Angel’s Blood (Guild Hunter #1)(74)
Author: Nalini Singh

Snap out of it!

It was her hunter sense, the thing that had marked her from birth.

Swallowing her panic, she focused, and realized the room wasn’t, in fact, pitch-dark. Uram had blacked out the windows but some light-too sharp, too white to be natural, which meant she’d been out long enough for night to fall-seeped in around the edges. It was that light that had allowed her to see the sickening truth of the room. Torn bodies thrown about like so much garbage. But not all were in pieces. Against the opposite wall, chains locked around his wrists, she saw the withered body of someone who’d once been human.

Then that dried-out husk blinked and she realized he was still alive. "Jesus!" It came out before she could stop herself.

The monster in front of her, the thing that wore the shell of an archangel, followed her gaze. "I see you’ve made Robert’s acquaintance. He was a loyal one, followed me across the oceans without complaint. Did you not, Bobby?"

Elena watched the cruel humor on Uram’s face and realized she’d never understood true evil until this moment. Robert was a vampire, that much was clear. No human that desiccated would still be alive-it looked as if the vampire had lost every ounce of moisture in him but for his large, glistening eyes. Eyes that pleaded with her for deliverance.

Uram turned back to her, his own eyes-a vivid, beautiful green-dancing with laughter. "He thought he was special because I took him with me. Unfortunately, I forgot about him for a while." That power-filled gaze became angry, tinged with red. The sparkling green was suddenly putrid.

Elena stayed very, very still in the corner where he’d dumped her, wondering if he’d thought to take her weapons. She couldn’t feel anything on her body but maybe he’d missed one or two-like the ice pick-thin knife in her hair, or the flat blade that slid into a sheath built into her shoe. She flexed her toes and felt the reassuring firmness of her boots. Ransom had given her the boots as a gag gift-she’d never loved the idiot more than she did at that moment.

Uram’s eyes bored into her. "But my loyal Bobby did come in useful"-back to Robert-"didn’t you? He made a most appreciative audience for my little games."

Elena saw the way the vampire’s hands curled in the chains, the way his wasted body flinched, and felt her fury ignite. Uram had to know what he was doing-vampires were almost immortal, but they needed blood to truly survive. By not allowing him to feed, he’d effectively caused Robert’s body to eat itself. The vampire would never actually die, not of starvation. But his every breath had to be agony by now. And if this went on much longer . . .

Elenas thoughts filled with the one and only case of vampiric starvation she’d ever encountered. It had been in a textbook she’d studied during her final year at Guild Academy. That vampire-S. Matheson-had been caught in a family feud involving his sire. Someone had locked him in a concrete coffin and buried him in the foundations of a building under construction.

He’d been found ten years later.

Alive.

If you could call it that. The contractor who’d unwittingly smashed open the coffin thought he’d found a skeleton, and called the authorities. The M.E. was excited by the prospect of mummified remains. He arrived at the site with a small crime scene crew and they began shooting photos, taking measurements as the workmen watched. Then one of the crime scene techs cut her finger while turning the head of the skeleton and before she knew it, she’d lost the finger, the bone sliced clean in half by one razor-sharp fang.

The paramedics had been called. S. Matheson’s body had regenerated under the constant flow of transfusions. But his brain had undergone some kind of an irreversible metamorphosis. S. Matheson didn’t speak, didn’t do anything but smile like a fool and wait for someone to come too close. Three doctors lost parts of their bodies to the flesh eater before S. Matheson disappeared without a trace. The general consensus was that the angels had taken care of him. Not good for business to have a vampire who ate people.

Robert hadn’t reached that stage yet. There was still something in those eyes, something that felt and understood humanity. She watched as Uram stalked to the vampire, blocking Elena’s view of his actions. Then Robert made an awful sound, and she barely stopped herself from screaming at Uram. Instead, she took the opportunity to slide her foot closer. Closer.

Uram turned, a slight smile on his lips. "What do you think of my work?"

She’d girded herself, knowing he’d done something monstrous. But nothing could’ve prepared her for the sight that met her-pity choked her throat, sent rage rocketing through her. Uram had taken Robert’s eyes. Now, holding her gaze, Uram took the slippery orbs to his mouth, as if about to bite in. She didn’t blink.

"You’re a strong one." Chuckling, he threw the orbs to the floor, crushing them beneath the heel of his boot. "No nutrition."

Dismissing a Robert who seemed to have stopped moving, he wiped his hands fastidiously on a handkerchief and came toward her. "You are very quiet, hunter. No heroics to save the poor vampire?" A raised brow that was incongruously regal.

"He’s only another bloodsucker," she said, sick to her stomach. "I was hoping he’d keep you distracted long enough that I could escape."

He smiled and the chill that crept up her spine felt like the crawling of a thousand spidery fingers. Then, still without speaking, he crouched down, put his hand on her ankle. Smiled wider. And twisted. The snap of the bone sent pain shrieking through her, so hot and vicious that she screamed.

Raphael!

She felt her vision blur as the smothering wings of unconsciousness closed around her once more. But something caught her mind before it could spiral down into darkness. Tell me where you are, Elena.

Sweat curled down the sides of her face, stuck her T-shirt to her back. But she held on to that voice, Raphael’s voice, and clawed her way back to full consciousness. Uram was still crouched in front of her, watching her with the well-pleased expression of someone who’d cornered his prey. "You smell like acid," she whispered. "Jagged, bright, distinctive."

His expression changed, became curious in an almost childish way. But it was the most distorted version of a child’s curiosity she’d ever seen. "What about Bobby?" Another smile even as his eyes turned red again. "He wants to know."

She swallowed. Water, she said inside her mind, hoping like hell that Raphael was listening. I can smell water. "Bobby," she whispered. "Bobby smells like dust and earth and death." And there’s a noise. She concentrated. Cutting, chopping, a steady rhythm. I should know what it is.

Uram stroked a strand of hair off her face. She waited for him to snap her neck, but he drew back his hand a moment later. Even as relief whispered through her, she realized he was feeding on her terror, torturing her with uncertainty. The bastard was keeping her live for his pleasure . . . or was he?