September Moon (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8)(9)

I marched back there to confront him. Even as I drew closer to Kale’s room, I wished for a voice of reason to bring me to a halt. Letting myself be alone with him in the back was asking for trouble. But if he wanted to see a pissed off vampire queen, he would. Every damn vampire in this city would. They were going to drive me to it.

I let my fist fall heavy against Kale’s door before I could reconsider. I was tired of feeling like the outcast, the one every vampire saw as a threat. Never had I purposely flexed my power among them. That was about to change.

“Kale, open the f*cking door,” I hissed through clenched teeth. “I’m not leaving until you tell me what you know about the dead woman outside. The one who came out of this room earlier tonight. Open up!”

There was silence inside the room. I could feel him in there. If he was hoping I’d go away, he was going to be disappointed when I kicked the door down. After a minute I heard rustling inside, moments before the door cracked open. Kale positioned himself in the opening, preventing me from seeing beyond him. His hair was a tousled mess, and his shirt was open, drawing my gaze to his bare chest.

“What part of keeping your distance do you not understand, Alexa?” he asked, wearing a bored expression.

Before I realized what I was doing, I hauled off and slapped him. My hand stung, but it was worth it to smack that smug look off his face.

“Hate me all you want to, Kale, but don’t make the mistake of disrespecting me.” I shoved the crumpled paper at him, taking advantage of our proximity to send an aggressive jolt of power through him. “I found this on the dead body of a woman you were with tonight. Wanna tell me what you know about it?”

He rubbed a hand over his cheek and grinned. The crazy vamp seemed to be enjoying my temper. He glanced at the paper and shrugged. “I don’t know what this is about.” Kale shook his head and started to close the door.

I kicked the door out of his grasp. It slammed against the wall and bounced back. A naked woman with mousy-brown hair huddled in Kale’s bed beneath the blanket, staring fearfully at us.

“Don’t screw with me. Something is going on around here, and you know what it is.” I kept my feet planted firmly in the hall. If I crossed the threshold, there was no telling what would happen.

Kale regarded me as if I were a child throwing a temper tantrum. Crossing his arms, he stared down at me with intrigue and chuckled. “You get bored by yourself, don’t you? Look, I’m sorry Arys isn’t here to entertain you and Shaz is off…wherever…but I’m done with being your third choice. Whatever you’re going on about can wait until tomorrow.”

Stunned didn’t quite cover it. I stood there in total shock, fighting hard to hide my reaction to the burn that his scorching words had delivered. It hurt to see how his resentment toward me had grown. But I understood why. What I was about to do next wasn’t going to win me back any points in his books.

I was tired of being the one that didn’t fit, the one who walked in several worlds and belonged to none. The wolves didn’t want me. The vampires didn’t respect me. I was done being threatened and misunderstood. This city was going to find out who I was. I just hoped we were all ready for that.

Looking into Kale’s eyes, I saw a hardness there I wasn’t used to. Worst of all, I saw a spark of hatred.

I hit him with my power, grabbed hold of his life force and brought him to his knees. My intent wasn’t to kill but to hurt. His energy bent easily, responding to my manipulations. Kale made a pained noise but did an admirable job of keeping his composure.

“The only respect I seem to get from vampires these days comes when I have them on their knees,” I said with a slow, angry smile. “Now why do you think that might be?”

The power rose fast, quickly overflowing into the atmosphere around us. I was aware of the vampire essence in the building. It was time to send my own damn message, even if I had to use Kale to do it.

Concentrating hard, I could feel every vampire in the city. Drawing on my bond with Arys, I mustered all the power I could and slammed it into every vampire I sensed, starting with the one right in front of me. I was sorry about those who didn’t deserve it, like Justin. Still, it had to be done.

I had done this once before in a moment of extreme rage brought on by seeing Shaz with the vampiress he’d gotten involved with. The force flowed through me, crashing over each vampire in my mind’s eyes like an ocean wave. I felt it hit each target in a massive ripple effect.

It would have been satisfying if it didn’t hurt so damn much. Pain racked my brain as my mortal body acted as a channel to so much supernatural power. Every time I did this, it came easier than the last time, but it hurt a hell of a lot more too. It was breaking me down.

It was a swift assault, hard and fast, a warning rather than a true attack. The message was clear. If they wanted to challenge me, they would lose. I released my hold on the energy and stumbled. Shoving myself backwards, I hit the wall across from Kale’s door and struggled to stay upright. Blood ran steadily from my nose to stain my shirt.

Kale lay on the floor in the doorway, spitting blood and glaring daggers at me. I wiped my nose with the back of my hand, smearing blood across my face. Wicked laughter bubbled up inside me.

“Sorry, sweet thing,” I said between gasps for breath. “I’m done with secrets and *s.”

I shoved away from the wall and, swaying like a drunk, made my way toward the exit sign glowing at the end of the hall. The high of the power rush was dizzying, leaving me feeling disoriented. It wasn’t usually this bad.