Zane's Tale Read Free Page B

up
the pieces.
    He swore. Once. Twice.
    And then he went to approach his
brothers.
    Arching his wings to catch the breeze
again, he darted across the balcony and leapt back to the other
side. Like a parachute, his wings caught the air and allowed him to
glide forward, and he landed on the balcony outside the bedroom
with a light, noiseless thump.
    The other two vampires awaited him with
gleaming smiles, their fangs bared.
    “ This bastard’s in his night
hibernation. We don’t even need to juice him up with unholy water.”
The look on Barnabas’s face was pure delighted evil as he pulled
one of the molotovs out of his bag. “Anyone on the far side of the
balcony?”
    Zane lit a cigarette and jammed it
between his lips. “No one.”
    “ Really?” Barnabas said in a
sly voice, his mouth curving into a smile. “We heard he had some
hot piece of ass living with him.”
    Fucking bastard. They knew perfectly
well who was living with Noah Gideon. And they knew how Zane felt
about her. His hands clenched hard and he grabbed the molotov out
of Barnabas’s hands before he could light it. “I said, there’s no
one over there. And you two jackasses have to listen to what I
say.” A thin smile curved Zane’s mouth. “Don’t talk back to your
prince.”
    Barnabas rolled his eyes and pulled out
another molotov. “Fuck you. You want to be the prince, act like it.
We ready to do this?”
    Zane stepped backward, as if
acquiescing to the other two vampires. He gestured for them to
begin, and took another step backward, feeling the iron railing of
the balcony against his wings. As he watched, Barnabas took his
cigarette and held the lit end against the rag sticking out of the
bottle. He lifted it, grinning, preparing to throw it through the
window and incinerate the sleeping Serim within.
    As he moved to toss, Zane twisted and
leapt off the balcony, falling through the skies, his wings tucked
close. Above him, he heard the bottle smash against the glass
window, and heard the cries of the two vampires as they were caught
in the molotov’s fireball.
    “ Dumbasses.” He spread his
wings, halting his fall, and began to pump steadily upward once
more. As he passed the balcony, he saw the frantic motions of the
two vampires – blinded by the fire that had liquefied their eyes,
their burning hands desperately patting the delicate feathered
wings that were burning like flash-tinder. He hovered near the
balcony for a moment, the fanning of his wings starting to put out
some of the flames. And he delivered a warning.
    “ You don’t fuck with that
succubus. Either of you. She is under my protection, and because of
that, so is the Serim. Understand?” He loomed over them, out of
reach of the licking flames, furious with his brothers. Furious
that they had set this up purely to fuck with him – and his
feelings for Jackie. “You need to remember that I’m one of the bad guys too .”
    With that, he tossed the molotov in his
hands onto the balcony below, and ignored their angry
cries.
    They’d heal up in time if they were
smart enough to get out of the fire. But they’d remember his
warning, and they’d leave his succubus alone.
    *~*~*~*~*
    The queen was not pleased. Caleb and
Barnabas had limped home near dawn, charred pieces of meat that
needed serious healing. The queen had allowed them to have one of
her precious human pets as an appetizer and had left them locked in
a room, ignoring their hoarse screams for revenge.
    Revenge was always, always the queen’s
decision and no one else’s.
    She approached Zane as he knelt before
her throne, her face pinched with anger even if her steps were slow
and even. He recognized the look on her face. She was not pleased
at what she’d learned – no doubt Caleb had spilled the beans as to
why Zane had saved a Serim asshole and torched his own
brothers.
    He’d do it again. He wasn’t sorry. And
he found it hard to put the appropriate contrite look on his face.
Instead, he couldn’t