Page 5 of Shadow Hunter

His neck was twisted at a strange angle as he lay lifeless on the pavement. Not a single drop of blood or any evidence of a fight.

Damn. It took a lot of cojones to snap the neck of a vampire.

Whoever had done this was vicious.

She hopped to her feet and brushed herself off. No skin off her back if Ivan was dead. One less bloodsucker made for a better world. Though Caius would go ballistic at the news, and she didn’t want to deal with one hell of a pissed off vampire tonight, unless...

Her eyes widened again.

Shit. Double shit.

If she was discovered here with Ivan’s body, all the work she’d done with Caius would be blown. Even the slightest hint or suspicion of her being a vampire hunter would be enough to get her killed. Panic coursed through her, her eyes darting about the alleyway as she desperately searched for a plan.

Think, Tiffany. Think.

She needed to make certain that whenever Ivan was discovered, she was nowhere nearby. Buy herself time.

A dangerous solution slipped into her head, the thought suddenly arriving unbidden.

It would be risky, but…

What other choice did she have?

She rushed through the back door and reentered the club. If she could move fast enough, she could take care of the anonymous vampire herself, then lie and tell Caius that Ivan had handled it. It’d buy her the time, and the distance, she needed before someoneelsediscovered Ivan’s body, plus she would be that much closer to gaining Caius’ trust. One step closer to destroying the scumbag who’d murdered her family.

If she played this right, Ivan’s true death could be a true boon for her.

Finding his guard’s body would make Caius paranoid. Nervous. Distracted.

Sloppy.

Exactly how she wanted him.

Pushing her way through the club patrons, she headed toward the private room, weaving in and out of the crowd to avoid Caius’s gaze. Once she reached the curtained entrance, she pulled her Smith & Wesson from her jacket. Always loaded with silver bullets, her rounds sure wouldn’t kill a vampire, but they would inflict a serious wound, enough to make the leech pause, and the silencer fitted to her gun’s barrel would make this easy.

She quickly slipped inside. With her eyes already adjusted to the darkness, she searched through the shadows, gun aimed.

No one.

A senseof unease prickled through her.

She stepped fartherinto the empty room.

What the…?

She felt,rather than heard, her opponent first, the end of a gun’s barrel pushing against her skull. Adrenaline pumped through her, her heart thumping hard against her chest, even as her mind raced. “Shit,” she muttered under her breath.

So, not a vampire then.

The gun told her that much.

But not a regular human either.

She swore once more.

Positioned at the end of a monster’s gun. Royally screwed didn’t even begin to cover it.

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