by Cynthia Eden
Simon finally turned away, and grabbed the clothes she’d lain out for him.
Her shoulders fell. Emotion. She’d never been good with feelings.
Never understood them, not the good ones, anyway.
Rage. Hate. Vengeance. Her life. Those she understood.
Love? That scared her. Love led to pain. She’d had enough pain.
But when Simon had said he loved her…
Her heart had stopped. Her breath had died.
Dee didn’t know what she felt for him. She wanted him, needed him, and if anyone tried to hurt him, she’d kick some ass.
Love—what was it, really?
Spending forever with someone? She glanced at Simon. All she could see was his strong, stiff back.
Her hands still trembled so she balled them into fists. Not now. This wasn’t the time.
But things weren’t going to end like this.
Forever? Dee exhaled. Marriage and a picket fence had never been for her, she knew that, even before her change. Her life was too hard. She was too hard for someone to love.
No, Simon said he loves me.
She turned away and gave him a few minutes to dress. And she gave herself some time to get herself together. Seriously, she had to get a grip.
When he was done, she schooled her features, and they marched to the 189
door. With a jerk of her wrist, she opened the door. Zane waited for her, his hands crossed over his chest. The paleness that had drawn his features before
—because of the blood he’d lost—was gone.
His hooded gaze raked her. “You sure you’re up for this?”
Of course not. But there were only two options: Kill or die. Dee cleared her throat, then asked, “Are you?” She’d tried to ditch him once, and, in typical Zane style, he’d come through to save her butt.
She didn’t want to risk him, but knew there was no way he’d let her get in another sucker punch.
“I’m your backup, baby.”
A snarl sounded behind her and one black brow rose. “Guess lover boy’s awake, huh?” Zane asked.
The floor creaked. “Yeah, he is.” Simon came to her side. She glanced back and forth between the two men. Simon’s jaw worked and then he managed, “Thank you.”
A crooked smile twisted Zane’s lips. “Hard, wasn’t it?”
“Fuck yeah.”
“You sound just like Dee.” The smile vanished. “Giving you my blood was harder.”
A grim nod. “I won’t forget.”
“I won’t let you.” A pause. “And believe me, I call in my debts.”
Yes, he did.
Zane’s gaze turned back to Dee. “What are our odds?”
She forced a shrug. “I figure about forty-sixty.”
A low whistle. “That sucks.”
Dead right. Dee squared her shoulders. “Let’s do this.” Before more vamps came hunting for her. She didn’t want to be caught off-guard again.
Three recent, brutal attacks. When Grim wanted you dead, the guy just didn’t stop. Now that she was Born, he was desperate to stop that
“prophecy” from coming true.
Grim didn’t fuck around.
He was about to learn that neither did she.
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Chapter 15
He’d pay his debt to the demon, one way or another. Simon stalked across the barren earth, keeping his head low as he followed the male shifter to Grim’s lair.
Jude Donovan moved easily over the rough terrain, never taking a misstep, and his woman, the deceptively delicate ADA Erin Jerome, kept perfect pace with him. Another shifter. The guy’s mate.
Simon didn’t know much about her, other than that she worked in the Baton Rouge prosecutor’s office and that the tiger was very, very possessive of her.
She hadn’t given him blood, something else he knew. Probably because the tiger wouldn’t allow her to link with a male vampire.
“This is it,” Jude’s nearly soundless voice had the group pausing.
Simon glanced over at Dee. Heavily armed, eyes shining in the darkness, she was one fine sight to behold.
“You sure about this?” Erin asked, casting a quick glance at the ramshackle buildings that waited in the distance. They couldn’t get much closer or the vamps would catch the distinct scent of the shifters. They’d have to hang back for now, with the demon. “Just walking right up to him, um, that doesn’t seem like the best plan.”
“No, it’s not the best plan. But it’s all we’ve got now.” Dee’s eyes narrowed on the line of buildings. “How many, Jude?”
