Sly saw Morgaine’s breath in the cold late November night as they strode from the Copley Square subway station to their Beacon Street neighborhood. He hadn’t calmed down much since leaving New York.
“Slow down,” Morgaine muttered. “I don’t hear fire engines.”
“I won’t feel better until I get there and see for myself that everything’s all right. After that I plan on having a chat with our hot new neighbor, and I don’t mean ‘hot’ in a good way.”
Morgaine let out a weak chuckle.
They passed beneath a streetlight and he glanced over at her. “By the way, I’m proud of the way you handled this whole trip. I hope you’re proud of yourself too.”
She grinned at him. “Yeah, I really didn’t know if I could do it. Having you beside me the whole time made it possible. Thank you.”
“Hey, you were the one doing me a big favor. Going with you was the least I could do.”
“How are you feeling by the way? It’s been a while since you had any wine.”
“I’m okay. I’d much rather use it conservatively until we know we can make more of it.” He didn’t want to tell her that his blood lust had returned. He could control it until they reached their destination safely. The last thing he needed was to be stopped and hassled for public consumption of alcohol.
“It’s pretty quiet tonight,” she remarked. “Of course, it’s the wee hours of the morning.”
“Plus, it’s probably too cold for most people. I smell snow.”
“You can actually smell snow?”
A sudden movement from above caught him by surprise. Vorigan Malvant landed on the sidewalk right in front of them.
Morgaine yelped.
“Shit!”
“Is that any way to greet your maker?” Malvant said in his oily way. “I had hoped you’d be happy to see me.”
Sly stepped in front of Morgaine. “Why the hell would I be happy to see you?”
“Because of all the wonderful things I have to teach you, of course.”
“Go fuck yourself.”
Malvant sighed. “I didn’t want to do it this way, but you leave me no choice.”
“What way?” He took a swing at Malvant.
Malvant shoved Sly off the sidewalk. He lost his balance on the curb and while he was busy landing on his ass in the street, Vorigan Malvant grabbed Morgaine, took a giant leap, and disappeared with her over the rooftop.
Her scream shattered the night.
Sly tossed his precious briefcases of wine into the bushes. He tried to follow, but Vorigan was too fast and too clever. When Morgaine’s protests became muffled, then stopped altogether, Sly realized in horror that he’d lost them.
Chapter seventeen
Morgaine’s wild ride over the rooftops finally ended in the back alley she recognized from her trip to Malvant’s basement apartment. He had shoved something in her mouth and held her wrists so tight he was cutting off the circulation. She struggled to get away, even though she doubted anything would come of it besides more pain.
When he finally wrestled her inside and down to his lair, he shoved her into a dark room and slammed the door. She couldn’t see a thing. Her arms prickled with pins and needles and she smelled something foul and rotten. Probably coming from whatever cloth was in her mouth. Ewww. She yanked it out and began screaming and pounding on the door. She heard him laugh.
“No one can hear you. This place is sound proof and the owners are away in Europe.”
Morgaine slid down the wall and started to cry.
“Oh relax, will you? I’ll find your boyfriend tomorrow night, and I’m sure he’ll offer himself up in exchange. Then I’ll wipe your memory of his and my existence and you’ll be free to go.”
