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“You can’t yell my name three times and expect me to arrive”

I jolt, losingon my ass in the middle of the sad little blood circle I created One completely devoid of power And yet here Azazel is I lean back and narrowto pick him out of the shadows in the corner of the roo me from him, and the menace he seeht now

He looks ht brown skin, dark hair, and soulless dark eyes Though no one with a brain in their head would look at hi as mundane as a man He’s a predator in a way even vampires can never aspire to be

The shadows lick at his legs as he steps around the bed and stares down at me “You’ve called I’ve answered Have you reconsidered the breaking of your bond?” He glances about the room “Where’s Wolf and the others? Did you finally acquire some sense and flee them?”

“What’s with all the questions?” My voice coainst the other bed when the roo withacrossas traumatic as that

I cut my arm too deep

Or, rather, I haven’t had vampire blood in days A cut that would have healed already a week ago is now leaking blood steadily down to h where I rest it A lot of blood “Damn”

“You little fool” He growls under his breath in a language I’m certain isn’t known in this real up close Once again, I get the ier than he appears, that horns paint shadows across the one, but I can’t quite convince ined it

He grabstoo quickly for me to jerk away “This will hurt”

“Wait—” Pain lances my forearm, so sharp and sudden, it draws a scream from my lips Or it tries to He covers ets a little faded, but how in the gods’ names does his hand wrap around the entire bottom half of my face?

Soht with this demon

“There” Even his voice has changed, deepening with so akin to irritation “Now you won’t bleed out before you can accept ain”

I stare blankly down at the scar now carved intois…not It’s also red and black, twisted, and angry looking like a tree that attempted to uproot itself “What did you do to me?”

“You can thank ain”

“I…” I lickto focus “I didn’t call you here to accept your bargain”