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<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nChapter One<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Maksim Volk struggled to his knees despite the pain\nin his muscles and joints, despite the hunger gnawing at him from the inside\nout. The garage tilted, fluctuating the shadows of the wooden joists supporting\nthe roof. His chains rattled, clanking among his wrists, ankles, and the bolt\nin the concrete foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was nothing for him to do but wait while his\nbody wasted away. The infection swimming in his veins would keep him alive\nindefinitely, healing injuries and enhancing his senses, making him stronger\nthan human men, granting him strength. Not enough to escape, though, not after\nstarving for days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Maks hadn\u2019t survived decades of torture to\nsurrender to a few links of chain and a dry spell. During the twenty years he\u2019d\nbeen a prisoner and guinea pig of the US Army, his captors had tried everything\nto test the limits of his fortitude, including starving him. He knew exactly\nhow badly things could get before he desiccated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Connor had done this to him. He and Anya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No, she preferred Ali now, the name her biological\nfather Uri Rusenko had given her. It was a pretty name, but it was difficult to\ngaze into her big blue eyes\u2014eyes so like her mother Katya\u2019s\u2014and not remember\nthe little girl named Anya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maks had never considered loving a child. Turned\ninto a vampire at seventeen, he was barely more than a child himself when he\nfirst laid eyes on Katya. But when he infected her rather than lose her and she\nbirthed a beautiful, blue-eyed baby girl into his hands, Maks had been\ncompletely and utterly smitten. For the first time in his life, someone had not\nonly depended on him, but trusted him too. As Anya had grown, she\u2019d gazed up at\nhim and it had felt like someone in the world believed in him. He was a father,\nno matter how unconventional, and Maks loved every minute of it. Loved Ali.\nLoved Katya. Loved being part of a family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But his daughter had stood by and watched Connor\nBeckett lock him in chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maks gripped the links near the bolt and heaved\nupward. One of his finger joints dislocated, and still he pulled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn\u2019t enough. The bolt remained secure, and he\ndrooped, exhausted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn\u2019t Ali\u2019s fault, though, that she\u2019d lost\nfaith in Maks. She\u2019d been in Britain under Uri\u2019s brutal care for almost her\nentire twenty-two years of life, far from vampires and the supernatural. Far\nfrom him. It wasn\u2019t her fault she thought he was a monster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If he escaped the chains, he\u2019d do anything to make\nit up to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He kicked the only object in range\u2014a section of\nhalf-finished wall. Little remained of its original shape, and Maks further\nadded to its deterioration with three or four savage blows with his bare foot.\nWood splintered, drywall crumbled, and nails squealed in protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unable to remain on his knees any longer, Maks\nslumped onto his side and closed his burning eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dozing in a blood-starved haze, he thought of his\namber-eyed captive, Violet. It was like he could smell her sweet breath. Like\nhe could feel her creamy, soft skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maks had kept a lot of blood donors over the years,\nbut Violet had impressed him from the start. She wasn\u2019t cowed, despite having\nsuffered under Oleksander the Destroyer, sadistic former warlord of the horde.\nShe was brave, smart-mouthed, and her blood was fine liquor after a hard day. But\nkeeping Violet a prisoner was like trapping a wild bird in a wire cage. It wasn\u2019t\nright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He must find her before Olek\u2019s little brother Sergei\nhurt her. Anya would help him. No, she went by Ali now. Still, his little girl would\nhelp him save Violet. She had to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone approached the garage. Footsteps crept\nnearer, and the side door swung open on silent hinges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ali Rusenko wasn\u2019t super excited to do the Oracle\u2019s\nbidding today. Ilvane the Oracle, also known as fourteen-year-old Caitlyn from\nsuburbia, wasn\u2019t exactly a friend. So far, Ali\u2019s experiences with her\nprophecies were less than positive. If it hadn\u2019t been for the Anya from\nNadvirna prophecy, Ali wouldn\u2019t have become the obsession of Oleksander and\nnearly died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Oracle had recently visited Connor and\nasked him to be at a street corner in Vegas today a little after two. Oh, and\nby the way, bring Maksim Volk. The only hitch was, Maks was currently chained\nup, feral and half-mad himself, in their cabin in the Nevada desert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cProphecy time,\u201d Connor Beckett announced, whipping\nopen his hotel suite\u2019s front door. \u201cWhen the greatest seer in the world tells\nme to be somewhere at a certain time\u2014I\u2019ll be in that spot at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ali strolled into the hallway and pressed for an\nelevator. \u201cAny chance the Oracle\u2019s ramblings were just that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCaitlyn may be batshit,\u201d Connor said, gracing her\nwith a slow smile, \u201cbut everything she says happens.