Blood of Night: An Enemies to Lovers Paranormal Romance (Kings of Sterling Book 2)

by Leeah Taylor

  He wanted to stop her. Tell her sorry. Beg her for forgiveness. Instead, he watched her walk out with Lucien. The final stab to the heart was when she looked back at him, and tears consumed her.

  “You’re disgusting, Damien,” Ollie mumbled before walking away.

  “Screw her,” Rebecca said.

  Damien shook her off. Needing the space. Needing to drown in something. “Get out of my face, Rebecca.”

  Her hands slithered up his chest. “Oh, come on, Damien, you knew exactly what you were doing when you did it. No reason why we can’t still have—”

  He grabbed her hands and shoved her away. “You and I were never happening tonight. Or ever. I don’t fuck witches.”

  “You’d fuck her.”

  Damien didn’t appreciate her tone. “She’s not a witch.”

  “Oh yeah? Then what is she?”

  “A vampire, now get out of my face. You’re vile and toxic.” He held a finger up to the bartender. “I mean it. Get out of my bar and my city. Go to the Falls where you belong before Chelsea has your head on a platter.”

  She scoffed. “You really are a miserable son of a bitch.”

  “Screw off.”

  People went back to their own conversations and lives, conditioned to expect a good Frost brother throw down at least once a month. Maybe more depending on the climate within their home.

  Damien didn’t move from the bar the rest of the night, putting shots of whiskey back like water. Hating himself more for hurting and breaking her. Wondering if this time he’d lost her for good. Knowing it was probably for the best.

  Ollie swiped the shot glass from him. “Go home, you’re drunk.”

  “Screw off, I’m hardly buzzed.”

  “Oliver…” Drew, the ex, came behind the bar looking particularly gravely tonight.

  Damien shook his head. Why his little brother insisted on keeping the cheating fuck that broke his heart working at the bar, he had no idea. Seemed a bit unhealthy but he had no place to talk.

  “Screw off, Drew,” Ollie gritted out, wiping down the bar and tossing empty beer bottles into the trash bin behind him. Drew reached for him, and Ollie grabbed his wrist while leveling a murderous glare on him. “I said screw off.”

  “Can we at least talk?” Drew pleaded.

  “We did talk, and I told you, we’re done.” Ollie glanced up at his brother. “And I told you to go home.”

  Damien went home but only because there was nothing else to do. He pushed the front door open, ready to go upstairs and apologize. Maybe even down on his knees.

  He closed the door and froze. The whispers of ecstasy, hushed moans and whimpers, trickled down the stairs. Swallowing, he took the first step toward the stairs, convinced she had gone out on her own. Brought a random guy home. Her form of punishment for him this time. Force him to listen as another man pleasured her.

  He took another step, a sliver of jealous rage working its way into his chest and pulsing through his entire body. Shaking his very core.

  Another step and her pleasure was vivid in his mind. Coming from a room that wasn’t hers. A room those sounds didn’t belong coming from. Not with her in it.

  Damien stopped at the top of the stairs and wiped his hands down the front of his jeans. A lump in the back of his throat. Sickness rising. He stared at his brother’s closed bedroom door. She was not in there. She would not do this to him. They would not do this to him.

  He forced himself to take a step. Then another. And another. Until he stood at the door trying to convince himself it wasn’t happening.

  “Lucien…” Juliette moaned his brother’s name, and like a switch, Damien saw red.

  He crashed through the door, red filled his vision at the sight of Juliette riding his brother. His body took over, surging him across the room and, without thinking, he had her against the wall on the other side of the bed. His hand gripped firmly around her throat. Her chest heaved up and down, eyes glassy with tears he didn’t give a damn about. Guilt shined up at him. He loved this girl like his world depended on it. How could she do this with his brother? Nobody betrayed him. Not even Juliette Ann Marie Marquis.

  No matter how much he loved her.

  Without thinking, he slammed his fist up into her chest. Ignoring the scraping of shattered bones over the skin of his hand, he gripped her heart. Juliette cried out. The sound of her pain sliced through him.

