Page 28 of Help Wanted, Vampires Inquire Within
“Yeah, that’s a fun one,” Mason agreed. “I don’t think Skyler has been there yet. Skyler?”
They’d made their way out of the parking garage and were walking up the street. Skyler’s expression hadn’t changed, and he had to say her name again to get her attention.
“Skyler?”
“Huh?” She looked up at him and stopped walking. “What was that?”
The three of them formed a little circle on the street. “What’s going on, Skyler?”
He thought she’d dismiss his concerns. He wasn’t prepared for the way her expression crumbled.
She shook her head and tears filled her eyes. “No one loves me. Neither of you are meant for me. I’m without land or a mate.”
Her words felt like a punch in the gut. She didn’t know he was desperately and completely in love with her! He’d said she was his mate, but she hadn’t believed it. There was no more time to wait for her to realize the truth. She needed to understand how he felt, and it couldn’t wait for them to get back to the bar.
“Skyler, I’m abso—ufff!”
An invisible force grabbed him, tossing him to the ground, cutting off his words. The magic kept him pressed to the concrete and was strong enough to inhibit the movement of his lungs. All he could do was take shallow breaths.
“Mason!” Skyler cried, dropping to her knees next to him.
“Run.” The one word was barely a whisper, but it was all he could do. There could only be one reason he was under attack. Someone was after Skyler.
He saw Jack move into his field of vision, his eyes red with rage and his fangs extended. “Show yourself, coward!”
Durmin rushed at them, but didn’t challenge Jack or reach for Skyler. Instead, they surrounded the three of them.
“Get away from them!” Jack roared. He moved to start grabbing and tossing durmin away. Even if he ripped them apart, they would fall into pieces and start to reform.
“That won’t do you any good,” McConnell said, walking into the ring of durmin with a satisfied look on his face. He pointed to one of the identical looking men. “Sampson has the talisman keeping the gargoyle down. The durmin are here to keep the nymph from disappearing. I’m here to deal with you.”
Sampson smirked down at Mason and Skyler. “It’s about time I got you, fucking bitch!”
Mason wanted to roar and rip the spineless human apart, but he couldn’t do anything more than wiggle a few fingers.
Sampson reached for Skyler. The nymph wasn’t completely helpless and slapped his hand away. She followed up the slap with a punch to the balls. Sampson went down with a whine of pain.
“You’ll regret that,” he whispered from where he lay on the ground.
McConnell cast him a despairing glance. “Get up. You’re a disgrace to your species.”
Several durmin grabbed hold of her. Jack tried to push them away, but McConnell easily caught the smaller vampire.
“I’m over three hundred years old,” McConnell said, easily holding Jack still. “You’re not even 100. You stand no chance against me. I will have this nymph. Your only choice is to walk away and live or stay and die.”
“Jack, save yourself!” Skyler begged. “You and Mason can have a good life together. I’ll be dead soon anyway.”
“No,” Mason said. His weak response was drowned out by McConnell’s harsh laughter.
“Such a sacrificing nymph. That gives me hope that you’ll be easily trained once we’ve bonded.”
Jack didn’t speak any words—he shifted. Many vampires learned to shift into some kind of bird. It served them well in the eras before trains, cars, and modern road infrastructure.
Mason knew Anatoly could shift into an owl but hated it. Vampires didn’t have any natural instincts when it came to their animal form. They had to learn to fly, and it could take decades before they were proficient.
Instead of shrinking into a hawk, raven, or owl, Jack’s shape grew much bigger as he shifted. In a flash of light, the small,delicate man was a dragon the size of an elephant with a long tail.
“You’ve impressed me,” McConnell said, but didn’t look worried. “This is going to be more fun than I expected.”