\u201d The smile, at odds with\nhis words, widened suggestively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her boyfriend was damned sexy, even more so since\nhe\u2019d been infected. A card-carrying member of the supernatural world\u2014he was\nwithout equal in strength, speed, and healing ability. In her humble opinion,\nhe was the hottest vampire walking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still amazed at how lucky she\u2019d been on her first\ntrip to the US, Ali rose on tiptoe and pressed a sweet kiss to his mouth.\nGrowing up sheltered and different in the UK, she\u2019d never believed she\u2019d fall\nin love with such a beautiful, warm-hearted man, let alone that he would love\nher in return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still in his arms, Ali asked, \u201cDidn\u2019t she say\ntaking Maks with us was optional?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elevator doors opened inside the underground\nparking structure and they beelined it for Connor\u2019s souped-up 1973 Ford F-350.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe said it\u2019d be fun. Besides, I\u2019m not taking any\nchances with fate.\u201d Connor held the passenger door open for Ali, and she\nclimbed in, bouncing on the wide bench seat. \u201cEspecially when it comes to\nhelping people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSpeaking\nof helping people,\u201d Ali said, \u201ccan we agree to release Volk after we do this errand\nfor the Oracle? It\u2019s not right keeping him like a captured animal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ali didn\u2019t enjoy the thought of Maksim Volk, or\nanyone, chained up in a cabin\u2014alone, restrained, starving. No one deserved such\ntreatment, not even Olek\u2019s right hand man. But the last time they\u2019d interacted\nwith him, he\u2019d been raving mad. Not long ago, Volk had murdered her cousin\nStefan right in front of her. She didn\u2019t exactly trust him. Connor had never<\/em> trusted him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t feel right keeping him prisoner,\u201d Ali\ntold Connor as they raced across deserted highways south of Las Vegas. \u201cEither\nwe hand him over to the government, or we let him go. We can\u2019t keep him caged\nindefinitely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor glanced at her before returning his\nattention to the gray road unspooling under the hood of his pickup. \u201cYou know\nwhat the government would do to him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTorture him,\u201d she agreed. The US Army had already\nheld him prisoner for the past twenty years, testing God-knows-what on his body,\nhis blood, and his spirit. \u201cOr just kill him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIs that what you want?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ali sighed. \u201cOf course not. I\u2019m simply making the\npoint that we don\u2019t have a lot of options.\u201d Maksim Volk was the closest thing\nto a father she had left, which depressed the hell out of her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She possessed no memory of it, but according to\nMaks, she\u2019d lived with him and her mother in some twisted vampire family for the\nfirst two years of her life. Volk had infected Ali\u2019s mother Katya when she was nine\nmonths pregnant with Ali. The infection had forced Ali into the world and into\nMaksim Volk\u2019s arms. Which made her feelings about the vampire complicated. To\nsay the least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor pulled the truck onto a long, sandy\ndriveway and, after coding a number into the security gate, parked in front of\na one-bedroom hunting cabin once owned by Connor and Roz\u2019s friends, Anton and\nNatasha. But after the unlucky siblings had been murdered and eaten by the Four\nSons, Roz had inherited the property as well as a great deal of money to use in\nresearching the paranormal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor caught up to her at the garage door. \u201cI don\u2019t\nhear anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ali tried peering through the side window, but the\nglass was too dirty. \u201cIs he okay?\u201d Oh, God. Had they killed Maksim Volk?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI expected to hear chains rattling,\u201d Connor said,\n\u201cor swearing, or something. The last time we saw him he was screaming bloody\nmurder.\u201d Stepping around her, Connor unlocked the door and opened it extra\nslowly, examining the large space an inch at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor God\u2019s sake,\u201d Ali exclaimed, wiggling under\nhis arm and shoving wide the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Volk hadn\u2019t escaped. He was exactly where they\u2019d\nleft him. Though his gunshot wounds had healed, it was obvious from the various\ndark red streaks that he\u2019d tried to squeeze out of the shackles around his\nwrists and ankles. He may have even tried to chew himself out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMaks?