Devil's Cut: Immortal Keeper Vampire Paranormal Romance Series

by L. A. McGinnis

  Still, the night was young.

  “I believe I was summoned,” Forge said, straightening his blood-flecked cuffs, which I noticed had gold links that matched the necklace around my neck. “I was curious, I suppose, to see what my kind had devolved into these past centuries. I must say, you’re an even worse lot than I expected.”

  There was death in Forge’s face as he calmly pointed out, “As you can see, I can reduce your numbers considerably, should any of you lot piss me off.” He leveled his cold stare at the Elder. “Including you.

  “However,” Forge went on, as if he hadn’t just threatened everyone with death. Bloody death, from the look of his three victims. “I came here in good faith to get an explanation. Now, I expect an apology for attacking me on neutral ground. Once I have it, I’ll return to America, never to set foot on Scottish soil again.”

  Only I caught the note of regret in that statement, a sure sign that I was finally starting to figure him out. It pissed me off that this pompous group of assholes had set their sights on Forge, going to all this trouble just to settle some old score. I shifted slightly in my chair, a move the Elder—and Dobson—tracked closely.

  “Apology?” The Elder’s voice was shaking. “I owe you nothing of the sort. The fact is, the old laws must be adhered to. This is simply a reckoning.”

  “This is simply bullshit,” Forge shot back, and I mentally applauded his jab. “Either challenge me like a leader, or apologize, and we’ll go home. I have other business to attend to.”

  You bet you do, buddy, I thought. Like explaining what this Chosen bullshit all about.

  When the Elder did nothing but glower, Forge offered me his hand, and I dutifully took it, regretting I hadn’t been much help. “Fine, then, we’ll be off,” he said.

  “Sit down, Bastian.” The Elder’s voice vibrated with rage, the temperature in the room plunging to near-freezing in an instant. Phantom shadows swirled behind him, and the table in front of me began vibrating seconds before the air did. Suddenly, it was hard to breathe.

  “Forge…” I said, his name turning into white mist.

  “How do you propose we settle this bullshit, then?” Forge asked, no hint of emotion in his voice. “Fight to the death, or do we come to another agreement?”

  The Elder’s eyes narrowed. “Death it is.”

  In my head, the vampires’ voices rose in a chorus of bloodlust-fueled anticipation. It was difficult to single anyone out of the chaos, but after I sifted through them a second time, there was one voice that stood out. The Elder was finally speaking my language, and once I heard him, I wished I hadn’t.

  Forge wasn’t here to settle a debt—he was simply standing in the Elder’s way.

  Meyer the Elder hadn’t brought Forge here to settle an old score. He’d set this all up for…

  “My champion.” The Elder indicated the vampire stepping into the room with a casual wave. “I believe you two know each other.”

  This vampire was every bit as big as Forge, and bulkier, his arms bulging beneath the utilitarian blue coat. Everyone in the room broke the silence by talking at once, while I sized up the newcomer, doubt gnawing at me. He was huge, and his eyes glittered with something other than anticipation; they were full of anger. Around his neck was a thin white scar that he fingered while staring down Forge.

  Cade. Even in my head, Forge bit the name off, as if it tasted sour. Nobody to be concerned about.

  Really? Because he looks really scary.

  Everyone here looks really scary, Selena. I have this under control, so don’t panic.

  Well, he really, really wants you dead. The rest of them are just here to watch. He’s here to see that it gets done.

  Selena.

  Forge, you brought me here to listen. That’s what I’m doing. And I’m telling you, you have to watch out for this guy.

  Forge turned his gaze away from the Elder and fixed it on Cade, who returned it with a blackness that I hoped was never turned on me.

  I snapped my shield firmly into place, relieved when Forge reinforced it with his, and watched the evil smile slowly disappear from the older vampire’s face as Forge softly said, “It’s been years, Cade. You don’t look a day older than when we last met.” Several vampires chuckled at what I supposed was standard vamp humor.