His head cocked. “Ten vamps. Two humans, but—” His nose twitched. “Somebody’s dying in there.”
Simon stiffened. Of course, Grim would be having one of his parties.
“Nina?” Dee whispered.
“Who?” Erin asked.
“The Ignitor I told you about,” Zane said, his voice emotionless.
Erin shook her head. “Ignitors make me nervous. Anyone who can burn the flesh from me with just a look…” She shuddered.
Simon tossed her a long, level stare. “Trust me, the vamps in there are a hell of lot scarier than she is.” They could be killing her while they stood outside, shooting the damn shit. He stepped forward and heard Erin’s mocking laugh.
Her claws flashed before his eyes. Wickedly sharp and very, very long. “The day I’m afraid of a vamp is the day, well, hell, it’s the day that’ll 191
never come.”
He could only shake his head. “It’ll come, trust me.”
“No.” She jerked her thumb toward a watchful Dee. “It’s her I trust.”
His eyes narrowed. Did he have to worry about an attack from her, too?
“Who’s hurt, Jude?” Dee demanded, seeming to ignore the byplay.
Jude’s lips thinned. “Human. That’s all I know. So much blood in the air.” He shook his head. “It’s hard to say for certain.”
Dee inhaled deeply. “Yeah, I can smell it.”
So could Simon. A scent that had once repelled him but now slipped inside and tempted him closer. “Let’s go join the party,” Simon muttered.
Before the party joined them. Every second they stood out there, they risked exposure.
If they were slipping in, now was the time.
Dee gave a curt nod. “Stay back,” she told the others. “If this goes to hell—”
“Then we’ll be there to pull you out,” Zane finished quietly.
Her eyes shifted, became black to match the darkness. “No, if I die, you get out of here, fast, because, Zane, you might be a badass, but no way can a demon take down a Born. Especially not one who’s been around for so long.”
At least a thousand years. Plenty of time to amass power. A whole freaking army.
One that he hadn’t called to his side. Why not?
“You guys should go now,” Dee said, voice rising a bit. Her hands balled to rest on her hips. “I can feel—there’s really not much time left.”
What? Not much time, she—
Jude’s head jerked. “Shit. They’re coming.”
A faint, sad smile from Dee. “Not they. He.” Her gaze tracked to Simon. “I really thought he’d find us sooner.”
Simon blinked. Grim? The bastard knew—
Jude swore and grabbed his mate’s hand.
“Go,” Dee said again. “Come dawn, this will be over.”
One way or another.
The shifters vanished into the shadows. They had to move fast or the vampires would find them. Then they’d drain all that powerful blood.
Zane held his ground.
“I need you as backup,” she told him, but didn’t look the demon’s way. No, her eyes were on the shadows that crept ever closer. So close now.
“Zane, go.”
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The demon left. Disappeared into the darkness.
Grim is coming.
Simon gave his head a hard shake. “How does he know—”
Her bro
ken laugh carried on the wind. “Oh, Simon, did you really think he wouldn’t be able to feel you? This close?”
He tested the spell. No, it was still there, still—
“He knows, Simon, and he’s coming.” Calm. He realized he was part of her plan. The lure to draw out Grim.
She stepped toward him and reached for his hand. “This is what we’ve been waiting for. We’ll end this tonight.”
They had the weapons. She had the promised strength. And he wouldn’t turn on her.
A streak of fire lit up the night. “What the hell?”
“Nina!” Dee spun away. “No! She’s here and she’s going after Grim!”
His vampiress ran toward the flames.
And he went after her. Walking into the fire. No, running into it.
As his legs thundered across that barren Texas soil, he felt a brush in his mind, then the soft echo of a voice.
“Welcome home, bastard.”
Fuck.
Zane’s head jerked up when he saw the flash of flames. Oh, shit. Not good.
The human—Nina—she’d get her ass killed.
Maybe that’s what she wanted. To die so she could join her family.