\u201d she called softly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHis heart\u2019s beating,\u201d Connor said, remaining by\nthe door. Apparently satisfied the vampire curled on the floor, pale and\ncovered in his own blood, posed no threat, he said, \u201cHe\u2019s alive, but he needs\nto drink if you want him to stay that way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ali threw Connor an annoyed look over her shoulder\nbefore kneeling beside Volk. Of course, she wanted him alive. If everything he\nsaid was true, and who knew with his reputation as a liar and a traitor, then\nher mother had loved him enough to leave her human life and join him in some\nvampire commune in the Ukraine with her newborn daughter. If Katya had trusted\nhim, Ali could give him another chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMaks?\u201d Ali repeated, reaching out a hand to touch\nhis blood-crusted hair. Her fingers brushed at the dark lock covering his face.\n\u201cCan you hear me? We brought blood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the B word, his sunken brown eyes opened, but\nhe remained eerily quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHere.\u201d She gestured for Connor to hand her a\nblood bag, which he did. She tore open the tubing and pressed the dribbling end\nto his lips, then, shifting into a sitting position, she pulled Maks\u2019 heavy\nhead into her lap. He swallowed as if it hurt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She found the vampire\u2019s musky scent faintly\nfamiliar. Was it a distant memory emerging from the shadows of her past? Maybe,\nbut when she focused on it, the recollection disappeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m so\nsorry,\u201d she said, cupping the side of his face. \u201cWe thought we left you enough\nblood to last two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLooks like,\u201d Connor said, kicking at empty, discarded\npackets, \u201che drank everything the first day to boost his strength to escape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe should have come back sooner.\u201d Ali didn\u2019t enjoy\nthinking of him in such a desperate situation, especially one she\u2019d put him in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe\u2019s\nhelpless,\u201d Maks hissed between swallows, finally breaking his silence. \u201c\u2026my\nfault.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWho is \u2018she\u2019?\u201d Ali asked as he finished the first\nbag. He\u2019d been ranting about saving someone since they\u2019d captured him, but he hadn\u2019t\nyet been lucid enough to explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cViolet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She\u2019d never heard of her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor handed Ali a second blood bag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnchain him,\u201d she said firmly. \u201cEnough\u2019s enough.\nHe can\u2019t even feed himself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After a pause, Connor said, \u201cFine,\u201d and knelt to\nunshackle Maks\u2019 wrists and ankles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ali offered Maks the next bag, but he didn\u2019t immediately\ntake it. When he attempted to lift his right arm, it became obvious it was\ndislocated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI can help with that shoulder,\u201d Connor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After Maks inclined his head, Connor grabbed his\nright wrist, pushed back with his boot, and slid the arm into its socket with a\nwet pop<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ali cringed, but Maks didn\u2019t react to the pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo,\u201d Connor said, leaning against the wall. \u201cThe\nOracle asked me to take you with me to the corner of Thompson and Faraday at\ntwo oh six this afternoon. Wanna come?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy?\u201d Maks asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ali gazed down into the vampire\u2019s pale, boyish\nface. Holding him was like carrying a sleepy lion in her lap. He was dangerous,\nand yet his weight was comfortable and familiar, as if they were friends. Or\neven family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No<\/em>. Not\neven close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ali wiggled out from under the suddenly stifling burden\nof Maks\u2019 upper body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou think the Oracle makes sense?\u201d Connor\nchuckled. \u201cShe told me to be at a certain place at a certain time, and then\ntacked on that I should bring you. \u2018Fun\u2019 is what she called it. Now, drink your\nfill, clean yourself up, and let\u2019s hit the road.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo you can lock me up again?\u201d Maks questioned\nangrily. Grabbing a third blood bag, he sat up and sank his fangs into the\nplastic pouch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019d rather trust you,\u201d Connor said. \u201cBut it\u2019s not\neasy. Are you a bloodthirsty psychopath, or are you a misunderstood victim? Or\nsomething else altogether? I don\u2019t know. No one knows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have to get out of here,\u201d Maks said, struggling\nto stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He swayed, reaching for the wall that was too far away\nto help. Ali imagined him tumbling onto his face, and her stupid sympathetic\nheart won over common sense. With a muttered curse, she swept under his arm and\nsupported some of his weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if he\u2019s strong enough to come with\nus,\u201d Ali told Connor, frowning at Maks\u2019 so-white-it-was-nearly-translucent\nskin. \u201cI\u2019d rather drop him off at the suite and put him to bed for a couple\ndays.