by Dannika Dark
My heart raced as someone approached with clumsy steps, his shoes scraping against the floor and the smell of his cologne wafting over.
“Dammit,” he murmured. “Where’s a flashlight when you need one?”
He moved into sight, his hand running along the wall. Shepherd crept toward him, cocking his head as if he were using sonar to detect where the Mage was in proximity to him.
Even though I could see, I gave this one to Shepherd. Did a guy like that really need backup? Part of me wanted to watch him in action and see if a Sensor—who didn’t have any gifts of strength or speed—could take on a Mage.
“Hurry up!” a voice shouted from the top of the stairs.
Shepherd’s eyes turned in that direction, and they were wide. We’d expected one to come down while the other guards scrambled in the darkness to secure the doors.
That was what smart guards would have done.
But this added an additional layer of fuckery to the situation. If the guy at the top of the stairs sensed something was amiss, he’d alert the house and lock us in. Hopefully Viktor and the others had found a way inside.
I moved stealthily toward the staircase.
“Jim?” the man called out.
“Christ on a cracker, give me a second, will ya?” the man by the breakers yelled back.
I neared the stairs, assessing the man who stood in the doorway. He didn’t look especially strong, and I didn’t see a weapon in his hands.
When a metal tool hit the floor behind me, he took a step back. “Jim?”
Before he could slam the door, I rushed up the stairs and drove a stunner into his chest—the only stunner I had brought with me. He fell like a sack of potatoes, and I closed the door and slid him down the steps before someone heard the ruckus.
Shepherd hustled toward me, his hands reaching out blindly in the darkness.
“Watch your step!” I hissed.
He halted in his tracks, just inches from the body slumped at the bottom of the stairs. Shepherd took a few baby steps until his foot nudged the Mage’s thigh. I tensed when I considered he might finish off the Mage, but Shepherd stepped over the paralyzed man, climbing the stairs until he bumped into me.
“That leaves only two more,” he said quietly. “Right?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. Viktor would have never agreed to this if I’d told him I was uncertain how many guards there were in the house. Darius mentioned four in conversation, but he could have been lying.
Shepherd reached for the doorknob and opened the door. “Did you finish him off?” he whispered.
Finish, as in beheaded.
“Hell no,” I whispered back. “I’m going to leave my dagger in his chest and pick it up on the way out. You might be able to use him for questioning.”
Shepherd’s jaw set.
I flounced into the adjoining room. Sure, I could have popped his core light and killed him the easy way, but time was ticking, and killing a guy for blocking a doorway didn’t seem like a necessity.
The kitchen was bereft of color or other decorative items one might find, like fruit bowls or sugar canisters. Light trickled in from a window by the side door, illuminating the white tile and matching cabinets. Shepherd moved quietly to the left and turned the lock.
Christian filled the doorway, leaning against the doorjamb on his left arm, one foot crossed in front of the other, his other fist anchored against his hip as if he’d been collecting dust for hours.
Just outside the kitchen was the entrance of the house—front door to the left and a hall and enclosed stairwell to the right. I knew there was a hall on the other side of the living room, so I nudged Shepherd and pointed in that direction. “Check out the rooms on the other side.”
Christian put his arms around us, poking his head in the middle. “Lest you forget, I can hear a sight better than you. Everyone’s upstairs. Bottom floor’s empty.”
I shrugged him off and headed up the steps, gripping my only remaining weapon: a push dagger. Most of my good stunners were in my bag, which was either somewhere in this house or in an incinerator. We ascended the steps, and Shepherd brandished a knife and jogged past us.
“He likes to be the hero,” Christian said quietly.
“And what about you?”
“I approach battle like sex.”
I snorted. “Infrequently?”
He took an extra step so he was ahead of me. “When you get wrapped up in emotions, you make mistakes. There’s never a reason to hurry. Take your time, assess the situation, and you’ll always come out on top. Men who get excited and hurry never do the job right.”
