When Victoria told him to wear gloves, Vail smiled amusedly. Of course he was going to protect his hands. How else would he pull the trigger? He just disliked the thought of getting closer to touching a silver gun than he had to. Any extra padding for the grip was welcomed and necessary in his opinion. He wished there was a way to get rid of the acrid stench of the metal as well, but alas, that was something he was probably just going to have to put up with until the deed was done.

As the Lady confirmed his suspicion that she was new to using weaponry like this, Vail nodded in mutual understanding that he would have to be the one to shoot Lord Spencer in the heart. It was a disturbing image, so he replaced it with a more pleasant one of Victoria’s writhing body as he primed her skin for feasting. The echoes of her sounds of pleasure sent a lustful shiver down his spine. Getting to relive [i]that[/i] for the next thirty years was well worth one night of brutality. He couldn’t wait until she was only his for the rest of her mortal life.

As if she could read his mind, Victoria’s next words made him waver. He hadn’t realized his possessiveness had been so obvious to her, but then again, he’d never felt this way about anyone before. He didn’t know how to hide the newfound attachment he had to her, and honestly, he wasn’t sure if he even wanted to. It didn’t make a difference if she knew he wanted her to be solely his prey. She had already agreed to it when she’d made the pact. There was no reason to pretend like he wasn’t tied to her just as much as she was to him.

With that, he supposed she had a point when she warned him not to get jealous of Spencer if he fed on her. Just the thought of a Wynter sinking his fangs into her supple flesh make his blood boil. He didn’t want any other vampire to lay so much as a finger on her, but he knew he would have to relinquish his hold to keep the Lord from becoming suspicious. If Spencer’s attention was on draining the Lady of her essence, he wouldn’t notice his rival’s presence until it was too late either.

Perhaps it would feel better than he thought to send that silver bullet through the Wynter’s heart.

“’Til then, My Lady,” Vail returned her bow with one of his own before heading out of the lodge to return to his family’s manor. It seemed he had some more planning to do.