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They rented the fifty-first floor of the Le Sort\nHotel on the Vegas Strip, another gift from the recently deceased Anton and\nNatasha. So long as Roz and Connor wanted it, the siblings\u2019 sizeable estate\nwould foot the bill. Right now, Ali felt it was the safest place for Maks to\nrecuperate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor shrugged. \u201cCaitlyn said I should take him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Oracle was never wrong. She\u2019d foretold Connor\u2019s\nreleasing of Oleksander the Destroyer and Ali\u2019s role in the same warlord\u2019s\nfinal battle. Ali didn\u2019t mess with the Oracle. Caitlyn simply knew too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you swear to me,\u201d Maks looked directly into\nAli\u2019s eyes, \u201cthat you\u2019ll let me go, then I\u2019ll do the Oracle\u2019s bidding. But you have\nto swear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before she could second-guess herself, Ali said, \u201cI\nswear it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor grumbled something unintelligible and\nhanded Maks the fifth and final bag of blood before leading them outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n #<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maksim Volk stared at the side of Connor Beckett\u2019s\nhead and snarled around his fifth blood bag. He was feeling a little more like\nhimself\u2014arm healing, joints mending, any and all torn flesh regenerating\u2014which\nmeant his annoyance with the uppity twat had returned in full force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who did Connor think he was? What made him believe\nhe could romance Maks\u2019 little girl and<\/em> act like lord of all vampires? He\nwas such a holier-than-thou asshat, Maks could hardly stand him. Maks was a\nprince, a lieutenant, a goddamned warrior. He should terrorize anyone idiotic\nenough to make eye contact, but Connor Beckett jerked him around like the dumb\nkid Maks certainly was not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maks glanced to the right at Ali. Her love for\nConnor was the only reason Maks hadn\u2019t eviscerated him already.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the time Connor\u2019s truck passed through the\noutskirts of Vegas, Maks had finished devouring the bagged blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cExplain to me again the Oracle\u2019s instructions,\u201d Maks\nsaid, dropping the empty blood bag on the floorboards near his feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He needed to get this prophecy shit over with so\nhe could track Sergei\u2019s group. They\u2019d probably fled their last hiding place on\nRed Rock Road in suburban Las Vegas. If they\u2019d taken Violet with them rather\nthan slaughter her and leave her for Maks as a warning, he would find her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guilt niggled him. If he\u2019d let her go when he could\nhave, she\u2019d be safe in her home now, not an abused blood slave at the mercy of\na pack of psychopaths and sadists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was a piece of shit. A no-good, selfish,\ncowardly pile of garbage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He could do one decent thing, though. He could get\nViolet away from the horde.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That firecracker must still be alive. She was\nstronger than anyone gave her credit for. No one had been able to bully her\u2014not\nOlek, not him, not even Sergei.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI will find Violet,\u201d he vowed, and his chest swelled slightly with\nthe first stirrings of hope. He could do this. For her. For himself. He could\ndo something noble and selfless. He would.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor speared him with a look. \u201cI don\u2019t know who\nthat is, but you\u2019ll have\nto get your strength back to find anyone. In the condition you\u2019re in right now,\nyou\u2019d fall over at the first stiff wind. You\u2019re useless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYour\nflattery is embarrassing me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\nrolled his eyes. \u201cJust telling the truth, brother<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ll help you,\u201d Ali chimed in, and then ducked\nher head, shielding her face with her long blonde hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnyway,\u201d Connor cut in. \u201cThe Oracle didn\u2019t make a\nlot of sense.\u201d The man\u2019s hands tightened on the steering wheel of his\nobnoxiously loud F-350 pickup. \u201cBut the gist is to be at a specific corner at a\nspecific time. Oh, and by the way,\u201d he said sarcastically, \u201cbring Maks with\nyou. It\u2019ll be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHmm.\u201d Maks couldn\u2019t care less about the ramblings\nof an unstable young woman. Olek, though, had been obsessed with the Oracle\nIlvane\u2019s prophecies, especially the ones about him. The Anya from Nadvirna\nprophecy had pestered him more than the rest, but that had been proven true.\nAnya, now Ali, had destroyed him and fulfilled her prophecy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhatever happens, I trust her,\u201d Connor said. \u201cIf\nshe says you should be there, you should be there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnya, do you believe in this prophet?