Page 29 of From the Shadows
A sigh echoed in Diego’s mind.Thank you for that. I need to make them bleed.
At the doors to the hotel, Diego tried to open them but found them locked. He was certain the others were sealed or guarded as well, which would explain why no one had fled. He put his hands on the doors and pushed with all his might, causing them to buckle, then crack and shatter. He and Ranna rushed in, her veering off to the left while Diego hurried to the right.
The place was thick with vampires. They would grab a human, then tear off limbs or heads, before dumping them and moving on to the next victim. One male grabbed a woman and she screamed. Diego flashed to her side and gripped the vampire’s hair and yanked.
“Oh, Daddy’s home and he’s angry,” the vampire jeered.
He wanted to keep this one for information in case no one was left when they were done. Instead, he jerked upward, the sound of ripping tendons and flesh sharp as the head separated from the body. Diego dropped it on the floor, then spun around.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She wouldn’t stop screaming, which Diego could understand. The sheer number of bodies had to have screwed with her mind.
“Run. I want you to get as far away as you can. Don’t stop for anything. Let us deal with this.”
Eyes wide, she ran away, crying. She didn’t even make it to the door before another vampire attacked her from behind and sank his fangs into her spine. Her scream was yet another that would haunt Diego, especially knowing he was too slow to stop it as the beast tore the backbone through her skin and muscle. A red haze fell over Diego’s vision as he watched the woman slump to the white tile, now stained a horrifying red, an expression of horror forever frozen on her face. These bastards had to pay, and Diego would make sure they did.
It was the last coherent thought he had as blackness engulfed him.
Chapter 9
“Shay, we need a medic, now!”
Shay rushed for the door, panic gripping his heart. “What’s going on?”
He rounded the corner and found Diego, covered in blood, being laid on the floor by Ranna and Borne.
“Diego!” he cried as he rushed over to him. “What happened?”
“We need a medic,” Ranna snarled. “Now, Shay!”
“Doctor Oliver is on his way,” Shay told her, finding it difficult to breathe. “Ms. Donnelly called when she lost contact with Diego. He should be here in a moment. Now, what the hell happened?”
Borne gave Shay what he knew was a condensed—and sanitized—version of the story. Shay stared down at Diego, his heart pounding.
“He killed them?”
“You should have seen him,” Borne said, the admiration in his voice plain. “He was a juggernaut. Flashing through the shadows as a mist, then reforming behind the vampires. He stopped only long enough to tear off… I mean,dispatcha vampire before he was on to the next one. Ranna and I couldn’t keep up with him. I’ve neverseenanythingmove that fast. When the last vampire fell, he stood up, his eyes unfocused, and then he just collapsed.”
“What about the people?” Shay asked, knowing he didn’t really want to hear the answer.
“They killed them. Employees, guests, people visiting the fucking restaurant. They had guards on the door so no one could get out. When I was scouting, I saw a young mother running for the exit. They took her and the baby down before I could do anything.”
Bile churned in Shay’s stomach. “Were there any survivors?”
“No one we could find,” Ranna answered. “There were….” She glanced at Borne, who gave a shake of his head. “Never mind.”
Shay knew they were protecting him, and goddamn it, he was pissed. Not because of that, but the fact that he appreciated it. He’d never be a part of this team if they had to keep coddling him like Jeremy.
“Speak your mind, Ranna.” He steeled himself for what she was about to say.
“There were over two hundred victims throughout the hotel. They’d even gotten up to the guest floors. They didn’t seem interested in feeding, just in causing deaths.”
The bile churned in Shay’s stomach, but dinner didn’t make a reappearance, for which he was grateful. He was about to say something when the door opened and an older man stepped into the foyer. Shay recognized him from the photo in the dossier he’d been given by Ms. Donnelly.
“Dr. Oliver, thank you for coming.”
He rushed to Diego’ side and dropped to his knees. Shay knew the doctor was a descendant of the centaur, but not a pureblood. According to his file, he had a bit of unicorn blood in his family line somewhere, which augmented his healing talents. Unfortunately, it also wreaked havoc with his ability to shift, so he stayed as a human most of the time.
