Little spies? Dante wondered.
Then he recalled the workers by the boathouse. Everyone else had gone home, but there they were. And after they drove by, one of them had gotten on the phone. He hadn’t thought anything of it then, but that bastard was calling Jasmine.
“Did you kill Margie?” Preston blurted.
Jasmine lifted her hand to inspect her pointed, purple nails. “We all make sacrifices for those we love.”
“But… but she loved you, and you loved her.”
“Preston dear, I’ve come to realize love is worth killing for, and all humans are walking bags of food. We’re the predator, they’re the prey, and we should embrace that part of our nature. No, we should do more than embrace it; we should revel in it. We should bask in the joy that comes with wielding our power over these lesser beings as we tear their throats out. And that is what I’ve been doing.”
“What happened to you?” Preston whispered.
“I woke up.”
The red eyes in the shadows shifted as they edged forward. As he’d suspected, more eyes emerged in the shadows behind them as three men stepped into the room and fanned out around Jasmine. Then three more men entered the room.
Dante kept his face impassive as he studied their opponents. Seven against two, they weren’t the best odds, but Dante would make them pay for getting involved with Jasmine.
“Why did you involve Julie in this?” Preston asked.
“She’s my anniversary gift to you,” Jasmine replied.
She clapped her hands in a way that reminded Dante of a wind-up monkey banging its cymbals together. He loathed those creepy little things and this woman.
“She’s the one who’s going to wake you up,” Jasmine continued.
“What are you talking about?” Preston demanded.
“Once you kill her, you’ll understand what it’s like to be free.”
Dante’s skin prickled like someone had dropped an ice cube down his shirt. Jasmine might be the most twisted creature he’d ever come across, and he once helped transport a serial killer who ate his victim’s eyes so they would forever see the soul of their killer. Dante’s skin crawled the entire time he was in the van with that monster.
He hadn’t laughed when his partner asked the monster what happened after he shit out those eyes; could they still see his soul? The monster smiled as he replied that those eyes were still inside him; he felt the flutter of their lashes every time they blinked. Dante was grateful when his partner decided not to ask any more questions.
Preston hugged Julie closer when she whimpered, and Dante stepped forward to stand protectively in front of the girl.
“I would never hurt her,” Preston said.
Jasmine shrugged one shoulder. “You say that now, but after you’ve been locked in here with her for a couple of weeks, I’m sure you’ll change your mind. Of course, your friend is going to have to die. He has no part in this.”
Preston hissed out a breath as he nudged Julie behind him. “You’re going to have to kill me too.”
“That’s not the plan, and it’s not going to happen. I’m going to keep you, and I’m going to watch you kill your sister, and I will wake you up to the beauty of death.”
She turned toward the vamp standing near the doorway. “Shut the door.”
The vamp closed the door.
Though Dante continued to shut her out, Cassidy felt the pull of their bond drawing her toward him when they arrived at the waterfront. She directed the driver where to go as she concentrated on finding him. At the end of one street, she spotted some humans outside one of the buildings, but they didn’t go near them.
She told the driver to take the next turn, and when they were getting closer, she asked the driver to pull over because not only did she feel the pull of Dante, but she also detected the stench of a Savage.
Kyle glanced at her as the car pulled over in front of a row of decrepit buildings. She paid the driver, changed her memories, and exited the vehicle as fast as she could. Dante was here, and so were those monsters. But where were they?
The car turned around and left while Cassidy followed the scent of something rotten. Kyle sprinted beside her as they raced down the street to a run-down blue building facing the water. Cassidy skidded to a halt in front of it while Kyle continued for a few feet before realizing she’d stopped.
This was where the bond was bringing her, and judging by the putrid aroma drifting from it, there were more than one or two Savages inside.
“Shit,” Kyle said.
“Dante’s in there.”
“Then let’s go.”
Cassidy glanced at her twin. She didn’t want him involved in this, but when he flashed her a crazy grin, she knew there was no place he’d rather be. They were family, they were friends, and they would fight to the death for each other.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go have some family bonding time and kill things.”
Cassidy managed to give him a strained smile, but between her concern for Dante and her dread over having to kill anything again, her legs felt wooden as she made her way inside the building.
She removed one of the stakes tucked inside her jacket and touched the small crossbow in her other pocket. Rats screeched and skittered out of the way as Cassidy jogged through the building with Kyle at her side. She searched the shadows and strained to hear anything other than the four-legged critters as her bond drew her onward.
“Cassidy, slow down,” Kyle hissed when they entered a small back room.
She couldn’t slow down. She was frantic to see Dante and reassure herself he was okay. He was still alive—she felt that—but for how long? Had they made it this far only to be too late to save him?
The possibility sent jolts of
