Page 84 of Midnight Kiss

The doors closed on her smug face. Doubtless, she thought she would be on the team to go after Emily, and she only cared because she wanted to prove that she was better than me and worthy of promotion.

I entered my apartment and moved to the sofas that overlooked the city, but I couldn’t sit down, and I certainly didn’t want to wait for orders.

Still, I needed a plan of attack. Trying to infiltrate Sanguine Nox without one would be a death sentence.

I brought my phone out, but before I could start planning, a message pinged through on my phone. My U.C. sanctioned phone.

“I will call you. You will answer if you want to see Emily again.”

My grip tightened. The phone rang in my hand.

“Hello.”

“Mr. Knight. It’s been a while.” Ezekiel. And he sounded smug.

“I’m going to kill you for taking her,” I said.

“Is that really the type of conversation you want to have, Mr. Knight? Right now, as you stand there in your headquarters. I suggest you leave before they overhear you talking to me.”

I narrowed my eyes. And then I gave him the number of my burner phone and a time of twenty minutes.

Ezekiel laughed before he hung up the phone.

I exited the building as fast as I’d entered it, got into my car, and drove off. I parked outside the cemetery where Emily and I had had our first date. I pictured her there, beautiful, her hair bright and auburn, her eyes so full of hope and trust. She had wanted me badly, and I had wanted her in return, and now, she was on the brink of death because of my choices.

The burner phone rang. “Yes.”

“Do I have your attention now, Mr. Knight?” he asked.

“What do you have to say?” I asked. “I want Emily back, and I’m willing to hunt down and kill every member of your coven to get her.”

“And you think you can do that before the curse that the book has placed on her takes effect?” Ezekiel asked smoothly.

I didn’t answer.

“That’s right, Mr. Knight. We know everything. We know that she’s cursed. We know why. And we know that you are in possession of that book. You didn’t give it to your coven.”

“What?” There was no way they could possibly know that. I hadn’t told anyone. Not a single vampire knew.

I gritted my teeth, angry at myself for giving anything away. They might not know a damn thing. Ezekial could’ve been making a guess in the dark, and I’d given him exactly the clue he needed to go through with his plans.

“You see, it doesn’t take much for us to acquire the knowledge we need to make big moves. You of all people should know that, Squire Alexander.”

“Don’t call me that,” I grunted.

Ezekiel chuckled. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You will bring us the book if you ever want to see your dearest Emily again. You won’t tell anyone at your coven what you’re doing, and you will lay any weapons or defenses you have aside when you meet us.”

My immediate thought was to deny them, but Emily needed me. And there would be another way around this. Another way to get to her and save her without giving them what they wanted.

There had to be.

“You have less than an hour. We are keeping your dearest Emily alive, but the longer you delay, the closer she draws to the end.” And then he hung up.

I tossed the phone aside and pounded both fists on the steering wheel once.

What choice did I have?

The U.C. would take too long to put together a team to save Emily. By the time they were suited up and ready to do anything, she would be dead to the curse or worse. And if Sanguine Nox bonded her …