Marked by Blood: Book 2 of The Marked Series by Ford, Rinna (top novels of all time txt) 📕

“Emelia! I thought you were gone for the day!” Di smiled, trying to appear friendly.

I didn’t answer with words, but with magic. Her body lifted off the ground, floating in mid air as she struggled against my magic. It was fun to watch as her limbs helplessly flailed. She was afraid I would let her fall, but more afraid I wouldn’t let her go.

“What? What are you doing? Let me go! I made you! You need to obey me! It’s the law! Now let me go, Emelia! Right now!”

She tried her best to sound authoritative, but to me, she sounded afraid and weak. I smiled menacingly as I slowly approached her her prone body.

“I clearly remember warning you,” I told her. “I told you to never come near me again…”

“But I didn’t! You were away!”

“So you thought you could try to take what was mine?”

“You, you refused him! You didn’t want him! It’s only fair he can look elsewhere! You weren’t here! Please! Please, let me go! I promise I’ll never come back and I’ll never try to seduce him again.”

“Oh, so you were only trying to seduce him even after he threatened you too? You see that makes everything all better now, doesn’t it?” I tilted my head to the side and smiled sweetly.

“Yes! We didn’t do anything that would warrant your jealousy! He stayed true to you!”

“But you were going to if I hadn’t come in, weren’t you? You were going to fuck my mate and try to draw him away from me, right? Make him yours instead?” I turned my attention to Matias. “Is that what you want? If it is, I’ll let you go and you can go on your way.”

He began struggling against my magic’s hold, again to no avail. He wasn’t used to being helpless, it was obvious. “Of course not!” he groaned against the spell. “Let me explain! I made a promise…”

“And I’ll release you from it if you don’t want me.” I meant it. I cared about him enough to let him go if that was what would make him happy. Even if it meant with despicable Di.

He stopped struggling and looked at me with sad eyes. “Emelia, no…”

“Please, Emelia!” Di screamed again. “I don’t want him, I swear! I was only trying to get back at you!”

My eyes cut back to her, my anger returning even more than before.

“Oh, really? And you thought he’d just play along? That you could take my mate from me, hurt my feelings, and what? Make me come back begging for your mercy? You forget what you made me to be, Di. I’m meant to be the savior of the supernatural world, remember? Which means I’m more powerful than you. I could pull your limbs off one by one…” My magic flared pulling at each of her extremities until she began to cry out in agony. “Or I can cut you with a million little knives, making you bleed all over the floor, driving my vampire crazy…” Slashes began to appear on her skin making her blood ooze out and slide down her body.

“Please!” She screamed. “Please! Stop! I promise I’ll never come near you again!”

“And you’ll never go near my mates again either, right?”

“Yes! I promise!” She let out a shriek of pain as more cuts formed all over her skin.

I watched her body writhe in pain and listened to her screams with a look of neutrality. I wasn’t put off by Di’s misery, but I wasn’t excited by it either. My vampire wanted more. She needed more. She needed to exact Di’s punishment instead of letting my caster side take care of it.

Everything stopped and Di crashed to the floor when my magic pulled away from her. Matias and the three stooges were still stuck in place, though. I wasn’t going to let them spoil my fun.

On shaky limbs, Di pushed herself up off the floor and swayed on her feet. A look of sheer and utter relief lit up her face when she realized I had set her free. If she only knew…

“Thank you, Emelia! I, I promise I’ll stay away.” She looked over her shoulder and saw the three vampires she brought with her were still frozen in place. “You can let them go now,” she told me. But when I made no move to release them, her elation began to slip away.

“Did you honestly think I was going to let you go?” I asked and took another step closer. “I warned you and you didn’t listen. I told you what would happen, didn’t I?”

Before she had the chance to answer, my red vampire eyes grew brighter and I launched myself at the disheveled former leader in front of me. She put her hands up to defend herself, but it was no use. Somehow, my dragon’s claws emerged and they latched onto her body, holding her in place. I made sure not to let my sharp nails puncture her skin, infecting her with my poison. My vampire wanted the kill.

She hissed and tried to squirm away, but I was much stronger and faster. My fangs plunged into her neck without warning. She screamed again, this time feeling the worst pain she’d ever felt in her life as I drained the life force from her body with the intent of killing her.

Matias was right. Feeding could be a vampire’s greatest weapon and I planned on using it to its fullest against those who sought to harm my family and me. I felt the strength begin to leave her as I drank more and more. Her heartbeat began to slow and I let go for only a second so I could see the life begin to drain from her eyes. When I was satisfied, I plunged my fangs back in to finish the job.

At that point, her neck was practically ripped to shreds, blood and gore everywhere but I didn’t care. My only goal in mind was ending