Her heated words were brought to an abrupt halt as a soft breeze rippled through the air and Viper was swiftly on his feet pushing Shay behind him.
"Master," Santiago called from the shadows.
"Yes, Santiago, I smell it."
He felt Shay grasp the back of his silk shirt. "Smell what?"
"Blood. Fresh blood."
"Crap."
A shiver raced down Shay's spine as Viper slowly turned to face her. Until the past few moments she had managed to forget the hovering evil that seemed intent on capturing her. She had been so intent on how she could manage to rescue Levet from Evor that she had forgotten she possessed yet another enemy.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
And embarrassing that Viper had remembered when she had not.
"Did you kill Evor and his trolls?" he demanded.
His tone was merely curious. As if he didn't give a bloody hell if she had slaughtered the trolls.
And probably he didn't.
"No, I didn't even catch sight of them."
"So you saw no one? Heard nothing?"
"No."
His head tilted to one side. "And you did not think that unusual?"
Shay shrugged, thinking back to her swift trip through the auction house. "They rarely enter the auction house before dark. Besides, I used the back entrance and went straight to the dungeons. You think they were attacked?"
"Something was." He glanced back toward the silent building. "Wait here."
Shay watched as Viper collected his vamp and they moved through the darkness. Within a heartbeat they had melded into the shadows, and not even her enhanced vision could make out their silhouettes.
She wrapped the cloak tight about her oddly chilled body as Levet fluttered onto the ground beside her.
"Maybe we should just leave," she muttered.
"Do you think?" Levet slapped his hands on his h*ps and regarded her with a narrowed gaze. "Oh, wait. Why would we leave when we can linger in the backyard of our enemies and play suck face with whatever vampire happens by? And after that we can douse ourselves with gasoline and play with matches. The fun, as they say, never ends."
Shay felt a ridiculous blush touch her cheeks. She had not played suck face. Well, at least not on purpose.
"Don't push it, Levet."
"Or what? You'll hold me down and kiss me to death?"
"You can be returned to your cell, you know," she growled.
"Sur le corps."
Over his dead body? Shay gave a lift of her brows. "That could be arranged as well."
Perhaps sensing he had touched her last nerve Levet lifted his hands in a purely continental gesture.
"Now, now, ma cherie. There is no need to be testy."