Sin City Collectors Boxed Set: Queen of Hearts, Dead Man's Hand, Double or Nothing

by Kristen Painter

  “Same. Tainted blood.” He frowned. “Listen, do me a favor and don’t try to escape.”

  She got to her feet. Boy, he had nerve. “You’re the last person who should be asking me for favors. Give me one good reason why I should even listen to you.”

  “Because I’d like both of us to get out alive.” He stood, giving her a chance to inspect all six feet, five inches of him and remember the days she used to climb him like a tree.

  No.

  He looked exactly the same as the last time she’d seen him. Handsome. Dangerous. And hot enough to melt butter. Didn’t stop her from wanting to kick him right in the baby maker. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  He pointed up.

  She tipped her head back. Her belly contracted in fear. “Bells,” she whispered. “Are you telling me that if I try to escape, those bells will start to ring?”

  “No,” he answered. The serious glint in his eyes meant he was telling the truth. “They’ll ring if I try to escape. If you make a break for it, the UV lights over my head get switched on.”

  Her gaze shifted to his ceiling. “There was a time when I wouldn’t have given a second thought to toasting you to a crisp.” She made eye contact with him again.

  “But that time has passed?” Hope permeated his words.

  She waited longer than necessary to respond. She slouched one shoulder. “Maybe.”

  “Minka, I know you’re mad at me—”

  “The best way to keep me from trying to escape would be you shutting up.” She jabbed a finger at him. “Just because I’m trapped here with you doesn’t mean you’re getting some kind of second chance with me. You betrayed me. Once was enough. This”—she wiggled her finger between them—“is just a massive inconvenience. Not a magical twist of fate. Get it?”

  The muscles in his jaw twitched. She’d hit a nerve. Good. “You never let me explain what happened.”

  “What’s to explain? You used information I gave you in confidentiality, a Collection failed and I paid for it. End of story. Unless you want to add the epilogue where you disappeared without saying good-bye.”

  Lines of frustration bracketed his mouth. “You have to know it wasn’t my intention that you take the blame for the failed Collection.”

  She stared, the old anger at him becoming fresh again. “What did you think would happen?” She threw her hands up and paced away from him. “I got demoted. Hard.”

  “I know.” His voice was quieter. “I’m sorry.”

  “You should have thought about that sooner.” She stood near the far side of the cell. She was still deeply hurt by what he’d done, but she couldn’t quite find the same seething amount of rage she’d once had toward him. Two years of separation had taken some of the bite out of it. Didn’t mean she forgave him, though. He’d done her wrong in a big way. “You cost me a directorship.” And a future. With him. She swallowed down the emotion clogging her throat and picked a flake of metal off one of the bars. “I’m back in the field now.”

  “You excel at field work.”

  “I know. Doesn’t mean I want to do it for the rest of my life.” She sighed and leaned her head against the bars. Being angry at him wasn’t going to get them out of here. “Did that information lead you where you thought? Did you find what you were looking for?”

  “No.”

  She slanted her eyes at him. “So you threw it all away for nothing, huh?”

  His jaw popped to one side before he turned away. “We should be working on a way out of here.”

  Change the subject. Just like always. But she let it be. No point in reopening those old wounds any more than they already had been. She imagined Gage had a new woman in his life by now, which was fine with Minka. Let him be someone else’s problem. “Agreed. Do you have any idea who this guy is?”

  “No.” Gage stared at the lights above him. “He said we owe him a debt and that we’re here to pay it back.”

  “We?”

  “His words.” Gage moved to the side of his cell and climbed the bars like she’d done earlier, but of course, with his reach and strength, he made it look like cake. He zipped up to the ceiling, then hung on with one hand and reached out toward the bulbs with the other.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Seeing if I can unscrew them.”

  She rolled her eyes. “If only more things could be fixed that way.”

  He shot her a look, then shook his head and went back to work. His fingers gently clasped the closest bulb. A sizzling sound cut the air. He hissed out a curse, his face freezing into a grimace as his body went taut. Sparks flew off the bulb. He convulsed once and fell, landing in a heap on the cell floor.

  “Gage.” She rushed to the bars, shoving her arms through but not able to reach him. “What the hell? Are you all right?”

  Wisps of smoke drifted off him, and his hands were covered in burns. He groaned once, and his eyes stayed closed. His mouth barely opened, but she still heard the single word that he managed to mutter. “No.”

  For the second time since he’d become a pawn in this strange game, the taste in Gage’s mouth made him want to gag. The ashy sweetness of burnt flesh coated his tongue to the point he wanted to spit, but he was in too much pain to do anything but lie on the floor. He should have guessed the bulbs had been rigged. The electricity that had passed through him the moment he’d touched the bulb had set him on fire internally. His entire body burned as though he’d made an attempt at sunbathing. Although some of that pain now was his body healing. He groaned and tried to sit up.

  “Lie still, you moron.”

  Minka was as caring as ever. He almost laughed. Her bluntness was something he’d always loved about her. Hard to get away with anything around her, and he’d liked that. Sure, it meant he’d had to try a little harder, constantly bring his A game, but he was okay with that. Especially when the reward was so great. Unlike most people he encountered, his vampire charm didn’t seem to matter one bit to her. If Minka liked something, she really liked it. No lies, no games, no guile. She went all in. Which is why he’d hurt her so much. “Thanks.”