  The Elder had reverted to his native language, but there was no mistaking his confidence. He’d set tonight up perfectly, and once Forge was out of the way, he’d get everything he wanted. And I wouldn’t have time to explain, not while Forge and Cade were almost nose to nose.

  “The only thing I care about is that after tonight, I will never think of you again,” Cade said.

  “Why do you think of me at all?” Forge asked softly. “Unless you still hold what happened to Mara against me.”

  “I would have protected her.” Spittle flew out of Cade’s mouth as he added, “Better than you.”

  “You would have died along with her.” Forge shook his head sadly. “That’s what this is all about? Some long-held grudge for something that happened so long ago it should have been forgotten?”

  He stood, bracing his hands on the table so he stared straight at Cade, but his words were for all of them. “I killed the Elder’s bastard. He murdered my Maker, and I invoked the right of blood to avenge her death. All of which was perfectly within the laws of Assembly. There’s a good reason I’ve stayed in America all these years. You’ve never kept up with the times. Maybe it’s time you let go of these outdated customs. Catch up; there’s a whole new world out there.”

  Across the table, Cade imitated Forge’s stance as his huge hands clenched into fists. “Mara was mine long before she was yours.”

  “You lost her long before I came along.”

  While I was unraveling this puzzle of history between Cade and Forge, the Elder rapped his knuckles on the table. “The contest will occur tonight. There will be no opportunity for Bastian Forge to evade the sentence imposed by this Assembly.” Instead of commanding, he sounded petulant, but maybe that was because Cade was sucking all the air out of the room at the moment.

  Forge shrugged out of his jacket. “So be it. Where shall we do this? I expect you have my demise thoroughly planned out, Meyer.” When his cold gaze slid around the table, most of the vampires shrank back, while others dropped their gazes to their laps. “Look at you all. So bloodthirsty, but at heart, you’re nothing but a bunch of cowards.” No one contradicted him.

  “You and I, then,” Cade growled as he slipped his coat off, revealing a defined, muscled body as ripped as Forge’s.

  I was having a hard time keeping my face composed, when my feelings were all over the place. I had to tell Forge what I’d discovered, but I couldn’t afford to distract him from what was happening. Then there was the matter of keeping my shield in place, when all around me, I felt vampires poking at it, trying to worm their way inside to access my thoughts. I’d prepared to defend myself against one, maybe two vampires, not an entire table of them, and I was failing miserably.

  Forge took off the cuff links, pressed them into my hands, then peeled off his shirt.

  Holy hell.

  Forge was hot. Like really, really hot. Like sizzling, melt-my-panties hot.

  As I grappled with this new realization—and the sheer inappropriateness of it, given the circumstances—Cade stripped down until they were both naked to the waist. “Are we doing this in here?” Forge asked, scanning the well-appointed room. “Seems like a waste of good furniture.”

  “Outside,” Cade snarled, showing huge fangs. The other vamps parted like the Red—black, actually—Sea as he shouldered roughly through them on his way out.

  What about Dobson? I don’t see him anywhere. He had men waiting…

  Taking care of that right now.

  I was taking Forge’s advice and sticking close. But not too close, because whatever he was about to do, I wanted to be outside the range of it. It was a good thing I’d fallen back a pace.

  Two
heavily muscled vamps converged on Forge the second he passed through the exterior door, their scarred faces telling of a violent past. Cade paused to watch the fun and smirked as they caught Forge by the arms, one on each side, pummeling him with their free fists. The sound—hollow, meaty and deep—grossed me out on a primal level, but when I rushed forward to help, I was snatched off the ground by a set of viselike arms.

  Struggling, I was dragged backward through the house, further and further away from Forge, and as I watched him disappear completely, my heart thudded against the pressure of the vampire’s restraining arms. “Forge,” I screamed, my cry ringing through the house.

  Kicking and twisting did me no good, but I managed to work an arm loose and elbow the asshole in the face. Blood spurted everywhere, and when his grip relaxed, I wiggled out away from him, blood dripping from my hair.

