CHAPTER 6
Raze had been wandering around the city for half the day when he picked up a tail. He took a circuitous route to be sure and when he was, he pulled out his cell phone and called Vashti. “Problem.”
“Hopefully I’ve got a solution.”
“It’s two o’clock in the afternoon and I’ve got a minion sniffing after me.”
There was silence, then a whistle. “Well, that’s interesting.”
“It’s scary as fuck and you know it.” Only the Fallen could take sunlight; minions were mortally photosensitive. The only exceptions were minions who’d recently drank Fallen blood, which afforded them temporary immunity that would last seventy-two hours at most. “We have a full accounting of the Fallen?”
“I’ll double-check, but I can’t think of anyone in that area aside from you.”
“Let me know what you hear. In the meantime, I’m going to have a little chat with my shadow and see what I can shake loose.” He killed the call and shoved his phone in his pocket.
A group of teenagers exited a store in front of him, clogging up the sidewalk and providing the distraction he needed. Darting behind them, he entered the store and shot out the rear delivery entrance. He found himself in a small alley lined with trash and dumpsters and framed above by fire escapes. Leaping the two story distance to the first escape ledge, Raze settled in to wait, knowing his tail would eventually follow his scent.
Ten minutes later, a tiny brunette stepped out of the shop into the alley. He took a deep breath and smelled vampire. Crouching, he prepared to jump when it struck him that she wouldn’t be alone. She would be half of a pair.
He hopped down and blocked the swing of her fist, then shielded his groin when she attempted to take him down with a knee to the nuts. She pressed on, raining blows and kicks, which he deflected with greater speed, his forearms parrying jabs so quickly that to a mortal eye he would’ve seemed to be no more than a blur. He waited for the perfect opening and took it, stunning her with a blow to the neck and catching her in a headlock. Spinning her around, he caged her with her back to his chest.
He yanked her head to the side and bit deep. Her memories flooded into him along with her blood, giving him all the answers he needed… except for where to find Francesca. The baroness had gone under, contacting her minions via phone or email. His fangs retracted and he was licking the tiny wounds closed when her mate rushed into the alley.
“Behave, Lake,” Raze warned her softly, puzzled by some of what he’d read in her mind. “Or I’ll tell him about your little piece of ass on the side.”
She stilled, breathing roughly.
Her partner, Forest-how sickeningly sweet was the deliberate pairing of
Raze grinned, but noted the shine of feral madness in the minion’s eyes. He’d seen inside Lake’s mind and knew what these two did on their dates-blood and pain were their aphrodisiacs. “I won’t hurt her… yet. But I’ve got her scent and I’ve drank her blood. I could find her in the Times Square crowd on New Year’s Eve. Think about that.”
Forest’s hands clenched and unclenched rhythmically. “What do you want?”
“Take a message back to the baroness. Tell her to quit dicking around and face me. I have places to go, rogues to kill. I can’t hang around Chicago indefinitely.”
“You’d fight a woman? A lady. One of your own kind.” Forest began to shift restlessly, licking his lips. His eyes were lit with a sick hunger. It seemed Forest found it arousing to watch his woman manhandled roughly.
It was a terrible fact that the majority of minions lost their minds after the Change. Mortals weren’t designed to live without their souls and the Change took that from them. If it were up to the Fallen-who were the source of the dark gift-only carefully selected mortals would be Changed, but vampirism was like a secret shared only with trusted friends, who in turn shared it only with their most trusted friends, and so on. The spread had long ago become uncontrollable as the unstable minions began to Change others indiscriminately. It was Adrian’s job to mitigate the fallout, an endless mission that pitted the Sentinels against the Fallen in a contentious battle of wills.
“The baroness is no lady,” Raze shot back. “I’ve watched a video of her slicing an innocent man open-alive- while humming a merry tune. She can do that, she can fight me. So give her my message: I’m not wasting my time hunting someone who hides behind their minions. She’s got forty-eight hours to take me on or I’m passing her off to Adrian.”
“I’ll tell her.” Forest smiled with eager malice.
Raze shoved the vampress forward into her mate. “I’ll be seeing you two again.”
Hopping back onto the fire escape, he climbed to the roof and set off from there.
“No way.” Delia planted herself on one of Kim’s kitchen island barstools and shook her head emphatically. “Guys that look like Biker Boy are personality deficient. That’s the trade-off for the hotness-they’re self-absorbed jerks.”
Kim smiled and continued putting groceries away. “You’re right. Absolutely. Except for Raze.”
“There has to be something wrong with him.”
“Yeah… He doesn’t live in Chicago.”
“He snores.”
“Nope.” Although she realized she’d never been awake while he was sleeping. “Actually, I’m not sure.”
“So that’s a maybe. He’s an early ejaculator.”
Kim laughed until her eyes got teary. “Oh my god… No. Definitely no.”
“Being good in bed is a challenge to him. He’s a womanizer who views sex like a sport-all technique and no heart.”
“He’s not the least bit detached. In fact, part of what I loved about sleeping with him was how into it he got. Like having sex with me was toe-curlingly, eye-rollingly good. As for being a womanizer… Yes. Probably. He was going to screw somebody last night. I was just lucky enough that it ended up being me.”
“So, there’s another con-a pretty big one-right there. Does he talk about himself constantly?”
“He doesn’t talk about himself at all.”
Delia’s sloe eyes narrowed behind her glasses. “Maybe he’s married.”
“Married to his job. Trust me, I know the type. I lived with two cops.”
“Self-centered? You had to spell things out for him to get yours.”
“He knew what I needed before I did. He noticed my goose bumps for chrissakes.” Kim shut the fridge door and returned to the island, curling her hands around the bullnosed edge. “It’s going to sound corny, but it’s like he’s totally in tune with me. He knew when I was hot or cold. He knew where to touch me, how to touch me, how long to touch me… Jesus, I cried all over him about Janelle and he didn’t freak out. He didn’t tell me everything was all right or ask me to stop crying. He didn’t go into another room or make noises about it being time for me to go.”
“Damn it.” Delia pouted. “That’s so not fair. I blew him off and you reeled in Mr. Awesome Sauce.”
“I’d apologize, but I wouldn’t be sincere.”
Delia smiled. “I’m glad he’s not a serial killer.”
“Me, too.” Although he just might slay her when all was said and done. She’d been thinking about him all day, thinking about things she wanted to do with him, places she wanted to take him. Like her favorite pizza shop. And the Field Museum, where he could see the real lions from
“You’ve got bags under your eyes, Kimmy girl, but you look all happy and glow-y. I’m really glad about
