On The Prowl

by Cynthia Eden

  Rose strained against the metal bands.

  Simon picked up a knife. “I have everything I need. I just have to put the pieces all together…then my work will be done.”

  “Your…work?” she managed to croak.

  He lifted the knife over her chest and then he sliced down, cutting right through her shirt. Right through the bra. He didn’t cut her skin, though, not yet.

  “The pieces I needed,” he murmured. “The wings of an angel…”

  “You’re the devil!” The angel choked out.

  He smiled. The tip of the knife pressed to Rose’s chest, drawing blood. “The eyes of a muse…”

  “You think I’m just going to let you cut out my eyes?” The blonde yelled. “You are such a freak! The power isn’t even in my eyes—that’s a legend! That’s bullshit!”

  The knife cut deeper. Rose didn’t make a sound.

  “The lips of a witch…”

  “I say the spells, dumbass!” The yell seemed to echo around them. “It’s not like my mouth is magic!”

  The knife sank—hilt deep—into Rose’s chest. “And the heart of the undead.”

  “You’re…crazy,” she gasped out. And she realized why she hadn’t seen anyone in the last cell—that cell was for her. “This is just…nonsense. You aren’t making…”

  “I know magic.” He smiled once more. She hated his smile. “I’ve made it my point to know ever since she was taken from me. Killed by a fucking beast. Her beautiful face slashed, her body torn.”

  He had a knife in her chest and he was talking about someone else being a beast?

  “Okay, witch,” the blonde muttered. Was she the muse? “You’ve got your fourth in here. Do your shit.”

  Rose had no idea what the muse was rambling about but…

  The witch started chanting.

  “Bend to break, bend to break,” the witch called out. “Bend to break, my fucking magic to take…bend to break…”

  Rose twisted her hands against the bands. Was it her imagination or did the band around her right wrist feel looser? Was it…bending?

  “Bend to break, bend to break.” Now the angel’s voice was joining hers. “Bend to break, my magic to take…”

  Simon ignored them. His eyes burned down at her. “You think humans are helpless? I learned the magic to change life. To imprison. To control. I learned the darkest powers when I first began to hunt. I learned that with the right pain, any creature can break. And that was my key. I broke so many, but I found my way back to her.”

  He started…moving the knife. Cutting her chest.

  He’s cutting out my heart. Rose screamed.

  “Bend to break,” the blonde’s voice—the muse—was the loudest of all. “Bend to break, my magic to take. Bend to break—”

  “You’re extra special, you see,” he kept cutting, still ignoring the other women as if they were of no consequence. “Because you weren’t born to be a vampire. You were a human who was made—you’re the one with the magic of rejuvenation that I need. You came back from death once. You were brought back. And your heart will bring her back, too.”

  “Who?” God, she hurt! “Who are you bringing back?”

  He paused. “My Helene. My wife. A beast took her, but I will make her live again. She will come back to me. I’ll pay any price. I’ll do anything…” The knife cut again. “Just like your shifter.”

  No, no, he was nothing like Julian. Not a damn thing. And he was cutting her heart out of her chest while she just lay there, trapped.

  “You know why you were warned never to be staked or burned?” Simon asked.

  Her chest felt as if it were on fire.

  “It’s because Luke Thorne wanted to protect your heart. He knew it was the center of your magic. A heart that came back from death to beat again, a heart that was brought back not through the bite of a vampire, but through pure dark magic.” He exhaled. “The perfect heart for me.”

  And he pressed down with the knife again.

  “No!” The cry broke from Rose…and so did the band around her right wrist. Her hand flew up and locked around his hand.

  He stilled. His eyes had gone wide with shock.

  “My heart isn’t…for you.” Her breath heaved out. “It…already belongs…to someone else.” Then she twisted his wrist. He was leaning over her, shocked, and she used that against him. She drove the blade into his chest.

  He lurched away from her, but it was too late. The knife was hilt deep in him. He staggered back then his knees seemed to give way as he fell to the floor.

