“Sure. It’s Phi’s turn to rule. The king is refusing that right. If you and Phi are powerful enough and have as many connections as you claim to have, why not claim that throne by force? You show your power, you gain the throne, you stay alive, and you usurp a corrupt King. What’s not to like about that plan?” Danica tilted her head. “I’m certain you two would give the King a run for his money.”
“We could,” he grinned. “But Phi doesn’t want to rule with fear like his father. I envy his morals if I’m being honest. Just as he wants to do right by the Northern Sect, he wanted to do right by you and leave you be.”
“Ah yes. We discussed this last night.” Danica touched her finger to a small axe sitting on the nearby table.
“Is that why you smell like him?” Arden purred and she jerked.
Meeting his eyes, Danica let the knowledge of what happened flash there. Arden’s gaze heated but he didn’t move forward. Instead, he picked up the axe and held it out to her. “I called you in here because I’m going to teach you how to disable and kill a vampire. Should something happen to Phi or I, or we’re too far away, you’ll need to stand a chance against a vamp. These will also work for other creatures, though it won’t kill some of them. If you’re going up against a kelpie with access to water, however, you run. Don’t even attempt to disable it.”
“Isn’t there a kelpie team?” Danica asked, raising her brow. There was a hint of fear in Arden’s voice when he spoke of them, and if he was afraid, Danica should be.
“There is. Let’s hope there are no large bodies of water in this track that they’ll have easy access to, or the race will be short lived. I equipped the car with snorkel gear and some charms from a talented witch, but I’d rather not put any of that to the test.”
Danica held the axe in her hand loosely, the metal heavy against her palm. “Isn’t it dangerous to teach the human how to kill you?”
“You won’t kill me or Phi,” he said confidently. “But I want you to know how to defend yourself in the event that we don’t survive, and you do.”
She pointed the axe at him. “The three of us are walking out of this race as winners and I refuse to accept anything less.”
Smiling, Arden nodded his head. “Regardless, I’m going to walk you through the motions.” He pointed to himself. “Vampires. Our main strength is our speed and inability to die from a simple wound. The only way to kill us is by removing the head or stabbing us through the heart.” He touched his chest. “Aim for here. If a vampire rushes you, it’s far easier to raise a knife toward the chest as it barrels toward you than it is to swing for the neck. Most other creatures, removing the head will kill them the same.”
“Which creatures can survive a beheading?” Danica asked with wide eyes.
“Demons mostly, but there are some crows who can survive it, as well as a kelpie if it’s near a body of water. If the necromancers are in a race, there’s no telling what they can survive as we don’t know much about them. There are others but they don’t typically enter the races to be an issue.”
“Got it.” Danica set down the axe and picked up the large knife on the table. “I prefer a wrench if I’m being honest, but I can see the appeal of a blade as long as my forearm.”
“Exactly.” Arden stepped back and gestured for her to come after him. “Try and stab me.”
“I don’t want to hurt you—”
“You won’t,” Arden grinned. “As a human, you’re at a disadvantage.” Danica threw herself forward without warning, but Arden was already gone. “Never throw yourself toward a vampire,” he said from behind her, his hand on her throat for a moment before that was gone again. Danica whirled, trying to follow him, but it wasn’t until he stopped that she could focus on him completely. “Wait for the vampire to come to you and raise the knife as fast as you can in front of your chest.” Arden shot forward and Danica tried to raise the knife, but he was already knocking it from her hand before she got halfway. “Too slow,” he goaded. “You’ll be dead before you know what happened.”
Danica grunted and stooped to grab the knife again. “Are all vampires as fast as you?”
“Some are faster. Just be happy Phi isn’t the one training you. I once watched him fence and there’s no way you’d be able to stop Phi if he decided to kill you. His father is similarly fast, or so I’ve heard. I’ve never seen the King move to much more than announce an order.”
“Good to know,” she growled, facing him and turning as he moved around her.
