4. Fatal Mistake

-Katherine-

I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus; my head hurts, my body feels bruised, and my mouth feels dry as shit.

“Fuck,” I grumbled, sitting up in my bed and not daring to open my eyes because the sunlight would assault me further. But as I sit up, I realize that the apartment I’m renting does not have silk sheets… nor do I sleep naked.

Wrenching my eyes open, I look down and find myself completely naked in a room I do not recognize. Not only that, but I can feel someone behind me… someone in the bed with me. My heart slams against my ribcage, and dread sets into my bones when I feel cold sweat dripping down the middle of my back - because I have a feeling that I know who it is.

How did I get here? What happened last night after I left for the bathroom to get away from him? Standing so close to him, inhaling his sexy cologne, made my head spin, and I needed some space before I did something I would regret. 

And now it seems that I have.

I spot my clothes lying on the floor and throw on my panties and bra so I can slip out of here before he can wake up. Touching my earring, I breathe a sigh of relief; I don’t know how long I’ve been here, but the GPS will alert everyone to where I am if I haven’t checked in yet. I have no one here; I’m completely vulnerable and at the mercy of a Pureblood vampire; this won’t end well for me since he even managed to remove all my weapons.

“Leaving so soon, little lamb?” comes the low, gravelly accented voice of Gabriel Priest just as I am about to slip on my dress. I don’t miss the taunting behind his words, but I don’t dare look at him yet.

“W-what am I doing here?” I whisper, knowing he can hear me anyway. “What did you do to me?”

I didn’t see any puncture marks, feel bruised anywhere, nor do my insides feel rearranged. So what happened, and why can’t I remember anything?!

He chuckles, a dark, sexy sound that sends shivers down my spine and causes goosebumps to pucker all over my body. Why does this man affect me like this? I don’t feel repulsed by his proximity, but the need to still defend myself is there. To prove something to myself, I decide to turn around and look at him, but the image of him lying there with a satisfied grin gets my heart racing with anger.

“What makes you think I did anything you didn’t want me to do?” he asks, flexing his arm behind his head. 

“You’re lying-” the words weren’t even out of my mouth before I found myself on the opposite side of the room with my arms pinned above my head. 

A low growl rumbles in his chest as he presses his body up against me, and I can feel his cock digging into my lower abdomen. I gasp, feeling how hard and massive he is, but I tell myself it’s the uncomfortable feeling of his skin on mine. How the fuck is it hard already?! And why is he so huge?! 

I force myself to look into his eyes to show that I’m not scared of him and his threatening display of power. I expect to look up into blazing crimson and ready myself for it, but the apprehension slowly leaves my body when I find myself staring into a pair of clear blue eyes.

“Now, why would I have any reason to lie to you, hmm? Do I look like someone who likes taking something that’s not his to take?” he says, peering down at me with amusement playing in his eyes. 

“I wasn’t… yours to take,” I murmur, unable to tear my gaze away from his. 

I know I am still pumped full of the anti-vamp cocktail, so why am I drawn to him? When I look into his eyes, I feel like I’m about to walk into a freezing cold lake with a happy smile on my face.

He chuckles, and it sends a jolt straight downstairs. “Oh, Katherine, do you really believe that?” he teases, then he leans towards my ear just as my soul leaves my body at the realization that he knows my name. “I can still smell your arousal from last night, little lamb.”

His hand strokes my inner thigh right next to my throbbing core, lightly skimming my pussy through the fabric of my panties. I know I should be disgusted; I know his touch should repulse me but… it doesn’t. His touch feels as warm as any human and just as inviting. 

“S-stop…” I whisper, feeling disgusted at how it comes out as a moan, and I feel him smiling against my skin. “You know who I am; just stop.”

After I say this, his hand lets go of both of my wrists, and he looks at me questioningly; then, I gasp loudly when his other hand slips into my underwear. 

“Gabriel-!” 

“Yes, I know who you are, but I can see your hardened nipples through your dress, and you’re absolutely drenched for me; are you sure you want me to stop?” He says, grinning while slowly sliding a finger in and out of my slick hole. 

A shiver runs through my spine, and I place both of my hands on his chest, pushing him away. “Please… stop…” I whisper, noting how soft and warm his skin feels underneath my touch. He removes his fingers from my pussy and pops them into his mouth, groaning.

“Hmm, for a hunter, you taste fucking sweet,” he comments, but I refuse to look into his eyes. “What's that they say about forbidden fruit?” 

