Passion of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 5) by Bella Klaus (best motivational books txt) 📗

drew together, and I glanced up, meeting Lazarus’ gaze. “Is that your phone?”

He placed a slumbering Beatrice to one side and rose off the sofa. “I’ll get it.”

Beatrice slumped against the cushions, still as old and as haggard-looking as before. I shook my head. Maybe it was time to speak to an enforcer about this. My gaze dropped to her wrinkled hands, a mass of raised veins, swollen joints, and liver spots. I used to think that the worst thing that could happen to Beatrice was the enforcers taking away her last three years of memories, but that might not be so terrible if someone could restore her youth.

A growl sounded on the other side of the room, making my head snap up.

Lazarus stood at the door, his features twisted into a scowl. He glowered down at me through eyes as red as blood.

“Who the hell is Christian?”

Chapter Nine

I rocked forward on my knees and placed my hands on the edge of the coffee table. Cold shock raced through my insides, drawing all the blood from my face to my quickening heart. I gaped at Lazarus, who stood by the door glaring at the screen of her smartphone.

Christian—the Swiss banker who had wined and dined and romanced her over an intense week was her parasite. Why would he be sending her texts now?

I stumbled to my feet and hurried toward Lazarus.

His fingers closed around her smartphone. “You know.”

Can’t stop thinking about you, one text said.

The phone buzzed again, and Lazarus clicked on the screen, bringing up a naked and headless picture of a tall man with golden skin, prominent pecs and a tight six-pack, holding a long, thick erection in one hand and his smartphone in the other. In the background was a bathroom containing an oval tub before a wall of black marble.

Need you so bad, the next text said.

“Who is he?” Lazarus roared.

I glanced over my shoulder at Beatrice, who still lay asleep on the sofa. The wide neckline of her dress exposed crêpey skin, which stretched over prominent collarbones. It was bad form to gossip about a friend’s love life, especially to her current boyfriend, even if Lazarus looked ready to tear the room apart in a fit of jealous rage.

“Ask her when she wakes up.” I met his glower with a look of determination that I hoped would tell him that no amount of huffing and puffing could make me betray Beatrice’s confidence.

The ring of dark brown around his irises darkened, spreading across the green of his hazel eyes. Red bled across his golden flecks, creating an expression that combined fury with blood lust.

Lazarus placed a hand on my shoulder and tightened his fingers around my flesh. “Just because you’ve masked your delicious scent, that doesn’t mean I won’t drain you to a husk and suck the marrow from your bones.”

I slapped his arm. “Stop messing about.”

“What?” His eyes flashed.

“Valentine’s no longer under anyone’s control but has my blood flowing through his veins. What do you think he’ll do to you if you try anything?”

Lazarus flared his nostrils, and his face tightened with annoyance. He’d just caught his older brother’s scent and knew I wasn’t lying. He bared his teeth with a less convincing snarl.

“And don’t forget I’ll burn you before you even get a chance to do what you’re threatening.” I raised a hand and waved my fingers, hoping he wouldn’t call my bluff and make me take off the Cleopatra stone.

A loud growl from behind us filled the room, followed by a furious roar that battered my eardrums and made every fine hair on my body stand on end. I glanced around the vampire to find an oversized leopard standing in Beatrice’s hallway.

Macavity lowered himself into a crouch, looking ready to pounce. The overhead light brought out the gold hues in his fur and reflected off his jewel-green eyes. Macavity parted his jaws, revealing incisors longer and thicker than those of any vampire. Even his whiskers, which protruded to the side, were long and thick and menacing.

I pulled back my shoulders and straightened, my chest inflating with pride. My ride-or-die cat would back me up in a fight.

Lazarus loosened the hand around my shoulder, his features falling slack with surprise. “Macavity?”

The leopard rushed at Lazarus and bumped him in the stomach, knocking him onto his ass.

Lazarus raised his arms and brought Macavity down for a hug. “Where have you been?”

The leopard pulled back, flicking his head in my direction, making Lazarus sit up and turn to me with a frown.

“Her?” His nose wrinkled, and the incredulity in his voice said he knew the significance of Macavity’s return from Hell as well as his reason for sticking at my side. Lazarus didn’t approve of me. He’d called me a blood cow or several variations of the word each time we’d met.

I raised my chin, forcing myself not to cringe at his derision. If he saw Neutrals as unworthy of marriage to his brother, it was only because he frequented bars where he hired girls. He was being a hypocrite. Neutrals wouldn’t become addicted to thrall if vampires didn’t offer them large sums to feed from the vein.

Lazarus raised himself off the floor to continue staring at me as though I’d bewitched his older brother. Even when Macavity play-chewed at his head, the vampire wouldn’t stop looking at me.

“Valentine and I are soulmates, and nothing can keep us apart.” I placed my hands on my hips, infusing my words with bite. “Not death, not the Supernatural Council, and certainly not a disapproving little brother.”

He turned around, making eye contact with Macavity. “Are you sure it’s her?”

The leopard nodded.

The smartphone buzzed from the floor, flashing an extreme close-up of a fist strangling a mushroom-shaped dick, with a stream of white fluid spurting toward the picture’s left-hand corner.

Semen also trickled on the skin between his thumb and forefinger, reminding me of the lemon and sugar mix I would pour over a fresh-out-of-the-oven lemon drizzle cake.

My mouth