I’d moved on to examining the alley for clues, but felt Death’s laser-beam gaze tracking me. I did my best to act as though I didn’t notice.
As I neared Chad, I spotted a glimmer of something. Edging closer, their voices faded to the background as I realized it was a necklace. My heart leapt with recognition. I lifted the chain off Chad’s mangled neck. His wound sucked at the necklace, but I pulled it free. The chain was cheap, not even genuine silver, but the charm captured my attention. It was a cupcake with pink frosting and a cherry on top.
My stomach somersaulted as familiar feelings and images returned to me in a rush. The smell of fresh baked cakes, bowls of colored icing, laughter and warmth. My eyes stung with unshed tears as the deep ache returned with a ferocious pain that rivaled the thirst for blood. I wanted to get back to that. I needed to get back there, wherevertherewas.
Chad’s lids flew up. Crimson filled his eyes, making him appear downright demonic. He hissed, fangs elongating, then lunged at me. I stumbled away with a surprised yelp, yanking on the thin silver chain, breaking it off his neck.
Looks like the reapers missed one soul. I bet Grim was going to dock their pay or suspend them for the slip-up.
Vampire Chad leap-frogged over me and at the two supernatural men. They all fell in a flurry of fists. Without hesitating, I saw my chance and bolted.
I barely had time to recognize the irony that while they’d been worried about this being a setup, the “trap” helped me escape. Pocketing the bloody cupcake necklace, I knew with certainty it was mine from before. Someone had wanted me to find it. A gift from the master? With this new artifact, I was more determined than ever to find out who I was. And I couldn’t do that from Grim’s penthouse prison, nice as it was.
We were far from the Strip, so there was no crowd to disappear in. Suburban houses whipped by in a blur as I ran like hell, like Death was on my heels, which he most likely was.
I was debating ducking down into the sewers, hiding in someone’s backyard, or running straight into the desert when a powerful force hit me. I smashed into a Suburban, leaving a me-sized dent in the side of it.
Ouchie.
A quick internal scan told me I had broken no bones, but yeah, ow. After brushing myself off, I looked for what hit me. A man with one milky eye, stringy black hair, and a face made for a mugshot leered at me. Milky-eye was a hunk of tall, lean, veiny muscle. His cheekbones were a sharp contrast to the hollowness of his cheeks, as if he spent so much time sucking on cigarettes that his face stuck that way. Meanness radiated out of his one good eye.
He smiled, showing me his pretty fangs. “You’re coming with me.”
“No thanks, I have a prior engagement. I’ve got tea with the queen, and then I’ve got therapy with Bert and Ernie, then…” I said, holding my hands up. “Check back tomorrow. In fact, don’t bother. I’ll have my people call your people.”
In the time I blinked, he’d crossed the distance between us and sunk a fist into my gut. I doubled over, wondering if he’d punched straight through to a kidney. I head-butted him.
“Argh.” He wobbled on unsteady legs, pressing his palm into his bum eye. Damn, should have aimed for the good one.
He came at me again, fists swinging like giant hams. I avoided a few, but the ones that connected had me ready to cry uncle. While I didn’t need to breathe, the urge to curl up in a ball to protect myself from the onslaught overwhelmed me. I punched, clawed, and gave my all trying to poke his dumb eyeballs out. Still, he laid into me like I was a sandbag at a gym.
I stumbled, unable to continue fending off his blows. Just when he laid off, I heard thesnickof a switchblade opening. He grinned with malice as I groaned. “On second thought, I’m going to cut you up, little vampire, and see what’s inside.”
Steadying myself on the car behind me, I said, “Let me spoil it for you.” I spit in his face. The blood-tinged gob landed in his milky eye. “Sugar, spice and everything nice.”
Before I could move out of the way, his blade cut into my belly. The searing pain turned to unbearable agony when he jerked it up, then twisted. I thought I heard myself cry out. My hands flew to my wound with the fear my viscera would fall out.
Violence flared in his good eye. Then something strange happened. Just like Bruiser, when I’d last saw him, Milky-eye’s face emptied of all expression as if someone had lobotomized him. The knife clattered on the asphalt and he backed away. His vacant stare and slack jaw reminded me of a zombie. Whatever was happening to him, it was not in his control.
Then, with a violent jerk, his head twisted off before bouncing once, then twice on the street. The body remained standing, and for a split second, it looked like he’d gotten a new head. Grim stood behind the decapitated form, seething in anger. The rest of Milky-eye hit the ground with a tremendous thump.
“Going somewhere?” Grim asked, his voice an unholy layer of echoes. Power seethed off the shoulders and back of his suit in dark clouds.
His eyes dared me to give him a reason to rip my head off next. There was no running when all my focus went to keeping my guts inside my body.
Milky-eye’s body cracked and grayed, pieces of ash flaking off him before he disintegrated into a heap of dust.
Huh. How about that?
I faced Grim again and gave him my best innocent smile. “I was looking for a bathroom?”
10
Idemanded the driver make haste, driving us back to the hotel. Vivien needed blood to heal…before I killed her.
I drummed my fingers on my knee, seeking to release my agitation in some small measure. “We could have taken that sekhor for questioning, forced him to lead us to the master, but thanks to you, I had to kill him before he finished you off.”
That was the cause for my panic. She’d forced me to slay our only link to the master. It had nothing to do with my fear that the sekhor had gained the upper hand on Vivien.