“Your reflexes are fast when you’re behind the wheel,” Arden continued. “Use those. Pretend you’re in a race, because if the situation turns dire, you will be. The adrenaline will kick in. You need to use those same instincts if you want to survive.”
Focusing on the feel just before a race, Danica tuned into Arden like he was another car trying to take the lead. He moved slowly, stalking her, and she focused on his feet rather than his face, just as she’d focus on the wheels of another car.
“Only instinct,” Arden spoke, but she didn’t take her eyes off his feet. “Let your body react.”
When Arden moved, Danica did the same, but this time, she allowed her body to take over. She had the knife over her chest before she knew what she’d done, Arden crashing into her and just barely avoiding the knife by using his hand instead. The knife slid through bone and skin and Danica gasped in surprise.
“You said I wouldn’t hurt you!” she growled as she fell backward, the force of him hitting her throwing her off balance. A hand cushioned her head, but the air still whooshed out of her when Arden’s weight fell on top of her.
“You did better than I expected,” he admitted, lifting his weight to the side before pulling the knife from his hand. Danica winced as he did so, but the wound began stitching together quickly. The otherworldliness of it wasn’t lost on Danica. “Your driving instincts carry over well.”
The wound closed completely, and Danica touched her finger over the smooth skin, blinking at the lack of evidence. “Neat trick. Do you do birthday parties?”
Arden chuckled and the movement caused Danica to realize he was still on top of her, his eyes staring down at her. She glanced down between them, but she couldn’t see anything with him pressed so tightly against her.
“Did Phi explain the dangers?” Arden asked, his voice nothing but a husky whisper. Danica nodded in answer, her throat suddenly too rough to speak. “And you’re okay with that?” Another nod. “Good.”
Arden’s lips were against hers before she could react, but it didn’t take her long to do so. The split second it took her brain to catch up was all it took before she was wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer, kissing him back just as hungrily. Just like the first time they’d kissed, Arden’s lips were brutal against hers, possessive, and yet not. He was claiming her as thoroughly as Phi had, staking his own claim.
Breaking the kiss to run her teeth along Arden’s neck, he growled into the empty room and pressed his hips against hers roughly, allowing her to feel the hardness demanding to be released from his loose sweatpants.
Everything descended into a mad dash of who could get the other naked first. Danica tugged at the sweatpants around Arden’s hips, but nothing compared to the strength Arden used to literally rip her clothing from her, shredding it as if it were nothing more than paper. She barely blinked at the destroyed clothing—she had plenty of it anyways—but all her attention zeroed in on the hard length of him that was revealed as she successfully pushed the sweats down his legs, and he lifted up enough to kick them away. The metal glinting along his hard length had her eyes widening before he was jerking her legs up and out, spreading her wide against the hardwood floor.
There was no build up like there had been with Phi. There was too much tension for that. Instead, Arden pressed against her entrance one moment, and the next, he was slamming home inside her wet core. She was dripping with lust, a mess of desperation as she began to claw at his back, not sure if she was begging him to continue or needing to slow down. Somehow, Arden seemed to know exactly what she needed.
“This,” he grunted as he began to power inside her hard, skyrocketing her pleasure higher when he leaned back to look at her eyes. His canines were tucked away, and not once did he lean down to bite despite his warnings before. “This is going to belong in my moments of happiness.”
His words sunk into her skin, swirled around her heart, and she barely had time to meet his eyes, to realize the profoundness of what he said, before they devolved into a mass of tangled limbs and pleasure. When she began to scream her release, Arden didn’t slow, building her up again, and again, and again, until she was no longer sure which of them was still moving.
Later, when she could finally catch her breath as they both lay panting with their backs against the hardwood, the corners of Danica’s lips curled up.
“Yes,” she whispered. “This will be one of those moments.”
With a gentle smile of his own, the hardened vampire with enough arrogance to fill stadiums picked up her small hand and kissed the back of it. The promise left behind echoed on her skin long after he tucked her into bed and left her to rest for a long day of practice the next morning.