  Her breath heaved out. “Okay, okay…keep up that chanting…and get me out of here.” Blood pulsed from her chest. She was bleeding like a stuck pig, but she still had her heart. And Simon wasn’t going to get it.

  ***

  He heard her scream and the world fucking stopped for Julian. Rose’s cry was full of pain and fear and he went a little crazy. He didn’t shift back into the form of a man, he was too far gone for that. He leapt out of the grass and ran straight for the building.

  He heard a wolf howl behind him.

  The guards started screaming. They fired their weapons, but he dodged the bullets as they flew at him. The dirt kicked up near his body as the bullets thudded into the ground.

  Then he was on the first guard. He slammed into the bastard and his teeth sank into the guard’s throat. The man never had a chance to cry out.

  “Freaking monster!” The other guard yelled. “Go to hell!”

  Julian whirled around.

  But the wolf beat him to the attack. Rayce jumped onto the other guard, sending him crashing down.

  “Guess that means you have to deal with me.”

  Julian turned at the taunt. The scent of brimstone made his nose twitch. The guy was shifting in front of him, transforming into the stone figure of a gargoyle. Growing bigger, stronger, and standing between Julian and the thing that mattered most to him.

  I’ll get to Rose even if I have to claw this bastard apart.

  Time to see if his panther’s claws were really strong enough to cut stone. He was betting they were.

  He growled then sprang forward. His mouth was open, his sharp teeth bared and—

  The gargoyle was grabbed from behind. Hefted high up into the air by…Leo?

  “My turn, you sonofabitch,” Leo snarled. “Let’s see how well you fly without your wings.” Then he grabbed the stone wings and he shattered them in his grip. As the stone rained down, Leo shot higher and higher into the air, taking his captive with him.

  One less problem.

  Julian roared again and broke down the doors of that facility. An alarm began shrieking, loud enough to wake the dead, and more guards rushed toward him. They fired and he realized they weren’t using tranqs when one of the bullets sank into his side. The bastards were shooting to kill.

  He used his claws on the man to his right, raking him open. The other jerk who was trying to shoot him in the head? Julian tossed him through a wall.

  Rayce rushed in behind him and the wolf leapt for the throat of a third guard.

  Julian stood, his chest heaving, and he glanced around. His nostrils flared. He didn’t hear Rose any longer but he could smell her…

  Her blood.

  Someone is about to fucking pay.

  He raced down the hallway to his left. I’m coming, love. I’m coming. He’d promised to have her back, and he intended to always keep the promises he made to Rose. Always.

  ***

  “Bend to break, my magic to take…” The witch was leading the chant. “Bend to break, my magic to take…”

  The others were chanting with her, like a coven that had formed, and Rose could feel the power swirling in the air. “Bend to break,” she heard herself whisper. “My magic to take…” She thought the chant might be working. She could feel—

  Simon lurched upright.

  Oh, shit.

  “He’s still alive!” Rose screamed.

  “No…” The muse had stoppe
d chanting. Her hands fisted around the bars of her cell. “That’s the problem. He hasn’t been alive, not really, in a very long time.”

  Simon stared down at the knife in his chest. Then he looked up at Rose. “You bitch.”

  “You bastard!”

  He grabbed the knife and pulled it from his chest.

  She’d stabbed him in the heart. She knew she had. But…he was rising to his feet. He was walking toward her. His shirt was drenched with his own blood but he was walking.

  He brought that bloody knife to her cheek. “Got a secret to share with you.”

  She didn’t want to hear any of his secrets.

  Her left wrist was almost free. The metal had bent, and if she could just slide her hand free…

  “I don’t have a heart. I cut it out myself, a long time ago. Because it hurt too fucking much to keep living without her and feeling so damn much.”

  Her gaze dropped to his chest. And…

  Oh, sweet hell. How was that even possible?

  Simon smiled at her. “But, unlike me, you won’t keep going once your heart is gone.”

