As his heartbeat filled her ears, that tempting, wonderful beat, her canines lengthened, burned.
And Maya realized she hadn't survived her attack.
No, she hadn't survived it at all…
CHAPTER 1
Five years later…
A dam Brody kept his eyes on his prey as she moved down the street. Her hair, dark, midnight black, gleamed in the moonlight, skimming just past her shoulders. Her body, slender but strong, moved fluidly as she ran through the night.
He had been watching her for days now. Watching as she prowled the streets at night. Watching as she fed. As she fought. Even as she killed.
Maya Black.
There had been whispers about her for years. Tales of the vampire who hunted her own kind.
The vampire who fought demons, shifters, vamps-any damn thing that got in her way.
There was a price on her head. But for five years, no one had been able to collect that bounty.
Because Maya was one tough bitch to stake.
She approached a ramshackle building, a building with boarded windows and red gang tags shining on the exterior walls. Her hand lifted, banged on the door.
A man wrenched open the metal door. He took one look at Maya and stepped back, letting her inside.
Adam caught the scent of blood on the wind.
His body stiffened as understanding dawned. She'd just gone into a feeding room. One of the safe houses for vamps. A place to drink, to f**k, to do whatever the hell the vamps wanted with the humans who were unlucky enough to be inside. Often, the humans stumbled into the feeding room by mistake. They thought they'd just gone into a new bar, a trendy, secret spot. Then the vamps got then. Once the vamps took their blood, it was over for the humans. A vamp could link with his victim. It was so easy to slip into a human's mind after the bite.
The bitten humans never thought about turning on the vamps, or revealing the feeding rooms to the authorities. They were too addicted to the vampire's power, and too under the vamp's control.
Not that revealing a feeding room to the authorities would do much good, anyway. The cops had learned long ago how to hide the supernatural activities from the larger society. And the vamps…they were so good at blending in-hiding in plain sight.
So they took their blood and they f**ked, and they didn't care how many humans they hurt.
He'd wondered when Maya would feed again. It had been two days since he'd watched her drink from a man. Two days since she'd pushed a young dumbass up against a wall and locked those red lips of hers onto his neck and shoved those sharp teeth into his throat. Even from fifty yards away, he'd heard the man's cry of ecstasy as Maya fed.
He'd expected Maya to drain the man dry. To slash his throat and leave him dead on the street.
But she'd lowered the guy onto the curb, whispered to him, and walked away.
She'd left her prey alive.
Damn odd for a vampire.
Of course, the same night she'd cut the head off a level-five demon who'd made the mistake of jumping her.
He sauntered slowly down the street, keeping his gaze on the feeding room, but listening intently for every sound on the block.
Adam had never thought that he'd willingly offer himself up as food for a f**king parasite, but it looked like this might be the only way he could get close to Maya. And he needed to get close to her, for now.
She kept her prey alive.
So, it looked like he'd have to become her prey.
He reached the black door. Didn't bother glancing at the red splashes of spray paint. He lifted his fist and pounded against the cold metal.
A big, bald, ugly-as-hell guy with a twisted nose and a scar sliding down his left cheek, jerked open the door. "What the 'ell do ye want?" A thick Irish brogue marked his words.
The scent of blood was stronger now. Moans whispered in the air, the faint pounding of drums, the light strum of a guitar. And then a scream.
Irish put one meaty hand on Adam's chest and shoved back. "This ain't yer place, mate."
Adam glanced down at the hand, thought about breaking it. Just one quick snap. He took a deep breath and glanced back up into Irish's beady green eyes. "I'm here for the woman."
"No woman 'ere." His lips curled into a snarl. "Now get your arse out of-"
The hand was still on his chest, pressing a bit too hard, and it was really pissing Adam off. So he grabbed the jerk's wrist, twisted– not enough to break, not yet –and shoved Irish back against the door. "The woman you just let inside," he whispered. "I want her."
Irish shook his head. "Ye don't want 'er." He jerked his hand back, clenched his fingers into a fist.
"Oh, but I do." And he wasn't leaving without her. Adam waited for the guy to attack. Waited-
A hard crack of laughter filled the air. "Dumb bastard." Irish stepped back, motioned him inside.
"Yer funeral."
Adam walked down the long, dark hallway. Small, sputtering candles were on the floor, providing just enough light to see the passage, but shadowing the blood he could smell all around him.
The hall ended in a large room. A band played on a small, wooden stage. A drummer. A woman who sang as she strummed the guitar. Adam could see the blood trailing lightly down their necks.
Could tell by the glazed expression in their eyes that they were the slaves of the vamps.
Damn. He f**king hated vampires.
Parasites.
His back teeth clenched as he glanced around the room. Doors led off in every direction. He already knew where all those doors would take him. To hell.
But he needed to find Maya, so he'd have to go-
"Don't screw with me, Armand!" A woman's voice, hard, ice cold. Maya.
He turned, found her leaning over the bar, her hand wrapped around the bartender's throat.
"I want to know who went after Sean, and I want to know now. " He saw her fingernails stretch into claws, and he watched as those claws sank into the man's neck.
"I-I d-don't k-know." The guy looked like he might faint at any moment. Definitely human.
Vamps were always so pale it looked like they might faint. But this guy, he'd looked pretty normal until Maya clawed him.
"Find out!" She threw him against a wall of drinks.
Adam stalked toward her, reached her side just as she spun around, claws up.
He stilled.
She glared at him. "What the hell do you want?" She snarled, and he could see the faint edge of her fangs gleaming behind her plump lips.
It was his first time to get a good look at her face. He'd seen her from a distance before, judged her to be pretty, hadn't bothered to think much beyond that.
He blinked as he stared at her. Damn, the woman looked like some kind of fallen angel.