The Den of Shadows Quartet - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [96]
“I have given everything for my brothers, and they have both saved my life more than once when I wasn’t strong enough to defend myself from others of my kind. I would probably never forgive myself for harming a friend — and I do consider you a friend, Sarah — but if you hurt my brother, I will kill you, or die trying.”
Sarah flinched at the passion in Nissa’s voice. “I can’t let Nikolas live.”
“Sarah, please —” Nissa broke off, as if knowing there was nothing she could say. The vampire disappeared, but Sarah would not allow her determination to waver.
She threw out the rose Nikolas had sent with the invitation. Nissa had taken the card, but Sarah remembered the necessary information. The bash would be tonight, at 129 Ash Road. It wasn’t the same house she had found before, but considering his age and notoriety Sarah was not surprised that Nikolas had more than one.
She wouldn’t miss this for the world.
If Nissa was telling the truth, then Sarah would only be in danger from Nikolas … until she took him down. There was no need to endanger other hunters. If Nikolas knew who her allies were, he would alert the group immediately and the other hunters would not have even the scant protection that Nikolas’s marks gave to Sarah. How ironic, Sarah thought grimly. Nikolas’s marks would enable her to kill him.
CHAPTER 17
SARAH FELT A LITTLE GUILT as she lied to Adianna, telling her that she was going to hunt in the relatively safe city.
She wore black jeans and a white tank top, and her jacket hid the bandages, as well as the knife on her left wrist. Her primary knife was on her back, and she had two slim silver daggers in her boots.
Nikolas was playing with her, which meant he would give her a chance to fight. As soon as she had that chance, she would use it. This time there would be no hesitation.
The house appeared dark as Sarah approached it. All the shades were down, but she could hear a haunting melody from inside, a mixture of pain and loneliness. The door opened just as she reached for the knob, and she was again confronted with the peculiar — and powerful — world of Nikolas.
Black and white.
The walls were black with a white design running across them, spiraling and plunging, the lines all slightly wrong, drawing the eye to seemingly impossible shapes. The other house she had seen had been crisp in its lack of color; the abstraction in this one made Sarah’s vision spin, so she turned to the vampire who had opened the door for her.
Kaleo’s red shirt in the black-and-white interior of Nikolas’s house was a startling blot of color. Sarah tensed as she remembered her last encounter with him.
“Sarah Vida, nice to see you again,” he said, his voice lilting with sarcasm as she met his black gaze without fear. “Nikolas told us to expect you. You can relax, take your jacket off, and make yourself at home. It’s only eleven.”
“I don’t make myself at home in a place like this,” she answered, and he just laughed and reached over to close the door behind her.
“Sarah, so good to see you.”
She looked toward the voice, but her eyes took a moment to differentiate the figure there from the background.
Nikolas was wearing white slacks and a black silk shirt, and his hair was tied back with a black ribbon. He had not yet fed tonight, and the skin that she could see was almost white, pearl-like. Black and white, colorless, he matched the room perfectly. Is that what his mind is like? she wondered. All sharp contrasts without color or emotion?
“Welcome to my home, Sarah. Please, come away from the door. May I take your jacket?”
This time it was her turn to laugh. “You can drop the act, Nikolas.”
“There is no act, Sarah. Acting, like lying, is an art I have never perfected. Come into my parlor.”
“Said the spider to the fly,” Sarah finished for him, and he smiled, taking her jacket.
“I never kill until the hour, Sarah.”
“Am I really supposed to believe that?” she asked skeptically.