She didn’t stop to think about thepossibility of more vampires out there before she raced down thepavement behind him. Despite her purebred status and speed, Miacouldn’t catch up to him as David’s honed body and long legssteadily ate away the distance between him and the bearded man.
The vamp glanced over his shoulder andsqueaked in fright as David bore down on him. The vamp’s arms andlegs moved faster as he ran toward the car. David would havelaughed at the almost comical way the vamp ran, with a high stepand arms pumping, if bloodlust hadn’t been coursing so hotlythrough his body. He’d tear this one apart limb from limb fordaring to think about taking Mia from him.
The vamp skidded around the front fender ofa car and nearly went down. Jumping onto the car, David’s footdented the hood as he leapt across it. The vamp spun toward him toreveal the stake pointed toward David, aimed directly at his heart,but it was too late for him to be able to stop his forwardmomentum. In midair, David twisted to the side to avoid taking thestake to his chest.
He seized the collar of the vamp’s jacketand yanked back. The vamp’s stake drove through his arm, tearingthrough flesh and muscle before embedding itself against hishumerus. David snarled in pain and fury as he crashed onto theground with the man. Spinning, he pulled the vampire’s body throughthe air, over the top of his, before smashing it into the groundwith enough force to crack the pavement, and the vamp’s spine.
The man howled and his arms flailed as hetried to beat against David, but his legs remained unmoving on theground. David seized the man’s throat and clenched tight to silencehis screams. The vamp’s face turned florid when his air waseffectively cut off. Blood spilled between David’s fingers as hedug deeper to tear the man’s head from his shoulders.
“David, wait!” Mia gasped as she skidded toa halt beside them. “I know him!”
David’s head shot up, his grip on the vamp’sthroat easing as her words penetrated the haze of murderous furypulsing through him. He looked from her to the scrawny man pinnedbeneath him. Close up, he could see the bits of debris stuck in thevamp’s beard, the oily slickness of his hair, and the smears ofdirt across his cheeks and under his eyes.
“Howdo you know him?” Daviddemanded.
Mia glanced nervously around the motelparking lot as everything around them remained hushed. Scenting theair, she caught the coppery aroma of blood beneath the refuse stinkof the vampire David held. She sensed no other vampires aroundthem, or humans. They’d been loud enough that they should haveattracted the attention of the other guests, and the hotel worker,yet no lights turned on and no one peeked their heads out to seewhat was going on.
“Oh,” she breathed as realization sank inand her gaze fell to the man David held. “You killed them all.”
The man made a gurgled noise and his eyesrolled in his head as David’s fingers bit into his flesh again. Miacrept closer to inspect the vampire more closely. Her eyes narrowedas she took in his high cheekbones and brown eyes. At one time,he’d been a good fifty pounds heavier. Those brown eyes had beenclear and smiling instead of glazed and bloodshot. She closed hereyes as her mind ran through the many faces she’d seen over heryears on the streets, but this man went further back than that. Hewas from deeper within her memory.
“You had a laugh like Santa,” she mumbled.“I loved it as a child.”
Her eyes opened and her head canted to theside as recognition finally settled over her. “Miles,” shemurmured. “He was a friend of my father’s. I haven’t seen him sinceI was twelve.” She lifted her head to meet David’s gaze. “He hadsome kind of falling out with my dad shortly after we moved intothe house that caught on fire. My parents never talked to me aboutit after.”
David’s hands eased further on Miles’sthroat. Reaching up, David yanked the stake from his arm andpressed it against Miles’s chest, directly above his heart. “I’mguessing Miles here got messed up in things he shouldn’t have beenmessed up in, and your dad told him to stay away.”
David pushed down on the stake, piercingthrough Miles’s skin until he hit the bone beyond. Miles grunted ashis hands tore at David’s arms, shredding his skin. David barelyfelt the gashes as the reassuring crunch of bone filled his ears.He’d never relished violence or killing, but hesavoredthis.
“Am I right?” he demanded of Miles, thentwisted the stake deeper into his flesh.
“Yes!” Miles choked out through his bruisedthroat.
“You’re the one who turned her in to Drakeand his cohorts before. You’re the reason she was taken andabused,” David guessed and pushed deeper. “You’re mixed up in allthe sketchy shit, and you knew what Drake was doing with purebreds.You sold Mia to him in exchange for drugs, or humans, or whateverit is you’re hooked on. Right?” he demanded.
“Yes!” Miles wailed and stopped tearing atDavid’s arms to grab at his hands. He tried to break David’s gripon the stake, but David only pressed down harder and grinned whenmore bone crunched.
Miles glanced at Mia when she steppedcloser. “I liked you when I was a child. I was sad when youvanished from our lives,” she whispered.
“How did you find her to turn her in thefirst time?” David demanded.
Miles’s eyes darted away from Mia to focuson the sky. David twisted the stake deeper when he didn’t speak.“Answer my question!” he barked.
Miles jerked beneath him and tore away moreflesh when his nails dug into David’s hands. David seized one ofMiles’s hands and smashed it into the pavement, breaking the bonesin it with a satisfying crack. Miles groaned as the fingers of hisgood hand continued to try to clasp the stake, but the fightsuddenly went out of him and his hand fell limply to thepavement.
“It was a coincidence. I spotted her onenight when she was leaving work,” Miles whispered. “I rememberedher from when she was young. I knew she was a purebred, and I knewthey were looking and paying for purebred vamps like her. I made aphone call to some vampires I knew, and they took her the nextnight.”
So that was how her captors had known shewas a purebred and where to find her, Mia realized as her stomachrolled over. “What did you get out of it?” Mia demanded.
Miles licked his lips. “Humans,” hemurmured. “They had their own addictions, and I indulged in theirblood to satisfy my own needs. I believed they would be enough tolast me for a year, but….”
“You’ve killed them already.” David sneeredin disgust.
Mia shuddered and hugged her middle. “Arethey still looking for purebreds?” she asked.
“Some are, yes,” Miles muttered.
“You were going to sell me back to them,”she said flatly. “That’s why you came here tonight. How did youfind me again?”