We reached the second floor and realized there wasn’t a door. It was pitch-black, and I could barely make anything out. It looked like someone had remodeled the inside to resemble an office building, with a long hall and several doors. It made it impossible to hide, let alone flee if someone attacked us. We turned left and approached an intersecting hall that led to the right, cutting across the building.
Christian held his arm in front of me and placed his index finger against his lips. Shepherd kept going straight, his hand brushing against the wall as he attempted to maneuver through the dark. I suspected he was also using his Sensor abilities to read emotional imprints.
Christian and I neared the middle hall that Shepherd had passed, and as soon as we turned right, we noticed a Mage on the other side, leaning against a door.
I’d never seen a Vampire shadow walk up close, but watching Christian float through the darkness without making a sound was breathtaking. One minute he was by my side, and the next, in front of the Mage.
Shepherd barked out a curse, and a fight erupted in a nearby room. The Mage in front of Christian started to move, but Christian struck him in the head with a powerful blow.
I ran back to the stairs and charged up to the third level, my heart pounding with adrenaline. As I emerged from the stairwell, a Mage on the left was barreling toward me like a tornado, his fists pumping in the air. Because he couldn’t see in the dark, he wasn’t using his Mage energy and his pace was unsteady. I jumped when a gunshot went off on a floor above.
The Mage drew a gun, and I wondered why Darius felt safe arming his men with such ineffective weapons. I flattened my back against the wall, deciding not to waste my efforts on this idiot when my real target was Darius.
After he passed me and vanished down the stairs, I opened the door to a middle room and shone my light in, not caring if anyone spotted me. When I saw it was empty, I crossed to the door on the opposite side. This place felt more like a maze than a home. Who could live like this? Darius made such a fuss about land and property, yet his own home felt more like a prison or a mental institution. If there were windows, they only existed in the outer rooms, which were all closed off.
As soon as I stepped into the hall and turned right, I ran into someone.
Wyatt stumbled backward, his eyes wide. A small penlight fell out of his hand and tapped noisily across the floor.
“It’s me,” I whispered. “Raven.”
Wyatt heaved a sigh and quietly said, “You scared the crazy out of me.”
I watched as he bent down to pick up his flashlight. “I thought Christian was supposed to be protecting you?”
He pulled off his hat and stuffed it halfway into his back pocket. “If that man were a sock, he’d be the one that goes missing.”
“Well, I saw him downstairs. Is there anyone else on this floor?”
He shrugged. “I came in through the fire escape. You didn’t hear the window break?”
“No, that must have been when the gunshots were going off.”
He peered over his shoulder at Viktor, who stepped out from an open door. “I need to find his office. Have you seen it? Anything with filing cabinets or a desk.”
I shook my head, and we parted ways. Since Viktor and Wyatt had this floor covered, I circled back to the stairs. If Darius was in the building, he was probably hiding as close to the roof as h
e could get.
A commotion sounded from above, and I ran up the steps, my light moving erratically across the walls with every swing of my arm. More shots fired, and I stumbled out of the stairwell, spinning in confusion when I didn’t run into a wall. Instead of narrow hallways, the entire floor was wide open, separated by accent walls in the center that went toward the back.
A light flashed with the crack of a gunshot, and a sharp sound whizzed by my ear. I dropped my flashlight and shrieked, then raced across the open living room.
Claude roared, and when I reached the other side, I glimpsed him fighting a Mage who was armed with a dagger. Claude didn’t need a weapon. He had venomous fangs, and before they moved out of my line of vision, I saw him dive in for a bite like a savage animal.
Another shot was fired and grazed my arm. I flashed into a dark corner, grimacing in pain and trying to get a sense of the layout. There were several couches, two coffee tables, and a wall with a stone fireplace on the center wall to the right. I grabbed a vase and flung it across the room at the Mage, hoping he’d stop shooting long enough for me to do something.