He’d wondered about Dee once. Wondered if she didn’t take the toughest cases because she wanted out, too.
Humans didn’t understand. Getting out was the easy part.
He slid a stake out of his bag. One of Dee’s, of course. A tiger’s roar echoed in the distance and he knew that Jude and Erin were scouting the area, eliminating guards and doing their best to make sure the coming bloodbath didn’t take out the good guys.
Not that any of them were really that good.
He watched the flames a moment. They were racing across the roof of the building on the far left. The building that looked like some old stable.
The fury of an Ignitor. Something to see.
His fingers clenched around the stake.
A scream pierced the air. A long, tortured scream—a cry that was ripped from a woman’s throat.
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The flames flickered. Began to die.
Because Nina was dying?
No. Not another death on her hands. Dee raced forward with a fierce burst of speed. Two vamps came out at her, but she knocked them back, swiping her claws over one’s throat and burying a stake in another’s flesh.
She missed his heart, but he hit the ground, shrieking loud enough to make a girl think he was dying.
So much for a quiet entry.
But being quiet didn’t really matter now. Grim knew they were out there.
She turned, following the woman’s scream and the thickening scent of blood. A house, ranch-style, waited. Dee didn’t bother with the door. She hurtled through the big picture window, Simon’s curse following her.
Rolling, she jumped to her feet, claws up, ready for anything, ready for—
Death. A woman, with long, dark hair twisted over her face, lay on the bed. The white sheets beneath her were stained red.
More glass shattered behind her as Simon fought his way into the room.
Her gaze searched over the area. The odors of sex and blood were everywhere. But that woman wasn’t Nina.
The hair on her nape rose and Dee spun around.
He stood in the doorway. The bastard who had haunted her nightmares. Tall and lean, his hair streaked with gold and his eyes pitch black. “Been a long time, little Sandra Dee.” Grim paused. “I knew the fools hadn’t managed to take you out.” His dark stare swept over her body, slowly. Not sexually. No interest there. Just an assessment. Thorough. He shrugged. “I thought you’d be easier to kill.”
“Yeah, you’re not the first person to make that mistake.” She’d never forgotten his face and his soul-less eyes.
Beside her, Simon stood as still as freaking stone. The bastard was trying to get back in his head. She didn’t have to be a mind-reader to know that was coming.
Even though she was a mind reader now.
Deliberately, Dee stepped in front of Simon. Her turn.
Grim’s lips quirked, but he made no move to attack. “You’re too late to save her.”
Dee’s gaze darted to the bed.
A cold laugh. “Not her. She doesn’t matter.” He smirked. “The witch.”
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Her blood iced. No, no, he was just screwing with her. Catalina was long gone. She’d run so she wouldn’t face the fire.
“She had her uses, I’ll give you that.” He lifted his hand, then pointed right over Dee’s shoulder. Straight at Simon. “After all, with just a little fire, she gave me…you.”
Her gut knotted. Why had the fire been in that old stable? If Nina were attacking, why hadn’t she set her fire here in the main house?
“Can you feel me, asshole?” Grim snarled at Simon, and the smile left his face. “Because I can damn well feel you.”
Dee glanced back. Sweat coated Simon’s face and his eyes flickered back and forth, back and forth, from black to gray. Torment etched deep lines onto his face. “Get…out,” he growled.
He’ll turn on you.
Screw this.
“Witches can burn so fast,” Grim murmured, “but your witch, I made sure she—”
Dee leapt forward.
“Do you want me to kill them all?” Grim shook his head and lunged to meet her. One hand ripped the stake from her fingers and her wrist cracked beneath his hold. His right hand grabbed her neck, held tight, and he lifted her off the ground. “Do you? Because I can kill every one of those bastards you brought to my land. Your demon, your stinking animals—”
Zane. Jude. Hell, Erin.
“The witch let me back in.” He brought his face close to hers. “She didn’t want to touch the dark magic, not at first, but when the fire started, she was all too eager.”