\u201d he asked,\nedging around to see her more fully. She looked so much like her mother. The only\nthing she\u2019d gotten from her father was his yellow hair. Everything else came\nfrom Katya, his little bird. She would be so proud to see her daughter grown\nand doing well. The thought of Katya\u2019s dismembered skeleton buried in the\nNevada sand made his stomach clench. The damned US Army had tortured and killed\nher, then buried her in a mass grave. As if she was nothing, as if they possessed\nthe right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s Ali,\u201d she corrected him, \u201cand yes. I trust\nher.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guilt again. Sour, acidic regret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps the way to Ali\u2019s good side was through\nKatya. \u201cDo you want to know anything about your mother?\u201d Maks blurted out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat?\u201d She looked startled and maybe a little\nhurt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where had his legendary charm gone? Had it finally\nbeen beaten and humiliated out of him? Had Sergei done what neither Olek nor\nthe US Army could? Break him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYour mother,\u201d he tried again, more slowly. \u201cI can\ntell you stories about Katya. If you\u2019d like to hear them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor broke into their conversation before Ali had\na chance to answer. \u201cSorry guys, but we\u2019re here, and we\u2019re cutting it close on\ntime. Rain check on the family reunion?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n #<\/p>\n\n\n\n Violet Russell blinked into the gauzy light,\nunable to make out more than varying shadows within a poorly maintained\nbathroom in a tiny hotel room stinking of mold and cigarette smoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She\u2019d once naively believed being the blood slave\nof Oleksander the Destroyer had been the worst experience of her life. When he\u2019d\ngiven her to his second-in-command, Maksim Volk, it had been a relief. Maks\ndidn\u2019t beat or abuse her and only drank from her when necessary. He didn\u2019t\nrelease her, either, but he didn\u2019t harm her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What a fool she\u2019d been to think things couldn\u2019t\nget worse than slavery to Olek. Being a captive of Sergei and the Four Sons\u2019\nhorde was worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Maks hadn\u2019t split, they might have figured out\na plan together. But the beautiful dummy had abandoned her. After all the blood\nshe\u2019d sacrificed for him, he\u2019d just left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Life wasn\u2019t working out as she\u2019d planned. Things\nhad started out okay. Two parents, a decent home, twin little brothers, a\nmediocre elementary school, and church on Sundays. But things had gone\nseriously awry. She\u2019d downgraded from girl next door to blood slave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She didn\u2019t deserve it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A stupid bachelorette weekend in Vegas with her\ncousin Lexi, the bride-to-be, had decimated her entire life and all of her\npotential. If Violet had been at home with her baby Jackson on the night Olek\nhad been netting blood donors, she wouldn\u2019t have been pushed into a dark corner\nby a giant of a vampire, drained into submission, and driven to an abandoned\nhospital on the outskirts of town. She wouldn\u2019t have been kept like a farm\nanimal for weeks and handed over to Maksim Volk like a half-eaten sandwich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maks had the pretty face and lanky body of a\nseventeen-year-old boy just coming into his own. He wasn\u2019t a boy, though. He\nwas much older than he looked. And he cried quietly in his sleep. When asleep,\nthe most Olek had ever done was snore and fart. But Maks was different.\nSomething inside him was broken, and in the dead of night when she was the only\nwitness, his tears came. In those moments, it was easy to forget he was a\nvampire. And not just any vampire\u2014Maksim Volk, right hand man to Oleksander the\nDestroyer. Maks the Traitor. The Beautiful Devil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He may appear a cold-blooded killer, but he wasn\u2019t.\nHe was a broken man trying to survive among monsters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She worried about him, and worrying about Maksim\nVolk made her question her own sanity. He stayed out late, returned stumbling\nand covered in blood, and he rarely drank from her, which made her wonder both\nwhere else he acquired his blood and why she wanted him to taste her. But he\nwas just the right kind of crazy to make her want to know more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the past thirty-six hours, Maks and Sergei had\nboth been no-shows in her shitty new slave quarters, and Violet existed in a\nstrange dream world of exhaustion, anxiety, and gnawing hunger. Once in a while,\none of her captors would remember that she required sustenance, too, and they\u2019d\ngive her a can of soda or a granola bar. It wasn\u2019t enough to keep her alive for\nlong, not with the prolonged anemia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Maks planned to rescue her, he\u2019d better move\nfaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She might save him the effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The door opened, and painful fluorescent light\npoured into the foul-smelling room. Sergei himself glared down at her. He\nopened a single can of salty, processed soup and toed it across the tile. They\nmade eye contact, and Violet read nothing but cruelty in his dark stare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then Sergei was gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Violet hesitated only a moment, straining to hear\nthe vampire as she stood on weak legs and tip toed oh-so-slowly through the\ndeserted hotel room. She pictured her son\u2019s bright, pink face, all curious\ngolden eyes and sloppy smiles. He needed her. Violet must be brave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Light as a feather, quiet as a butterfly, she\nscampered to the window and peered down onto a busy street. It was a three-story\ndrop, but she hardly registered as she slid open the glass and tore through the\nscreen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where no one had been a moment ago, Sergei stood\nin her personal space. He caught her by the hair with a laugh of amusement.