  I’m not supposed to be the one to hurt her. Not like this.

  “Damien…” she whimpered. “Please…”

  Lucien appeared beside him gripping the arm buried in her chest. “You do not want to do this.”

  Damien tightened his grip on her heart, forcing her to cry out again.

  “Oh, I really do,” he growled.

  God, but I can’t. She’s everything good. Why did she do this?

  “I am begging you to think about what you’re doing. No matter what happens, you will regret it.”

  Damien glared over at his brother. He jerked his arm in her chest, a scream scraping its way up Juliette’s throat. Lucien braced himself against the movement to keep Damien from killing her.

  “Damien, be angry at me. Okay? Blame me. Do what you want to me, but do not do something you’re going to regret later. Please,” Lucien begged. “If you kill her, you will never come back from it.”

  He looked back down at her. “Why would you do something so stupid, Luv? Why?” Damien pleaded. “Any other man you could have brought into this house to punish me with. But my brother? Why?”

  Tears slipped down her cheeks. “I didn’t do it to hurt you.” She coughed, blood painting her bottom lip as pain twisted in her eyes. “I just wanted to feel loved. I deserve that.”

  I do love you, Juliette!

  He could not live in that house with her. He could not live in that city with her. Not when all he could imagine was ripping her heart out. Spraying her blood all over the room. But he also could not imagine a world where her galaxy didn’t shine. It just couldn’t shine down on his storm anymore.

  I’m so sorry, Luv. There’s just no other way now.

  He squeezed her heart. “Hear me good, Juliette. Get out of my house. Get out of my city. And if I so much as catch a glimpse of you anywhere near Sterling, I will kill you. Without remorse. Without regret.”

  Damien ripped his hand from her chest, and she collapsed into a heap on the floor at his feet. He turned to his brother and hit him hard in the jaw. “Go fuck yourself, Lucien.”

  “Damien?” Lucien jarred him from the memory. “Did you hear me?”

  He hadn’t heard a word Lucien said. The pain and agony of that night pulsed violently in the memory steeped in the back of his mind. Why Lucien? She could have had anyone in the city.

  Juliette wasn’t innocent, and he wasn’t naive. She and Ollie gallivanted around the city like some game, and Damien lived with it. What could he do? Tell her no but turn around and deny her what she wanted from him? He had no right. So, if she wanted to run around safe with his baby brother and do god knows what, then he’d let her and deal with it.

  But hearing his brother’s name come from her lips had him undoing at the seams. He couldn’t just walk away and deal with it. The two people he trusted most had betrayed him in the most intimate way. It broke him. Destroyed him.

  “Can we go get the spell book back? Or do you want to go a few more rounds?”

  Damien shook his head. He was in no mood to break his fist beating the shit out of Lucien or getting his ass kicked by him.

  “Let’s go get the book.”

  17

  Damien

  Damien stepped up on the curb in front of the apartments in the Falls. The few witches on the sidewalk whispered as they hurried inside.

  He smirked. “Guess they don’t like us being here.”

  Lucien chuckled. “Would you if you were them?”

  “Nope.”

  There was no love lost with the Falls witches. At least not for Damien. Offing the Elder’s
grandson a few years ago played a big part in it. He wasn’t sorry either. The bastard was creepy, and a powerful message needed to be sent. Stop killing vampires in the name of witch laws. Since, not one vampire had died at the hand of a witch. Not even Louisa’s.

  “Chelsea said third floor,” Lucien said.

  Damien followed Lucien into the hot building. It was never updated with air conditioning, and Damien was surprised it wasn’t sweltering. They’d offered. Louisa wanted nothing to do with vampire money.

  So, let them suffer.

  “Elevator?” Lucien asked, scrutinizing the rickety thing.

  They watched as a couple stepped inside, the doors whining closed and the gears crunching upwards. Exchanging glances, they shook their head.

  “I’d rather not plummet to shatter bones,” Damien said.

  He was happy to dodge the toys and children scattered on the three flights of stairs.

  “I don’t know how you’re wearing that suit.” Sweat ran down his back in just a t-shirt. He didn’t want to imagine what that meant for Lucien.

