Page 74 of The Darkest Night

Nikolai realized she was giving the fool a chance to escape certain death. Gomez regarded her with fresh interest.

“Or what?” Frat Boy lifted his chin defiantly. “Whatcha gonna do, bitch?”

Nikolai swore under his breath. The kid’s friends were coming over, some of them swaying under the influence of alcohol.

These assholes are going to get themselves killed!

The security guy at the far side of the room motioned to a hostess, a muscle twitching in his cheek. She slipped out of the basement, no doubt on her way to get help. Nikolai had a feeling it would be too late to prevent bloodshed.

The room was already filling with a murderous aura.

Frat Boy chortled at his friends, clueless when it came to the men watching them with menacing intent. “Hey, maybe she’ll do some kind of karate move and beat us up?”

He raised one knee in the air and started making shrill battle cries while waving his arms in a parody of martial arts moves.

Vlad’s smile faded. Brimstone growled under the table.

Frat Boy bumped into Gomez. “Oh. Sorry, I didn’t see you there, Big—”

Mae reacted so fast Nikolai barely caught her movement. Frat Boy’s head smashed face down onto the table. His nose broke in a burst of blood.

Nikolai blinked.

Did she just use magic?!

“Hey! What the fuck—?” One of the guy’s friends surged forward, fist rising to strike Mae as she held the kid by his head.

He froze. Vlad’s bodyguard was pressing the muzzle of a gun against his temple. Fear leeched the color from the group’s faces as they registered the weapon.

The dancers and hostesses fled the basement with shrill cries.Oniksand the Colombians paid close attention, Sobol’s interest in Vlad’s reaction all too evident.

“Oh,” Vlad drawled. He crossed his legs, tucked his hands in his pockets, and leaned back in his seat, his expression relaxed. “ThatBacatá Cartel.”

Chapter 35

Mae let goof the frat boy. The kid slumped to the floor, semi-conscious.

“Take him and go,” she told his friends coldly.

Her pulse thrummed rapidly as she watched them leave with their comatose companion. The atmosphere in the basement was so fraught a single wrong move would have turned the place into a blood bath.

Frat Boy’s head lolled lifelessly as his friends dragged him out of the room.A twinge of guilt shot through Mae.

He’ll thank me later.

She’d been careful to cushion his skull with a layer of magic when she’d grabbed his head and smacked his face on the table. She only wanted him to suffer a broken nose, not a cracked eye socket or a cranial fracture.

“I see your lady friend knows how to stand up for herself,” Gomez told Vlad with a grunt.

“Thank you.” The proprietary look Vlad gave Mae raised goosebumps on her over-hot skin. “Although, truth be told, she could probably kick my ass.”

Gomez smiled, plainly disbelieving the Russian’s words. “Why don’t you join us for a drink?”

A few minutes later found them sitting atOniks’stables, several gang members vacating their seats to make way for Vlad’s party. One of them had gone upstairs to have a word with management. A slew of ashen-faced strippers and hostesses were making their way back down into the basement, their eyes dark with fear.

Mae could hardly blame them.

“So, what brings you to this part of our fair city?” Gomez asked Vlad as a hostess poured their drinks.

---