Oliver touched the victim’s neck and then searched for a heartbeat. After a moment, he hung his head, bringing his hand to his forehead.
“Damn it!” he shouted, slamming his fists against the ground. Three long deep breaths expelled from his mouth, and he stood, his arms trembling with rage.
“Let him go,” he said to me, his eyes blazing as he stared at the vampire.
I glanced at Oliver and then back to the vampire. “You sure?” My voice shook.
“Do it,” Oliver growled. A dark fury burned in his eyes that almost frightened me.
I dropped my arms, which screamed in protest from the exertion of holding the demon in place for so long. I rubbed my arms and stepped backward as Oliver stomped toward the vampire.
The vampire tried slithering away, but Oliver placed one of his huge hands around the demon’s neck.
The vampire choked and clawed at Oliver’s hand, which started to glow red. A howl of agony rang in the room.
“Where is your coven?” Oliver roared.
The vampire said nothing. He just watched Oliver with wide, bloodshot eyes.
“He was a warlock!” Oliver roared. “Why are you killing innocents? Where are your Donors?”
Donors? I thought in confusion. I knew next to nothing about vampires. José and I had been attacked by one once, but since it had just been the two of us, José had easily popped us out of there.
A high-pitched wheezing sound escaped the vampire’s bloody lips, and his legs twitched.
“Oliver, he can’t answer you if you’re choking him,” I said sharply.
Oliver dropped his hand, and the vampire crumpled to the ground, still writhing in agony.
“Answer my questions, or I’ll end you,” Oliver hissed.
“El Diablo,” the vampire croaked as he inhaled several rattling breaths.
“What about him?” Oliver snapped.
“My coven . . . is with El Diablo. No . . . Donors. He only wants . . . magic.”
Oliver frowned and glanced at me, but I shrugged my shoulders.
“El Diablo’s a vampire?” I asked.
The vampire nodded.
“Frack,” I whispered. “A Third Tier demon lord and a vampire?”
“What do you mean ‘no Donors’?” Oliver said.
The vampire shook his head. “We have no Donors.”
“Why not?” Oliver demanded, his voice rising. He stepped forward, and the vampire cowered against the wall.
The back door burst open, and several demons scurried in. All vampires.
Lilith help us. I stepped backward, fear racing through my heart and freezing my arms in place. I should’ve fought them. I should’ve launched them backward and run for it. But I was frozen.
The long-haired vampire we’d been interrogating raced forward and caught my arms, twisting them behind my back. I cried out as he held a sickly cold hand against my neck, his foul breath on my cheek.
Oliver raised his hand, summoning a ball of fire, but the vampire holding me chuckled.
“Do it and I suck her dry,” he said.
The five vampires from the back snickered with laughter, their red eyes delighted. They sauntered toward us, expressions smug.
“What have we here?” the one in front asked, spreading his arms wide. He was taller than the first vampire, and his blond hair hung just above his shoulders. “A witch and a warlock? Dinner’s come early for us, gentlemen.”
He licked his lips, and the vampires closed in on us.
Chapter 8
DREAD POOLED IN MY stomach as the vampires drew nearer, their sickly stench overwhelming my other senses. Panicked breaths tore through my throat. Oh, Lilith, this is it. This is how I’m going to die.
“Wait!” Oliver shouted.
The flame vanished from his hand as he raised his arms in surrender. His eyes cut to me and back to the blond vampire, who bared his teeth at Oliver.
“You can’t kill us,” Oliver said, taking slow steps toward the approaching vampires. The one holding me clenched my arms tighter, and I flinched.
“Why not?” growled the blond vampire.
Oliver groaned and rolled his eyes. “I’m not supposed to disclose this, but we’re undercover.”
The vampires exchanged confused looks. My brow furrowed as I stared at Oliver and tried to control my frantic breaths.
“We’re Second Tier,” Oliver said. “But the Mambises think we’re part of a coven.”
The dark-haired vampire we’d interrogated hissed behind me. “You didn’t seem like demons when you held my throat and demanded information about El Diablo.”
“The coven is nearby,” Oliver said without missing a beat. “If they were to walk in and find us cavorting with demons, our cover would be blown.” He glanced around nervously. “So if you don’t mind, we need to leave before someone discovers we’ve revealed ourselves to you. We have a reputation to uphold, or the coven won’t believe us.”
The blond vampire laughed, a hoarse bark-like sound. “We are supposed to believe that? We have you at our mercy. You will say anything to escape.”
Oliver raised his eyebrows. “I can prove it.”
The blond vampire’s smile faded, and he glanced at his companions. Worry flickered in his eyes before he jerked his chin toward Oliver. “Then do it.”
Oliver’s whole body erupted in flames. I shrieked in surprise and tried stepping backward, but the vampire behind me clenched me tighter, holding me in place. The fire surrounding Oliver grew so thick that I could no longer make out his features—he was just a blob of flames. Heat seared into my skin, and I coughed, closing my eyes against the burn.
But the heat only intensified. I smelled smoke on my own clothes, and my eyes opened to meet a wall of fire. I screamed, but my voice was drowned by the roar of flames. I was on fire, but there was no pain. Was I already dead? The fire obscured my vision, my hearing, my sense of touch—the fire was everything. It consumed me. There was nothing else but raw, orange heat and scorching light.
The fire vanished, and the light from the flames still burned against my eyes. My eyes darted around the room.
