A lone figure jumped from the car and blurred away down the street, empty-handed. Elyssa braked hard and screeched to a stop. She leapt off the bike. Rushed to the car. Tore the door open and gasped. The passenger seat was empty.
"No." She spun on her heel, searching the nearby traffic. "No!"
Bella came to her side and shouted a stream of Spanish. "The bastards tricked us. They must have pulled him out while we were getting the motorcycle."
"Or skating on ice." Elyssa groaned and pounded her fist against the roof of the car. A tear of frustration and disbelief burned down her cheek. She turned to Bella, weak with the realization of everything that had happened today. More tears gathered in her eyes, though she fought with everything she had to keep them at bay.
"Oh, god, Bella. Oh my god." Her knees went weak and she clutched at the other woman for support. "I've lost Justin. And my dad, he's—he's—" she couldn't say it. How could Thomas Borathen, a man who'd survived wars and everything else the supernatural community had thrown at him, die? It wasn't possible. It couldn't be.
But it was.
Chapter 9
Euphoria filled my body, flooding me with warmth and contentment. A coppery odor filled my nostrils. My eyelids fluttered open. A tall, muscular man, his fangs glistening red in the dim yellow light, grinned.
"Mine at last, boy. Mine at last." Maximus tore a paper towel from a nearby holder and wiped the blood from his lips and his close-cropped goatee.
Horror washed away the euphoric feeling and I strained uselessly against diamond fiber straps securing my arms, legs, torso, and neck to a diamond fiber table. "Did you just drink my blood?" I said, gagging at the thought of his nasty fangs in my body.
"The first drink of many, boy." Maximus slid on a pair of dark wraparound shades and pulled on a tight leather trench coat. "I have tasted spawn blood before, but there is something different, even more spectacular, about yours."
"You nasty perv," I said, squirming with disgust.
"And to think those idiots Franco and Marcel let you get away." His eyes narrowed. "Serves them right for trying to double-cross me."
"Let me go, Maximus."
"Not a chance, boy. You took your spawn father from me, but I do believe I've traded up."
"You won't keep me here for long. The Templars are going to sweep through here and clean house."
He chuckled. "I hope they try." He leaned in close, the metallic odor of my blood on his breath. "I heard a lot of them didn't make it out of the raid on Franco's compound."
"Yeah, right," I hissed between clenched teeth. "You only wish."
"Oh, I don't wish, little spawn—I know. I supplied those weapons to his drug cartel along with a large supply of cursed ammunition." He clucked his tongue. "I hear those bullets tore right through the much-vaunted Templar Nightingale armor."
My mind flashed back to my wild escape from Franco's compound. The chase. The plane ride from hell. The gunman who shot me and Elyssa. She'd been wearing Templar armor, but the bullets had gone through it like a knife through paper. We'd nearly died thanks to silver poisoning and the harmful spells on those bullets. If Maximus was really the supplier, it likely meant he had stash built up here. If the Templars came, he and his vampire army would mow through them like grass.
Anger flooded my chest. "What do you want with me? Why are you doing this?"
He straightened and crossed his arms across his chest. "You should know why I want you, little fish. Spawn blood will increase the potency of my own so I can finally turn noms."
"Is making more vampires all you care about?" I spat, imagining him sinking his fangs into my flesh over and over again as I grew weaker and unable to do a damned thing about it.
"Turning more noms is only a means to an end." He walked to the other side of the table and put a hand to his chin. "I grant them life eternal and supernatural powers. They will help me overturn the traditional order, the ancients who have ruled us like dogs. Eventually, we will overcome the spawn and turn them into our slaves. Not only will we rid the world of demon spawn, but we will finally be able to live as we were destined."
"As a bunch of blood-sucking parasites?"
The corner of his mouth twisted into a slow grin. "As the rulers of