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“It doesn’t escape my notice you said he won’t bite me instead of he doesn’t bite. ”
“He’s still a vampire,” I reminded her, rolling my eyes.
“Yeah, and we came here to kill vampires. ”
“Vampires pay your boyfriend’s rent. I’m a vampire. ” My tone clearly conveyed I wasn’t in the mood to argue about the shades of gray when it came to the badness of vampires.
I grabbed Siobhan, and before she could wriggle free I shoved her off the top step. I was careful not to just knock her off the edge, but instead gave my push a little oomph so she went flying into Holden’s arms. He, in turn, carried the momentum a step further and tossed her down to the next riser.
Siobhan was flustered but still a warrior at heart. She landed in a crouch, her back to the wall, and scowled up at us.
We continued the system, ensuring there was never more than one person standing on any riser longer than a few seconds, lest we push the wood’s limits and send us on the express route to the ground floor.
After a few tense moments we were all on solid ground, regrouping behind Shane. I took my gun out, as did Shane, and Siobhan retrieved her baton. Only it wasn’t a baton anymore. I didn’t see if she squeezed it, twisted it or whispered some weird druid incantation, but the baton had extended and grown in length, transforming into a bow.
She unstrung the tiered silver necklace she was wearing, and as she looped it around the ends of the bow I realized it wasn’t a necklace at all.
The crazy woman was wearing a bowstring as a necklace. She must have noticed my slack-jawed expression because she gave me an uneasy smile. “I wasn’t a Boy Scout, but I do like to be prepared. ”
“Hey, who am I to judge? I brought a gun to my own wedding. I’d just be worried about an accidental garroting. ” A bow was one thing, but where the hell was she hiding the arrow—
She slipped a small silver blade out of her belt and squeezed, and I watched in amazement as it unfolded into a full-sized arrow. Apparently the druids had come into the twenty-first century with open arms. Cool.
Holden was the only one of us to remain unarmed, and it made sense because he didn’t need a weapon. With no further need to worry about falling to our deaths, Holden led us down the nearest hallway just in time for the whimpering girl’s voice to escalate to screaming.
This time her screams were those of pain, and my heart hammered. Adrenaline pumped through me, and I restrained myself from running headlong into danger. I had a bad habit of being impulsive and putting myself at unnecessary risk, and though I’d started to control those urges better, I still had them.
Holden must have known what I wanted to do because he raised a hand as if he could use invisible force to keep me back. “Hold on. ”
The screaming petered out into a pain-filled mewling noise like an injured animal. My pulse pounded in my ears, and I glared at Holden, silently insisting he get this show on the road.
Shane was getting anxious too because he edged past Holden and moved to stand outside the room where Grendel would be waiting. His large gun was trembling slightly in his hands, and I wasn’t sure if it was from fear, rage or both.
“Let’s just fucking do this,” Shane growled, and kicked the door open.
Standing inside the room was one of the largest men I’d ever seen, undead or otherwise. He towered over seven feet, and his hair was a scraggly, grease-coated mane falling beyond his shoulders. Like Shane, he had a layer of blood over his bare chest and forearms, but in one meaty fist he was holding a skinny girl—no older than twelve—around her neck. It was hard to tell if the blood on her was from his skin or a fresh wound.
Behind him, on the periphery of the room, were three vampires. They were a normal size, but next to Grendel they looked like toddlers.
The girl started crying when she saw us, gasping sobs that racked her whole body. Grendel gave her a rough shake to silence her.
“I was beginning to wonder if you fools were just going to tromp around in the hall all night, or if you’d ever knock. ” His voice was a deep, booming rumble, and it made me imagine the whole floor quaking with each word.
This guy was scary.
I’d killed scarier.
Chapter Four
“You. ” Grendel shook the girl at Shane, her small head whipping from side to side. “You think you can triumph over me with these tiny women?” The giant vampire laughed loudly, and if there’d been any windows left in the complex, they would have broken.
The way he said tiny women was how I imagined a god might say puny humans. He clearly thought Siobhan and I were no threat, and that could only benefit us. If Grendel focused all his energy on Shane and Holden—the “real” threats—the petite druid and I could teach him why tiny women were just as tough as burly men.
Holden waltzed into the room with the casual ease of a man who was looking for ties at Bergdorf.
“Tiny women and a gay?” Grendel’s laughter contained a note of concern. He hadn’t been expecting another man, and now our numbers were throwing him for a loop.
Holden smoothed the lapels of his suit and glanced down at his ensemble. “This says gay to you?” He seemed genuinely interested in the barbarian’s opinion of his attire. “I was going for ’50s chic. Interesting. ” The vampire looked at me like he was waiting for a second opinion.