  “For what?”

  “For being you.”

  “Who else would I be?” She grunted, a sound that usually indicated she thought something was stupid. “You, on the other hand, have gotten weirder.” She took a deep breath. “You look like you hurt.”

  “I do.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “My insides feel charred, but other than that…no, not really. But I will be. I’m going to need at least an hour or so to heal.” Which was only going to increase his already growing need for blood. Damn it. He turned his head enough to see her. The cool concrete felt good against his face.

  She sat on the other side of the bars, looking a little less defiant than before he’d gotten zapped. “How long do you think we’ve been here?” she asked.

  “I don’t know which one of us got here first, but I’d say I’ve been here half a day.” Based on how his blood need was growing. “Maybe longer.”

  She peered at him oddly. “What are you doing back in Vegas anyway? Did you quit Gotham City Collectors?”

  “No. I like the agency there. Good people. Plenty of work. And it’s my hometown.”

  “So why Vegas?”

  He was reluctant to tell her only because he knew she wasn’t going to like it. “I got a lead that someone I’ve been searching for is here.”

  “Is this related to what you did to me?”

  “Yes.”

  As if on cue, she let out an exasperated sigh. “You’re never going to let that go, are you? No matter what it costs you.”

  “I can’t let it go.”

  She shook her head. “Just like you can’t explain it to me?”

  “Just like that.” She didn’t know the details, but it had to be that way. He couldn’t jeopardize his position as a Collector. If their bosses knew he’d become a Collector to access their extensive databases and use their resources t
o track down Blackwell, they never would have hired him. He’d tried for years to find Blackwell with no luck. Becoming a Collector had at least given him some leads. And if the GCC found out now that he’d been using agency resources for his own agenda, he was pretty sure that would get him the kind of disciplinary action that would put an end to his quest. “It’s already cost me too much.”

  “You can say that again.”

  In that moment, he realized she was talking about them. He’d been talking about his search to find his brother’s killer. Did Minka still love him? The tiniest spark of possibility flared inside him. He watched her face, hoping for a reaction that might confirm his suspicions. “We were good together, you and I.”

  “Don’t.” She turned her head and refused to meet his eyes.

  “Don’t what?”

  “Play on my sympathies. For one, they don’t exist. And it’s unfair to dredge all this up when I’m trapped here with you.”

  “When you can’t walk away from me, you mean.”

  She got up and went to the far side of her cell, doing exactly what he’d just said. “You should try to sleep. You’ll heal faster that way.”

  “And you should talk this out with me. Maybe you’d heal faster that way, too.”

  She glared at him. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “You obviously haven’t gotten over what happened. And I don’t blame you. I hurt you. I was wrong. But why you won’t let me explain is—”

  She stormed back to his side of the bars. “You disappeared on me. Then I find out you betrayed me. You…you…” Her hands clenched, and she exhaled a ragged breath. “You broke my heart. And my life.” Her eyes glistened. “And left me to pick up the pieces.”

  “Sweetheart—”

  “No. I’m not your sweetheart, your baby, your honey, your love. I’m not your anything.”

  “Then what am I to you?” He already regretted the question, knowing her answer wasn’t going to be something he’d like.

  “You’re a bad memory. A part of my past I’d like to forget.” Her lip curled. “A mistake I wish I’d never made.”

  The pain in his eyes cut her to the bone. She turned away to hide her face. She didn’t want him to see what a bad liar she was. Blast it all, she’d tried to forget about him. But how did you forget about the love of your life?

  He was mercifully quiet. Maybe she’d hurt him badly enough that he’d stop giving her those big mournful eyes that made her want to chew through the bars and forgive him in a very physical way. No. That was not going to happen. Not until he could explain why he’d betrayed her that way. Not until he told her who he was chasing and why. She deserved the full truth.

  And it had better be good.

  She stayed quiet and so did Gage. He needed to heal, so that was good. They’d have a better chance of breaking out if he was in top form. She tipped her head back against the bars and closed her eyes. Sleep teased at the edges of her consciousness, but the situation wouldn’t let her relax enough to really drift off.

  They stayed like that for at least an hour. Maybe two. Then Gage’s whisper broke the silence. “He’s back.”

  The lights surrounding the glass panel flared to life. She shielded her eyes and looked at Gage. The burned patches of skin were gone. “How did you know?”

  He turned so his back was to the glass and the cameras and mouthed, “I can hear him.”

  She nodded in understanding.

  “I see you’re both still alive,” their captor’s voice boomed. “How very disappointing.”

  She sneered at the glass. “If that’s what you’re waiting for, you’re going to wait a long time.”

  “We’ll see.” The bright lights flicked off again, leaving them awash in the dim fluorescents.

  The door to the right of the glass opened, and a small bot wheeled through. It carried a covered rectangular tray. The mechanical whir of its track wheels stopped as it came to a halt in front of Minka’s cell. A slim antenna shot out, unlocked something, then opened a narrow section of bars at floor level. It slipped the tray through, relocked the bars, spun a hundred eighty degrees and went back through the door. The aroma of food was unmistakable.

