Page 76 of Midnight Kiss

Again, Ezekiel sent out his vampire magic, and this time, his brother stood in front of him to shield him. The crimson light spread over the doorway and ran into an invisible barrier, and then?—

A “pop” and Ezekial sighed. “Done.”

And then both vampires stepped over the threshold and entered the apartment.

“No,” Mike shouted. “No, you can’t?—”

But the vampires didn’t need his permission. Jeremiah was on him in seconds, and Mike lashed out, using his gun and the stake, weaving back and forth expertly, quicker than any man I’d seen before. But he wasn’t quick enough, surely. Not quicker than a vampire.

I wanted to cry out, but I stopped myself for fear that it would distract him and?—

“Come with me, darling,” Ezekiel said, extending a hand. “You are so sweet and supple. So sickly. Come, let me take you back to the coven, and we will make you well again.” His smile didn’t reach his eyes, and I shivered.

The kind words were a lie.

I didn’t move, and the vampire bent and swept me into his steely arms. “Jeremiah, leave the toy.”

“Mike,” I screamed. “Mike, be careful!”

A hiss sounded, and Ezekiel spun around on the spot, just in time to witness Mike staking Jeremiah through the heart. The vampire burst into flames, and Mike stumbled, clutching at a bleeding wound on his side.

“Mike!” I screamed.

“If only I had time for you,” Ezekiel said. “You’ve taken both my brothers from me. I’m going to come back and take everything you love from you.” And then he swept toward the door, impossibly fast and down the hallway.

Mike’s shouts followed me, and I panicked, trying to fight my way out of the vampire’s arms, but it was like beating against rock. It was futile.

“Let me down,” I whispered. “Let me down.”

“I can’t do that, darling one. You will be coming with me.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“To the place where you belong. A new home. You,” he said, as we fled into the night, his blue gaze fixed on the horizon, “are going to Sanguine Nox.”

I had no idea what it was, this Sanguine Nox, but the name filled me with fear from the tips of my toes to the top of my head.

26

ALEXANDER

Nothing.

Nothing but pages of the ramblings of a Frenchman. Nothing from Julius. I was trapped in a prison of my own mind, stuck in indecision, and I couldn’t do anything about it. Emily was dying, and it was my fault.

I hadn’t returned to the U.C. headquarters because they were expecting me to bring her back to them. Returning, even to rest, would be seen as a failure, and they would send someone else to collect her.

The interior of my car, immaculate as it was, mocked me.

Turn her. You can either turn her or bond her. Either way …

It seemed like the only way, and if that was the case, then I had to do it to save her. It went against everything, but?—

“No.” I balled my hand into a fist and struck the steering wheel. “No.”

I got out of the car and walked toward the entrance to the Lowberry Pub in Brooklyn. It was a corner building, with a black overhang that whickered in the wind that swept through the night. The windows were blacked out, the front door shut, but a sign in the door indicated that they were open.

This was my last hope.