Lethal Blow: (Succubus Hitwoman Book 2) by Eliza Hendrix (love books to read TXT) 📕

The vampire on the right opens his mouth wide, revealing long bloody fangs underneath deep pink gums. He lets out a loud hissing sound and globs of blood and saliva sprinkle out into the air as the sound fills the room.

The next thing I know, my black wings are wide open on either side of me and my silver succubus hair hangs over my shoulders. Every time I get caught off guard or feel like I’m in danger, I automatically reveal my true self.

Hissing back, I extend my long, black-nailed fingers, prepared to tear off some faces, when I glimpse Veerka rushing toward the window. What’s she doing? Everyone knows the Las Vegas windows don’t open. Some people refer to Las Vegas as the Suicide Capital of America. I don’t even have the time to tell her though. Using her fist, she punches the window and it breaks apart into a bunch of fragments. With her arms, she scrapes the sides to create a clean opening. The shards cut her skin, staining the window frame with black blood, but she doesn’t seem to care at all.

At once, both vampires lunge forward, but I don’t give them enough time to reach her. With my wings, I flap as hard as I can toward them, creating a powerful gust that knocks them down on their asses.

It doesn’t hurt them, but it’s enough to buy me a few seconds.

Veerka looks back at me, a devious smile on her face that says, Exactly like old times.

Without hesitating, I propel myself into the air and straight toward the open window. Wrapping my arm around Veerka’s waist, I send us both flying out of the Bellagio hotel’s thirty-fourth story.

Chapter 2

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As we fall through the night sky and toward a multitude of colorful lights, massive jets of water come spitting out of the Fountains of Bellagio. I flap my wings in time to dodge the powerful spray of water, and Veerka laughs in my arms.

Is she insane? How is any of this funny? Vampires are after her, and here she is, laughing her head off.

With a few more powerful flaps, I fly us to the top of the Bellagio hotel, at the far end, where we no one can see us and land against the hard surface. Veerka stumbles out of my arms with a hand over her mouth and small slits for eyes.

“That… that was incredible,” she says.

She’s laughing so hard I can’t help but smile. I forgot how much Veerka loves a good thrill.

“Those were Lucius’s men, weren’t they?” I ask.

She nods, but she’s still laughing. Then, she waves a hand in the air as if trying to erase or dismiss the fact that Lucius wants her back. “Oh, live a little, Alexis.”

“Why were they after you?” I ask. “How does Lucius even know you’re still alive? We faked your death, remember?”

Finally, she stops laughing and clears her throat. Slowly, the smile on her face disappears like a mint fizzing away in a glass of pop.

Isn’t Veerka also a leader? When Jamieson asked me to kill her, he told me Veerka and Lucius were a power couple—that the two of them were dangerous and that they were changing the Underworld.

“Lucius knows things, Alexis. He knows I’m not dead. He may not understand where I’ve gone or what happened, but he knows I’m very much alive. He’s tracking me because he wants me back.”

“Wants you back? Isn’t it your choice? Not like the two of you are married,” I say.

If this conversation had nothing to do with Veerka, I’d laugh at the thought of two vampires getting married.

She averts her gaze, which leads me to believe there’s something she isn’t telling me.

“You two aren’t a power couple, are you?” I ask.

She turns away, crosses her arms as if she’s cold—which, obviously, she isn’t considering she’s a vampire—and leans the weight of her body against the wall behind her. Even after a few centuries, I can still tell when Veerka’s got something on her mind. It’s almost like no time has passed between us at all.

“Talk to me,” I say.

“I’m nothing but décor, Alexis,” she says at last. “With everything that’s going on these days, Lucius wanted a woman by his side to appeal to both sexes. Female vampires are getting sick of being bossed around by men, so I’m the pretty face that makes them think I’m representing them.”

“Why you?” I ask.

It sounds harsh coming out of my mouth, and that’s not at all what I intended. Veerka is jaw-droppingly gorgeous, but I’m wondering why out of thousands of vampires out there, Lucius is so adamant about having her by his side.

“He thinks he loves me,” she says.

I’m about to make some comment about how it’s impossible for vampires to love anyone, when I remember that Veerka’s a vampire. So instead, I bite my lower lip. “Thinks?”

“He’s controlling,” she says. “He makes all the decisions and gets me to announce them.”

She won’t even make eye contact. This isn’t the Veerka I found in the hotel room last week. When she talks about him, all her confidence is gone.

“Is that why Jamieson wanted you dead? He thought you were the one causing all the changes?”

She smiles at me, but it isn’t a happy smile—it’s a look that says, Come on, Alexis, you’re smarter than that.

When I say nothing, her smile fades. “You honestly don’t know, do you?”

I get a knot in my stomach. Goddamn it. I hate big dark secrets. This is why I do things when I want, how I want. I like to feel like I’m in control of something, and the only time I’m okay not being in control is when I’m drunk.

Do