Page 50 of A Vampire Bewitched
She waited until Nik warmed up his blood and made his way back to the other side of the bar before she spoke. “So, what’s the plan for tonight guys?”
“The plan,” Nikulas grimaced as he took a sip from his bag. “Is to meet up with Dante and the rest of our crew, and then go kill things.”
Dante punchedthe elevator button that would take him down to the passageway leading to his living quarters. This elevator was the only accessible way to get there, other than a small tunnel he’d dug out himself.
No one else knew about that tunnel, not even Shea, and no one ever would. The private rooms it led to were not areas anyone else needed to see.
The Seattle Underground, the original city, wasn’t a place most vampires would think was suitable to live in during these modern times. They preferred the freedom of being able to live above ground amongst the humans. Gods among men. But Dante felt right at home there in the damp darkness. It suited him.
And he had no desire to interact with his food, other than to hunt them.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Sometimes, he wouldplaywith his food. It satisfied something deep and dark within him, to hear them pleading for their life. He got off on it. Male or female, it didn’t matter. They’d beg him like the pathetic animals they were, the smell of fear and urine and blood dominating the room, until he tired of their screams and finally put them out of their misery.
Dragging what was left of the broken bodies through the underground, he’d emerge into the fresh air to toss them into the Sound for the sea creatures to eat. Otherwise, the stench became overwhelming, and others would begin to notice.
The elevator doors opened and Dante got in. As they closed behind him, he changed his mind at the last minute and hit the button that would take him to the underground parking garage instead of all the way down to his rooms.
He was uneasy about the mission they were about to embark on, more so than usual. Failure was not an option, or they would lose Luukas forever. He wasn’t sure how he knew this, but he did. The waiting to leave had him ready to jump out of his own skin.
He needed to feed. And he needed the release the pain would bring. Other’s pain, and his own.
The doors opened, and Dante stepped out into the garage. He turned his head as a black SUV came careening around the corner, swerving way too close to where he stood.
He smiled. Looked like his meal was coming to him.
Tires squealed as the driver noticed him standing there, and Dante saw him wrench the wheel to the side to try to avoid him. He didn’t so much as flinch as the side of the vehicle missed him by a mere few inches before it screeched to a halt just a few feet away. The back doors opened, and two males got out.
“Hey man, are you okay?” One of them asked Dante, coming up on his left.
The other snuck around to his right.
Dante lifted his upper lip in a sneer. The piece of shit thought he could sneak up on him? He turned his head to see what he was up to, felt the sting of a needle in the side of his neck…and then there was nothing but darkness.
Chapter 27
The matte black Hummer pushed deeper and deeper into the mountains, blending in perfectly with the darkness that surrounded it. It was slow going, the road they were on well hidden from the main freeway, and rarely used. Most people didn’t even know it existed, or where it led.
As they swerved around fallen branches and water-filled potholes the size of small ponds, Emma braced herself in the back seat and thanked God she wasn’t prone to motion sickness. Although she was probably going to be black and blue before this ride was over.
In spite of the rutted road and Nik’s reckless driving, Emma was nonetheless relieved to be back on the ground. Time being of the essence, they’d taken a private helicopter to Vancouver, lifting straight off of the roof of the apartment building.
Aiden let out a frustrated noise as he tried, again, to contact the rest of their team. After receiving the go ahead to head to their meeting point, Dante and the rest of the team had gone radio silent. “I’m not getting anything,” he repeated for the fourth time. “Where the bloody hell are they?”
“Have you tried the other channels?” Nik asked. “Or tried calling Christian directly?”
“Yes. Yes. I’ve tried everything.” Pulling out his cell phone, Aiden hit a button. The speakerphone came on, and they all listened to the rings on the other end of the line. After the fifth one, voicemail picked up, and one of the most sinister voices Emma had ever heard gritted out, simply, “Dante”, as if daring the person on the other end to leave a message. It actually made the hair stand up on the back of her neck, and she was very glad it was Nik and not this “Dante” vampire who’d come for her.
If the phone had been in her hands, she would’ve hung up immediately. And thrown it out the window for good measure.
But Aiden, true to form, was not intimidated. “Commander! Where the bloody hell are you?” Hanging up, he picked up the radio again and asked for anyone listening to respond. Still nothing.
Nik drove on as he chewed on the inside of his cheek, his expression thoughtful. “We’ll go on to the meeting point. Maybe something happened to their radio.”
“All of them?” Aiden scoffed in disbelief. “I’ve tried to reach all three of them via cell phoneandradio.”
For the first time since Emma had met him, he sounded worried. “Where the hell are they, Nik? What if they were discovered?” He chucked his radio into the console. “What if we’re driving directly into a bloody trap?”
A look of concern passed between the two vampires.
