Page 59 of Born Reckless
Finally, I reach a hallway. There are three doors. Straight ahead, the door reads emergency exit. To the right is the men’s room, to the left is the ladies’. I push my way inside and walk right past the women gathered at the mirror.
Doesn’t matter where you are, where you live. There are nasty people everywhere. Sometimes I’m one of them.
People are monsters, all of them, just like Roman said.
I take care of business and wash my hands. But just as I’m reaching for a paper towel to dry them, a sound from outside the walls draws my ear.
It sounds like a fist hitting a gut and then a skull cracking against a concrete wall. There’s scuffling and two yells.
Leave it alone, Juliet, a voice in the back of my brain says.Just leave it alone.
But as I throw the paper towel into the garbage and step out of the restroom, it isn’t right, back into the club, that I turn, it’s left. Toward that door that saysEmergency Exit.
I pause. An alarm should sound if I push this door open. But with the noise levels so high in here, would anyone even hear it?
When I hear the sound of something being dragged over gravel, I push against it. No alarm sounds, so I step through and look out into the dark alleyway.
I catch the sight of two men dragging a body around the corner. And just before they disappear out of my sight, I see that the body being dragged has a familiar, hard face.
Roman.
I slip my ultra-high heels off and leave them beside the door. And on silent feet, I follow.
Who the hell would be crazy enough to go after Roman De Luca? I watched that man tear another man’s heart out of his chest. I watched him bite his throat out.
Yeesh. What’s with vampires and biting people’s throats out? I watched Elena do the same thing right before I died.
I peer out around the corner and watch as the two men drag Roman into a building, one that looks an awful lot like a warehouse. Considering that Roman isn’t moving or fighting against them, he has to be knocked out.
Or dead.
No. Not dead. As I listen hard, I can still hear the sound of his heart beating.
“Connor said the guy was a prick,” one of them growls as I hear them drag Roman deeper into the building. “Guess they weren’t kidding about him keeping a close watch on the city.”
“I told you we should have aimed for Detroit,” the other man says. I take a deep breath and confirm what I already suspected. They’re both vampires. “Sebastian Vincent has too tight a hold on the blood trade. The city’s loyal to him.”
“Shut up,” the first says. As I peer into the warehouse, I watch as they prop Roman up on a chair and start binding him to it with chains. “Detroit smells.”
“And Chicago smells better?” the second scoffs. “Look, let’s just take care of this asshole and get out of here. I may have taken things too far with those women last night. I have a few bodies to take care of before the sun comes up.”
“You took them both and didn’t share?” I would think he was being sarcastic, but his tone says he’s totally not.
“I’ll let you watch next time,” the second says, and I can practically hear the smile in his tone. “The third one had the best scream.”
My stomach turns sour. Whether this man simply drained them or raped them, it’s hard to tell, but either way, they’re dead now. And from the sound of it, that man Roman killed the other day, the one who refused to be tagged, and these two other men, are looking to set up an illegal blood trade.
I don’t want to know how they plan to get the supply. At least Sebastian has access to clueless donors.
Creeps. Disgusting, perverted, evil creeps.
“He’s waking up,” the second man says.
I search the ground, and when I spot a six-foot length of rebar, I grab it, and silently slip inside.
I watch as the first man pulls a gun and presses it to Roman’s forehead, tipping his head back. Roman gives a muted noise, and slowly, his eyes flutter open.
“Rise and shine, pretty boy,” the man sneers. “I wanted you awake for this. I wanted you to see what happens when you touch our friends.”