The voice on the night chilled air dripped sex and menace. It stroked her soul even as it shackled her more certainly than silk lined handcuffs. Ripper’s call reached Rage from rooftops away like a whisper on the wind, one that summoned her very blood to comply. His power drifted over her like a scent, marking her, sinking into her skin like oil.

Rage opened her eyes slowly under her heavy black lashes. Resettling her teeth in the feverish flesh, she debated ignoring her master. The security guard she’d lured to the roof of the Bentley Hotel was a choice cut of meat. Tall and fit, the latin hunk had been eyeing her all evening while she trolled for her dinner. Knowing he was watching, she’d picked the pocket of one of the wealthier looking patrons in the hotel bar right in front of him. He’d coolly shadowed her as she made her way to the roof. Once she’d allowed him to ‘corner’ her, Rage listened with endless amusement as he offered to overlook her crime in exchange for a little flesh play. With a hungry grin, she’d agreed. He had no idea just how much he’d regret that offer.

She could feel his forceful pulse gushing against her fangs as she debated the punishment if she blew Ripper off just this once. The thick coppery flavor of the blood in her mouth spun her head with its rich aroma. Although she’d sated her blood hunger, the security guard would live if she left him now. Rage never left her male victims alive. Never. They were heart-breaking bastards, the lot of them.

“Rage!”

Growling, Rage released her bite and settled back on her heels to regard the man sprawled on the ground before her. Sleepily, the guard met her eyes. With a weak effort he cupped her behind the head and tried to draw her back down. The invitation was almost too appealing. How willing they surrendered their lives when she entranced them with her magic.

“Not tonight, yummy morsel,” she grinned coyly, knowing he didn’t see her hatred for his gender in her expression, nor the danger in her offer. “Meet me here tomorrow night after sunset and we’ll finish this.”

“You… promise?” he whispered, feeling the effects of the blood loss.

She said, “I want to more than you know.” Rubbing circles on his hard chest Rage suppressed the urge to simply snatch his heart out now. That was efficient, but sloppy and not her usual style.

He glided his hand up her slick stockings, under her black mini skirt and gripped her ass. “Take me now, baby.”

“Tomorrow.” She stood, letting him slump to the ground. Without a backward glance, Rage jogged to the edge of the roof, sprang to the guard rail and leapt with the effortless grace that could have been mistaken for flight to the building across the street. Homing in on Ripper’s presence like a heat source in the nippy autumn air, Rage crossed the city unseen by the humans wondering the streets below her.

Rage landed lightly on the gravel strewn roof on her three inch heels. Ripper and two of his other Offspring, Dean and Shade, turned to acknowledge her arrival. She didn’t need their searing stares to tell her just how hot she looked in her hunting clothes. The red leather halter displayed ‘the girls’ to their most tempting advantage and didn’t cover her flat midriff. As she strutted with a seductive roll of her hips, Dean in particular couldn’t tear his eyes away from her fishnet stockings. The wind toyed with her black hair as it played peek-a-boo in an inviting, teasing way around her face.

She could have any one of them in her bed, all she had to do was say the word, and Rage knew it. But she would rather execute the lot of them for the crimes their sex continually perpetrated against hers. When she looked at them, she didn’t see three handsome vamps with bodies made for sex games. She saw Caden. That bastard.

Ripper approached her with that liquid stride of his. Tonight he wore the black slacks with the perfectly pressed seams that showed off his long legs and the perfection of his ass. Beneath his leather jacket his burgundy silk shirt shined in the moonlight the color of drying blood. The highlights in his trim blond hair couldn’t have been more perfect if he went to a salon.

“I have a treat for you Rage,” Ripper slithered an arm around her waist and drew her against him until she flattened against his chest. He controlled her body with just his palm like a dance partner taking the lead. Only he could touch her and get away with it. He’d rebirthed her, making her a vampire and making him her master. As long as she was his Offspring, he could do anything with or to her he pleased. And he did. Frequently. Even knowing that she despised him on general principles, a fact that seemed to heighten his enjoyment in taking her.