Still armed with my dagger, I flashed toward him but tripped over an area rug. I rolled hard across the floor, close enough to him that I swiped my blade, cutting his leg. I tried to remember the moves Niko had shown me. Punching him in the testicles wasn’t one of them, but it always got the ball rolling in the right direction, so to speak.
He had the perfect opportunity to shoot me point-blank, but he cursed and dropped the gun, attempting to grab my wrist and disarm me. He was probably more concerned I had a stunner, and as we wrestled, he accidentally kicked the gun away with the heel of his shoe and sent it flying beneath the couch.
“Hold her still!” someone shouted.
When I heard the first shot, I scrambled out of sight. My flashlight was on the floor, aimed at the empty fireplace, but it illuminated the room just enough to allow me to see more clearly.
With a second gunman coming at me, I raced toward the stairwell, and just as he began firing, something slammed against my back and pinned me to the wall. At least seven more shots went off, making me shrink where I stood. A few of them struck the wall on either side of me. Suffocated and confused, I spun around and realized Christian was shielding me from the attack—using his body like a cage, his forearms pressed firmly against the wall, his head low. He was taking bullets for me. One right after the other until clicks sounded from an empty cartridge.
“Dammit,” the man hissed.
I looked up at Christian with wide eyes. It took me a second to process that he had just saved me from being turned into swiss cheese. I released a shaky breath, my eyes fixed on the blood oozing from his right arm, neck, and God knows where else. With a trembling hand, I touched my chest and stomach, searching for injuries that weren’t there. The bullets must have lodged inside him, perhaps ricocheting off his bones.
He eased back a little and grimaced.
“Why did you do that?” I whispered.
Christian lightly shrugged. “Old habits die hard.”
He stepped aside, appraising the gunman. It was then that I recognized Declan—the man who had tortured me with a hot iron.
“That one’s mine,” I said through clenched teeth.
A dark look flickered in Christian’s eyes. “I just took a Hail Mary of bullets for you—twelve to be exact. You’re fresh out of weapons, and you want to go for the big arseface who’s twice your size?”
“That’s the man who burned my face.”
I thought Christian would stand aside with a sweep of his arm and let me get my revenge, but his fangs descended, and I’d never seen him more menacing than in that moment.
Christian inclined his head and dramatically turned, stalking toward the man who’d just loaded another clip. He fired at Christian, each shot resounding in my head and making me jump.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Christian walked coolly toward him and then snapped the man’s wrist, the gun falling to the floor. Declan wailed in pain, unable to escape the Vampire’s iron grip.
Christian seized the man by the throat and lifted him off the ground for a few breathless seconds. The second Mage took off as soon as he realized they were up against a Vampire.
“So you’re the one who likes to torture women.”
Christian spoke in a calm voice, one that told me he was charming the man. “Do me a favor and light a nice warm fire. I want the flames high, and be sure to place the same instrument in there as you used on Raven. You and I are going to have some fun. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
The man coughed for air when Christian set him down. He turned toward the fireplace and put a log on the grate.
I dragged my eyes away from him and stared daggers at Christian.
He chuckled, his voice throatier than before. “Worry not, lass. Sometimes you have to lie to get them to cooperate.”
I picked up the flashlight and shone it on him. “You’re still bleeding.”
He glanced down. “Aye. It’s slower to heal the more blood we lose. There’s only one thing that’ll speed it along.” He lifted his gaze to my neck, and I stepped back.
“Then slurp on him,” I suggested, nodding at Declan.
Christian gave me a crooked smile. “I have other plans for that one. Besides, it doesn’t work as well unless it’s from a Vampire.”
“I’m not letting you drink my blood.”
He clapped a hand on my shoulder, his voice raspy. “That’s all right. You’re only half Vampire anyhow, so it probably wouldn’t work. Never you mind. The bullets left over will work themselves out… eventually,” he said, laying on the guilt.
Christian took a seat on a small stool while the Mage stoked the fire.
