusion and panic instantly hit her.
She was in a room she’d never been in before.
Rose sat up, surprised her head didn’t swim with the movement.
The room was warmly lit by table lamps with pale shades. The light bounced up latte-colored striped walls. Matching silk curtains covered the windows. And Rose was in a huge bed. The comfiest bed she’d been in, in a long time. Everything about the room