\nViolet stiffened, fighting the urge to scream her throat raw. Though she wanted\nto wail and beat her fists against the vampire warlord, she swallowed the pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI grow bored of you.\u201d Sergei sniffed her flesh from\nher mouth to her throat. \u201cI look forward to seeing the traitor\u2019s face when I\ntell him I made you fly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n #<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maks hopped out of the truck, berating himself for\nscrewing things up with Ali yet again. Maybe after a good night\u2019s sleep and a\nhot shower he\u2019d be a little better at talking to her, not that he\u2019d ever had that\nproblem before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is the spot,\u201d Connor said, marching across\nthe sidewalk in front of a sleazy hotel from the nineteen sixties. He checked\nhis watch. \u201cTwo minutes to spare. Keep your eyes peeled. Anything seems out of\nthe ordinary, speak up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maks wandered a little down Thompson Street,\nfinding few crowds this early in the afternoon. He backtracked and stared down\nFaraday. Nothing supernatural about a parking lot and a weed-choked chain link\nfence. The most unusual things on either street were the three of them standing\naround looking conspicuous as hell. Maks joined Connor on the corner and gazed\nup at the dilapidated hotel that could stand in for a set from a Hitchcock\nfilm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As he watched, movement in the third-floor window\ncaught his eye. Wood casing splintered, and a girl sailed through the window,\ntumbling straight for the sidewalk at their feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not any girl. Violet<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It took Maks no more than a split second to\nrecognize the rags Violet wore and her streaming auburn hair as she plummeted\nto earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beside him, Connor had seen her too and steadied\nhimself to catch her. Maks shoved him off balance, stepped into his spot, and looked\nup just as Violet crashed into him with the force of a falling piano. She\nflattened him to the pavement, but he was able to hold her off the ground and\nsit up as Violet hung limply from his arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, my God!\u201d Connor exclaimed. \u201cDid you see that?\nShe fell out of a window, and you fucking caught her! You caught<\/em> her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maks cradled Violet to his chest and patted her\npale cheek. Bruises along her throat told him she\u2019d been bitten. A lot. The\nactual fang marks may have healed, but the bruises were a different matter.\nThey\u2019d be around for a few days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cViolet?\u201d he whispered. The shock of the fall and\nthe force of their collision had knocked her out. \u201cAli?\u201d he tried instead. \u201cShe\nneeds a doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOf course, of course,\u201d Ali said, her cell phone\nalready plastered to her ear. \u201cLukas will be here in two minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWho\u2019s Lukas?\u201d Maks queried. Violet was nothing\nbut skin and bones in his arms, and he wasn\u2019t handing her over to just anybody,\nnot again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA friend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor grabbed Maks by the collar and shook him\nback to the present. \u201cHey, hero, the jerks who threw your friend out of a\nwindow are taunting us. Feel like kicking their asses?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maks tore his gaze from Violet\u2019s pallid face to\nConnor\u2019s and then further up the wall of the shady hotel. Sergei leered out the\nshattered, third-floor window. For a brief moment, their eyes met, and Maks had\nnever known such rage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sergei blew him a kiss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAli, promise me you\u2019ll take care of her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOf course,\u201d she stuttered. \u201cI mean, I promise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without removing his eyes from his enemy, Maks passed\nViolet into Ali\u2019s lap. As he dashed for the hotel lobby, he heard Connor\u2019s\nheavy footfalls behind him, though he didn\u2019t wait to see if the man followed. Maks\ndidn\u2019t care. He was angry enough to take on an army single-handedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maks ran up two flights of stairs in a dead sprint,\nand then he crashed through the door to the first room on the left. Right into\na knife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The blade punched through his abdomen. He roared,\ngrabbing