“Now, now, don’t be so hasty.” Zadok lifted his hands in a false show of harmlessness. “I have only come here to negotiate.”
“Uh-huh.” It was clear Alfonzo did not believe him. Nor did he have any reason to. “You’ve come to negotiate only because we’re getting closer, aren’t we?”
“Hardly,” Zadok said through a lopsided smile. Malice and amusement glittered in his yellow eyes. He held all the cards, and the poor men in front of her had no inkling of how much danger they were really in. “Well. If you two hunters have not been enjoying my Master’s grace, I know of one who has.”
“You can turn around and—” Alfonzo paused. “Two?”
The illusion of Bella at her side melted away. Before Maxine could warn the two hunters, Zadok stepped forward, a dagger in each hand, and sliced Eddie’s back with one and Alfonzo’s arm with the other. He cackled and vanished as Alfonzo whirled to swing his sword through the vampire.
Gunfire rang out, but Eddie’s shots met empty air.
“Where…where is Bella?” Eddie whirled around. “What have you done with her? Bella!”
“Shout all you want, mortal, she cannot hear you.” Zadok appeared again, standing in front of them.
Eddie raised his guns again, but Maxine interrupted him. “Save your bullets. He’s another illusion.”
“Come here and face me!” the young man shouted, his voice cracking in panic. “Where is she?”
Zadok laughed and shook his head, as if beleaguered by the tantrum of a child. “First, no, I will not face you both. I would be a fool to do so. You are not a threat to me by benefit of your stupidity, not your lack of brute strength. And second, she is nowhere near here. She has been gone for days.”
“What?” Alfonzo took a threatening step toward the illusion before he growled, realizing how pointless it was. He pressed a hand to the bloody slash on his arm. Zadok could have killed them both if he had wanted to, but Maxine knew he was under orders to leave them alive to suffer. “You’re lying.”
“Am I?” Zadok was nearly preening himself. “What say you, Maxine?”
The two hunters turned to her, and her face grew hot. Of course, the vampire would not let her stay out of this. “I…he’s right. Bella has been gone for over two days.”
“And you said nothing? We had a viper in our midst, and you said nothing!” Alfonzo reeled toward her, lifting his fist as if to clock her again. She staggered back. “You are a traitor, Maxine. To us and to humanity itself! I should kill you here!”
“If I told you and I revealed his game, Bella would die. I wished to keep her alive!” She took another step away from the irate hunter. “He cannot lie to me, any more than any of you. I believe his threat.”
Alfonzo snarled and whirled back to the smirking illusion of the vampire. “Set her free!”
“And that is why I have gone and revealed my little game, however wonderful it’s been having a chance to get to know you all.” He sneered. “My Master extends to you a bargain which I am sure you will understand is quite generous. One that will only be good this once. Leave this city. Turn back now. Abandon your crusade for retribution against Dracula, and Bella will be free to return to you unharmed. We will leave Boston with Miss Parker and relinquish our hold upon this place.”
Alfonzo snarled. “Never. I will see his evil driven from this world. I will not rest until he is in the grave! She can destroy him, and I will see it done.”
Zadok rolled his eyes and looked over to Maxine with a perfect expression of “I told you so” on his sharp features. He turned back to the hunters. “Do you not wish to discuss it?”
“Al. Al we have to save Bella. We should take their offer,” Eddie begged.
Alfonzo shook his head. “They’re lying. They’d never give up this city. Even if they do, they’ll go on to another. We have an opportunity here that I cannot let pass. We stay. We fight. We’ll save Bella another way.”
Eddie ran his hand over his face. “But…Al. This is asinine. We’ve walked for days and made zero progress!”
“Then go!” Alfonzo shouted at the younger hunter. “Leave if you are too much of a coward to do what needs to be done. I will take the traitor”—he jabbed an angry finger in the air in her direction—“and I will put