The man’s smile revealed his fangs. “So arewe.”
Behind Aiden, a foot crunched on one of theicy puddles. He glanced over his shoulder to find five more vampsapproaching from the street behind him. They’d blocked him in.
Ten on one.Despite the steep odds,Aiden smiled as the first one raced toward him. He’d denied himselfsex tonight, but they’d brought him the blood and death hecraved.
Spinning to the side, Aiden swung one of thestakes out and plunged it into the first vampire’s heart. Thevamp’s mouth formed an O of death before Aiden yanked the stakefree at the same time he drove his other stake into the chest ofthe next one lunging for him. This time he missed the heart, butbefore he could correct his mistake, the other eight jumpedhim.
After years of wrestling with his siblings,he could withstand the weight of numerous bodies piling on him, butthey staggered him to the side. Bracing his feet apart, he balancedhimself beneath the increasing burden. His torn back screamed inprotest; his newly healing skin split apart to pour fresh blooddown his back. Excited by the scent of his blood, the killers allhissed and clawed more eagerly at him.
Their increased frenzy and the loss of moreof his blood caused Aiden to lurch to the side, but he managed tokeep from going down beneath them. If he fell now, he’d die. Therewould be no getting up, no getting away; this would be the end forhim. He suspected he would have to be put down one day, but hedidn’t want it to be by one of these hideous freaks.
One of the vamps hung over his head,blocking his view of the alley. Swinging his stake forward, Aidensank it into its belly and sliced downward. The vampire howled ashis intestines splashed onto the asphalt below.
Recoiling, the Savage he’d sliced fell awayfrom him, opening some of Aiden’s vision. One of his eyes remainedblocked by a different vamp, but he could at least see some of thealley again. The Savages tore his coat down the back as he drovehis fist into the ribs of the other vamp hanging over him. Bonecrunched and gave way beneath his hand as he dug his way deeperinto its chest.
Fingers shredded his shirt, fangs snapped athis neck, but he batted them away with his free hand. The Savagesdug into his sliced skin. He felt their fingers gripping the edgesof his flesh before peeling it further apart.
Aiden grunted as white-hot pokers of agonyspeared through his brutalized back. When an uncontrollable spasmracked him, he suspected that one of the Savages had touched hisspine. He became certain of it when one of his legs went numb.
“Fuck you!” Buried wrist-deep in theSavage’s chest, Aiden gripped his heart and tore it out.
Aiden’s right knee buckled, and he shiftedhis weight onto his left leg to remain standing. What he could seeof the alley blurred before spinning like the Gravitron ride at afair. Lurching to the side, he smashed another vamp off the brickwall beside him. The vamp grunted but held onto him. Somehowdrawing on enough strength to step away from the wall, Aidenbattered the vamp against it again. Bone crunched, and this time,the Savage released him.
Somewhere in the distance, screams piercedthe air. The garbled, high-pitched shrieks barely cut through theexcited chatter of the Savages. Already weaker from the blood losshe’d sustained in Carha’s club, Aiden’s left knee wobbled.
He wouldnotgo out without givingthese bastards the fight of their lives. Even if they won this,they would never forget him.
“No!” He reeled backward to crunch anothervampire against the wall of the other building.
The vamp whimpered, and when Aiden batteredhim off the brick again, another weight fell away from him. Thescreaming continued, but it sounded as if it were coming fromfurther away.
His other leg gave out, and his kneessmacked against the pavement. Shouts resonated off the brick walls,something cracked, and blue light flashed across his eyes. Hecouldn’t tell what the light was as his senses became hazier by thesecond.
When he fell forward onto the pavement, heknew there would be no more insatiable cravings for more. It wasover for him.
CHAPTER 4
“What’s it going to be, Mags?” Roger askedas he looked at her, to the drive-thru menu, and back again.
“I’ll take two hamburgers and a small fry,”Magdalene replied.
She really would have loved to order thoseburgers rare, but she knew fast-food restaurants, even the ones whoproclaimed to cater to your wishes, didn’t do rare. They spoutednonsense about laws and health risks, but she’d been eating herfood as raw as possible since she was a kid, and she’d managed tosurvive it.
A squelching noise came over the airwaves oftheir radio as Roger started yelling their order at the speaker.The poor drive-thru guy would be lucky to have eardrums left by thetime Roger finished. No matter how many times she tried to explainhe didn’t have to shout at the speaker to be heard, Roger insistedon doing it.
Roger had been the type of guy she hatedwhen she worked the drive-thru as a teenager. It had been theshortest job she ever had, and the only one she’d walked out on.Some asshole had shouted his order at her before pulling forward todiscover his fries weren’t quite ready yet. She’d forced herpolitest smile while she asked him to please wait in the parkinglot and informed him someone would run his fries out to him as soonas they were ready.
He’d replied by calling her a stupid bitch.Still smiling, she’d squeezed his strawberry shake until itexploded in his face and tossed the empty cup into his lap. He’dstill been sputtering and shouting obscenities at her as she calmlyuntied her apron, pulled off her hat, and walked out the door. Shecould have desperately used the money back then, but she hadn’tbothered to collect her last paycheck.
“You don’t have to shout,” she said again asRoger sat back in his seat.
“I wasn’t shouting,” he replied, and sheshook her head.
She kept telling him to get his hearingchecked. Too much time listening to sirens had probably damaged hishearing, or maybe his ears required a good cleaning. Either way, herefused to have them checked, and she wouldn’t nag him aboutit.
Roger had been her mentor since before she’dbecome an EMT. He’d been her savior through paramedic school anddeveloped into the father figure she’d never had during the fouryears they’d worked together. With his graying brown hair and thelines etching his face from years of stress and too many yearssmoking before he’d kicked the habit, Roger looked his fifty-twoyears.
Over the past year, his fondness for friedfood had caused his lean body to take on a bit more paunch in thebelly. However, for the amount of crap he ate, he remainedsurprisingly on the thin side. Despite the years catching up tohim, when Roger smiled, it lit his face and made him appear twentyyears younger. Maggie loved that rare smile.