the vampire by the hair and torqueing his head so hard he nearly\ndecapitated the unlucky henchman. The man collapsed into a boneless heap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor blew past him headed straight for Sergei as\nMaks ignored the eight-inch blade bisecting his liver. His rage outshone any\nother sensation, even pain. Grabbing a pot-bellied lamp off the end table, he\nthrew it overhand at Sergei\u2019s head. It struck with a reassuring crunching\nsound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sergei just brushed off the attack as he and\nConnor exchanged heavy blows in super speed, catching and throwing punches\nevenly until Sergei feinted left, forced Connor face first into the wall, and\nrabbit punched him between the shoulder blades. Connor sucked in a horrified\ngasp as his legs gave out. Before Maks could reach them, Sergei grabbed Connor\nby an arm and a leg and tossed him out the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though his pulse roared through his ears, Maks\nslowed his approach. He\u2019d been spanked by Sergei before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Ukraine, back when Oleksander was keeping\nhis monster of a little brother reined in, Sergei hadn\u2019t dared touch a hair\nupon Maks\u2019 head. With Olek dead, Sergei seemed to be making up for lost time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou didn\u2019t have to hurt her,\u201d Maks shouted, his\nvoice ragged with fury. \u201cYou didn\u2019t have to use her like a piece of meat, not\nwhen you knew how much she meant to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI hoped you were already dead,\u201d Sergei growled. \u201cI\u2019m\ndelighted to correct my mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maks didn\u2019t care whether he lived or died. Violet was\nsafe. Ali was grown and well. Katya was beyond him. He could die and be\nsatisfied with his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He grabbed the TV remote off the coffee table and\nflung it as hard and as fast as he could at the other man\u2019s head. While Sergei was\ndistracted, Maks slid the knife from his belly and lunged, driving his shoulder\ninto Sergei\u2019s midsection and then peppering his abdomen with the blade. In and\nout, a staccato rhythm, hoping to sever an artery or twenty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sergei rained down a skull-cracking blow to the\nback of Maks\u2019 head, stunning him. Dazed, he dropped his arms, leaving the knife\nembedded in Sergei\u2019s belly. Easily as lifting a kitten from a curtain, Sergei took\nhold of Maks\u2019 throat and carried him to the window. Dangling three stories\nabove the concrete, Maks struggled to find any purchase on the walls or casing to\nkeep from falling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unable to hoist himself back inside, Maks wrenched\nthe knife from the warlord\u2019s belly. Sergei squeezed his hand around Maks\u2019\nthroat. Vertebrae crackled and his left leg went numb. Before he lost all\ncontrol\u2014and maybe his head in the process\u2014Maks gripped a piece of stone siding\nwith one hand and sawed at Sergei\u2019s wrist with the other. The vampire continued\nsqueezing, harder and harder. Maks cut faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, Maks broke through bone, and he was\nweightless for a split second. The force of gravity was too much for his\nfingertips to fight, and Maks fell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was only a three-story fall. He\u2019d leapt off\nmuch higher buildings than\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n <3 Anna<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Written by Anna Abner Copyright 2018 by Anna Abner Read The First Chapter Of Beasts of Vegas #3! Chapter One Maksim Volk struggled to his knees despite the pain in his muscles and joints, despite the hunger gnawing at him from the inside out. The garage tilted, fluctuating the shadows of the wooden joists supporting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Free chapter of Blooddrinker\u2019s Prophecy (Beasts of Vegas #3)!","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[668,831],"tags":[182,721,330,326,213],"class_list":["post-3813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beasts-of-vegas","category-blooddrinkers-prophecy","tag-magic","tag-oracle","tag-shapeshifter","tag-vampire","tag-witch"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/annaabner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/3-blooddrinker-NEW-1800x2700.jpg","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Wkl2-Zv","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/annaabner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/annaabner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/annaabner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annaabner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annaabner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3813"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/annaabner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3816,"href":"https:\/\/annaabner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3813\/revisions\/3816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annaabner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/annaabner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annaabner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annaabner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Download Blooddrinker’s Prophecy (Beasts of Vegas #3)<\/a> now!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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