Dee couldn’t breathe. If he snapped her neck, she’d be helpless.
Paralyzed, but still living, until her body could heal. He wouldn’t give her the time to heal. He’d stake her. Behead her. Burn her—
Like he’d burned Catalina?
Why wasn’t Simon helping her? Attack. Get the bastard! Her mental cry blasted out, and she tried to reach him desperately on their blood link.
And she slammed into a brick wall. A wall that hadn’t been between their minds before.
Grim.
He yanked her close to his face. “I had him first, and I have him again.” He threw her against the wall. Dee hit, hard, and her body shuddered at the impact.
She glanced up to see Grim studying Simon with raised brows.
“You’re the one who caused all this trouble for me.”
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A fine tremble worked down Simon’s stiff length.
Grim shook his head. “Usually, the willing are the easiest to control.
And you were willing, weren’t you, Chase? So ready to live forever.”
His choice. Dee shoved up to her knees. Simon?
Damn brick wall. She couldn’t see it, but she knew it was there and she wanted to smash her fist right through it.
Simon’s eyes jerked toward her. A flash of smoky gray. He lifted his leg, as if he were going to take a step.
“A puppet on a string.”
He froze.
Grim laughed again. “Too damn easy.” He turned his head toward her.
“I can make him do anything, you know. Anything.”
Dee’s fingers brushed against her ankle holster. Not packing a gun.
Old faithful.
“I wonder…” His gaze rose to the broken window. “Do you think she’s still alive? The flames should have taken the stable by now.”
But the flames had flickered. She’d seen them waver right before she’d heard the scream. The scream had brought her here, instead of to the fire.
“You’re a fucking liar.” Dee rose to her feet, keeping her hands close to her sides. “Catalina is nowhere near here.”
“My men caught her right after she left the motel.” He shrugged. �
��I knew where you were, every minute. I knew.”
And he’d gotten his vamps to follow and attack her and Simon. Then to attack Zane. Yeah, he’d told her all about his run-in with the vamp crew.
Had Grim gotten to Catalina, too? Her heart kicked up in her chest. If I go with you, I’ll burn.
Maybe Cat had been seeing her future after all.
Dee’s gaze jerked to the flames she could see in the distance. Was Cat still alive?
The flames danced.
Sweat began to slick her palms. Couldn’t afford that, not now.
“Simon.” She said his name deliberately, injecting fury into the word.
His head jerked.
Grim’s brows pulled together. “You know, I was going to kill you…
but it’ll be more fun if he does the deed for me.”
Her eyes narrowed to slits. “I’m all about fun.” Time’s running out.
The fire.
Grim’s attention shifted totally to Simon. “Kill the bitch.”
Simon’s lips peeled back, revealing his fangs. “Fuck…off.” He 196
shuddered, shaking so hard it looked like he was convulsing.
Or fighting one very strong compulsion.
Fighting for me.
Just like she’d fight for him.
When Grim’s jaw dropped, Dee attacked. She jumped at him, ready for his attack this time, and when he went to grab her, she drove her right hand into his side. Her claws dug deep, and the broken bones throbbed in a sickening wave. She rammed her head into him and her left hand came up, the stake ready.
She drove it right at his heart. It plunged into his flesh, but he twisted and she knew she’d missed her mark. Dee wrenched the stake, jerking it to the left, and Grim snarled.
Then she took him down. Her right leg hooked under his and she tripped him, knocking him flat like Pak had taught her so long ago.
She kept that stake in him, because she would finish him, one way or another.
Hold on, Catalina.
“No!”
Dee’s gaze jerked up just as Nina came barreling through the door.
Blood covered her shirt, reddened her hands and face.
“No! You can’t! He’s mine!” Nina yelled.
It was a fury Dee understood, but, really, dead was dead. It didn’t matter to her who made the kill. They’d all have their vengeance.