  Lucien loosened his tie. “Yeah, I’m rethinking it now.”

  “I’m telling you, nice polo and khakis. You’d look adorable.”

  Lucien smirked. “I’m not wearing a polo.”

  “Yet you’ll wear a suit like it’s the only clothing on the face of the Earth.”

  “I do own jeans and t-shirts, Damien.” He shook his head. “And you want to know why you’ve only seen me wear it once?”

  “Not really.”

  Lucien rolled his eyes. “The only time you bother to be around is business. Juleps, council meetings. You don’t hang out with us when we go out.”

  “Who’s we?”

  “Chelsea, Ollie, and whoever he’s charmed onto his arm for the night. Which, by the way, is going to be that werecat if we can convince Juliette to stay. He’s downright smitten with her.”

  Damien had seen it three years ago when Ollie got a glimpse of Riley on a computer screen. He also knew his sneaky little brother had hacked Lucien’s email to get a copy of that picture. Ollie had been smitten long before the werecat princess showed up.

  Now it was just a question of what happened when she stuck around. Or worse, if she left to follow Juliette.

  “You’re just never around, Damien. You’re either out hunting or locked up in your bedroom. I’ve seen you more in the last day since Juliette came home than I have in months.”

  “Y’all go on double dates? Jeans and tees?”

  Lucien laughed. “Yes and yes. This is it.” He pointed up at the door. “If you’d pull your crabby ass out of your room for more than a blood bag or cup of coffee, you could be a part of the family too.”

  Damien knocked. “We should go have dinner at Shirley’s.”

  “Wow, don’t hurt yourself,” Lucien said, pounding on the door. “Rebecca, it’s Lucien and Damien. Open it.”

  Hurried footsteps shuffled inside.

  “Think Jules would go?” Damien asked.

  It’s been a long time since we had a family dinner.

  Lucien stepped back, sizing the door up. “Honestly, yeah, I think so, if you can ask nicely.” His foot shot forward, splintering the wood, and the door flew open. “Oh, sweetheart?”

  There was a small kitchen immediately to their left when they walked in. A living room with a small, two-seat couch and television. And a single door just off the living room.

  “Rebecca, you get one opportunity, and then I won’t play nice anymore,” Damien warned.

  There was shuffling and then a loud bang from the room, and Damien was through the door. Rebecca was half out the window and onto the fire escape. Flying across the room, he grabbed her by the arm and shoved her toward Lucien, Juliette’s grimoire in her arms. Damien leaned out the window and caught the top of a man’s head.

  The man stopped, glanced up, and winked at Damien as he held up Ann Marie’s spell book. “Want it? Come and get it.”

  I know him! Son of a bitch.

  “It’s him.” Damien shot out the window and started down the steps.

  He took them two at a time, nearly breaking his neck on the last one to the bottom when he missed one too many. He looked up and down the alley, but Ramsey was nowhere.

  Bastard from the bar with Rebecca a couple years ago. I’m gonna kill him!

  He went towards the street and turned the corner. Hard metal slammed into his knees. Pain vibrated through him as he went up over the windshield and back down. He hit the pavement hard, and agony shot up his spine. Skin set on fire as it scraped against the road.

  The car revved its engine, and he rolled out of the way, back into the mouth of the alley, before the sedan tried again and missed. It sped off, and Damien cursed as his body tingled, trying to heal.

  “I’ll kill him. I swear to god, I’ll kill him,” Damien groaned, pain pulsing into his bones as he pushed up from the ground, gritting against the agony. He was grateful that bones healed quick. Couldn’t say the same for anything else. It was going to leave a mark.

  He limped back around to the front of the building and down to the entrance of the apartments. Wrenching the door open, he staggered in.

  “We had an agreement. You vampires stay out—”

  Louisa was screaming at Lucien. Witches in the building began to crowd at the stairs. Damien didn’t feel like picking a fight with them, but one way or the other Rebecca was coming with them.

  “You can’t do this. Do you hear me, Lucien? You vampires don’t have any right.” Louisa’s voice echoed in the small space.