His chest is hard muscle with intricate tattoos snaking over his pectorals and biceps, right into his neck. I eventually tear my gaze away from his chest, and all the attraction I felt earlier slips out of my body when I finally look into his eyes. The clear and beautiful blue is gone, and in its place is the crimson of a murderer.

There’s the monster I’ve been hunting; there’s Gabriel Priest. 

I push at his chest harder and take two steps away from him; I know I’m vulnerable right now, but I can’t allow myself to go down without a fight. He got into my head. He used his mind compulsion on me; it’s the only thing that fucking makes sense. There’s no way I would willingly get into this monster’s bed!

“What the fuck did you do to me last night, Priest?” I ask, walking back to where I know my heels are lying. There’s a dagger hidden in the heels, and even if it’s tiny, I need to have a weapon in my hand to defend myself; I’ve killed people with less. 

He chuckles and stalks towards me with his dick still rock-hard. “Again, what makes you think that I did anything you didn’t want me to do?” he teases.

I vehemently shake my head. “There’s no fucking way that I would willingly go anywhere with you, let alone get naked and allow you to touch me….” I trail off, remembering what exactly I allowed him to do to me a few minutes ago. “You wanna add sexual assault to your rap sheet, Priest?”

This causes him to laugh, and he leans down to pick up a black pair of boxers and slips into them. Why does the mere sight of him turn me on like this? Even picking something up off the floor makes me throb for him; I need to get a fucking grip! 

“I’ve never had to use my Allure to get a woman naked; I’m sure you can see why,” he says, grinning and I blanch when I see his double fangs. 

I’m used to one set of elongated canines on vamps, but Priest has longer lateral incisors and canines, albeit the incisors are smaller than the canines.

“Ugh, not only are you delusional, but you’re vain as well -”

A crash downstairs makes my heart thump even faster, and I hear Priest growling before he throws on his black jeans. I remove the blade from my heels before slipping them on my feet, readying myself for any fight with him. 

The bedroom door bursts open, and my jaw goes slack in shock when I see my fucking informant walking inside with a pissed-off look on his face. What the actual fuck is going on? The crashing downstairs turns into the popping of gunshots, and my spirits get raised a little bit - this might be my men!

“This bitch had tails,” the blonde says, confirming my guess and glaring in my direction. “The cockroaches are downstairs looking for her.”

“Get Myrcella to safety before they find her,” Priest says just as a flashbang gets thrown into the room. 

I am knocked off balance and crawl on the floor, calling the names of my men, including Xenia, to let them know that I am here. The unmistakable sound of flesh on flesh punching is heard amongst the gunfire and smoke, and I remain low, making out the feet of Priest and my informant in between combat boots.

Growling, screaming, and more punching - I crawl out of the bedroom and spot a discarded gun lying on the floor. It has my crest on it, so I know it must be pumped full of stake bullets. Happy to be fucking armed, I raise my weapon in front of me to protect myself. 

The place is filled with smoke, and more flashbangs get set off, but in between the roars and gunfire, I hear a small voice - a little girl's voice.

“Frate? Where are you? What’s going on?” she says in a heavily accented tone similar to Gabriel’s. 

I have my gun raised in front of me, ready to shoot when a vamp comes at me, but I find, to my dismay, that the fucking gun is empty. The vamp slowly strolls toward me with a grin on his face, his fangs showing and his crimson eyes blazing, readying himself to pounce. Through all this, I still hold my gun and listen out for the little girl.

“Frate? Gabe-” her words get cut off abruptly, and at the same time, I hear an ear-splitting growl and the heavy stomping of feet running towards me. The vamp who was approaching me now has a look of terror in his eyes, and he retreats just as the running becomes louder.

“NO!” Gabriel’s voice slams through my confusion, and I feel him speeding past me just as the smoke starts to clear a little bit. “No! Myrcella!”

My soul leaves my body when I hear Gabriel’s voice cracking with absolute sadness and remember him telling my informant to take Myrcella to safety… then I remember what the little girl called out.

Frate; it means brother in Romanian.

I am rooted to the spot when I see Gabriel with blood-like tears running down his face and cradling the body of what looks like a twelve-year-old girl. Her hair has gone white, and her skin looks pale, gaunt, and desiccated, like a long-buried corpse, but I know that this is how vampires look when they’ve been staked. 

For some reason, I am still holding my gun in front of me… and that’s when Gabriel looks up and sees me standing there. His eyes flicker to the gun in my hand, then down to the little blot in Myrcella’s chest. He frowns, then seems to put two and two together before he gets up and stalks towards me.