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I placed my hand over his. His skin was cold. Clammy. "I called an ambulance. They won't be long. "
"Doreen? Is she okay? God, what they did to her - "
I glanced at the dead Doreen. Saw the echoes of terror in her lifeless blue eyes. What a goddamn awful way to spend your last moments
My stomach stirred and rose. I swallowed back bile and squeezed Vinnie's hand. "I'm sure she'll be okay. "
"What about the others?"
I hesitated. "If I go check, will you be okay?"
He nodded. "Me and Doreen, we'll just wait here. "
"I won't be long. " As I rose, there was an audible snap of bone. Gautier, finishing what I'd started
Not that snapping vampires' necks actually killed them, but it certainly incapacitated them for a while. Long enough to drive a stake through their black hearts, anyway. Though Gautier didn't actually need to disable any vampire while he used the stake - he just enjoyed it. Enjoyed seeing the fear gather in their eyes as he raised the stake and drove it into their hearts. Which probably meant he was extremely pissed off at me just then, because I'd knocked both of the baby vamps unconscious, thereby robbing him of his pleasure. Why he was breaking their necks was anyone's guess. Maybe it was habit
Maybe he just liked the sound
I walked on past him like there was absolutely nothing wrong, like it was an everyday occurrence that rogue vampires were executed in my presence. Any other reaction could be deadly, because he was watching me like a cat does a mouse
And I had no intention of ever being Gautier's mouse
The distant wail of sirens bit through the silence as I squatted beside the three other women. All three of them were badly cut, and at least two of them raped. And as the soft squelch of wood being pressed into flesh, past bone and into heart whispered across the silence, part of me was fiercely glad. Those bastards didn't deserve a fair trial or justice. They didn't even deserve the quick staking they were being given
The emergency crews finally arrived. As Vinnie and the women were tended to, I made a statement to the cops. Gautier flashed his credentials and walked out. But the look he gave me as he wrapped the shadows around his body suggested he and I were going to be at odds for a while yet. No real surprise there
As soon as I was able, I picked up my handbag and got the hell out of there
The night air was sweet compared to the nightclub, and I breathed deep, letting it fill my lungs and sweep away the foulness. Blood still rode the wind, but that was natural, especially since a lot of it was now on me
What I needed was a nice hot shower. I slung my bag over my shoulder and headed home barefoot
But I'd barely gone a dozen steps when the wrongness hit again, this time stronger than before
I stopped and looked over my shoulder. What the hell was going on? Why was I feeling this when
the situation inside the club had been sorted?
Then it hit me
The wrongness wasn't coming from the club or the night. It was coming from a more distant place. A more personal place. A place that was forged from the bond of twins
My brother was in trouble
Chapter Two
Panic surged. Ten guardians had disappeared under suspicious circumstances in the last few months, and only two of them had been found. Or rather, only bits of two of them had been found. I swallowed heavily. My twin couldn't be the eleventh. He was the only family I had left since our pack had thrown us out. He was the only person who meant anything to me, the one person I couldn't live without. Losing him would kill me as surely as a silver bullet
I took a deep breath and tried to calm my fears. Rhoan wasn't hurt, and he wasn't dying, because I'd have felt either of those
He was just in some form of trouble, and, my fault or not, he'd been in trouble most of his life. He could handle it, whatever it was
The last thing I needed to do was panic. But I could check. I retrieved my cell phone, pressed the vid button, then quickly dialed my boss, Jack Parnell. He was the current head of the guardian division, and one of the few vampires I actually liked. The other, Kelly, was a guardian and one of my few friends. Not only were they both nice, but they actually bathed like regular people
Jack's bald features came online. He gave me a toothy grin, but there was an intentness in his green eyes that belied his jovial expression
"Nice to see you're unhurt after your evening jaunt," he said, his tone cheerful and gravelly. "I'll expect your report in the morning. "
