Page 65 of The Prince's Curse

“Paris,” Julian said sharply.

“This is not a game,” Paris said. “I’ll be the asshole so you don’t have to upset her. Armina Voss is a vengeful sociopath who wants you dead. We are quite literally on a deadline, as you pointed out.”

She set her jaw. “I said that I would go with you, and I will.”

“That’s enough,” Julian said, nodding to her. “We’ll take it as it comes.”

“You’re being a fool,” Paris said. Julian didn’t speak, but his eyes went bright red, and the other vampire recoiled, pressing one hand to the mark on his neck. His narrowed eyes cut to Scarlett as he said, “Get your things. We need to go.”

She held back her pointed comments as the three male vampires ran through the quick splash of sunlight and piled into the borrowed SUV. She sauntered out, locked the door behind her, and climbed into the passenger seat. The dark-haired vampire in the back —Misha—wrinkled his nose, though he made no further comments about how bad she smelled.

Though she wasn’t used to traveling with three vampires who were tenuously her allies, preparing for a mission had her back on more comfortable ground. She breathed deeply, already plotting her way across the hotel to get to her room. Quick in and out, easy as pie.

“Go to Infinity,” Misha said suddenly. He nudged Scarlett gently. “Would you get out and try to pick up Rhys’s trail?”

“We should focus—” Paris said.

“I will,” Scarlett blurted. Before Julian could protest, she looked back and said, “You three will burn up. And I’m guessing you don’t want any of your human allies exposed right now. I don’t mind.”

“We’ll drive by and see if there’s any sign of him first,” Julian said.

Afternoon traffic zipped down the interstate in a dizzying blur. Soon, the skyscrapers and glass towers rose over the horizon.

Back to reality.

It didn’t take long to reach Midtown, where traffic was dense and slow. Even in broad daylight, the sight of the dark glass edifice of Infinity sent a chill down her spine. She’d never been inside, but she’d scouted the surrounding blocks until she found her sniper perch. And when the mission went down, she’d been posted on a nearby roof to pick off the human security. Armina had reminded her before the mission that they were serving evil, which was just as bad.

Her stomach churned at the realization that she’d probably been lied to. If Julian was telling the truth, then their security were probably just normal people working for a paycheck, not co-conspirators in some blood-drinking, human-sacrificing cabal.

As they circled the block, her mind was flooded with the memory of those two black-clad guards lying perfectly still as blood pooled around them. Two perfect shots. Two lightning-fast kills, both clean deaths.

Cold sweat slicked her neck, and she drew a shaky breath to steady herself. Paris slowed as they started to approach on a second loop. “Dani said he walked out through the front doors,” he said.

She craned her neck to watch the double doors.

Right where she’d dropped those two, and?—

Stop, she told herself. This was not the time for an emotional breakdown. She shoved the thoughts out of her mind, into that reeking pile of mental garbage she’d have to deal with when this temporary insanity had ended.

She tucked her hair under the I Love Atlanta cap and put up her hood to conceal her face. “Drive around the block and I’ll approach from the corner,” she said.

Her throat tightened as they drove another loop, and Paris pulled close to the sidewalk. She slid out, walking briskly along the sunlit sidewalk.

I could run again. I could just go.

Where the hell would she go? If they were telling the truth, Armina’s magic was going to find her no matter what.

Her heart raced as terror threatened to swallow her up again, and she bit it back. If she could deal with feral Untethered vampires in the dead of night, then she could inspect a bloodstain in broad daylight.

She scanned her surroundings, eyeing the rooftop where she’d perched months ago to take her kill shots. If Jordan or Marlee had attacked here, they might have thought the same thing.

A shrill car horn pierced through her reverie, and she shrieked in surprise as a car smashed through the nearby intersection to collide with an oncoming car. Horns blared, and she looked up to see the traffic lights flashing green, then red, rapid and dizzying.

Frowning, she hurried around the corner and hoped if anyone was watching, they were distracted by the snarl of traffic. Small signs on the glass doors of the building read Private Property, but there were no security guards posted.

Right there, she thought as she stepped over a seam in the concrete. She could see where the bodies had fallen, a mere six feet from the door.

But there was a small splotch of dried brown closer to the street, and it was fresh, not a memory relentlessly haunting her. It smelled of a vampire—male—and it was still strong. She spotted more splatters, a few smeared as if something had been dragged through them. As she followed the trail, she caught a familiar scent.

---