headed out across the concrete expanse. Water dripped in the distance, and up ahead, lights blinked, sending shadows scurrying through the concrete paddock
Sound whispered around me—the soft scuff of a heel, followed by the faint caress of mint in the air. I stopped abruptly, muscles tense as I looked around. There was no one else there… and yet there was. My gaze swept across the shadows filling the distant corners. A vampire lurked there—but he wasn’t what I sensed. It was something else… something stranger
I sniffed. The air was a mix of dampness and exhaust fumes, but underneath it lay something old. Something rotten
Something almost dead
My stomach stirred. I clenched my fist and forced my feet to walk on. The car was only two rows away— closer than the elevator. Not that I could retreat that way even if I’d wanted to because whatever that smell belonged to stood between me and the elevator
Air caressed my cheek with foulness. The vampire was on the move. I dug the keys out of my bag and clicked open the car. The taillights flashed in response, briefly illuminating my surroundings with cheerful yellow
I opened the car door and threw in my bag. My neck prickled a warning and I spun. Something glittered in the air—a thread of silver arrowing toward me
I swore and ducked out of the way, but it was too close, too fast, to avoid. It sliced through my coat into my arm, biting deep into my flesh. Pain slithered through me, and with it came a cold sensation. Icy fingers began spreading from the wound, reaching up toward my shoulder and down toward my hand. I wrenched the thing free, but it felt like half my arm came with it, and I couldn’t help screaming
When I held the thread up, I saw what remained of the barbs on the arrowhead. Saw the flesh hanging off them
Warmth pulsed down my arm, and from the shadows came a surge of blood hunger, a force so strong it almost knocked me over. Sweat broke out across my brow, yet the coldness was spreading, making me tremble
Air screamed. I blinked, switching to the infrared of my vampire vision, and saw the blur of heat rushing at me. I swung, kicking the vamp as hard as I could. But my movements seemed to be in slow motion, and the vampire easily avoided the blow
His fist swung. I ducked, felt hair stir as his hand skimmed the top of my head, then rose, fist clenched as I cut upward. The blow hit him under the jaw and knocked him off his feet. The force of it numbed my fingers. I shook my hand, trying to get some feeling back
Sweat stung my eyes and obscured my vision. I blinked, but it didn’t seem to help any. The vampire was little more than a smudge of red as he scrambled back to his feet and rushed at me
He lashed out again. I blurred, but it felt like my feet were stuck in glue. The vampire’s blow smashed into my chin and sent me sprawling backward. I hit the car door with a grunt and fell sideways to the floor, my breath leaving in a whoosh of air. Pinpoints of lights were dancing before my eyes, and I wasn’t sure if it was lack of breath or something else
Then the vamp hit me, his body covering mine, hot and heavy. Though gasping for breath and fighting the blackness threatening to consume me, I heard the vampire’s snarl. The shadows were unraveling around him, revealing gaunt features and dead brown eyes that were identical to Gautier’s. His teeth were extending, saliva dripping from the points in expectation of the feed
I thrust my hands between us, and tried to push him away. I might as well have been trying to move a mountain. My strength was slithering away, the darkness coming in, and close by the dead thing
Watching, waiting
I didn’t know what it was. Didn’t care. Just knew I couldn’t let it get me
The vamp’s teeth sank into my flesh, and heat flashed white-hot through every cell in my body. The sounds of his greedy sucking filled the air, the last thing I’d ever hear if I didn’t do something soon
I took a deep breath and gathered the last of my fast-fading reserves. Energy surged through my limbs. I grabbed the vamp’s head, ripped him away from my flesh, and twisted his neck hard
Bone snapped. Breaking his neck mightn’t kill him, but it sure as hell would immobilize him and allow me to get away
I rolled him off me, then grabbed the car door and pulled myself upright. The parking garage whirled around me and, for several seconds, I simply stood there, battling for breath as sweat dripped down my face and blood ran from my neck and arm. There was a bitter taste in my mouth, my throat was drier than the Sahara, and my heart pounding so erratically it felt like it was going to leap out of my chest
Something had been on the arrowhead. Something meant to knock me out
Ahead, a creature that was cool and blue moved toward me. It seemed to flow rather than walk, shimmering brightly one moment, fading out of existence the next
I blinked, not sure what I was seeing. Or if I was actually seeing
Then the smell hit me. This was the dead thing. The thing I couldn’t let get me
I tried to climb into the car, but my legs had become lumps of unfeeling ice and suddenly I was toppling sideways again. I hit the ground with a grunt, gasping for breath as the blackness rushed in
The last thing I remember seeing were the hands that reached for me
Hands that were blue and suckered like a gecko’s
Chapter 8
Noise surrounded me. My heart, beating nine to the dozen in time with the pain. Above that, the throbbing beat of a bass, a rhythmic tune that seemed to pound through the metal underneath me, mingling with the deeper, throatier roar of an engine
Laughter drifted past—deep, powerful and male. With it came scents—musk, mint, and decay, entwined within the metallic odor of blood. Blood that was stiff and heavy on the sleeve of my coat
I cracked open my eyes. There was nothing to see but blackness. I blinked, and realized the blackness was a cover of some sort. Pinpricks of light spotted the material, indicating it was daylight. I wondered if it were the same day, or another
Laughter edged across the noise again, and through the musky foulness of the blanket covering me I caught a whiff of alcohol. I hoped that meant my captors were drinking, that it wasn’t just another odor coming from the blanket covering me. The chances of escape escalated if the men were boozing
I shifted slightly, trying to ease the ache in my arm. Chains rattled, scraping harshly across the metal flooring underneath me. The surrounding noise stopped, and I froze
“She awake?” The voice was deep, guttural
There was several beats of silence, then, “Nah. I told you, they pumped her with enough juice to drop an elephant. She won’t wake for at least another twenty-four hours.” The second voice was a mirror image of the first
Silence fell again. I listened to the hum of the tires against the road and, after a while, drifted off to sleep. The slamming of a car door woke me sometime later
The road noise had stopped. So too had the throaty roar of the engine. The sharp odor of the two men had faded somewhat, and I could hear only one intake of breath
It might be the only chance I had to escape. I lowered my shields a little, feeling out the thoughts of the man still in the van. Unlike the guards at Moneisha, this man was shielded from psychic intrusion
I swore under my breath. That one fact would make escape more difficult. The only chance I really had now was if I could somehow get the man’s attention and get him in the back of the car with me
And the best way to get a man’s attention? Flash some breast, of course
I shifted a hand. Metal clinked against the metal again. Obviously, I’d been chained, and if the burning on my
