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“I can do this all night,” McDonald said. “And all day tomorrow.”
“You’d torture me while I’m at rest?”
“You bet. Where is she?”
Pearl frowned. “You found us. Why can’t you find her?”
“If I could, I would. I think she’s using some kind of ancient vamp glamour to shield herself from hunters.” The blade scraped down Pearl’s right arm. “Now, where is she?”
Fighting the urge to cry out, Pearl sniffed the air. Edna was nearby. Pearl tugged against the chains, but there was no escaping bonds made of silver.
“Just tell me what I want to know and I’ll make your death quick and painless. Otherwise . . .” The blade opened another gash in Pearl’s left arm. The wounds, which normally would have healed almost instantly, were slow to close. Dark red blood dripped onto the cement floor. The smell of it filled the air.
“I’ll tell you,” Pearl said, stalling for time, although she couldn’t think of anyone who would come to their rescue. “But only if you tell me why you’re after her.”
“Are you as stupid as you look? Why do you think I want her? She’s the most powerful vampire on the planet. I’m a hunter. You do the math.”
“She’ll eat you for breakfast.”
McDonald dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand. “Maybe. But I’m about to retire and . . .”
“And you want to take down the biggest, baddest vampire of them all before you do?”
“That’s right. One of us is going down.” McDonald tossed the blood-stained dagger from one hand to the other. “Whatever happened to her son? Is he still alive?”
Pearl glanced past McDonald, her eyes widening. “Oh, yes,” she said, smiling. “He’s very much alive. He—”
“Shit!” McDonald whirled around, the dagger tightly clutched in her fist as she came face-to-face with Mara’s son.
“Are you looking for me?” he asked mildly.
“Actually, I’m looking for your mother.”
“If you’d found her instead of me, you’d be dead now.”
“Where’s Edna?” Pearl asked.
Derek’s gaze remained on McDonald while he answered the other vampire. “She’s feeding.”
“My sister!” Lou McDonald’s eyes went wide. “Where’s Cindy? What have you done to her?”
“I didn’t do anything to her. I simply compelled her to free her prisoner.”
“Edna.” Pearl’s brow furrowed thoughtfully. “Of course! She brought you here, didn’t she?”
Derek nodded. “I heard her call for help.”
“And you came!” Pearl’s smile was radiant. “Thank you, dear!”
“Turn Pearl loose,” Derek said.
McDonald lifted her chin defiantly. “And if I refuse?”
“You can waste time arguing, or you can let her go. It might not be too late to save your sister. But you’re not getting out of this room until Pearl’s free. The choice is yours.”
McDonald’s face went white as a harsh wail reverberated from the adjoining room. Glaring at Derek, she unlocked the chains binding the vampire, then ran out of the room screaming her sister’s name.
“Thank you again, dear boy.” Pearl’s nostrils flared as the scent of freshly spilled blood wafted through the air. “Now, if you’ll excuse me . . .”
“Enjoy your meal,” he said, smiling, though he thought McDonald’s blood would be sour, indeed.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Mara stared at her son in wide-eyed disbelief. “You saved their lives?”
Derek shrugged. “It seemed like the right thing to do.”
“I don’t understand you. Why would you help those two old bats after what they did to your father? What they did to you?”
“Hey, it’s done. Let it go.”
“So Lou McDonald and her sister are dead?”
“For all I know, Edna and Pearl could be dead, too. I didn’t hang around to find out.”
“You would know if Edna had been destroyed.”
He shrugged. “Then she’s alive. Besides, didn’t you say you wanted to keep the two of them around for a while?”
“Yes, I did say that.” Mara shook her head. “I can’t believe those two meddlesome creatures took out the notorious McDonald sisters.”
“They had a little help, Ma,” Derek reminded her. “It’s me you should be thanking.”
“Thank you,” she said, her voice sugary sweet.
“That hunter wanted you awfully bad. I overheard her saying she was going to take you out or die trying.”
“Well, she should be happy then,” Mara said, grinning. “I just hope Edna and Pearl cleaned up the mess.”
Derek stalked the dark streets of Hollywood. His hunger, stirred to life by the scent of the hunter’s blood, rode him hard. He had no doubt that the two hunters were dead. Their screams had followed him out of the building. He had no sympathy for them. They came looking to destroy his mother and had met their own deaths, instead. Sometimes the good guys won. Sometimes they lost—although in this case, he wasn’t sure there were any good guys.
The scent of prey drew him toward an unsavory part of town where he found two drunks fighting over a bottle of rotgut. One of them was bleeding from a shallow cut across his cheek. Closing his eyes, Derek took a deep breath, hands clenching as the smell fueled his hellish thirst.
He could have killed both of the transients in an instant, but he was spoiling for a fight. With a cry, he waded into the battle. As expected, the two men quickly turned on him, their own disagreement forgotten in the face of a new threat.
Restraining his preternatural power, Derek fought both of them, relishing their punishing fists, although the pain was negligible. He didn’t try to avoid their blows; instead, he welcomed them. He was a monster. It was what he deserved. Until one of the men pulled a knife from the inside of his boot.
The weapon changed the game. Infused with new courage, the armed man lunged at Derek as the second man flung himself onto Derek’s back. Derek hissed when the blade buried itself to the hilt in his chest. It wasn’t a fatal strike, but it hurt like hell.
Snarling, Derek jerked the blade from his flesh and drove it into the man’s heart. The drunk reeled backward, then spiraled to the ground.
The man clinging to Derek’s back slid off and hit the street running.
