Page 9 of Marked
Great.
With a sigh of resignation, I climb to my feet and follow him from the room.
***
I flick the light on inside the door, noting, once again, that my ratty secondhand furniture is in need of an overhaul. Dropping my keys into the small bowl next to the door, I keep all the other lights off as I slip down the hall to the only bedroom.
My eyes dip to the closet and the duffel that waits. I need to pack. To get the hell out of town before Vic is released. Hewillcome for me. And if I have any hope of seeing my next birthday, I need as much of a head start as I can get.
Instead, I drop on to the foot of the bed and bury my head in my hands. Even with the borrowed jacket and pair of sweats from the station, it’s cold. Icy. At odds with the heat of a Louisiana spring outside. Running seems daunting. Impossible.
Especially when I know the kind of cavalry Vic will use to hunt me down.
After years of working at Blue Moon and now at Carnage, I have spent my life aroundothers. Vampires, shifters, Fae, and beings capable of unbelievable power. But the vampire in the club tonight ... He was the first that simultaneously scared meandexcited me.
It was more than the chiseled lines of his face or the hard muscle under his leathers. He exuded menace and pride. Virility. Power. And God knows I wanted it. Wanted him.
For the first time in a long time, my body heated and loosened. Every time those midnight eyes rolled over me, it was like a pass of one of his big hands. They would be calloused, I’m sure. Hard and all male. Just like him.
He’s the kind of guy that could go either way depending on the person he’s around. Either he will protect you with his life or kill you.
But he’s a blood drinker, one of the dark demons. They are untrustworthy. All my years working for Vic has more than proven that.
I press my hands further into my skin, digging until the pressure chokes off what I am feeling. No doubt he’s like Draven. A killer. Evil. But it doesn’t change the fact I wanted him. For a brief second, I couldfeelwhat he could do to me. The passion. The fire.
And I would have walked away from everything I know to taste it. To reallylive. Just for a moment.
Stupid.
Even after all these years I haven’t learned my lesson.
All supernaturals are evil. The dark eyed vamp included. And I’m better off far away from them all. The groan that leaves me is frustration vocalized.
Climbing to my feet, I walk to the closet and rip the old duffel free to start packing. Because after tonight, I never have to think about dark eyes or any of it again.
Chapter 5
Ruin
Underground writhes with weed smoke, incense, and too many bodies. Half-baked teens and adults sway and bob to techno and rap, glow sticks in their white-knuckled fists and even more light flashing around their necks. But there isn’t a fucking human in the joint.
Thank-fucking-goddess.
Slipping along the outer edge of the wall, Prisma lifts the velvet rope to the stairs leading into the recessed basement. The one reserved for the upper elite. His massive arms make the damn rope look like a line of thread in his hold. I pass him and dive deeper into the Pit. At the far table, the men wait, glasses in hand.
A slim waitress—in the prescribed mini and bustier—walks to me, tray in hand. She stares up at me as she approaches, tongue flicking back and forth over her thin bottom lip. The motion is salacious and coy. But her hair is a thick bounty of brunette waves, like Lilah’s.
Fuck.
I snare the glass of Macallan that she offers and drop into the black leather booth beside Tanner. Knocking the shot back, I hold my fingers up at the bartender waiting.
The waitress hustles back and sets a crystal decanter of the single malt and a low glass before me. Avoiding her, I pour it to the brim and swallow the whole thing between breaths.
“Rough night?” Caine’s voice is a rich purr across the table.
I snarl. “Cops fucking raided Carnage.”
His hellfire eyes glitter as he leans over the table. The narrow line of dark hair around his mouth adds to the shadows that he lives and breathes. “Bet you wished you called me.”