  The vampire wiped his gushing nose and grinned at me through the red smear across his face, my breaths coming fast as I backed away, my left hand blindly searching for any kind of weapon.

  “Forge,” I yelled again, realizing how out of my element I was. So much for my grand plans to be a super spy and hold my own against another race. I couldn’t find so much as a newspaper to defend myself with as the still-grinning bastard herded me toward the corner. Dear God, please don’t let me die being stupid.

  I’d just given up hope when a shadowy blur caught the vampire in the side, driving him across the room and into the fireplace. The huge mirror over the mantel tipped and burst into slivers as it hit the floor, raining glass all over us. Forge held my attacker to the wall, then, faster than I could see, swiped his hand across the other’s neck. As blood spurted from his throat, Forge dropped his body to the floor.

  “You’re bleeding.” He caught my face in his hand and tipped up my chin to get a good look.

  “I…” Indeed, the dead vampire’s blood was all over me, dripping from my hair to my destroyed dress. “It’s not mine,” I reassured him, hanging on to him for dear life, my gaze slipping all over the room, from the spreading blood to the shattered mirror, to the faces gaping in the doorway, to Forge. “I’m okay—it’s his blood, not mine.” I motioned to my now-deceased captor.

  Forge took my hand, then whipped around to face the vampires congregating behind us.

  “She is under my protection. Any one of you fuckers lay a finger on her, you’ll end up right next to him.” A nod at the dead vampire. “I claim blood rights on Cade.” His lip inched up, revealing long white fangs. “And Dobson, that little fuck, if he hasn’t turned tail and run.”

  “Cade is waiting out back,” someone said quietly, and gave us a clear path to the door.

  I was numb, having seen too much, too quickly, and struggled just to put one foot in front of the other. Forge, on the other hand, was on a mission, and I tried to match his long strides. When he set me beside one of the female vamps, I instinctually edged away from her.

  “She’s a friend,” Forge murmured against my ear, pressing me back in place. “She’ll protect you if this goes sideways.” The woman motioned me closer, and I caught the glint of gold on her finger. A ring. An ouroboros ring.

  I grabbed at him, but he was already gone. All I could do was watch the two of them circle each other like jackals. Physically, they were evenly matched, Forge making up for his lack of bulk with smooth, predatory movements. I just hoped he was as agile as he looked, because Cade looked… God, he looked deadly. His hand was as big as my entire head.

  The other vampires closed in, but instead of anticipatory, their expressions were thoughtful, as if this contest was something they hadn’t considered. I caught fragments of doubtful thoughts as they maneuvered around us for a better view.

  “I think Cade made a terrible mistake tonight,” the blonde beside me whispered, her words deeply accented. Or maybe it was from her fangs. “My guess is, Bastian will be reducing our numbers even further.”

  I hoped she was right with all my heart.

  Never had I thought it would come to this.

  Killing, now that I’d experienced it firsthand, was something I’d like to go the rest of my life without seeing. Especially all of this gruesome, dispassionate killing. Their voices drifted through my head, each of them looking to use this situation to their advantage. Even my blond bodyguard, whose sinfully sensual thoughts about Forge made jealousy swirl in the pit of my stomach.

  But there was no doubt that Bastian was something to see, a lean whipcord of muscles and sinew, his expression ferocious, his fangs longer than anything I’d ever imagined coming out of someone’s mouth. Damn, he was sexy. Sexier than I’d ever given him credit for, and now—seeing him like this—I wondered why, exactly, he’d been hiding this side of himself from me.

  Because I liked this version of him.

  Far more than I should.

  17

  I knew Selena was scared, and I hated not being able to reassure her that this final contest was all part of my plan. Even though I’d expected this, I’d have to use everything to beat Cade, since he was the deadliest fighter in our clan. As for Dobson, I’d run that little shit down once this contest was over and take him apart, piece by cowardly piece.

  She’d stayed on top of the situation, though, warning me about the first attack. It was also apparent that she’d overheard something else, but we’d have to go over that later. Right now, Cade was my concern.

