Page 91 of Midnight Kiss
“That’s right, dear Alexander. I know all about your love for her. Your desperation for her. You are manipulating her to gain power for yourself.”
“You have no concept of the truth, and you never will.” Because he would never understand what love actually was. To him, it was a weakness or it was an advantage or be leveraged. Another pawn in one of his sick games.
“I know that you are terrified of her death, regardless of your noble intentions. You may think you love her, but we both know the truth. She is mortal and dying, and the longer you withhold the information I need to bond her, the closer she draws to her final hour. So why not give me what I need? It will benefit you.”
“Benefit me? I think not.”
“Do you not? She will die if you don’t.”
“I don’t care.”
Karn made a small, high-pitched noise in his throat. “You have never been a particularly good liar. And your actions speak far louder than your words. You have shown how much you care. Bringing the book here to get her back. Tearing the page out so that I cannot bond her. You want her for yourself.”
“No.”
“Liar.” The word came out on a breath of laughter. “Liar.”
“Your opinions don’t matter to me.”
Karn sighed and looked past me, then turned and stared at me again. His head moved from side to side like a snake, and his lips parted, showing the fangs he had used to puncture my neck.
“Give me what I want to know, and I will allow you to bond her alongside me.”
“No.”
“Give me what I want to know, and I will give you whatever you dream of. I will give you power. A place here, at Sanguine Nox, only one step below me. I will place you above Ezekiel if necessary.”
“No.”
“Give me what I want, and you will rule over the other vampires. I will even allow you freedom to move about the city as you wish. You will be able to make rules and laws. You will be in charge of your own subsection of our army. And you will be able to … do humanitarian efforts.” The words sounded unwelcome on his lips. He hated that he had to say them at all because Karn was evil. Through and through, he was evil. He thrived when things were fearful and dark. He fed off that energy.
Karn drew closer, another step, one more. “I can make your wildest dreams a reality.”
“No.”
Again, Karn clicked his tongue. “So unnecessarily hostile. You know she will die yet you won’t?—”
“I would rather we both die than bow down to you.”
“If that is the case,” Karn said, “why bring the book here in the first place?”
A slow smile parted my lips.
Karn’s eyes narrowed.
A silence pervaded the chamber.
“I have already made her my thrall,” Karn said.
A wave of hot anger spread through me, and I jolted forward a step, casting a hand toward him and summoning vampire magic that didn’t come. They had fed me a draught so that I couldn’t use it.
Karn chuckled. “That’s right, Alexander. She will be mine, one way or another. Now, give me what I want, or I will have you destroyed. There are other ways to gather information. You are simply the easiest. But if you present too much of a challenge …”
“I will not give you what you want.”
Karn sighed. “Very well. Then you will be subject to the pain only Ezekiel can provide.”
Another hesitation. Karn didn’t summon Ezekiel just yet, but stood there, staring at me.