Fuck, Jean Paul was good.
Vlad’s guttural laugh rumbled through the room as he pushed her roughly away. “You’re a foul piece of work, Juliet,” he growled.
“Thank you,” she replied with a sneer. “I’m a product of my upbringing and the company I keep.”
“That you are, my mate—that you are.”
What the fuck? They were mated?
Jean Paul froze inside his disguise and was clearly speechless. Vlad didn’t seem thrown by Juliet’s silence.
“Still playing hard to get I see. As soon as I’ve done your dirty work you’ll have no more excuses and you’ll finally mate with me,” he said in a bored tone. “I’m holding up my end of the bargain. You simply keep failing yours.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Juliet told him with a shrug and a brilliant deranged laugh that demonstrated her instability.
She turned back to her destruction of the library and began to hum a disjointed melody to herself. Juliet pulled at her hair and tossed book after book to the floor.
“I’ve told you I’ll make good on my promises. I’ve had several of your siblings cursed. They’ll age and die within the year.”
“You cursed them?” she inquired with an arched brow as she turned to Vlad.
His chuckle was chilling and his actions were an abomination. With a blast of magic that set the pile of books on the floor aflame, he struck Juliet in the face with his fist. Her body flew across the room and she landed in a heap on the floor. Every instinct I had was to kill him, but I knew Jean Paul would not fare well if he was revealed. I cursed myself for not knowing if Jean Paul retained his power when he took on someone else’s body.
“What is wrong with you?” Vlad bellowed and gut kicked her. “I had to give up hundreds of millions of dollars and part of my power to make that deal with the Angels. If I could have cursed them myself, don’t you think I would have?”
Juliet spit blood out of her mouth and several teeth as she crawled to her feet.
“You stupid fuck,” she hissed. “I never told you to give up anything.”
“Well that’s new,” he said in a deadly quiet voice that made my stomach roil.
Was the jig up? Did he suspect Jean Paul wasn’t Juliet? That would definitely end badly. However, the most alarming part was that an Angel had placed the curses.
I was fairly sure I felt fury emanating from Roberto, but thankfully Vlad was too focused on Juliet to notice.
“What’s new?” she demanded as she wiped the blood from her face with the back of her hand.
“You told me to give up my immortal life if necessary,” he said slowly pronouncing each word with care. “Everything I’ve done I’ve done for you, my love.”
And I thought Roberto was a sick fuck…
Juliet shrugged and smiled. It was frightening. She was missing teeth and bleeding from her mouth and nose. Her blonde hair was matted with blood and the front of her dress was torn.
“I’m surprised you’re not fighting back,” he said as he approached her and gently dabbed at the blood running from her lip.
“I’m tired,” she replied stonily and slapped his hand away. “Anyway, if Raquel is here why don’t you just kill her?”
“You know why.” Vlad abruptly turned away and began to pace.
“Remind me,” she prompted in a shrewish tone. “Tell me again about Raquel.”
“I will just to watch you squirm, but I will beat you for your insolence later, Juliet,” he said with a smile.
“This isn’t a beating?” she hissed as she smeared her blood on her hand and pushed it at his face.
“No, it’s not. You should know that by now, my sweet. As to your sister, she’s mine. She’s denied me too long and I’ve grown weary of waiting. I gave you a chance to destroy her and you failed… so I get to have her.”
“Raquel hates you,” Juliet informed him with an ugly laugh. “She’ll never have you. You’ll be lucky if I mate with you.”
“You’ll be lucky if you survive to mate with me,” he informed her with a depraved wink. “However, if you can behave long enough for me to ruin the rest of your family, you will be mine.”
“Just ruin? Tell me again all the promises you’ve failed to keep so far. I want to be sure you remember.”
“You’re becoming tiresome,” he said shaking his head. “I shall spell it out this one last time for you since you seem to be daft this evening. You have asked me to prove my devotion to you by killing your family. I find the idea appealing since they’re worthless and have held power for far too long. It’s time for a change. However, I lust after Raquel and I want her for a toy. You may have a toy of your own choosing. How many fucking times do I have to explain this to you?” he roared as he backhanded her again.
Clearly Jean Paul aka Juliet had had enough. Kicking Vlad’s feet out from under him, Juliet straddled him and brought her elbow down on his nose with force and fury. The crunch was sickeningly satisfying. Although Vlad’s death would have been more welcome.
“There’s my girl,” Vlad choked out in triumph as he took her by the neck and squeezed. “I wasn’t sure she was still in there. Now will you calm down or do I need to help you along? Because it would give me great pleasure to beat you into unconsciousness.”
“I’ll behave,” Juliet gagged out and grasped at his hands. “But you can’t have Raquel as a toy. If you want me, you will leave her alone.”