Immortal Danger (Night Watch 0.5)(28)
Author: Cynthia Eden

What the hell? Didn’t he see that the woman was dying? "Ask her," he demanded. "Ask her about the girl."

She’d ask, but Maya doubted she’d get an answer. "I need to-"

The woman’s eyes jerked open. Pale blue. "I’m…gonna…ch-change…"

"What?"

"B-be…strong…get…b-blood…"

Maya stared down at the woman’s body, hoping she was misunderstanding. "A girl," she said, trying to keep the woman’s attention. "Was there a little girl here?"

The blue eyes narrowed a moment. The cracked lips twisted into a sneer. "B-bitch…b-

burned…me…just…wanted…taste…"

A taste? But the woman wasn’t a vampire, not yet anyway. Maya gently touched her bleeding mouth, parting the lips.

Filed teeth. Razor sharp.

Not natural vampire canines. They were too small for that-and the edges were a bit jagged.

The woman dying before her had filed her own teeth to look like a vampire.

And, apparently, she’d tried to drink from a child.

"M-mon…ster…changed…b-burned…"

Cammie had caused the burns on her arm? The room was lit with candles, so a mild burn, yeah, maybe she could understand that, but how had the girl-

"D-deserves…what…sh-she’ll…get…"

A growl rumbled behind her.

"And what will she get?" Maya asked softly. There was something in those blue eyes, something blazing brightly even as the woman faced death.

Insanity.

"Heart…r-ripped…out…" The battered lips widened into a bigger smile. Blood slipped down her chin. "D-drink…b-blood…for…Mas…ter…"

Yeah, she’d been afraid of that.

Maya’s fingers closed over the hilt of the knife. The woman’s heart was stuttering. If she pulled out the knife, maybe-

Icy fingers closed over her hand. "Ch-change…me."

The woman had lost too much blood. If Maya drank from her-and she’d have to drink before she gave the woman her own blood-the woman with the pale eyes would die instantly.

Maya figured that’s exactly what the vamps who’d left her behind had been counting on. "I-I can’t." Even if she could, this woman-she was-

"P-promised! I…k-killed…many…f-for…them…b-brought…food…" Her lashes were closing.

The wheezing in her chest easing.

"Yeah, I bet you did." And she’d held a kid captive in this hole in the earth.

A Lure. She’d bet her undead life on it. The blonde had been used as a Lure by the vamps. She’d probably brought in her friends, maybe even family first for them to drink from, and then she’d started luring strangers, humans, into the den.

Had she been sane then? At the start? Then slowly lost her reason as she witnessed the killings? As she participated in the slaughters? What a damn shame. All because she’d bought into the promise of living forever.

The woman’s heart stopped, ended on one final, faint beat. Her chest stilled.

Maya released the hilt of the knife. She brushed a tear from the woman’s face and rose-only to find Adam glaring down at the dead body.

"She knew their plans," he muttered. "That’s why they killed her."

A definite possibility. Or maybe they’d just decided their Lure wasn’t useful once she’d tried to attack their special prey. Maya began pacing around the room, trying to find any clue-

"She hurt Cammie."

Her gaze met his. Absolute certainty laced his words. "Looks to me like Cammie got a lick in, too." Damn, but those burns were bad. "Wanna tell me about that?"

His lips thinned.

"Didn’t think so." No candle had done that. What was the girl? One of those Igniters she’d heard about? A human born with the power to control fire? She was getting damn tired of Adam not dealing straight with her. If he expected her to save the girl, he needed to be honest. "Look, Slick," she began.

" Help!" A high-pitched, desperate cry. A child’s voice, echoing through the tunnels.

Adam spun around, ran from the room.

Shit . "Adam, wait for me!" She lunged forward-

And two chameleons sprang from their cover near the entrance.

They grabbed her, wrestling her to the ground. She fought, kicking, punching.

She had to get out of there, had to go after Adam.

Nothing had better happen to him.

Snarling, she twisted beneath the chameleons and drove her fist straight into the biggest one’s nose.

Cammie’s voice. The cry for help resonated from deep in the tunnels, sounding strangely distorted-but there was no mistaking it was Cammie.

Hold, on, baby. I’m coming.

He ran as fast as he could, not even trying to conceal his presence. He wanted the bastards to know he was coming.

His heart raced as he thundered through the darkness. He was so close to her now, so close.

A faint light shone from up ahead. A trickling glow of illumination, spilling from beneath a wooden door-just like the door of the last room, the door that had smelled of death.

Adam shoved open the door, chest heaving. "Cammie!"

A slow laugh came from behind him. Too late, Adam caught the stench of rotting flesh and decay.

Vampire.

He tried to spin around, but the creature jumped on him from behind, tearing his flesh with his fangs and sinking his teeth deep into Adam’s throat.

The fierce agony whipped through him. This was what he’d expected when Maya bit him. The tearing. The slashing of flesh and the white-hot pain.

The vamp drank greedily, gulping down his blood.

Not like Maya’s bite. Maya.

He’d left her in the tunnel. She was alone, she-

"No!" Adam lunged forward, managing to break free of the bastard’s hold. The vampire’s teeth sliced across his flesh. Blood dripped onto the ground.

Another rumble of laughter.

Adam turned to face the vampire, uncaring of the blood that trickled down his neck. "Where’s Cammie?"

The vampire, a tall, thin man who looked like he was about thirty years old-and he probably had been thirty when he’d been turned-narrowed his black eyes. "Getting ready for Master Nassor." He licked his lips, muttered, "I thought you’d taste better. Considering what you are."

"What I am…" He grunted. "I’m the guy who’s about to kill you in the next four seconds unless you tell me where the hell my niece is! "

The vampire took a step back. Another. A smile curved his lips, one that never flickered in his soulless stare. "You’re not the one who is going to do the killing."