from his neck. “That’s us. Feel like taking a ride back down?”
“Don’t tempt me.”
He stepped close and put his lips to my ear. “Tempting you is what I do best.” Christian suddenly jerked up, his eyes wide and alert. “Wyatt’s in trouble.”
“When is he not in trouble?”
Christian stuck his foot in the doors to prevent them from closing. “The woman’s here.”
I followed Christian as he sprinted to the left. We jogged through a doorway and stopped short of a brightly lit room. Inside, Pablo lay motionless in a pool of his own blood, his head severed. I could hear Wyatt shouting, and as we drew closer, I spotted him in the back of the room, holding a chair like a lion tamer.
“I didn’t conspire anything!” Wyatt barked at her. “I didn’t even know him. I’m just a guy who works for a guy. I don’t know anything.”
“What a terrible liar,” I murmured.
Wyatt threw the chair at her and started to run toward the door until a sword blocked it. He backed up against the far wall and slumped to the floor, making himself as small as possible. Audrey peered around the doorway at us.
I waved at her. “How’s it going?”
She turned her back on Wyatt to face us, a bloody sword in hand. “I should have known the little man would betray me one day, but you?” Despite her elegance and sophistication, it was clear that Audrey knew how to use a sword.
I stood my ground. “Why do you think I didn’t kill the wolf? Did you really believe I was putting on a show just for you? If I’d wanted him dead, I could have done it before you recited the alphabet.”
“Now there’s a braggart,” Christian muttered.
Audrey gestured to Pablo. “Did he put you up to this? I would’ve given you a whole lot more to keep your mouth shut. You didn’t play your cards right.”
“But I did. I knew the house was dealing a dirty game from the beginning. I’m not some random bartender. You’re smarter than that. Well, not that smart. You made a few mistakes that led us here. It’s over, Audrey. There’s no way out.”
“There’s always a way out.” She whirled around and marched up to Wyatt, holding the blade to his throat. “Get up.”
With his back to the wall, Wyatt stood with his hands up.
She poked him in the side, and he winced. “Get moving or I’ll gut you like a fish.”
“What’s the plan?” I whispered to Christian.
“Let her walk out of here, or vacuum Wyatt’s intestines off the floor later. Dealer’s choice.”
“Are you immune to Sensors? Maybe you can grab her when they walk by.”
“Fecking not. If she has the Salem witch burnings inside her, I don’t want to guess what might happen. I once heard of a Sensor killing a Vampire with a powerful death experience.”
I had no urge to grab her either, now that I knew how powerful and debilitating sensory experiences really were.
Once Audrey and Wyatt were out of the room, she held the blade to his throat again, making it impossible to knock it away without mortally injuring Wyatt. I briefly entertained the idea, thinking Christian might be able to heal him with his blood, but that would be a shitty thing to do.
When she gripped Wyatt’s shoulder with her other hand, his expression went blank as he fell under her influence. She drew nearer, and I noticed blood spatters on her face.
“Audrey, there’s no way you can escape. We’ve got this place surrounded from top to bottom. If you let him go, I’ll cut you a deal.”
“Lies.”
Some people were gullible, so it had been worth a try. “Fine. If you kill him, then we kill you. How’s that for odds?”
“I’d rather die fighting than on my knees in front of the higher authority.”
“I bet you have enough money to pay them off. A few decades in confinement, and then you’re free.”
A rivulet of blood trickled down Wyatt’s neck, but the vacant look in his green eyes remained. Christian gave me a grim look, and I read his mind. Once Audrey reached the elevator, she’d cut Wyatt’s throat. She knew it would distract us long enough for those elevator doors to close.
Where the hell is Viktor?
Christian and I stood across from each other, our backs to the wall. Audrey’s arm trembled, but she kept the blade against Wyatt’s neck. Wyatt shuffled forward like a zombie.
“Don’t try anything,” she warned us.
“For future reference, daggers are a hell of a lot