  “Bend to break,” the witch chanted. “My magic to—”

  “Shut the fuck up!” Simon bellowed. Then he spun away from Rose and rushed toward the witch. “You think I’ll stop with you? I’ll go after your coven. Every single one. I’ll burn those witches to ash. Say one more word. Utter one more chant, and I’ll send my stone beast after them tonight.”

  She stopped chanting.

  “Should have fucking thought…” Simon tapped the blade against his forehead. “I locked her magic down so it couldn’t leave the cell, but you get enough creatures of power together…and you made a new circle, didn’t you? A circle with just enough juice to bend those metal straps that hold my vampire.” He laughed. “Clever, but the fun’s over. Utter another word and everyone you all care about—” His voice boomed. “Will suffer! I will give them such agony you can’t even dream about the hell they will face.” He laughed. “Your precious husband, witch? I will make him scream. He will bleed and scream and the pain will not end.”

  The witch backed away from the bars of her cell.

  “That’s fucking right.” He whirled from her cell and rushed toward the angel—the angel who retreated with a sharp cry.

  Rose jerked against the straps. The metal didn’t feel as strong and she was sure she could break free, if she just tried hard enough.

  “Got to have more…” Simon was snarling. “Because of the vamp…she made me weak…”

  She’d wanted more than him weak. She’d wanted him dead.

  He put his index finger to the keypad near the angel’s cell, scanning it, then he typed in a quick code. The cell sprang open.

  “Leave her alone!” It was the muse who’d yelled. “You’ve hurt her enough! Just leave her alone!”

  But he yanked the angel out of the cell. She fell to her knees and he lifted his knife. Her wings flew out, covering her.

  And he stabbed them. Again and again.

  “No!” The muse screamed. “Stop it!”

  Every time that a feather fell from the angel’s body, a flare of bright light shot toward Simon, as if power were running straight to him. His chest stopped bleeding. The wound sealed up.

  He kept stabbing the angel’s wings.

  “Stop it!” Now the witch was screaming, too. “You’re killing her!”

  Simon laughed. “That’s the point, isn’t it?” But he took a step back. The angel lay huddled on the floor. “I need all the power from her wings if I’m going to get my Helene back. An angel’s wings for magic. A muse’s eyes for inspiration. A witch’s lips for spells. And the undead’s heart for life.”

  The strap on her left wrist snapped free.

  Rose immediately grabbed for the metal straps that held her torso down. She would get free and he would die.

  “No one can stop me now.” He laughed and in a blink, he was at Rose’s side again. He grabbed her hands and jerked them over her head. Then he pinned her wrists there, holding her easily with just one hand. His strength was incredible. Terrifying.

  And he’d gotten it from an angel’s wings?

  How many feathers had he cut from the angel?

  Simon leaned toward her. “Humans don’t have to stay weak. We can take your power.”

  The wings…the feathers…that was how he’d been able to use a compulsion, one that hadn’t broken without her blood to dilute his power. And now he was super strong, amped up on the magic of those wings like an athlete on steroids.

  “I’ll take that heart of yours,” he said. “Right now.” Only he wasn’t using his knife. He drove his right hand straight into her chest.

  Rose screamed in agony as she felt his fingers against her heart.

  The door crashed in. A panther roared.

  “What the hell?” Simon yelled as he let her go and whirled to face the new threat. “Why didn’t my guards kill your ass? I know that was what I told them to do. Why is it so hard to find good help?” Her blood was on his fingers.

  The panther roared again and leapt at him.

  But when the beast hit him, Simon didn’t go down. He caught the panther, holding him tightly, and laughed once more. “Surprise!” Simon tossed the panther across the room, and the great cat’s body slammed into the wall, leaving a deep impression. “Guess who isn’t going to lose this battle?”

  The panther jumped back to his feet just as a big, white wolf burst into the room.

  “Two of you?” Simon taunted. “How is that fair?”

