I gasped as I recoiled from JJ in incredulousness. “You can’t kill him! That was the deal!”

JJ gave me an amused look, his previous coldness giving place to the more lively expressions that I grew used to see on his beautiful face. “Ma chèrie, I never said a word about killing. I only meant some to give our guest a demonstration of what will happen if he ever steps close to you again.”

I blinked as realisation dawned on me. Then I had to cough from sheer embarrassment over my previous stupidity. “Of course.” Then it dawned on me some more, and any remnants of my good humour fell. “Wait, you mean torture, don’t you?”

“That depends entirely on how stubborn he is… and how good in acting you are.” JJ took his hands away from Andrey’s shoulders and instead propped his chin on the elbow he planted on the top of Andrey’s head.

Using Andrey as a piece of furniture, JJ grinned at me, and I could see anticipation in his eyes. “I’m sure you would be against anything truly harmful to Andrey’s person, like imprisoning him and selling to a highest bidder.”

When I nodded with a very nonplussed look, JJ continued, “I doubt that someone like him, someone who stumbled into a vampire’s nest, alone, and insisted on a confrontation instead of fleeing to his packmates like he should’ve, will be afraid of anything less. Which is a problem—but I have a solution, though it will require your help, ma chèrie.”

I crossed my hands over my chest and raised a brow at JJ, silently prompting him on. What did he have in mind that wouldn’t offend my normal, humane moral sensitivities?

“I wonder what stories he had concocted in his mind. Does he think I enchanted you into becoming my slave? Or that I simply seduced you?” JJ chuckled. Then his face darkened again. “He had broke your heart, I can see it, Diana, and this is just not a way to treat a lady. So let us make a show for he will never forget…”

⠀⠀ ⠀

An hour later I and JJ stood inside a long-abandoned unfinished building. The empty windows of the room opened to a deserted ground people had turned into a junkyard ages ago. No one was around now, and the sun was on another side of the house. Thanks to that, the room we were in was bright enough for me to see, but dim enough for JJ to not burn on the spot.

It was a perfect spot to execute our plan without interruptions and damage to fragile antiquities. JJ had brought us there. Made sense that a shady vamp would know all the shadiest places.

I must admit, as apprehensive as I was of JJ’s idea originally, the more he talked, the more enthusiastic I grew. In the end, I even helped him to refine it to the amazing perfection it was now. I just couldn’t wait to see Andrey’s face when he saw our spectacle.

Right now the man in question sat on the floor four meters away, tied to a thick pipe with shackles. JJ improvised those out of several thinner pipes he bent into shape with bare hands, with as much effort as if they were made from wet clay. He assured me that nothing less will hold a shapeshifter for long enough.

“Ready, ma chèrie?”

I nodded, smirking. “Let’s do it.”

As I took a calming breath and forced my excitement away from my face, JJ turned to our prisoner. He snapped his fingers, and the glaze over Andrey’s eyes evaporated.

For a second his eyes flickered between me, JJ, and the place he was in complete confusion. Then, with no warning, he threw his body into JJ’s direction with a loud snarl, fingers outstretched like claws—only to be stopped by his restraints.

The sudden movement made me jerk back, stumbling on the uneven floor and almost falling, if not for JJ’s icy hands on my back. I forced myself to ignore the cold for the sake of appearances as I accepted his help.

When I got hold of my balance again, JJ clicked his tongue in admonishment and gave Andrey a dark look. The red of bloodlust had left his eyes by now, but JJ knew how to make green look just as unnerving. “He scared you again, ma chèrie. Don’t worry, even if his restraints break, I won’t let him touch you.”

Now that his struggle against his bonds proved useless, Andrey found his voice again. He looked at JJ with a burning hatred in his eyes. “Let Diana go!”

“Let her go?” JJ raised his brows in amusement. He glanced at me. “She isn’t a prisoner here. You are, la bête.”

I crossed my hands on my chest as I watched Andrey keeping to try to break out of his shackles. They clinked and screeched as the metal slowly gave in to his power, and I grew concerned that they won’t restrain Andrey for long.

“Don’t joke with me, bloodsucker. You had ensnared her with your powers, because she would’ve never agreed to be with a monster like you if she had a choice!”

I sighed and grit my teeth. I and JJ both expected a similar assumption from him. It was disappointing to see it happen, and sad to realise that he would be better than that. “Hey, Andrey. Had it ever come to mind that I have my own free will and opinions that might be not what you expected? Like a free will to choose my life, including my personal one, and an opinion that you were a terribly shitty boyfriend, Andrey?”

My words made him pause and look at me. I saw his throat bob as he swallowed, and a look of shame fell on his eyes for a moment. Years earlier, it would’ve been enough for me to forgive him, but now I knew that what I saw doubtfully meant what I wanted for it to mean.

From what I knew, Andrey wasn’t ashamed of assuming thing about me, but ashamed of not protecting me or something like that. Macho men bullshit, in other words.

He said nothing in the end, and I huffed. “And I can really tell, now that I have someone to compare with. Andrey, this is JJ, my current boyfriend. Yes, he is a vampire. But you know what? At least he didn’t hide it from me for years!”

With sick satisfaction, I watched Andrey flinch at my words. Yes, I wanted him to hurt—not the way he hurt me, because that would’ve meant spending years in a toxic relationship—but hurt in a way that would make him turn away and never return.

“JJ didn’t hypnotise or glamour me, Andrey. He couldn’t if he tried. Because I’m not a simple human, too. I’m a witch!”