“I was in the middle of something, Ripper,” she complained.

“You mean in the middle of someone don’t you?” Dean chuckled, reaching up to wipe the dribble of blood she’d missed from her chin. He snatched back his hand just before her snapping teeth could catch his fingers. Smiling in that annoyingly model perfect way of his that drew the female humans out of the woodwork to willingly offer themselves up to him, he licked the blood from his thumb. “Mmmmm, still warm. Left him alive, did you? Are you getting soft on us Rage?”

Her eyes flashed. “I was interrupted, like I said. If you’d like a demonstration in the tender way I handle my prey, you can offer yourself to me as a sacrifice.”

Ripper squeezed her tightly, forcing her to focus on him. Cooler to the touch than a human, he still managed to encase her with his warmth. “A demonstration is just what I brought you here for.”

Glancing up at him, Rage searched his icy blue eyes. Always a mistake. A flow of silver like mercury poured over his eyes, disguising his irises behind the metallic veil as his vampire nature stirred. Only Kinsmens’ eyes became silver when they called their power. He reached inside her with those devil’s eyes, leashing her with his will. A soft moan escaped her as her hands settled on his narrow waist and she moved closer until his thigh parted her legs so she could rubbed herself needfully against him. The silk fabric of his shirt glided over her bare stomach and the spill of her breasts over the halter making her nipples wickedly hard and sensitive to each brush against him.

Shade and Dean snickered, and Rage glared hatefully at them. She would so slay them the moment she became a Kinsmen. It was not going to be pretty either.

Ripper gripped her ass in his strong palms to grind her against him and reclaim her attention. “I’ve sent Calvin to bring you someone special.” He lowered his head to seductively nuzzle into the curve of her throat. His blond hair tickled her cheek as his soft lips trailed hotly over her pulse only to settle right by her ear. The delicious scent of him, a strange brew of blood, night and sex, made her head swim. In a lover’s murmur, he clarified “Someone I want you to kill for me.”

Breathing hard, Rage fought the magic-inspired attraction she felt for him as it seeped deeper and deeper into her. It never worked, but she always battled him with all her will. Of all the manipulative males she’d met in her life, Ripper was the worst. Well, all except for Caden. That was the one throat she still wished she’d torn out when she’d had the chance.

Losing the fight, Rage felt her head cock to the side, offering him her defenseless throat. Ripper kissed it, sending a shiver through her that melted her to the core. His fist tangled in her hair. His voice melted over the entirety of her flesh like breath. “You’d do that for me, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes,” she whispered, feeling breathless as her body stirred, becoming moist and tight with want for him.

“Because you love me.” It wasn’t a question.

She loathed him. When she wasn’t in his thrall, Rage fantasized about maiming Ripper. But not when he embraced her in his power. Digging her fingers into the back of his heavy leather jacket she writhed against his body. “Yes.”

“Then say it.”

He knew how she hated when he made her do that, when he forced her to submit so completely, even emotionally. His magic easily suppressed her struggling will and calmed her before him until she forgot that she hated him. Rage stroked her cheek tenderly against his. “I love you, Ripper.”

“Good.” He turned her so she could gaze down at the alley below them. Ripper eased himself behind her and guided her back against him. Roughly he gripped her hip bones and forced her bottom to swirl against his crotch. She could feel just how turned on he became when he used his control over her. Lowering his head, he rested his chin on her shoulder while he watched the show below. “Here he comes now.”

Calvin, the newest of Ripper’s Offspring, grinned down at the teenage girl he walked with. His arm circled her shoulders in a casually possessive way as he forced her to walk quickly to match his long strides. A flaming red-head, Calvin didn’t have to worry about becoming more pale now that he’d no longer see the sun. Rage had been there the night Ripper rebirthed Calvin. The boy had not even been eighteen yet, and so painfully young looking that Rage almost felt sorry for him when Ripper targeted him. But instead of killing him, Ripper had transformed him. Now, as Calvin smiled in an innocent way at the girl with him, Rage recognized the slight cruel twist to it that only those who knew him could pick out. He delighted in his hunt more than Rage did.