  The panther and wolf both launched at him. They all went down, crashing onto the floor as fangs and claws flew out.

  Rose heaved against the bands. She broke two of them and slid her body out of the others, hauling herself up to freedom. She jumped off the table just as Simon heaved the wolf off him.

  But he didn’t escape from Julian. The panther locked his powerful jaws around Simon’s neck. He bent down and she knew—

  Simon’s body jerked and went still.

  She knew Julian had just severed the top of Simon’s spinal cord, the way he’d told her that his kind attacked. But after that terrible bite, the panther didn’t let Simon go. His head turned and his powerful teeth raked open Simon’s throat, sending a spray of blood into the air.

  “Please, please say the panther is with you.” The witch called out. “I need you to say that right now, vamp.”

  She took a step forward and pain burned through her chest. “He’s…with me. So is the wolf.”

  And the wolf was rising right then. Stalking toward Simon and the panther but…

  The panther swung his head toward Rose. She tried to smile at him, but it was hard considering she’d just nearly had her heart ripped out and Julian was covered in a dead man’s blood.

  The muse yelled, “We need to hurry here! Get us out, now! We don’t have long before he’s back!”

  Back? No, not again. No way. The guy’s head was barely attached to his body.

  The panther’s bones began to pop and snap. The wolf was already shifting, too.

  “Get us out!” The muse jerked against her bars. “Hurry!”

  Julian rose to his feet, once more in the form of a man. Rose ran to him, ignoring the blood on her, on him, and she threw herself against him. She held him tight, her body shuddering.

  “I never, ever liked your plan,” he rasped.

  She hugged him harder. “We found them.” She wouldn’t explain just how close she’d come to losing her heart, not right then.

  “How the hell do I get the cells open?” Rayce’s voice blasted.

  “You need his index finger…get the index finger from Simon’s right hand,” the witch yelled back. “And the code is 1031. Halloween…because the dick thought that was some kind of awesome joke. But hurry, before he rises.”

  Julian stiffened. “Rises?”

  Rose and Julian both whirled to look at Simon. He hadn’t moved. His body was still splayed on the blood c
overed floor and his head was—yes, um, barely there. He didn’t look like he was rising.

  “He doesn’t have a heart,” Rose whispered. “He cut it out. I don’t…how did he even live without a heart?”

  But Julian swore. “Fuck. Sounds like he made a deal with someone…”

  A deal?

  And then understanding dawned. Of course, of course. A human must have made a deal to keep living that way. Humans couldn’t work that kind of magic, not on their own.

  But Luke Thorne would never make a deal with humans.

  So that meant… “Where’s Leo?” Rose asked, her voice sharp.

  The ceiling fell in on them. Just gave way as something—someone—came crashing through it. Julian grabbed Rose, yanking her out of the way of the falling debris and shielding her with his body. And Rayce—he covered the angel who was still on the floor.

  Dust and wood, metal and stone—they kept tumbling down.

  “Where’s the angel?” Leo’s bellow. Because it had been Leo who’d come crashing through that ceiling.

  And if anyone had made a deal with Simon Lorne, Rose knew it must have been Leo.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Julian straightened. He and Rose turned to face the so-called Lord of the Light.

  “This crap is why I said hurry!” The muse yanked against her bars. “Because trouble just keeps coming.”

  Leo glanced around, not appearing even a little concerned that two women were still caged—and that a seemingly dead man was on the floor, with most of his neck gone.

  Rayce rose. The angel looked at up at him. Tears were on her cheeks.

  “Dammit, why are shifters always naked?” Leo waved his hand and jeans appeared on both Julian and Rayce.

  Julian growled. “You bastard. You did this.”

  Leo marched toward Rayce and the angel. “Gave you clothes? Yes, I did, you’re welcome.”

  But Julian ran forward and grabbed Leo’s arm. He swung the guy to face him. “You made a deal with Simon. Didn’t you? You gave him some kind of power?”

  “Get your hand off me. Panther, you don’t want to piss me off.”