Seduce(26)

“Damn you, Antoine,” she shouted through the solid mahogany.

Yes. Damn him. Damn him for wanting to protect her from his brother. Damn him for needing to protect her full stop.

Snow lowered the canister, slowly opened his red eyes and looked up through the bloodstained ribbons of his white hair, fixing his attention on Antoine. He growled and threw the empty vessel at him. It shot towards Antoine with the force of a missile and at a speed that he barely managed to dodge and compacted against the wall, spraying remnants of blood across them.

Antoine knew what was coming. He dived to his right just as Snow appeared before him and his brother careened into the wall. His impact shook the room. His snarl reverberated through Antoine. Antoine rolled to his feet, skidded to the small refrigerator beside the chest of drawers and pulled the door open. He grabbed another canister of blood.

Snow inhaled deeply and purred.

That was not good.

Antoine’s eyes flicked from his brother to the door right beside him. Sera. She had opened the door and was staring up into Snow’s eyes, her own enormous. Her skin was the colour of moonlight, drained of blood as she stood only a few feet from Snow, within arm’s reach. Snow growled, lips peeling back from his enormous fangs.

That was not going to happen.

Antoine launched the canister of blood at Snow, hitting him square in the side of his head and knocking him backwards. Snow roared. Sera shrieked and shot back into the bathroom. Antoine dived for the restraints.

He grabbed them, growling himself as the chain ended up between the corner of the mattress and the bedpost. He tugged and wriggled them, heart racing and head pounding. Sera was still in danger. Snow had the canister in one hand and was looking between it and the closed bathroom door, his face a picture of pensive darkness. He was trying to decide whether to tap the canister or Sera for blood.

“Snow,” Antoine shouted, desperate to draw his attention away from Sera.

This wasn’t going well. He didn’t want to harm his brother, had already been cruel to him by rousing his bloodlust, but he needed to take Snow down. He had to do it. He finally yanked the chain of the restraints free of his bed and then pulled the towel off his hand. He clenched his fist, causing blood to flow from the deep cuts. Snow’s eyes narrowed and his face twisted, distorting in pain once more.

Pain that wrenched at Antoine and caused tears to sting his eyes.

“No,” Snow growled through gritted teeth. “It wasn’t me. I didn’t...”

He collapsed to his knees again, hitting the wooden floorboards with a spine-jolting crack. The canister spilled from his hand and he scrambled forwards, clumsily chasing it across the floor, his attempts to grab it sending it spinning and rolling towards the main door of the apartment.

“Javier!” Antoine yelled and smacked the restraints against the outside wall of his apartment, trying to get his neighbour’s attention. A little help wouldn’t go amiss after all.

The elite vampire was in his apartment a heartbeat later, his deep brown eyes seeking the cause of Antoine’s distress.

“Ay, Dios mio,” Javier cursed softly in Spanish and then held his hand out to Antoine. Antoine tossed him one set of restraints and clutched the other. “How long has he been like this?”

“A few minutes. It is my fault. I cut myself and he came to check on me and smelt the blood. He’s had half a canister and when he gets this one open, we will have a chance to capture him.”

Javier nodded. It was a plan they both knew well and had successfully carried out countless times in the past.

“Antoine?” Sera’s muffled voice coming from the bathroom seemed to throw Javier.

The Spaniard turned inquisitive eyes on him. This was not the time for it.

Snow snarled and growled, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of them, clawing at the metal canister. When he was like this, his brother was little more than a beast, unable to comprehend even something as simple as unscrewing a cap. His tension and frustration increased with each fumbled attempt. When biting the metal container proved unsuccessful, Snow snarled at it, bearing huge fangs in a threat, and turned his head this way and that, studying it for a weakness. A true hunter.

It was going to end in a bloody mess as usual.

With a roar, Snow struck, puncturing the steel with his claws and shredding his fingers as he withdrew them. He didn’t seem to notice his injuries. The victory he had gained over the canister and the sweet reward of blood overshadowed them.

Snow held the ravaged metal cylinder to his mouth, spilling more than he was drinking. It dripped down his bare torso as he rocked with the container, a deep rumbling purr emanating from him.

Javier nodded and they sprung into action. Snow didn’t even notice them. He was so focused on feeding that Antoine had his left hand cuffed and Javier had his right one secured without incident. Moving Snow would be a whole different matter. When he realised he was restrained, he would fight them, and even with the help of the elite vampire, Antoine wouldn’t be able to subdue his brother without taking a few knocks.