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Finally, we reached the main level, which still appeared to be nothing more than an abandoned warehouse sitting on top of a full horror show.
It was dark in there. A hundred feet ahead of me was the exit. I could see the line of light around the large door through which we’d entered.
Finally, our escape to the protective sunlight.
What remained of my hope flickered inside of me like a tiny candle flame, refusing to be extinguished forever.
But, then, a voice froze me in my tracks before I could take another step.
“Leaving so soon?”
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
Lawrence came far enoughinto the dim light for me to see him. His eyes were still black. The crazed look in those black eyes seemed worse now. Bigger. Scarier. Mostly because he was smiling, drawing my attention to his mouth stained with blood right down to his chin.
Declan moved to stand in front of me and Jennifer. “Get the hell out of our way.”
Lawrence shook his head. “Can’t do that.”
Despite the fangs and sociopathic actions of today, I still believed Lawrence wasn’t a bad guy down deep. I’d seen him before he’d received that phone call from his hired investigator. He was smart, helpful, and reasonable. I hoped I could appeal to that side of him now.
I mean, I’d known him for all of a half an hour, but I was going with my gut here. And my gut was rarely wrong.
“This can end here,” I said as gently as I could. “You don’t have to do anything else today that you’re going to regret for the rest of your life. And, as a vampire, I know that life is going to potentially be a long one if you start making better decisions.”
He laughed, and the icy, soulless sound sent a shiver down my spine. “I don’t regret anything. This was meant to happen. I’ve been Victor’s pawn all this time, a willing traitor to my own kind. Looking back on it now, it disgusts me.Idisgust me.” His voice broke and his bloody smile disappeared. “So many vampires have died here because of Victor. Because of me.”
“Those vampires deserved to die,” Declan told him.
I groaned. He clearly didn’t receive the memo that the smartest plan was to humor a homicidal creature of darkness.
Lawrence glared at him. “Are you God? Do you have the right to say who lives and who dies?”
“Not God,” Declan growled. “But you’re debating life and death with the wrong person. The chaos you’ve created here ends now. No more violence is necessary.”
“And you’d let me walk away?”
Lie, Declan, I tried to project the thought to him telepathically.
“I don’t kill vampires who keep to the shadows,” he replied. “But I kill rogues who cause harm and threaten everyone they come in contact with. You made the wrong choice and switched sides today.”
Shit. So much for trying to tap into any dormant psychic abilities. That would have been really helpful.
“I stayed to the shadows,” Lawrence replied tightly. “And it got my wife killed.”
“She wouldn’t want this,” I told him. “Stacy believed in you.”
“She didn’t believe enough in me to tell me the truth.” Lawrence’s expression grew pained. “You...” he regarded Declan. “You may be a hunter, not a scientist, but you’re just like Victor, playing with other people’s lives and using them for your own gain. It makes me sick.”
I couldn’t read Declan’s expression past his black eye patch. Mine, however, must have been clear. I was scared to death, but I wasn’t ready to give up yet.
I pressed my hands together to keep them from shaking. “Please, listen to me. You’re not thinking straight right now.”
Lawrence laughed again and it sounded sharp, like breaking glass. “Wrong. Blood brings clarity, and I’ve drunk my fill today for the first time in my new life. Why have I resisted for so long?”
Okay, fine. Maybe I was wrong. I had no idea how many people he’d killed in the basement after he’d ended Dr. Reynolds’ life. A lot, probably. Enough to change him from a conflicted research assistant to a single-minded mass murderer. There was no coming back from that, and it didn’t seem as if he wanted to. I wasn’t going to waste my breath trying to reason with someone now beyond reason.
When Lawrence took a step toward me, Declan nudged me behind him, next to Jennifer. I shared a tense look with her.