Claude rounded the corner, blood staining his mouth. He looked like a fallen angel with his beautiful features and savage eyes. He flared his nostrils and surveyed the scene before disappearing to search the outer rooms.
I thought about those split seconds when Christian reacted like a bodyguard—my bodyguard—shielding me from an onslaught of bullets. Was I overreacting? He could have just let the Mage take me out, and that was exactly what I’d expected from a man like Poe.
But why didn’t he?
I drifted toward him, a rattling sound coming from his chest each time he drew in a deep breath.
One swallow of blood; it seemed like such a little thing. Still standing, I straddled his legs and cupped his face in my hands. Christian’s eyes rose to meet mine. His shoulders were hard beneath my fingertips, and before one of us said something that would change my mind, I bent over and turned my head away, feeling the brush of his short beard against my neck.
His breath heated my skin in the place his lips touched.
“I can’t do this,” he whispered unconvincingly.
“Take what you need.”
His fangs grazed along my neck, inviting and deadly. My heart slowed down, beating strong, and something flickered between us—a sharp desire that made me lean into him. His hand briefly slid between my legs before he pushed me back.
Christian’s dark gaze fixed on my bleeding arm, and he lifted it, placing his mouth on the wound and gulping down the blood. This felt way less erotic, and all that sexual tension that had sparked up between us melted away as I watched him licking my arm.
“I’m not an ice cream cone,” I said. “Hurry up.”
“It’s not as pleasant this way,” he snapped.
“I offered you my neck. Doesn’t it all taste the same?”
He licked the corner of his mouth. “Maybe I prefer to draw the blood out and not have it gush into the back of my throat like from a stuck pig.”
“I could always pour it into a glass. Or would you prefer a baby bottle so you can suck on the nipple and draw it out?”
He lapped at another stream, his voice a murmur. “This is a truly scintillating conversation. If you don’t mind, a little peace
and quiet would be appreciated.”
Watching him drink my blood should have repulsed me, and in some ways it did, but it also made me think of moments ago when his lips were pressed to my jugular and a spike of need went through me. Was the Vampire in me really a separate entity, waving her arms and begging for someone to take her vein?
It made me want to smack her.
His eyes darted up, and I had the strangest feeling come over me—as if he’d seen me naked.
He let go and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “You really don’t like Vampires, do you? I can taste it in your blood. Is it because you’re afraid of what I can do that you can’t?”
“No, it’s because Vampires think everyone is inferior to them.”
“You’re marvelous at hiding pain,” he said, nodding at my arm. “The bullet struck a nerve.”
“What else can you tell?” I asked, my voice unsteady. I hadn’t given much thought to what he might learn from me by drinking my blood.
He stood up and arched his back. “I think we better tidy up.”
A pinging noise sounded when one of the bullets popped out of his chest and onto the floor.
“That’s disgusting.”
He stepped closer and stroked my cheek with the back of his hand. “You can’t fool me, precious. You’re curious enough about blood sharing that you would have preferred me to drink from your neck.” He leaned forward, his lips against my ear, his words a soft whisper. “Deny it.”
I shoved him back when another bullet clinked against the floor. “Not everyone thinks you’re the Adonis of the modern era. Are you done playing with your food, or can I finish off that Mage?”
All emotion erased from his expression, and he inclined his head. “You need to make yourself absent now. What I’m about to do to that man will give you waking nightmares for the rest of your life.”
I shuddered at the black look he gave me and hurried away. Before entering the stairwell, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Christian turning to face the fire, watching the Mage place an iron poker into the flames.
When I reached the third level, a blanket of darkness surrounded me, forcing me to sharpen my Vampire eyes. I slowed my pace, opening each door I passed and searching the dark corners. Most of the rooms were empty, but some had sitting chairs and other casual furniture. Two were garishly decorated—stuffed full of abstract paintings, silver candleholders, and zebra-print sofas. If that was where he seduced his women, no wonder he was single.