Page 119 of Let Sleeping Vampires Lie

We had nearly lost Con.

Valerian had seen everything.

The next move would not be at an auction or a clandestine sale.

It would be war.

CHAPTER 19

Marcus drove like a man who knew exactly how much trouble followed him.

The car he had stashed two streets over was nondescript. Dark paint, standard sedan, nothing flashy. No one would remember it. The kind of vehicle that blended into a city’s nervous system and vanished between traffic lights.

I sat in the back with Con’s head in my lap.

He was heavier than he looked. His body felt like stone, all tension and bruised muscle and broken bone. Blood soaked his shirt, sticky and cooling, the scent of it thick in the cramped space.

Every bump in the road made him groan, low and rough. He kept trying to shift onto his side, instinct pushing him to guard his worst injuries. Each time his ribs protested and he stilled again, jaw clenched.

“Stop moving,” I said quietly.

“Stop hitting potholes,” he muttered.

Marcus snorted up front. “You are welcome for saving your life.”

Con’s eyes stayed closed. “You saved the piece. She saved my life.”

“I helped,” Marcus said.

“You annoyed the soldier,” Con corrected. “He hit you first.”

“Fair,” Marcus conceded.

The banter was thin, but I clung to it. If Con had enough strength to insult Marcus, he was not on the brink of death. Yet.

I smoothed a hand through his hair, fingers combing gently through dark strands matted with dust and smoke. The motion calmed my own nerves as much as it did him.

“You are losing a lot of blood,” I said.

“I have more,” he replied.

“Not infinite.”

“I am hard to kill,” he whispered.

“That does not mean they will stop trying.”

He exhaled, the sound half laugh, half pain.

Marcus glanced at us in the rearview mirror. His eyes flicked briefly to where my hand rested on Con’s chest, then returned to the road. “They are waiting for us. I called ahead.”

“Who?” I asked.

“Isra and Raven,” Marcus said. “He was at the club when I left. Jana knew something was wrong. She insisted Isra check on Raven.”

Of course she did.

“He is furious,” Marcus added after a moment.