Page 56 of A Vampire Bewitched
That goddamn Brit was doing this on purpose. Nik knew it, but couldn’t keep himself from getting sucked in anyway. In the space of a breath he appeared next to Emma, grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him. With a hiss of warning, he bared his fangs at Aiden. Then he grabbed her backpack and threw it over his shoulder with his.
Emma waved cheerfully at Aiden and he returned it as Nik stalked off, dragging her along behind him.
Once they got outside, Nik pinned her with his glare. “Fine. You can come. But you do exactly as I say. No arguments. No questions. If I say jump, you jump. If I say run, you run like the demons of hell are chasing you. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“I’m serious, Emma. I am NOT fucking around here.”
She glared right back at him. “I SAID I’ve got it. You forget, Nik. I knowexactlywhat we could be running in to, and what they can do.”
He hadn’t forgotten. It was why he didn’t want her to come with him. He contemplated sending her back in to stay with Aiden, but his possessive nature and the need to keep her close ultimately won out in the end.
“Here, take this.” He handed her one of the knives. “And let’s go. The night is wasting.”
Chapter 29
Shea checked the time again. Where the hell were they? She hadn’t spoken to either Dante or Christian since they’d left last night.
Come to think of it, she’d never heard Christian come home. She always heard him come home.
Tired of waiting, she walked out of her apartment and down the hall to bang on his door. When there was no answer, she took the spare key she’d brought with her and let herself in.
“Christian?” she called. Closing the door behind her, she stuck her key back into her front pocket.
“Christian! Where the hell are you?” Her own voice echoed back to her from the empty apartment. He really needed to get some stuff for this place. Stuff like furniture, and throw rugs. Her boots were silent as she walked across the bare expanse of living area to his bedroom. The door was closed.
She rapped hard on the wood. “Hey, whoredog! Get your ass out of that bed! We need to go!” Cracking the door open, she peeked inside. The bed was unmade, blankets and pillows strewn about, some on the floor. Opening the door wide, she walked in and made her way over to the bathroom.
The door was wide open. He wasn’t in there. She turned away from the doorway and looked around his room again. Where the hell was he? Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she checked it again.
Nothing. No messages from either of them. What the hell?
The hair rose up on the back of her neck. Something was wrong. She should call Nik and Aiden, but she wanted to check one more place before raising the alarm. Although she couldn’t imagine Christian being there, it wouldn’t hurt to look first.
Moving quickly now, she jogged out to the elevator. While she waited for it to take her down to Dante’s quarters, she racked her brain, trying to come up with any reason that both of them wouldn’t show up at the appointed time. She couldn’t think of one.
The bell above the door chimed as the car finally arrived. Stepping inside, she hit the button repeatedly until the doors finally closed. The ride down to the underground was quick, and she bolted out as soon as the doors opened.
Shea ran full speed down the passageway. She turned left at the split, away from the area the tourists paid to see. She hated it down here. It was so wet and dark. A musty smell permeated the air and—
Wait, was that blood?
Itwasblood she scented. Some of it so faint it had obviously been here for quite a while. But some of it was fresh. Very fresh.
I don’t even want to know.
She came to the wood and steel barricade that kept out any nosey thrill seekers and effortlessly leaped up to the top of it. Pulling at the top plank, it opened on unseen hinges to make a space just big enough for a body to get through. Crawling over, she dropped down to the other side and took off again.
Less than a minute or so later, she arrived at Dante’s main hideout. The smell of blood was stronger here. Her fangs slid down in response, but she didn’t see any evidence of it anywhere.
A damp mattress was thrown on the floor, nothing but a thin blanket on top of it. A few candles were scattered about the small space, unlit. The only other thing in the room was a thick book next to the bed.
Shea pushed on her temples.Think, think.Where would they be? She fought down her rising panic as she came to the conclusion that she just didn’t know. She had no idea what Dante did in his free time, and Christian could be anywhere in the city.
Okay. Just calm down, Shea. Let’s not panic until there’s something to panic about. Maybe they’re just running late.
But she didn’t believe it. Neither one of them was ever late to leave on a mission like this. Something had to have happened.