  Cade was a hundred years older than me. He’d been Mara’s Maker—and lover—for a century by the time she decided she wanted me instead. He was the only other vampire in our clan who was strong enough to take me on, something I’d considered when deciding to face them all. He might be older than me, perhaps even bigger, but I was confident I’d end this. That confidence was the only reason I’d let Selena anywhere near the rest of these bloodsuckers.

  Granted, I should have told Selena about Cade and Mara and me from the beginning, but somehow…I hadn’t found the opportunity to delve into my complicated past. Maybe I’d been hoping none of it would come up.

  Cade vanished, moving so fast that the naked eye couldn’t track him, but I didn’t need to see Cade to kill him.

  His signature move was to materialize directly behind his victim, then slit their throat before they even knew he existed. He’d done it often enough that it became predictable. The slightest rush of air on my left was all the warning I needed. My right hand shot out and connected with his chest, stopping him cold. In the second before Cade could recover, my other hand shot out and tore through his chest, leaving a long, bloody wound.

  He vanished again, then materialized a few feet away, his expression murderous.

  This time when he vanished there was no warning, only the red-hot slicing of a knife through my side, followed by the warm gush of blood. Selena screamed, then clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes huge. Cade chuckled, gesturing toward her.

  “I do love when my audience is receptive.”

  Her expression changed from horrified to thunderous, and she dropped her hand to reveal a perfectly blank face. Except for her narrowed eyes that brimmed with rage.

  We crashed into each other, hands tearing flesh, teeth gnashing. Despite his size, I flipped Cade over, and he landed on his front, then pressed him against the dirt as he flailed and shouted. One hard strike against the back of his neck and blood splattered everywhere. He went still, his eyes going dim.

  “Leave him for the sun,” I ordered the rest of them, then went to find the Elder. I intended to ensure there’d be no repeat performance of tonight. He wanted to play by thousand-year-old rules, so be it. I’d do the same.

  I slowed down when I drew even with Selena. “Stay here. I’ll be back in a minute,” I told her, and at my nod, the blonde gripped her arm so Selena did just that. I didn’t want her anywhere near that old bastard. Not when I knew what he was capable of.

  Her face screwed up. She wasn’t happy, and I didn’t blame her one bit, but I either handled this now, or it haunted us forever.


  The Elder was still seated in the dining room, both guards stationed behind him, looking for all the world like a desiccated corpse.

  “Cade’s dead, and your little coup d’état is over. I met the conditions of our little blood match, which means you and I are finished. Clear enough?”

  He looked me over like I was still a newborn. Smiling, I leaned closer, watching his guards out of the corner of my eye. I raised my hand to my mouth, then ran a fang along my palm. Blood bloomed, and I nodded for the Elder to do the same.

  “You want to come after me again. I assure you, that would be a mistake. I have satisfied the rules you set down for this contest. You lost, and we are done. Believe me when I tell you that I won’t play by your rules again.”

  His face sagged slightly, his eyes glinting with resentment as he sliced his palm open with a knife.

  “You will stay away from me and mine. Forever.” Our hands met, the blood making our handshake slippery. He was old, but his grip was strong, and I knew I’d be a fool to underestimate him. But a blood oath was a start.

  “Schan svu,” he agreed.

  I turned to go, then changed my mind.

  “Something else. The girl is under my protection, and the protection of the Ouroboros Society. I am her Immortal Keeper, and if you dare…” I leaned closer, well aware I was covered with the blood of at least four vampires. “Touch her, I will kill you and take your place as Elder.”

  “Tresset culde ment.” You can try.

  “If you think for one second I want your shitty little job in this backwards clan, you can think again. The world changed centuries ago, and you missed it.”

  I left him stewing in his own jealousy and went to collect Selena and take her home.

  18

  I didn’t think I’d ever been so happy to set foot on a plane. Not that the feeling would last once we got into the air, but damn, I felt like I was barely escaping Scotland with my life.