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

I can’t hold it in. “How do you even know about these groups? You’re supposed to be against them.”

She tilts her head, her smile never fading. “I created them.”

Chapter 3

──────────

There’s so much running through my mind. I get why Veerka wants me to look for this Devania chick, but what I don’t understand is why Veerka would continue to associate with someone who runs the underground rebellion. If Lucius finds out about this, she’s a dead woman… and for good this time.

I’m also dying to know what happened to Veerka way back then. I saw it with my own eyes—the castle crumbled on her. How on Earth did Devania save her from that?

I have so many questions that I can’t decide where to start, so instead, I mumble, “Devania Arkis.”

Veerka pulls her long blond hair over one shoulder and nods. “We used to work together. I was her right hand, if you will. Well, before I left.”

“Before you met Lucius,” I say matter-of-factly.

She tugs at her hair again, which leads me to believe she still has ties to this woman.

“Precisely,” she says. “But once I met Lucius, it became clear to me…”

I watch her as she speaks, but I don’t take any of it in. Instead, her words jumble together in one long, incoherent ramble and I can’t help but smirk. “You sneaky little bitch.”

She stops talking at once and pulls her face back as if I backhanded her and insulted her entire family.

“You infiltrated the Vampire Mafia,” I say.

She doesn’t smile, but there’s a glimmer in her eye that confirms it all for me.

“How the hell did you keep this from Lucius? The man has people everywhere. Surely, someone out there knows who you are.” As the words come out of my mouth, the gravity of the situation hits me. “Have you lost your mind, Veerka? How long can you keep this going? What’s gonna happen when Lucius finds out? Not only will you have betrayed him… you’ll have taken away his love.” I slap my forehead. “Wow, you must have this vampire wrapped around your little pinky to be able to get away—”

Veerka points a stiff finger at me. “That’s why he had better not find out. If you so much as breathe a word of this, Alexis, I’m dead.”

I’m about to make a joke about her already being dead, but I can tell she’s not in the mood. And now, I understand why. This is serious. She’s a traitor to the most powerful people in all of San Halos. They’ve made an example of anyone who’s ever crossed Lucius—some were torn apart by fishhooks, one tiny piece at a time, and others dipped into buckets of acid.

As horrible as that sounds, it’s even worse for a vampire since they don’t die. Instead, they’re reduced to a skeleton held together by a few pieces of muscle and left to suffer until Lucius gets bored with them. After that, he severs their heads. Someone once told me he’s even allowed some of his victims to recover, only to repeat the same torturous cycle again and again like a cat playing with a half-eaten mouse.

He’s one sick son of a bitch, and if he finds out that the woman he loves has been deceiving him this whole time, well, I don’t even want to imagine what he’ll do to her.

“Relax,” I say. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

She’s anything but relaxed and neither am I. The rebellion is a massive group. It’s comprised of multiple groups around the world, and there are bound to be a few traitors and rats. This also means that anyone in need of something from Lucius won’t hesitate to use Veerka as blackmail.

Although I don’t voice my concerns aloud, I feel them in the pit of my stomach. Veerka’s fucked. Totally, entirely, and utterly fucked. If she tries to leave Lucius, he’ll kill her, and if he finds out the truth, he’ll kill her.

There’s one way out of this that won’t involve losing Veerka for good.

I cross my arms, which always makes me feel as tough as I am. “It’s fine. We’ll fix this, okay?”

She stares at me and bites her plush bottom lip. If she were still human and emotional, her eyes would probably start to water right about now.

I shrug as a way of making my next words come across as a piece of cake, when in reality I’m in way over my head. “We’re going to take that fucker down.”

This seems to soothe her, which is what I was going for. I can comb through the details later and figure out a master plan. She runs her hands through her hair, closes her eyes, and lets out a sharp breath. “Yeah, you’re right. We have to tough this out a bit longer until Devania and the rebellion—”

Suddenly, a blinding blue light flashes in front of us and I shield my eyes with my forearm. Despite my attempt to protect my eyes, I have to blink dozens of times to regain my sight. At first, the apparition is hazy… almost like a cloud. But the shape morphs into a giant blue ball of electricity before swirling into a large oval the size of a car. As the colorful swirls spin around the center, Las Vegas begins to look like rainbow-colored paint being mixed in a can.

I recognize that shape, and those lights: it’s magic.

Without warning, Drax comes bursting out of the portal, swinging his massive arms as if trying to swim through the air. If he weren’t my best friend, I’d have thought him to be some dragon demon with that green scaly skin of his.

As he comes tumbling toward us, Veerka and I jump to our feet—me, out of confusion,