Calvin cast a glance up at them and winked. Guiding the girl so her back rested against the far wall, Calvin gave the vampires above him a perfect view. To Rage the girl looked like she might be fifteen and had dolled herself up to pass for someone old enough to drink. Calvin always liked the young ones.

Rage moved to stop him. The girl was just a kid, for God’s sake.

Ripper clutched her to him, preventing her from interfering. “Just watch for now,” he ordered, and her anger settled down a notch under his power.

The long kiss Calvin gave the girl seemed the melt her completely. She hugged him around the neck so tightly Calvin had to reach up and pry her loose to talk to her. “I think I’m falling in love with you Katie,” he lied. “I’ve never felt like this for anyone before.”

“Really?” She watched him with those big trusting eyes. The eyes of a fool. Rage remembered when she herself used to have those eyes.

He nodded. “From the second I saw you tonight, I knew you were the one.”

“Love at first sight,” she sighed, “I felt that way, too. It was… It was like you just reached inside me and made my heart leap into my throat.”

“Uh, huh.” He twisted his fingers in her loose brown waves and eased her head to the side ever so slightly, presenting himself with her unguarded neck. He trailed a line of kisses from her cheek and down her throat. “Say you want me, Katie. Say you want me to have you.”

The moment so paralleled what Ripper had just done with her, Rage felt her old fury building. Men. The lot of them should be roasted in the pits of hell. Later, when Ripper wasn’t around, she’d ‘explain’ a few things to Calvin. All she had to decide was if she wanted to use a weapon to do it, or her bare hands… and teeth.

The stupid girl sighed dreamily, “I want you, Cal. Take me.”

Calvin leaned closer and when his mouth was an inch away from her neck he curled back his lips. He’d just sank his fangs in, making the girl gasp and arch into him, when the shot echoed through the alley.

Blood splatter from Calvin’s shoulder as the blast spun him. He stumbled away from the girl, who screamed but otherwise was too frightened to do anything.

A man dressed in black fatigues and flack jacket sauntered into the alley. The tinted shield on the motorcycle helmet he wore hid his face. Although Calvin stood a good 5’10”, this man was even taller. Even through the fatigues, Rage could tell how muscular the man was. He had the shoulders of a linebacker and the trim, strong legs of a running back. He chambered another round in his shotgun and aimed it at Calvin.

With an animalistic hiss, Calvin squared off with the man. Just as the next shot was fired, Calvin leapt and twisted, avoiding the spray of pellets. As he came down he expertly kicked the shotgun out of the attacker’s hands.

But the man was ready. He produced a stake from his thigh pocket and buried it in Calvin’s chest.

The pained cry from Calvin was as sadly human as when Ripper had snatched away his human life. Only this time, he was dying for real. The Final Death. Calvin clutched to the man’s shoulders as he slid to his knees. The man did nothing but watch him until the Offspring finally collapsed onto his back.

Taking a knife from his hip, he knelt down and started hacking the boy’s head off. The vampires on the roof watched passively. They’d all known Ripper never intended for Calvin to survive long. Most Offspring were killed by Kinsmen in the first few years of their undead existence. Rage still half expected Ripper to take her out before she grew strong enough to become a Kinsman herself.

The girl Calvin had attacked hopped in place, too frightened to run or scream any more. Her arms clamped to the sides of her head as if she couldn’t deal with what she’d just witnessed. Silent tears streaked her face.

“It’s okay, honey,” The man soothed, wiping the blood off his weapons on Calvin’s clothes and stashing them back in their respective pockets. “I won’t hurt you.”

She shook her head and sobbed.

The man yanked off his helmet, and tucked it under his arm. At the sight of him, Rage felt her whole body clench. His rich brown hair was neatly trimmed and a growth of stubble gave him a roguish, rough quality. He was human. Not vampire. Not Kinsmen. As she stared at him, she was startled by how the sight of him struck her. For no reason she could define, he seemed almost familiar, but she’d never known a human man like him before. He spoke to the girl, “You’re boyfriend was a vampire. He would have killed you.”

She shook her head.

