"Does stun effect you?”
“Yes." Unfortunately. "I'm almost there. Keep dodging.”
“Brilliant plan. However did you think of it?" she asked dryly. "Don't answer. We'll talk when you get here."
"That sounded like good-bye, and I already told you not to hang up."
"Sorry, but I'm going to take the bastard out, and I can't do that one-handed." Click. As Bride ran, she stowed her phone and tore several razors from her sleeve. Her palms were damp with sweat, but she maintained a firm grip as she swerved behind another doorway.
This time, rather than race onward, she crouched on the floor. A quick peek, her gaze cutting through the darkness like a knife, and she saw that her attacker was male. Tall, lean but muscled. Sandy hair. Boyish good looks.
Tom, she realized, and her stomach rolled. Shy, horny Tom wanted her stunned? Why? He slowed to a leisurely stroll and raised his pyre-gun as he searched every doorway. "Come out,
come out, wherever you are," he called. "I don't want to hurt you, Bride."
Bride didn't reply. She wasn't an idiot—hello, he so wanted to hurt her—and wouldn't give away her location by allowing him to follow her voice. Thank God she hadn't drunk from him that night. Afterward, he could have ambushed her while she'd writhed in pain.
Guess she owed Devyn a thank-you.
When Tom stepped around one of those thick metal poles, Bride jerked her arm forward, releasing one of her razors. It whizzed through the air and sliced the side of his neck. He howled, fired, free hand reaching up to staunch the blood.
The stun missed her by a mile. She used his distraction to her advantage and tossed another blade, aiming for his other side. It, too, sliced at his neck, drawing blood. Mmm, blood. So red ... so pretty. He didn't smell as pure tonight, had eaten over salted eggs and bread, but the dark red liquid still looked savory. He howled again, dropping his gun and covering the rest of his sensitive flesh.
"Damn it! I just want to talk to you," he growled.
"Then you shouldn't have shot at her," another, deeper voice said. A pissed-off voice. Devyn was here.
Her heart pounded against her ribs, her skin tightened, and her ni**les beaded, relief and arousal blending. Every nerve ending in her body ached for another touch from him. Maybe I am an idiot.
"You can come out, sweetheart. Your human can't move; he's under my control. Nice shots on his neck, by the way. Very impressive aim. Next time sever the jugular, though."
Keeping a razor in hand and beaming at Devyn's praise, Bride pushed to a stand and strode from the doorway. Though she wanted to stop beside Devyn and breathe him in, she bypassed him for Tom's gun, still resting on the floor. She picked it up and sheathed it at her waist.
Devyn tsked under his tongue. "Thinking of using that on me?"
"Just adding it to my collection." And holding on to it for protection. One wrong move from him, and she would stun him.
Finally, she faced him. He'd pulled on a shirt but was otherwise the same as she'd left him. Sexy as hell in wrinkle-free slacks, hair in disarray, and amber eyes bright. He wasn't winded or sweating. He looked as if he'd stepped from the pages of a magazine, rather than having just sprinted a five hundred-yard dash.
"Let me go," Tom demanded. "I'm human. I have rights.”
“Not anymore," Devyn said flatly.
Bravado faded. "Please. I didn't mean any harm, and I don't know how you're keeping me still like this, but I'm willing to forgive and forget. Just let me go."
"Do you know this man?" Devyn asked her, ignoring Tom. "Yep. Tom tried to pick me up the other day. The day I met you, actually."
One of Devyn's dark brows arched. "Heaven and hell, all in one day. Lucky girl. I take it you refused him?"
"I planned on having a drink with him, then caught Aleaha's scent and took off."
"With him?" Devyn chuckled. "Poor Tom." He eyed the man in question. Sweat had beaded over Tom's face. His lips were pulled into a frightened frown, and lines of tension branched from his eyes. "Denied the delectable morsel that is my Bride. I understand your pain, human. I, too, let her get away once. Now, what I don't understand is shooting at the woman days later." Every word was harsher, harder.
His Bride?
"You don't know what you're messing with, man," Tom said on a trembling breath as he tried to collect himself. "Just let me go, and we'll forget this ever happened."
"Oh, then please enlighten me as to what I'm messing with."
Tom's dark eyes skidded to Bride before returning to Devyn, the biggest threat. "She's a vampire. She'll suck you dry if given the chance. I know how to deal with them. I can protect you from her."
So. He knew she was a vampire. How many others knew? Was there already a mob after her, determined to stake her or bum her alive? "Why do you think I'm ... vampire?" She couldn't keep the fear from her voice. She'd gone to such pains to hide what she was.
Tom laughed cruelly. "Few weeks ago you were seen drinking from a bum in an alleyway just like this. You were followed, information gathered. When I questioned your ex-boyfriend, I learned some interesting things about your nightly habits. And guess what? I'm not the only one who knows about you. My friends plan to sell you to the highest bidder." He turned to Devyn. "Let me go, and you can have half the profits. You don't want a bloodsucker as a lover, trust me. We'll find you something else. Something sweet and pliable."
Something, he'd said, as if the women weren't living beings. She realized he'd never truly desired her, had just sought her capture and the profit that would have accompanied it. Bastard.
"No, thanks. I'd rather send your friends a message." Devyn slid a long, sharp knife from his side, the silver winking in the moonlight.
He'd turned down money and a slave. For her. Sweetest gesture ever. That didn't mean she'd sleep with him, but wow. She might maybe kinda sorta didn't despise him now. Like you did before.
"Wh-what kind of message?" Tom asked, gaze glued to the weapon. If he'd had control of his body, he would have trembled, shrank back. Maybe pissed his pants. There was an unholy gleam to Devyn, as if he relished what was about to happen. As if he could already smell the blood and gore and found it heady. "How are you holding me so still? Let me go. Please, just let me go, or you'll regret it."
"I can promise you, I'll do no such thing. I never regret." Devyn seemed to have forgotten Bride was even there, his full attention focused on his prey. And that's exactly what Tom was just then. Prey. Part of her suddenly wanted to leave Devyn to his torturing and race home. To safety. The other part of her wanted to find out who Tom's friends were, so that Devyn could destroy them, too.