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

cutting my throat with these tough negotiations, but as a friend of your grandfather’s, I will agree to this low, low price.”

“Add it to my account,” Valentine said.

Irdu disappeared in a puff of black smoke, leaving me alone with Valentine, whose fangs grew long and thick enough to tear out a man’s throat.

Chapter Sixteen

I tried to enter Jonathan’s enclosure first, but Valentine stepped in front of me, his broad body taking up the narrow doorway. Clenching my teeth, I wrapped my arms around his middle, trying to hold him back. Valentine stepped inside, bringing me with him, and pulled me to his front.

“What?” he asked.

Artificial light from a wall of windows reflected against the white walls of Jonathan’s enclosure, bringing out a spectrum of colors in Valentine’s eyes. Today, they were mostly indigo with a dark ring of almost black around the edges with flecks radiating from the middle that created a starburst of white and red. Red for bloodlust.

I placed my palms on Valentine’s chest. The warmth of the stolen blood radiated from beneath his denim shirt, but the rest of him felt dead—with no pulse or heartbeat or signs of breath.

“You’re not killing him.” I hardened my eyes, injecting my voice with determination. “Enough people have died who could have been hypnotized or hidden away.”

Valentine wrapped a hand around my wrist and pulled me to the wall. He placed his hands on my shoulders in a silent command to stay, like I was an umbrella he’d balanced there for safekeeping.

“Kresnik will never stop looking for Jonathan,” he said in a voice laden with frost. “If you’re squeamish about destroying one of his tools, step outside and close your eyes.”

A huff of incredulity escaped my throat. “I’m one of those tools!”

Valentine ignored me and continued toward the figure in the bed.

“Get up,” he snarled.

“He’s my brother,” I blurted.

Valentine turned to me, his brows furrowed. “How?”

I swallowed hard. “Kresnik fathered most of the fire users around my age. You must have seen it in my mind? Just before he killed Aurora, he ranted to everyone in the ritual room that he had created us all?”

He stalked toward me, confusion clouding his features. The night he’d caught up with me in the broom closet, he had searched through my memories, but I didn’t know if he’d taken the time to listen to the entirety of Kresnik’s speech.

I raised my head, meeting his eyes with a steady gaze, daring him to delve into my mind and check. Valentine placed his palms on the wall, caging me with his arms. As he leaned into me, my nerve endings tingled with anticipation. Just a few inches closer, and we would kiss.

Instead of bringing our mouths together, his magic pressed into me with the subtlety of a caress. Memories from my last day in the Flame flitted through my mind, settling on the gathering in ritual room one. When he reached the part where Kresnik slapped his palm, admitting to having fathered us all to create vessels with digestible magic, Valentine drew back.

His gaze darted to Jonathan and back to me, making my insides shrivel with mortification. Valentine was probably checking for a family resemblance. My throat dried. I had nothing in common with that man except for the ability to use fire.

“Who’s there?” asked a voice heavy with sleep.

I ducked out from the cage of Valentine’s arms and walked toward Jonathan, who still lay beneath the covers, oblivious to how close he’d come to being killed.

My mouth pinched into a tight line, and I clenched my jaw hard enough to wear down my teeth. Despite admitting our familial connection, all I could feel for this man was resentment. Valentine didn’t know the half of what Jonathan did to split us apart, including destroying Valentine’s heart and then violating my mind.

“Did you know?” My voice shook.

Jonathan stared at me through bleary eyes. “Mera?” He placed a hand over his brow and squinted. “What do you want?”

Irritation flared across my skin. Father Jude had assured me that they’d erased Jonathan’s memory. It looked like my suspicion that they’d lied had been correct.

“Answer me,” I snapped. “Why did you throw that ancestry spell at my feet?”

He rubbed the sleep from around his eyes and yawned. “Is that what it was?”

“Liar,” I hissed.

Valentine’s large form appeared at my back, and a warm hand landed on my waist. Jonathan’s eyes narrowed, and his lip curled into a snarl.

“Why did you bring him?” he whined.

“I came to kill you,” Valentine said.

All the color leached from Jonathan’s face, and his narrow mouth flapped open. “It was only a prank. Gosh, you people can’t take a joke—”

“Kresnik’s back.” If I didn’t cut through his gaslighting, I might step aside to let Valentine silence the wretch.

Jonathan stilled, staring up at me through round eyes. His gaze darted from me to Valentine and back to me, and his chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. “What do you mean?”

“Father Jude resurrected Kresnik,” I said, this time much slower.

A warm flush returned to Jonathan’s cheeks, and the corners of his lips lifted into a smile. “Our Lord found a way out of Hell?”

I clenched my teeth, biting back a bellyful of disappointment. Of course, he’d be elated. They’d also brainwashed him into believing Kresnik was their god and would deliver them from the murderous oppression of the Supernatural Council.

“Yes,” I said through clenched teeth. “And he stole the powers of everyone in our team.”

Jonathan shook his head. “Why?”

“Kresnik created us all so that he could have multiple sources of power to draw on while he took over Great Britain.” I studied Jonathan’s features. He couldn’t fake the paler-than-usual skin, but it looked like he knew Kresnik would one day return. Only the part about stealing power had been a shock.

“What’s this got to do with me?” His bottom lip trembled. “You saw to it that I lost my power and got banished.”

“They drained your magic into firestone and used it as part of