  I have every fucking right. It’s my city.

  Damien stalked over and snatched Rebecca up by the arm. He ripped the book out of her arms and handed it to his brother. Glaring at Louisa while he did it, daring her to challenge him.

  “We’re taking her. Take it up with Chelsea,” Damien barked. “And you,” he continued, training his attention on Rebecca. “Clever little bitch, aren’t you?”

  She arched a brow. “You sure did seem to like it. So why not play along with your cute little fantasy?”

  “What the hell happened to you?” Lucien looked him up and down. His shirt was torn and jeans ripped. Arms still faintly scraped where he slid across the pavement.

  “The son of a bitch ran me down with his car,” Damien said, ready to put his fist through a wall.

  Rebecca huffed. “Should have backed up too.”

  Damien jerked her closer. “You just hush.”

  “How about I take up the destruction of Val Valena with Chelsea? Hmmm?” Louisa stared Damien down.

  For fuck’s sakes, not everything is my fault.

  Rebecca snickered. “Not like Chelsea would do anything anyways. Not when she’s been fucking that one for years.”

  She nodded in Lucien’s direction.

  Holy shit, bet she’s been hanging on to that for just this moment.

  Lucien cursed under his breath. Louisa glanced over at him, and it was as if everything made sense to her. Like it all finally clicked. Or she realized she’d been right all along.

  Fuck, I knew this was going to happen.

  “The explosion at Val Valena is on your shoulders. My brother was in there.”

  Rebecca clicked her tongue. “Your family must be consumed with grief. I heard Juliette Marquis was in there as well. I am so sorry for your loss.”

  She was flippant, and it only enraged him. A chorus of gasps and hushed whispers came from the growing crowd of witches cramming onto the stairwell.

  “Juliette Marquis?” Louisa fell back. “She’s dead?”

  Oh yeah, play the devastated Elder.

  Louisa hated Juliette. Damien was surprised she’d never followed through with her threats to Chelsea and tracked Juliette down to kill her.

  Damien leaned closer to Rebecca. “Juliette and Ollie got out mostly unharmed. They’ll be just fine.” Rebecca’s jaw clenched, and defeat flooded her eyes. “That’s what I thought. We’re taking her.”
>
  “If Juliette is back, then you can’t hide her from us. She must be blessed into power.”

  Lucien shrugged. “She isn’t hiding.”

  He dragged Rebecca out to the sidewalk. “Have you ever heard of Juleps’ basement?” She shook her head. “Let’s go have a chat.”

  18

  Juliette

  Ollie set two pizza boxes down on the counter. The delicious smell of greasy food made her stomach growl, but she only crossed her arms and glared.

  “Here kitty, kitty, dinner.” He smirked over at Riley where she sat on the couch.

  She glared at him. “You’re not funny.”

  “I’m a little funny. I mean, come on, you purr in your sleep,” he teased.

  “I do not purr in my sleep.”

  Ollie slid the other pizza box across the counter to Juliette. “I got your favorite.”

  “Not hungry.”

  “You are hungry, and you’re pouting because Lucien wouldn’t let you scrap it out with Damien.” He pushed the pizza box closer. “It’s got pineapple.”

  “Gross.” Riley scrunched her nose.

  Ollie turned to her. “Thank you. Exactly.”

  “How long are you supposed to babysit me?” Juliette succumbed to the angry pangs of hunger in her stomach that demanded she eat whatever smelled so good.

  “Not babysitting.”

  “You are babysitting,” she said, plucking a slice from the box. “I bet Lucien even ordered you to.”

  “No.” He eyed her, and she raised a brow, forcing him to cave. “Okay, yes, but to my defense, I would have come anyways.”

  Juliette shook her head. “Don’t you have a date or something to preoccupy your time?”

  He leaned with his chin in his palm and a smile stretched across his lips. “No, but we could have dates if you wanted.”

  She didn’t reject the idea immediately, only encouraging the sparkle in Ollie’s eyes. “You looking for that kinda fun?”

  “One night out. That’s it. If it flops and we come home empty handed, I won’t ask again.”