Page 7 of Marked
Gage stills. “Fuck, Ruin. Look.” His pale arm points past me.
I tear my eyes away from the small woman to find the dark back of a suit-clad man slipping away down the stairs, with a host of similarly dressed men.
Our target.
“Fuck,” I swear. “Call the others, we got to move. Now.”
“Lilah?” Her name is an almost singsong taunt through the air.
My head whips back to the stage. The vampire from earlier is in a clean vest and skin-tight leather pants. He holds one pale hand out to her. “Come on. They won’t wait all day.” Gold light streaks through his eyes.
Angry shrieks rip through the murmurs. Lilah is now held between two large men. She rails against them, bucking and pummeling them with her small feet.
I glance at Tanner, at war with the need to snare our targetandstop this bullshit. Lilah’s next scream decides it for me. “Go after Vlad,” I command. “I got the girl.”
His lips curve, showcasing his jaguar teeth. It’s all the agreement I need. I flit and they jump out of the booth to rush the stairs.
There are gasps from the patrons. Our cover is blown. But there is nothing in me that gives a fuck.
Slamming my knee into one man’s groin and my palm into the other’s nose, I snatch Lilah from their hold. She huddles against my spine, her sobs deafening in my ears. Or maybe it’s the roaring of my blood.
Everywhere she presses is like silken heat. My body quickens and my vision sharpens.
I spin slowly, watching as more guards melt from the darkness. My arm tightens around Lilah as I try to keep them all in sight. Shuffling, I pull the Glock from my waistband,
One tall vamp reaches out of my peripheral. I level the gun at his face. “Try it and lose your life,” I snarl.
He stops, but he’s not looking at me.
I pivot to find Vic and his homicidal stage hand. Vic eyes me with distaste before peering over my shoulder. “Lilah. Come here.”
She sniffs, against my back. “No. I won’t do it, Uncle Vic. I’m sorry.”
Her words hit me square in the chest. I stare at the man watching us. “You’re her fucking uncle, and you offered her up as an evening show in lace?”
He sneers. “She is my niece and lives by my rules. If I tell her to tap dance naked, she will, by God, do it.”
A low sound leaves me, but it is not remotely sane.
My eyes start to change and my fangs pierce my bottom lip. His gaze widens a fraction of a second before the murmurs flow through the room. Chairs scrape back, and the others press in around us.
Too many. There’s too many.
Fucking son of a bitch.
“You’re fucking dead, asshole,” I say, voice cold, empty, and filled with the white static I kill from. “Come near her again, and I will end you.”
I start to press Lilah back towards the stairs. The crowd advances, rage and bloodlust tightening features and dropping fangs. She cowers against me. Shaking.
One of the guards leers. I tap the trigger.
The bullet catches him in the knee and down he goes. They rush us.
Grabbing Lilah, I toss her over my shoulder and rush the rail. My boots land on the slick wood of the banister and I jump. Her screams deafen me. We drop to the floor below with a shallow flex of my knees. I push through the patrons as more yells and heavy boots land behind us.
Flashing lights illuminate the streets beyond the dark glass. Lock Lake’s finest pour through the doors in an armor-clad stream.
Fuck.
