One Immortal - Tia Louise Page 0,70

dire. I don’t have time to listen to his bullshit anymore. “You killed Alison.”

Those three words snap him from his trance. His eyes turn white-blue and almost seem to glow in the darkness. Only the fog that surrounds us does not bind them. They’re little rays of pure evil pointing straight at me. My breath ticks up a notch, and my heart rate quickens. Here it comes.

“Who told you that?” He snarls like a cat, and I know he’s cornered. I’m calculating the right moment to drop and grab my gun.

“The old one in the cemetery. He was far less worried about dying as he was about ratting out your sorry ass.”

Something changes. My vision blurs like I’ve been hit with nerve gas. Sloan’s body starts to undulate before my eyes. He’s an image on the surface of the water, rippling after a stone has been tossed. My strength fails, and I realize in a panic, he’s overpowering me with his glamour. I don’t know how he’s doing it, but I can’t fight him. I drop to my knees as he begins to torture me with his words.

“Yesss…. Alison,” he says. “Alison Spencer Alexander, with her soft blonde hair. Her blood was sweet like peaches. A little spicy like nutmeg.”

Rage blazes in my chest, and I try to fight his power. He’s holding me on my knees, numb from the neck down. My limbs won’t obey me, and the fury builds in my useless body, pressure pounding in my temples. Dropping my head back I use all my strength to raise my arms.

“RAAAHHH!!!” I shout, willing my body to respond. The power of the vengeance inside me should be enough. It isn’t.

Sloan only laughs, which piques my fury higher. “Sucks, doesn’t it? Being under my control. I’m as powerful as an old one, thanks to all our study and work. Most of those idiots take years to learn what I already knew the moment I changed. It’s possible I’m the most powerful vampire on this continent.

“Melissa is merely another step in my climb to greatness.” White-hot rage glares back at me. “You thought you would take her from me, but that’s where you’re wrong. She’s mine, and she will always be mine as long as my blood is in her veins.”

I’ve got to break free of him. If I don’t we’ll lose everything. Not only is my partner’s life on the line, if Sloan eludes us here, we’ll never find him again. He’ll go so deep underground… I know him. I know his cunning. He’ll take Melissa and go so far, I’ll never find him. He’ll torture her, and I won’t be able to save her.

Sweat forms on my brow, and desperation twists in my lungs. “You’re not getting away with this,” I say through my clenched jaw.

“Looks like I already have.” He leans toward me. “It should only be a few moments longer before his life is gone.”

Fucking murderer! He’s waiting for Stuart to die. His cold blue eyes hold mine, and if I had any use of my arms, I’d break his neck.

I’m ready to bargain with him. I’m ready to say anything that will make him leave so I can save my partner when a noise like a puma snarl echoes in the metal building.

My head snaps up just in time to see a large golden body fly through the opening and hit Sloan square in the chest. His power over me breaks, and I fall forward briefly before staggering to my feet. What happens next, is hard to explain.

Blue fury blinds me. A burning need to kill him overshadows my thoughts. I reach out and grab my former mentor by the top of his hair, jerking him to his feet with one hand as my other holds the stake. His head pivots and those white eyes fix on mine. In that moment, I get the twisted idea to finish him the way he finished Alison.

I don’t hesitate. I rip his head back against my shoulder, and a satisfying CRUNCH! of bone greets my ears. His neck is broken, but he’s still alive. Only three things kill a vampire, and a broken neck isn’t one of them.

Patrick is doing something with Stuart when I commit the act that seals my doom. I lunge forward and snap my teeth on Sloan’s larynx. As if in a dream, I latch onto his cold skin, ripping it, breaking it. Spitting the flesh aside as his hot blood fills my mouth,