Синтия Иден - Midnight's Master

Her guards. Holly spun around. They were talking to someone. Who was that? Mac?

“Hey! Hey, I-” Something slammed into the side of her head and Holly hit the concrete.

She hurt. Holly didn’t want to open her eyes because the pain was so intense.

And because she was afraid.

A grinding teased her ears. Grinding, grinding…

No, not a grinding, the sound of a car moving.

The van.

Her eyes flew open, but she could see only darkness. What the hell?

She shook her head, twisting- oh, God, what happened to me? Her eyes-no, not blind, a blindfold . The fabric slipped just a bit. Holly tried to wrench her hands up but couldn’t move.

She was tied, her hands bound behind her, her feet strapped together.

No! Someone had lodged a thick cloth in her mouth, so she couldn’t cry out. Holly could only lay there, and wait for whatever the hell would come next.

Kim, strapped to that table, blood all around her.

No.

Niol stared at the vampire before him, the stench of decay filling his nose. The bastard was smiling, long, thin fangs glinting.

“You think I’m scared of you, demon? I’m fucking immortal! Nothing scares me!”

Idiot. Had to be newly turned. Niol smiled. “Just because you can live forever, asshole, doesn’t mean you will .” He focused his power, felt that sweet rush of dark heat, and threw the vamp across the room.

The guy smashed into a table. Niol moved fast, grabbed a broken piece of wood, and shoved it right over the vampire’s heart. “Now, for the last time, what do you know about the woman at Myer’s who hired those idiots to torch my bar?” Because it was all connected. Dots . Little fucking dots. All he had to do was follow the trail and find his killer.

“S-she w-wasn’t into v-vamps…” Gasped out.

Better. At least the asshole wasn’t denying he’d seen the woman anymore. Niol had gone through three demons and one shifter to get to this asshole. Connecting the fucking dots. Everybody remembered something. Remembered seeing someone, somewhere.

This guy-Lane Mims-he was the link Niol needed.

“Who was she interested in?”

“D-demons. Only w-wanted to w-watch d-demons…”

Niol’s muscles tightened. “Why?”

“L-let me go!”

“Tell me what I want and maybe I will.” He shoved the weapon a good half-inch into the vampire’s chest. “Tell me nothing and I’ll kill you.”

Blood coated the vamp’s shirt. “D-don’t know wh-why. She-she just watched d-demons.”

Because she wanted to slice them to bits?

“What else do you know about her?”

“She-she was a student at MU.”

Mellrune University. Niol’s blood heated. What were the odds?

Lines of pain etched onto the vamp’s face. “F-followed her one n-night.”

Yes, he knew that. Knew that old Lane made a habit of following human women-and sometimes doing more. When he’d been human, the guy had landed in jail twice for rape. Becoming a vampire sure hadn’t changed the guy for the better, and Niol knew his human habits hadn’t faded. “And?”

“W-went to some lab at the u-university.” The vamp’s breath blew into his face. Rancid.

“You mean to tell me you followed the blonde back to the university one quiet night…” Lane only hunted at night. “She went into a deserted lab, and you didn’t take a bite?” Niol shook his head. “Lane, I’m disappointed.” By your bullshit.

The vampire’s eyes narrowed and the evil inside showed its face. “B-bitch wasn’t…alone.”

Niol eased up the pressure on the vampire’s chest, just a bit. “Really?”

“Some ass-asshole with her. S-started m-making out w-with h-him the minute…she w-went inside-place smelled l-like f-fucking bleach-”

Niol bet the lab had smelled better than the vamp. He clenched his back teeth and ordered, “Tell me what the man looked like.”

The vamp’s head shook. “C-couldn’t…s-see much-”

Niol smiled. “I know you, Lane. I know you like to watch.” Watching and hurting. That was the way Lane got off with his prey.

A smile, trembling with pain but wide with memories. “N-never know h-how close…to-to d-death they are-”

His fingers tightened around the wood. No, some people never knew.

He’s not an innocent. After the jerk finishes telling me what I want, no reason I can’t stake his ass.

Holly’s face flashed before him.

“What. Did. He. Look. Like?”

“T-tall. B-blond.”

Every damn dot connected. Fuck.

“B-big d-dick-”

His cell phone rang.

The call that saved the asshole’s life.

“Hold him,” he snarled to the demon on his right.

Thomas gave a grimace but took over vamp duty.

Niol glanced down at the phone and felt his gut tighten. Holly’s guards. But, no, it wasn’t them.

It was a number he’d never seen before. His eyes on the squirming vampire, he punched the button to take the call. “Who the hell is this?”

Laughter. Cold and high.

“Got somethin’ of yours.” The voice was female. Mocking.

“Do you?” He’d never sounded calmer or been more afraid. Not Holly. Not her-

A lamb among wolves. And she hadn’t even known it.

“I’m going to slice her open, from groin to neck.” More laughter.

Niol fought not to incinerate everyone and everything around him. “Don’t touch her.” The demons around him stilled at his fury.

They knew his moods well and he saw their eyes jerk to the exits.

“Try and stop me.” A taunting whisper.

The vampire whimpered.

“If you really want to save the demon reporter, then come and get her.”

A trap-one meant to catch and kill him. Niol didn’t care. The crazy bitch had the perfect bait. “Where?”

More laughter. “You come alone- and you tell no one -or you’ll find Storm in pieces.”

The woman had just asked for her own death. “Agreed.”

A sound that could have been a purr. Then she rattled off the address and said, “Can’t wait to see you, love. ”

The call ended and the rage exploded.

She was bait. Holly curled against the floor of the van. Bait to lure Niol to his death.

“You’re awake, aren’t you, demon?” That voice seemed familiar.

Holly didn’t move.

“I know you are.” Screamed.

Not even a flinch. She wasn’t about to let her body betray her.

Where had she heard that voice?

“Your lover’s coming, and I’m going to have so much fun playing with him.”

The van jerked to a stop. Holly let her body roll forward. Her head rammed into some kind of bag.

“Dammit, she’s still out.”

Not alone. Holly forced herself to keep breathing slowly. The psycho woman was talking to someone else. Holly had only heard the woman speak. She’d woken just before the bitch called Niol.

“You think he’ll really come after her?” The woman asked, her voice high and shaking with excitement.

One of the van’s doors squeaked open. A second door opened immediately after.

Definitely not alone.

Christ. Where have I heard that voice before?

She could have told the woman that, yes, Niol would come after her. Holly didn’t doubt it for a minute. He’d come after her and bring hell’s fury in his wake.

She’d seen the fury before and knew that she’d see it again.

Provided, of course, she could stay alive until he came for her.

The doors slammed shut. One, then the other.

Breathe. Breathe.

Squeaks and groans as the van’s back doors opened.

Then hands closed around her ankles and yanked her toward the killer.

“Come on, Holly, you’re not fucking fooling me.” A man’s voice.