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He melted into the shadows, waiting until they exited the building, and as they passed by, Luke slipped in. A woman was on the elevator now, the doors beginning to slide closed. He called out, flashed a smile, and she leaned forward to hold the doors open.
He slid in, smelled the slow rise of desire as her eyes dragged over him. Inside him, the serpent stirred, awakened again by the burn of hunger in his blood and the need radiating off the woman beside him.
So easy, he thought, his head pounding and his fangs tingling. So easy to take. To feed.
The hunger pushed at him, growing stronger with the serpent’s urgings, and resistance was hard-fought and painful. He kept his mouth shut and took in a breath through his nose, the simple act of drawing in air reminding him of the humanity he’d worked so hard to restore.
He did not harm the innocent. Not anymore.
And no matter how hard and how fast the hunger came upon him—no matter what danger he could pose to Sara should he meet her when the hunger was at its most keen—still, he could not partake.
Not even a morsel.
Not even one tiny, delicious taste.
He couldn’t.
He wouldn’t.
“Twenty-four,” he growled, ignoring the fear that now flashed in the woman’s eyes. The way she backed away. “Punch the button for twenty-four.”
She did, then pressed herself into the corner as Luke fisted his hands, willing the demon back down, down, down.
Letting the hunger pass. Fighting not to lose himself.
The doors opened and he burst into the hall, slamming his fist through the drywall, trying to wrest control. Behind him, the woman jumped forward, her hand slapping hard at the button to close the elevator doors.
Good.
The sooner she was gone, the sooner he could see Sara.
Even her name calmed him, and he conjured her image, the mere thought of her soothing him, pushing down the last remnants of the darkness.
He stood there, breathing deep. Once he was certain that control had returned, he moved through the halls until he reached the condo directly beneath Sara’s, 2419. He moved to 2420, and rapped sharply on the door. After a moment, he heard the low grumble of a human awakened from a deep sleep. The man who opened the door was tall and lanky and clad only in boxer shorts and a ratty flannel robe. “What the fuck?”
“Inspection,” Luke said, mentally reaching in to twist the man’s thoughts. “Nothing to be concerned about.”
“Oh, well, if that’s all.”
The man stepped aside, and Luke moved through the condo toward the small balcony, even as the man rubbed his fingers through his hair and stumbled back into his bedroom.
On the balcony, he took his bearings. Sara’s apartment was up one floor and over one unit. Easy enough to access. He climbed onto the railing. Even weakened from the hematite bands, it was a simple matter to leap up and over.
He landed with a soft thud on her ridiculously small balcony, then pressed himself up against the wall, out of sight of anyone who might be looking toward the door that, he was delighted to see, was slid open.
A male voice drifted toward him—“That pretty much wraps it up”—followed by Sara’s rich, “Thank you for doing this. I feel safer already.”
Concentrating on remaining in the shadows, he eased forward until he had a view into the room. A group of security techs were filing out, and he caught the distinct whiff of hellhound coming from the creature talking to Sara.
As the hound pressed a small black control box into Sara’s hand, Luke knew that he had no time to spare. He took one step closer to the open patio door and slipped inside, unseen.
ChapterSeventeen
“So what is this gadget?” Sara asked.
“This here’s your standard portable control box,” Roland said, tapping the black box that was about the size of a garage door opener. “Exactly like what we’ve installed by the front door, but it’s portable.”
“I figured that out just from the name,” she said, unable to resist.
