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Even with duct-tape over her mouth, I’d recognize Mrs. Larson anywhere. Her gaze darted wildly around the room until it landed on me. She glared at me as if I was the criminal mastermind behind this whole operation. I rolled my eyes, earning me a muffled lecture from the bound woman on the couch. Eli moved toward her, potion in hand.
I sighed. “Please,” I bargained. “Use it on me and leave her out of it.”
Eli jerked his head toward a still mumbling Mrs. Larson. “Shut her up,” he told the vampire sitting next to her. One blow to the back of the head, and she was out cold. Probably for the best.
“Sorry boss,” the vamp said. “It was just a tap.” Not from those meaty fists, it wasn’t, but I kept my mouth shut.
Eli grabbed me by the hair and pulled me to my feet. “No matter. I’d hoped to save you for dessert, but it looks like you’ve been promoted to the main course.”
The door opened, and Martin returned. “No one is coming,” he said with a nasty grin.
Eli wrapped a fist in my hair and yanked my head back. “That’s good. We can take our time.”
“Let go of me,” I said loud enough to erase any doubt who Eli was threatening when the recording was played.
“Open her mouth,” he ordered.
Eager to make up for knocking his first victim unconscious, the vamp left Mrs. Larson on the couch and crossed the room to force my jaw open wide.
“Drink up, love,” Eli whispered in my ear as he poured some of the potion down my throat.
I had no choice but to swallow.
Eli handed the leftover potion to the other vamp and turned me to face him. “Some things never change.” He tsked. “Ten years, and you’re the same naïve little girl desperate to save everyone but yourself.” His eyes turned red with blood lust as he stared at my pulse beating erratically in my neck. “I’m going to enjoy this.”
He watched me for a long second as if savoring my fear. Then, he struck, sinking his fangs deep into my neck. Most vampires used compulsion to calm their victims and to numb the pain. Not Eli. Beneath that mask of civility he wore, he was a cruel bastard. He wanted me to feel every pull.
“One thing has changed.” I let him have a good taste before wrapping my arms around him, locking my wrists, and becoming a living torch. Everywhere our bodies touched danced with the flames.
Eli released his bite, but it was too late.
I’d never burned hotter, and in a matter of seconds, he was engulfed in fire. A better person wouldn’t have reveled in his scream. I waited until the fight left his body before releasing him. By then, the other vampires were racing for the door. I threw a fireball at Martin, hitting the coward in the back. Then, I took out the one who had pried my jaws open with a blast to the legs.
As I suspected, the baby vamp was a runner. I darted for the door, lobbing a fireball over his head to light up the gas circling the farmhouse. This one, I needed alive to corroborate the recordings. While he frantically searched for a break in the flames, I retrieved my supplies. Between the duct tape and the chain, he was trussed up in no time. After freeing Kinsley and Mrs. Larson, I retrieved the fire extinguisher I’d brought and doused the remaining flames inside the house. By the time I came back outside, both women were gone. I didn’t blame them.
The accelerant around the house burned itself out long before Grif arrived. “Where the fuck were you?” I snarled as he approached. Now that the danger was past, I had to fight back the full body shakes that threatened to overtake me. “I texted you an hour ago.”
“I got hung up,” he snapped, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes.
Kinsley could have died. If one thing went wrong, I could be facing a death sentence. Because Grif couldn’t be bothered to show up when he was supposed to. And he had the audacity to call me unprofessional. I sat down on the porch steps and took several slow, steady breaths. “We’re in the middle of nowhere. What could’ve possibly hung you up?”
Grif frowned and muttered something under his breath.
I fought to keep my voice calm. “What?” It had been a long night, and I didn’t want to play guess the excuse.
He cleared his throat. “I said I was in the bathroom.”
“You were in the bathroom? For an hour?”
His face flushed red, and he sighed. “I ate some bad Chislic from the corner gas station. It tore me up.”
Vampires didn’t need to eat to survive. The demon tethered to their human souls were enough to keep them alive. Some vampires still did it for pleasure. Grif had a weird hobby of taste-testing the local cuisine wherever he traveled.
I stared at him with my mouth hanging open. “Are you serious?” I finally managed.
“It was venison,” he said defensively.
I shook my head. “Cripes, Grif. You’re what? Eighty years old? And you don’t know better than to eat undercooked meat from a gas station?”
