Immortal Danger (Night Watch 0.5)(25)
Author: Cynthia Eden

The door was jerked open. A big, fat, bull of a man with a pug nose, beady brown eyes, and a thick bald head glared down at her. "What the f**k do you want?"

Maya drew in a deep breath. "I’m trying to sleep next door, and the fact that you’re trying to beat your woman to death is keeping me awake." Her fingers clenched into fists as she prepared herself for a fight. Without her vampire enhancements, she was going to have to do this the old-fashioned way.

Stupid sun. Why couldn’t it just set already so she could give this guy the ass-whipping he so desperately deserved? His eyes raked over her, lingering on her br**sts and hips. He licked his lips and damn if a smug smile didn’t stretch across his face, revealing a missing front tooth. "You’re a pretty little thing, aren’t you? Wanna come inside and play with old Chuck?"

Why were the bullies always the biggest idiots in the world? "Chuck, I don’t think you’re going to like the way I play." Oh, she could almost guarantee it. "Now why don’t you step aside and let the woman come out." If she was even still alive. The guy’s knuckles were bruised and she could smell the blood on his hands, literally.

"Rosie don’t wanna come out, bitch." He put one of his beefy hands on her chest and shoved her back, hard. "Now go mind your own f**kin’ business!"

"Mama?" A child’s voice. High-pitched, desperate with fear.

Oh, hell, no. The bastard had a kid in there.

And blood on his hands.

She stepped forward, still feeling the imprint of his hand on her chest. A big guy like that-she didn’t even want to think about what he could do to a kid. "Let me see the woman and the child."

She wasn’t leaving until-

He tried to slam the door, but she had her foot in the doorway and the old wooden door just flew back.

"Wrong move," Maya whispered and rammed the bald badass back as she forced her way fully into the room.

CHAPTER 6

The door to room 204 was open. Shit . Adam glanced up at the sky, saw the sun sitting bright and heavy between the clouds.

Maya wasn’t in the room anymore. He knew it without having to take a step inside, but her scent lingered around him-actually, it was-

" I told you not to f**king touch me again!" Maya’s voice, filled with fury, and coming from the room next door.

Adam dropped his food. He didn’t stop at the closed door, just kicked it in-and then drew up short at the sight before him.

Maya had a man, a human, shoved up against the wall. The fingers of her right hand were wrapped around his beefy throat. In her left hand, she held a broken beer bottle-and that bottle was currently pushed up against the guy’s side.

"You don’t touch me, you don’t touch Rosie," Maya continued, her voice hard and mean. She hadn’t so much as glanced over at the sound of the door shattering beneath his fists. "And you sure as hell never touch that kid, got it?" The jagged edges of the bottle cut into his stomach.

Rosie? Adam’s gaze darted around the room. Found a thin woman with bright red hair and a face stained with bruises huddled in the corner. The woman’s skirt fluttered, just a bit, and Adam saw the bright eye of a child peeking from behind her.

"You’re gonna walk out of here-and you’re gonna keep walking, Chuck. You’re never gonna bother Rosie or her kid again-"

"Fucking whore!" He spat. "Just like you ." He tried to lunge forward, but Maya caught him and slammed him back against the wall.

Adam frowned. The guy was big, too big for her to be handling during the day. He stepped toward her, then caught a glimpse of fang.

"I’m not a whore," Maya murmured, bringing her face in close to the man’s. "I’m something much, much worse." Her lips were parted. Her teeth bared.

Blood began to trickle from the guy’s neck-where her claws had buried themselves deep in his flesh.

The guy whimpered.

Maya stood on her toes and licked away a rivulet of blood. "I’ve got your taste now, Chuck," she said, "so I can find you, anywhere, anytime." The beer bottle fell to the floor. "And I won’t need glass to kill you if I come hunting." Her teeth snapped together. "I’ll rip you apart with teeth and claws."

The guy, Chuck, had turned white. "You’re some…kinda devil."

She laughed at that. "Yeah, and I’ve come to take you to hell."

He started to shake then.

Maya released him, but kept her eyes glued to his. "Get out before I kill you."

Adam didn’t doubt that she would. There was something different about her at that moment. A rage was in her-one he hadn’t seen before.

The human ran from the room, leaving drops of blood on the floor to mark his wake.

Maya turned to him then, finally acknowledging his presence. "Give me a minute, Slick." There were lines of tension around her mouth.

He nodded, prepared to watch and wait.

Slowly, Maya walked toward the woman and child. She studied the woman first, then said, "Where are you from, Rosie?"

"B-Barlow, A-Alabama." Rosie stared at the floor while big, fat teardrops rained down her cheeks.

Maya crouched in front of her and held out her hand. "And who are you?" she asked the black-

haired child who peered around his mama’s skirt with big, wide eyes.

"Jake." A faint whisper.

But Adam heard it, and Maya’s equally soft reply.

"It’s good to meet you, Jake." She still held out her hand. After a minute, two, the little boy’s fingers lifted to touch her.

Rosie gasped then and jerked the boy back. "Don’t you be hurtin’ him!"

Maya glanced up at her. "I won’t."

Rosie swallowed. "You gonna…hurt me?"

From the looks of things, Adam thought the woman had been hurt enough.

Maya stood, swayed just the faintest bit. "Not if you do what I say."

Her eyes doubling in size, Rosie nodded.

"I want you to take Jake and get the hell out of town. I want you to go back home to Barlow."

The tears fell faster as Rosie’s head bobbed in quick agreement.

"Good."

Maya moved toward him.

"I-I’m not a-a whore." Rosie’s chin was lifted, her shoulders struggling to straighten.

Maya didn’t glance back at her. "I know."

"You-you’re not a devil, a monster, either-are you?"

Now she did look back and Adam wished that he could have seen her expression as she said, "Sorry, Rosie, but I’m both."

She didn’t speak until they were back in room 204 and the door was firmly shut behind them.

Her shoulders sagged and her feet shuffled slowly across the floor.

"Hate ass**les like that," she muttered heading for the bed. "Think they can do anything they want to a woman."