Page 18 of A Velvet Kiss After Dark

Kane stilled. "Hell no," came his immediate response.

Zeke didn't appear to hear him or care. He went to a refrigerator. They were in a living room-type space with an adjoining kitchenette. He opened a can of tuna and started making a tuna fish sandwich.

Kane's stomach rolled at the fishy stink.

He recognized Seth Osirus immediately. He reek like an icy corpse. He was a vampire after all. They all smelled like rotten corpses as far as he was concerned. His hands curled into fists. Biceps flexed taut with power, wanting to strike that eye-patch wearing leech 'till he couldn't see in his one good eye.

The energy in the room was tense. Seth stared back at him with similar feelings. As if he was trying to decide whether to kill him down here in this enclosed space or save it 'till they were up above.

Kane flashed his beast's fangs. Bring it on, he all but said.

Seth merely cocked one sardonic eyebrow.

Another were was sitting completely at ease on a sofa. His knees were spread wide, hands splayed behind his head as he gazed around with a crooked grin on his mouth.

Kane recognized his scent as his own, but little else.

"Meet your new team," Zeke said, licking mayonnaise from his fingers. Kane shuddered in disgust. "I believe you've already met Seth Osirus. Vampire for hire, much like yourself. His sister Alexis is good with a bow and blade, if you know what I mean." He laughed hysterically at his own joke. No one joined in. "That big guy there is Graham Uallace. Big as a house, stronger than an ox, and he he ain't afraid to snap skulls. So," he clapped his hands eagerly. "Any questions?"

Instead of waiting for an answer, he spun around, grabbed the plate with the sandwich and whistled a jaunty tune as he strode down a narrow hallway to a locked door. A strong hunk of wood barred the outside. He lifted it easily, then stepped inside and closed the door. Kane caught sight of a woman chained to a wall vibrating with hatred. Hair blacker than night, eyes a vortex of death and destructions, lips and claws stained ebony.

"Alright shnook'ums, now why don't you be a good girl and eat your fish." The door closed and his mate screamed bloody murder. The plate slammed against the wall a minute later.

"Now that wasn't nice, baby cakes. I made that by hand, too. You gotta start eating. Don't want you being all skin and bones, now do we?"

Kane squared himself to the room and his new . . . Team. The very word left a sour taste in his mouth as if he'd sucked on a raw lemon.

Hesitantly, he took a seat opposite Graham. Alexis and Seth sat side by side, cold and unmoving. He stifled a shiver. Vampires always made him uneasy with their natural stillness.

Where to begin?

"What's your specialty?" Kane asked, lifting his head to Graham first.

The were grinned and sent a lascivious wink to Alexis. "Aside from wooing bonny lasses?" Alexis stiffened and sent the big were a thunderous look of shock.

"Aside from that," Kane grated, patience not his forte tonight.

"I wield an axe well enough. I can shoot any weapon that fires bullets, and I ain't above shanking with a blade if necessary. Generally I just use my hands, though." He held out his hands to prove they were bigger than a bear's paws. He sent that crooked grin right at Alexis, who'd been gawking; and the vampires blushed, but her left hand twitching near a knife she kept strapped to her left thigh. "There's a lot a man can do with big hands." He winked to drive his point home. And her fingers slid across the hilt of her blade, completely unbeknownst to the were.

"And what about you," Kane asked, turning to the vampire, who didn't remove her watchful gaze from the other werewolf.

Graham looked incredibly pleased with him self, his smile as if to say, see, all the ladies just love me.

"While this oaf may be lumbering around popping heads off, I'm faster than you can blink. I throw knives even faster, I'm fluent in multiple languages, and I'm an expert archer."

Graham didn't seem to take any offense. Just shrugged carelessly with that grin fixed in place.

"What about you?" It took all of Kane's strength to ask the male vampire.

They'd met previously. And go figure it'd been while he'd had Tabitha clinging to him so sweetly, his mouth on hers, just about to get lost in her scent, when Seth had rudely popped in. And that was only half the reason he despised him. The other half had everything to do with the fact he was a leech.

The only good leech was a dead one.

Seth stood, his movements fluid in a graceful, unnatural way that all the walking-dead corpses, aka: vampires, moved with.

"I'm superior with a blade, an export marksman, strategist, and I'm exceptional at getting people out of dangerous situations. It's why I'm so good at my job." He was often hired as a bodyguard for the preternatural elite of the world.

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask how they'd all gotten roped into going to Hell, when the bedroom door opened and Zeke came out. He looked practically ecstatic and very pleased with himself. Whatever he did in that room—his mate had finally quieted.

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