Page 14 of Of Flame and Fate
“No. Both took off, one has Emme.”
“I’m coming—fuck.”
What sounds like glass breaking erupts on the other end before the line goes dead. Okay, not just dealing with two rogue vamps here. My arm involuntarily jerks. I clutch it to me, knowing she’s getting ready to react, with or without me.
Except I don’t see anything, nothing but wall to wall tourists and promoters trying to lure them into the clubs. “Not yet,” I tell her, trying to soothe her.
I wait until I’m sure she’s not going to lash out, and hit Emme’s number again. I freeze in place when the line rings and the familiar ringtone sounds louder to my left, down an alley, because why the hell not?
I scan the long narrow space separating the buildings. A small bulb fixed above a closed door is the only source of light. I make out a dumpster further down and what might be a boarded up window on the opposite building.
My right arm jerks, warning me, as if a desolate, dark alley isn’t enough of a clue that something is lurking in the shadows, waiting to eat me.
I shove my phone into the exterior pocket of my purse, careful to place it with the mic sticking out, and adjust the chain-link strap so it crosses my chest like a seatbelt.
With a curse, and few more colorful mutterings, I step into the alley.
In a creepy movie, what I’m doing would be considered suicide. It’s the scene where the young woman, crazy enough to trek into known danger alone, would meet her gruesome death. Here, it’s survival; mine, my sister’s, and anyone these vamps have targeted.
I strip out of my gloves, left first, then right, dropping them as I walk. Fashion doesn’t mean shit when your sister’s life is in danger. Besides, these vamps know we’re not the humans we pretend to be.
Sparky flares like a light beam with the next step I take. Her glow isn’t as fierce as it can be, broadening enough just to show me what’s ahead, like the rat that races in front of me, and his friend who follows. I cringe, though given what’s waiting for me, rats aren’t so bad.
My vision sharpens as my body responds to the preternatural magic. He’s close. Either I’m moving toward him, or he’s moving toward me.
I glance around, but I don’t see anything. I onlyfeelhim. “Siri,” I say. “Call Emme.”
“Calling Emme,” Siri says, her voice oddly vacant in the bleak surroundings.
The further I venture, the more the alley becomes its own separate world far away from the strip. Dingy and gritty, it shows the underbelly of the city that spellbound tourists prefer not to see, the dirty side that reeks of sin and feeds on innocents.
The cell phone ring sounds through the leather fabric. But it’s the familiar ringtone of Emme’s phone to my right that has me turning left.
That’s right,left.
I’m not stupid.When evil lures you one way, you go the other.
My problem is, I never could outrun evil.
The vamp I was following soars from his spot high against the building, the sharp nails he used to fix himself to the brick, raking against my throat as he slams me into the opposite wall.
“Looking for me?” he asks.
Pain shoots down my spine and I can barely breathe. My heart pounds wickedly against my ribcage as I try not to panic.Fear is like an aphrodisiac to vamps, and this vamp is deriving more pleasure from me than I want.
“As a matter of fact, I am,” I say, struggling to speak.
He’s not trying to kill me. Not yet. If he was, Sparky would have detonated him like a piñata. That doesn’t mean he didn’t hurt me or that he’s allowing me to move. I can barely breathe, my lungs clenching with the need to draw a full breath.
The fingers of his opposite hand skim down my cheek, the motion and greed in his dark ravenous stare churning my stomach. “My, you’re a pretty thing.”
My right arm shudders. She doesn’t like him touching us either. “Where’s my sister?” I bite out.
“The blonde?” he doesn’t wait for me to answer, gripping my throat tighter. “You don’t need to worry about her anymore.”
His voice drifts as his chin lowers to where my power builds. He jerks when he realizes what’s happening. But it’s too late. That familiar zing charges through me as my lightning releases, sending bolts of blue and white in a swirl of sparks down the length of my metal purse strap, jolting the vampire and hurling him across the alley.
Brick dust explodes in a thick cloud when his body strikes the opposite building. I snatch him up by his throat with my right arm when he falls forward, the power within it making my limb outrageously strong. “I asked you a question,where’s my sister?”