Ironic Sacrifice by Brooklyn Ann

professional manner possible, ‘fuck you.’”
    Max laughed until his face was an alarming shade of red and he was clutching his large belly. To Jayden he looked like a redneck version of Santa Claus. “I don’t think the ‘High Priestess’ is gonna like that very much.”
    “No, she will not,” Silas said, looking far more serious. “Though I agree that a personal reply would have been more dangerous, I believe this will be trouble.”
    “It was trouble that was due anyway.” Razvan countered. “And I don’t like her thinking she can take what is mine.” He placed a possessive hand on Jayden’s shoulder. “It is getting late. We shall discuss this further tomorrow. Good night.”
    “Thank you,” Jayden said when they were downstairs.
    “For what?” Razvan asked with a frown.
    “For not giving me up to that crazy woman,” she replied. “I mean, you hardly know me and—”
    “You are mine,” he said simply and cut off her reply with his kiss. From then until dawn, he went about proving to her how true that was.

Chapter Nine
    Selena gaped in stunned disbelief as she read the email from Razvan. With every scathing word on the screen, her temples throbbed with unbearable pressure. How dare he? Not only was Lord Nicolae completely unrepentant for his invasion of her lands, but his refusal to relinquish the girl and his insults to her and the Order of Eternal Night went beyond the pale. And his mode of reply, an email! Email! As if they were mere mortals discussing a luncheon!
    Her fingers crept up to grasp a lock of her hair. Her teeth clenched as she tugged on the strands, feeling the satisfying pain in her scalp. Such rudeness was not to be borne.
    Her eyes darted back to the computer screen, unable to stop rereading the offensive words. An inhuman shriek of fury escaped her lips as her fist flew out in a blur to shatter the offending piece of technology.
    “Jessica!” she screamed, oblivious to the blood dripping from her hand onto the white carpet.
    A moment later, a scrawny vampire with short brunette hair peeked through the doorway. “Yes, my lord?”
    Still tugging on her hair with one hand while the other oozed blood and broken glass from the touch screen, Selena hissed. “You have failed me.”
    Jessica’s eyes widened in terror as she stammered, “No, my lord, I delivered the message as you asked, I promise!”
    “Then why have they refused to give me the woman? Why didn’t you persuade them?”
    “I left your note on Lord McNaught's doorstep because I couldn’t speak to them, they have immunity, remember? They would have killed me!” The vampire stepped back as Selena advanced towards her. Her mouth went dry as she struggled to speak, then she remembered the one thing that may persuade the high priestess to spare her. “Lord Nicolae Marked the clairvoyant!”
    Selena stopped as if a switch was thrown in her brain. She remained still for an interminable moment. Jessica shivered. Her lord resembled a coiled snake ready to strike. Finally she blinked.
    “He Marked her? But he’s never Marked any of his other psychics, not even me.” For a moment she pouted, looking like a child with a broken toy, then her features shifted to a mask of unadulterated malice. She looked down at her bloody hand, still full of broken glass, noticing it for the first time. Her lips curved into a smile that would have been winsome, if not for the coldness in her gray eyes.
    “We must have a meeting, but first, attend my wound.”
    Jessica approached her cautiously. The sight of the blood made her stomach churn in hunger. It had been so long since she’d fed. Selena was a firm believer in fasting. But something about the high priestess’s generosity gave her pause.
    “First I must get something to remove the glass, my lord,” she said.
    “No,” Selena said. “You will be rewarded for delivering the message and for the information, but you will have your punishment as well.”
    “B-but, my lord,”