Standing up, he waved her off. “Get out of here, kid. Go home before some other monster tries to snatch a bite out of you.”

The girl bolted past him and disappeared down the side street.

Rage said, “He’s human.”

“A human executioner,” Ripper nodded. “He’s been picking off some of the younger, sloppier Offspring. The ones who were getting themselves noticed.”

Rage glanced back at him. “You can’t let this human tell people about us.”

“I know. He must die.” Ripper hugged her around the middle and rocked her in a way that seemed so caring it twisted a knife in her heart to know that he really didn’t. “I want you to kill him for me.”

“Why?” Rage stiffened. “You could move so quickly that you could kill him without him ever seeing you.”

“I know.” Ripper released her and stepped back. “But I want you to do it for me.”

Rage spun toward him and glanced from him to Dean and then Shade. They all were in on it, whatever this was. “You mean for him to slay me as well?”

“He couldn’t touch you,” Shade laughed. He leaned over the edge and watched the man tossing the corpse in the trash. It would disintegrate completely in under an hour. Shade’s dark hair spilled around his face and tickled over the shoulders of his leather vest. He wore nothing else to disguise his incredibly toned chest. His deeply tanned skin was genetic, making him the last person you’d peg for a vampire. In life, he’d been an exotic dancer, and as a vampire he still dressed the part, tight leather pants and all. When he fought he had moves that would make a professional dancer burn his shoes and get a job in fast food. He’d once offered to teach her to fight in exchange for some physical consideration. In other words, sex. She’d turned him down.

“Since when did you need an excuse to kill a man?” Dean joked. Unlike many other vamps, he refused to wear black. She’d never seen him in anything but blue jeans. White muscle shirts were practically his uniform, but he definitely had the arms and shoulders for them.

Rage frowned. “Why do I get the feeling you are setting me up?”

“Because I am,” Ripper smiled, “but not how you think.” He scooped her face into his hands and kissed her. His tongue slipped between her lips, firing a storm of flaming tingles throughout her entire body. As the kiss deepened, Ripper gently massaged her scalp with his fingertips. Rage softened under his power, enjoying the moment against her will. Finally he broke from her mouth and spoke. “If it makes you feel better, I have no desire to see you hurt. After you finish the human, I have every intention of taking you to my bed tonight.”

That didn’t make her feel better.

Ripper released her. “Now, go kill the human.”

Frowning, Rage turned back to the alley below. Mindful of her heels, she hopped over the low wall and dropped to the ground three stories below her. She landed behind the man and kicked him in the back, sending him flying into the brick wall.

He managed to shield his head at the last moment. When he spun around, he led with his knife.

Rage jumped back, easily avoiding the blade.

He didn’t hesitated to charge her with efficient figure eight swings. Timing her block, she caught him in the wrist and knocked the blade from his hand.

Dropping down, he tried to sweep her feet. She dodged him and then landed on top of him so she straddled his hard stomach. Before he could strike, she caught him by both wrists and forced them down beside his head. Curling back her lips, she hissed at him. In one second, she would have her fangs deep in his throat and the fight would be over.

“Regina!” he shouted, obviously startled to recognize her.

Rage froze. She’d not heard anyone call her by her human name in six years. Not since Ripper rebirthed her. Rage looked at the man beneath her. The summer sky blue of his eyes ripped through her with the shock and recognition in them. His chestnut stubble masked the strong, masculine planes of his handsome face, a face she remembered cradling lovingly when they kissed. Gone was the carefree playboy she’d fell in love with. This man possessed a hard edge that stole her breath and stopped her heart. How could he be here? After he stood her up at the altar, she never thought she’d ever see him again. “Caden?”

“Kill him, Rage,” Ripper said. She glanced back to see him standing behind her with Shade and Dean flanking him.

Rage looked back down at Caden. He didn’t fight her, just stared in stunned silence.

Love, that traitorous emotion, roared to life in her cold heart and burned her eyes. Just feeling his warm body beneath hers made her ache to feel him inside her again, to have him complete her as he once did. She choked on her words as she whispered, “I can’t.”