Marked By The Vampire (Purgatory #2)(43)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Silence.

The gunfire had stopped.

She wasn’t hit. Shane…

He fell. His body slammed onto the floor, and he took her down with him. Olivia struggled with him and managed to roll him to the side. “Shane!”

There was blood everywhere, bullet wounds all over him. Her hand pressed to his chest.

That was when she realized there was a bullet in his heart.

“R-run…”

Olivia’s head turned at that faint whisper. Chloe had tried to heave herself up a few precious inches. Blood soaked her shirt. “G-go…”

She was supposed to just leave them? Hell, no.

“S-silver in m-me…” Chloe shuddered. “Bet…w-wood…in v-vamp…”

A wooden bullet to the heart would put a vampire down. Freeze him, as if he were dead. She had to get the bullet out of Shane.

“C-coming…h-hear them…” Chloe fell back. “Run…”

She couldn’t leave them!

She wouldn’t leave Shane. Her fingers pushed into his wound, the wound right over his heart. She gasped as she did it, terrified, but Shane didn’t move at all. Her fingers slipped, fumbled, and she tried to find that bullet. If she could get it out, then he’d wake up. He’d heal. Then they could grab the others and all get out of there.

If she could get the bullet… “Come on, come on…”

She heard the thunder of footsteps. So close. Right outside of the apartment?

Sucking in a deep breath, Olivia pushed her fingers even deeper into Shane’s chest. She wouldn’t think about touching his heart. She’d only think about saving him. Saving them all. She had to get the bullet out.

The door crashed in. She looked up as men in black rushed into the room. All of the men wore ski masks. She didn’t know if they were humans or werewolves—they were in human form, though, and all armed with guns.

“Get away from him!”

That voice…she knew that voice. It was Donald Quick’s voice.

He rushed right past his daughter’s fallen form and put a gun to Olivia’s head. “Get away from the vamp. Leave him or you die now!”

He had his gun aimed right between her eyes. “L-liar,” Olivia said. “You want me alive.” She almost had the bullet. Almost. “That’s the whole point of all this, right, Senator Quick?”

He stiffened. What, had the guy thought she wouldn’t recognize him? Or that she wouldn’t call his bluff?

“You’re right,” he said softly. “I won’t kill you.” Then he backed away from her. Grabbed his daughter and jerked her upright. He put his gun to Chloe’s head. “But what do you think will happen if I fire a silver bullet into her at point-blank range?”

Chloe’s eyes were closed. She sagged in his hold.

“She’s your daughter!” Olivia shouted.

“She turned on me. Who the hell do you think has been tipping off the FBI bastards? She turned on me…when all I wanted to do was help her.” Rage blasted through his words. “Now get away from that vamp, or she dies!”

Olivia’s fingers slowly slipped out of the wound. She put her hands behind her back as she rose.

“Good. Damn good.” He dropped Chloe, as if she didn’t matter at all. “Now, come on because we’re leaving.” He motioned with the gun. A “come here” gesture.

She didn’t go anywhere. “Did you kill my mother?”

He tensed.

“You did.” He’d been at her mother’s funeral. Hugging Olivia. Comforting her. Rage pulsed through her. “You sonofabitch!” She lunged for him. “I wish—”

He shot her.

Olivia’s words ended in a strangled gasp as she looked down at her body.

“Can’t have you making any wishes, not just yet.”

She saw the blood blooming near her stomach.

“Not fatal, not yet.”

Her breath choked out as she staggered toward him. But one of his men rushed forward and shoved a needle into Olivia’s neck.

“Got you,” the man whispered. Her head turned as the world started to get foggy and dark, and she found herself staring into David’s eerie silver eyes.

“I wish…” Olivia whispered, trying to force her words out. “I wish…”

She slumped to the floor.

And the bullet she’d hidden slipped from her fingers.

***

“Olivia!” Shane roared her name even as he sucked in a deep gulp of air. He lurched to his feet and slipped in blood. His blood.

Damn the bastards.

His gaze flew around the room. Case was on the floor, not moving at all. There was no sign of Olivia or Chloe. He inhaled, trying to pull in their scents and—got you.

He whirled back toward the window. The glass was broken, courtesy of the bullets and the sniper ass**les who’d fired them. He looked below. Sure enough, there were black SUVs out there on the street. Olivia was being loaded into one.

I promised to protect her.

He jumped right through the glass. He plummeted down, down, and when he slammed into the ground, his knees dented the concrete.

“Kill him!” He heard the shouted order as he pushed to his feet. Men started firing at him again but, this time, they missed his heart.

He grabbed one of the fools. Yanked the guy in front of his body, used him as cover—and Shane sank his fangs into the man’s throat.

He needed blood. He’d take everything from the bastards who’d tried to take Olivia.

When more bullets flew through the air, he dropped his prey. Shane went after the others. He’d take them all out. One by one.

A black SUV slammed into him. Shane hurtled through the air and hit the side of the building.

The SUV backed up.

Shane tried to shove to his feet. His legs were broken.

The SUV raced away.

And the men with guns closed in.

“I guess you’re about to lose your head, vampire,” one of the men yelled. “When we shoot you in your heart and you freeze up, do you think you’ll still feel it when we saw off your head?”

Shane’s hands flattened on the concrete. “Will you…feel it…when my friend…shoves his claws…into you?”

“What—?”

Connor attacked. Shane had smelled him, had known that back-up had come to help him. Connor ran up behind the men and sliced with his claws. One down. Two.

Then Duncan hurtled from the shadows. He took out two more men.

Pate rushed to Shane’s side. “Damn, man, you look like hell.” Pate put his wrist to Shane’s mouth. “Haven’t we done this shit before?”