Shadow's Claim

"An eel?" What a fetching visual. Yep, sexually untutored. But the vampire hadn't had any complaints. No, he'd been full of praise. "Are you trying to insult me?"

"I don't make the news, I just report it."

"Reported it to Raum, no doubt?"

"I haven't yet. Any reason not to?"

She began to pace. "I thought we were allies." Had she left her mask and gloves in the vampire's tent? Shit! "And it didn't mean anything with Daciano."

"No? Tell that to the f**k knots in your hair."

"Salem! I made a deal with the vampire that I would go see him if he spared Caspion in the melee."

"Grinding wiv a vamp to save poor ole Cas? Wow, you are noble. If you'd come any closer to closing that deal, you'd of f**ked up beyond remedy. Remember, you're supposed to be a virgin? And from what I saw, Daciano was in the glide path."

How close he'd been. . . . "I have to know-are you going to tell Raum?"

"No harm, no foul. So far. I'll keep my invisible mouth shut, if you don't meet the leech again."

"Not-a-problem." She still couldn't believe Daciano had taken her blood.

Worse? She couldn't believe that her main problem with it was probably vanity.

Maybe he wouldn't see her memories of that night. Maybe he wouldn't see anything-because he'd die in the ring tomorrow. "Wait. Why do you care if I see him or not?"

"I'm not one to pull my telekinetic punches, Princess, so I'll tell it to you straight. After my night of spying, I'm convinced Gourlav's about to be your new gent. Which means your cherry best be unplucked."

At the thought of marrying the primordial, chills danced up her spine. The Bettina-the-Black-Widow option would fly out the window. Even if her power was returned, it wouldn't likely be enough to take Gourlav out. Not when newly restored and unpracticed. "Nobody can defeat him?"

"I found zero weaknesses. Zilch, f**k-all. None of my contacts in the network know anything either," he said. "You saw the heads rolling tonight. Think of the amount of blood someone would have to spill to take his. Barrels. It'd spawn a legion of Child Terrors."

"I'll prevail upon Morgana. There's got to be some kind of sorcery we can use."

"You do that. In the meantime . . . you were really into that leech."

Into him? Like when she'd been a split second away from orgasming against his insistent shaft?

Like when she'd tasted her own blood in their kiss and for a moment had considered just going with it? "I was there only for Caspion."

"Yeah, you looked like you were completely swamped with thoughts of Cas. By the way, that demon of yours rose a notch in my estimation."

"Oh, was his pile-driving even more vigorous than last night?"

"No. He went home. Alone."

Night two. Well past midnight. Drunk again.

Chapter 23

Bettina slouched over the banquet table, head propped in her hand, a glass of wine tilted precariously in her other hand. Her eyes were glazed over from watching fights for umpteen hours.

Die already, she inwardly cried for the hundredth time.

She gazed around, noting that she wasn't the only one drunk; all of Rune was in rare form.

They'd been imbibing since sundown and the demon brew was beginning to hit them, sweeping over the crowds like an apocalypse of drunk.

Initially, the ring had been divided into several different cages so the matches between less well-known contenders could occur simultaneously. Still, they'd taken ages to complete. At midnight, guards had removed the inner cages to prepare for the heavy-weight contenders like Gourlav, Daciano-and Caspion.

Pretty much all of the kingdom's females had rallied around "Abaddon's fair-haired son." Even the males were coming around.

He was slated to fight the remaining Cerunno last, and she'd been on edge all night. Gourlav's match was up next, with Daciano's bout against the giant troll to follow.

Like all the competitors, they'd been required to wait in the sanctum for hours.

Morgana had long since returned to her castle, located in her own private Sorceri plane. Early on she'd endured two matches, yawning widely, even at the gruesome ends. Assured that Bettina had dressed scantily enough to be worthy of the Sorceri name, she and her Inferi had portal-ed away.

During the ring changeover, Bettina had spied Raum escorting two pretty nymphs backstage.

Which left her all alone at the table. Winners could have come and visited her after their bouts, but they always left, never joining her at banquet. Each one intended to marry her in mere days; none of them made an effort to get to know her better.

Well, except for one. A vampire with the most sublime body she'd ever imagined-who'd provided her with the most erotic vision she'd ever witnessed.

When Cas had shown up today at sundown, she'd barely been able to look him in the eye.

He'd gone home alone the night before, trying to make it work between them, while she'd been moaning into Daciano's mouth.

But she wouldn't be seduced again. Tonight, she and Cas had started over. . . .

She waved for a refill, glancing over her shoulder at the other banqueters. Again the grandstand was divided between armored demons and gold-clad Sorceri.

On the demon side, the table was laden with platters of suckling pig, rack of lamb, wild boar, venison. Tankards of demon brew abounded.

Most Sorceri, however, were strict vegetarians. On their side, fruits and vegetables were arranged in elaborate platters and towers, and sweet wine flowed from crystal decanters.