  She waited until the door closed before she spoke. “What do you think that is?”

  Gage sniffed. “Judging by the smell, I’d say your dinner.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I can smell that it’s food. I meant do you think it’s some kind of trick?”

  He shrugged. “In here? Probably.”

  Her stomach growled on cue. She looked up at the glass. “I’m not eating this.”

  Their captor’s voice came through loud and clear. “It’s not poisoned. That wouldn’t be very sporting of me, now would it?”

  The mike clicked off, and she shifted her gaze to Gage. “I’m not eating it.”

  “It doesn’t smell poisoned.”

  “And the tainted blood you drank, how did that smell?”

  “Point taken.”

  Her stomach growled again. “You don’t have any food on you, do you?”

  He made a face at her. “Do I look like I brought a sack lunch?”

  She took a deep breath, which was a bad idea, because that only made very clear what she was turning down. Pizza. She groaned. “I think I smell pepperoni. Why does it have to be pepperoni?”

  “You want me to eat a bite?” Gage offered. He notched his shoulder against the bars, lounging there like he didn’t have a care in the world. “It won’t kill me and then at least you’ll know if it’s safe. You should eat if you can. Keep your strength up.”

  She nodded. His caring was nice, but he’d always been smooth that way. Hard to hate. “That’s a good idea.” She lifted her chin and met his gaze. “Besides, I’ve had a fantasy about seeing you die, so this could kill two birds with one stone.”

  Twisting, he grabbed the bars above his head and leaned in, his back flaring out like a superhero’s cape. “You don’t really mean that.” His gaze turned wicked. “Except for the fantasies part. But I think they’ve been of a very different nature.”

  She crossed her arms as a defense against the heat his words sparked in her. “You’re still just as full of yourself, I see.”

  He waggled his brows. “I bet you’d like to be full of—”

  “How you can even think that way when we’re being held prisoner is beyond me.” But then he always had been rather demonstrative in his affections. She’d loved that about him, actually. The way he didn’t care who was watching. The way his hand always found hers. The way he wanted her all the time.

  “It’s the company.” His gaze clung to her no matter what she did.

  He was being blatant about his desire for her. Acting like he had in the old days. It was entirely unsettling. “Are you going to taste this pizza for me or not?”

  “Happy to. You want to feed me through the bars? Not like I can reach it.”

  She bent down and grabbed the tray. Pain shot through her fingers, and she hissed as she dropped it. The tray clattered to the ground. Her fingers were sliced and bleeding. “What the hell?”

  “What happened?”

  She studied her fingers. “I don’t know. The tray cut me. Damn it, that hurts. And they’re not healing like they should.” Blood dripped on the floor. “He must have put something on the edges of the tray to slow my ability to heal. An anticoagulant.”

  A soft growl lifted her head. Gage’s eyes were glued to her wounds. and his mouth was open, revealing his fangs. His nostrils flared as he inhaled the smell of the blood.

  She walked as far back as she could, not out of fear, but to give him some distance and a chance to get himself under control. “Snap out of it, Gage.”

  He pulled at the bars, his eyes feral with hunger.

  Laughter came through the speakers. “Those bars won’t bend like the others, vampire. They’re laced with silver. You want her, you’ll have to go out through the bars you can bend. Think you can get to her before
the bells do?”

  She’d never wanted to hurt someone so badly in her life. And she didn’t even know who the guy was. “Chill, Gage. He did this to me so you’d react exactly like that.”

  Gage pushed away from the bars, but held on to them, his gaze seemingly unable to focus on anything but her bleeding hands. “I know,” he ground out.

  “How long has it been since you’ve fed?”

  “A couple days.” He closed his eyes and inhaled again.

  “Which has been too long by the looks of you.” She lowered her voice. “Get hold of yourself. You’re giving him what he wants. Don’t lose it. Not here. Not like this. Not in front of him.”

  He leaned into the bars again, tipping his head down, and nodded slightly.

  The cuts on her fingers were finally closing up. If vampires had a weakness, it was blood. The fact that their captor was hoping to exploit that took her rage to a new level. Despite everything that had happened between her and Gage, the urge to protect him still lived in her. She ground her back teeth together in frustration. To think that after all this time and all Gage had done, he still had his hooks in her.

  Maybe fangs would be a better word. She leaned on the bars behind her, the memory of the first time he’d bitten her causing her body to go weak. He’d warned her it would be an intimate act. He’d been right. Even now her body tightened at the memory of the way he’d pierced her skin and the sensation that had shot through her. He’d set her on fire. Lit every nerve ending with need. Turned her boneless in his arms.

  She sank to the floor of the cell, thankful for the cold of the concrete. The last of the wounds closed. She held her hands up. “I’m not bleeding anymore.”

  He nodded but didn’t look at her, instead put his back to the bars and slid down to sit the same way she had. He put his head against his knees and went very still.

  She knew that stillness. It was a vampire thing. They could go immobile like a statue. It was a state of rest for most. For Gage, it had always been a way to shut down and retract from the world around him. His own kind of escape.