She grunted in approval. "Or we can all be civilized and you might get to keep breathing." From the corner of his eye, Adam saw Maya bare her fangs. "Your choice."
Max shook his head, over and over. "No. If they find out I told, they'll kill me!"
She laughed at that. "If you don't tell me what I need to know in the next five seconds, I'll make you wish you were dead."
That stopped the frantic head motions. Both eyes gazed at Maya, as if testing the truth of her words.
Adam didn't doubt for a moment that she meant exactly what she'd said.
Apparently, the chameleon came to the same conclusion. He gulped, then whispered, "Torrence has a feeding room near the Strip. He goes there every night."
"And Torrence would be?" Adam asked, his voice mild as he fought the anger that still coursed through his veins. This bastard had been there, he'd known that the vampires had Cammie-and he'd done nothing to help the child.
Too busy serving the parasites. Trying to trade his life for the prize of immortality.
Fool.
"Torrence Zane. He's pretty much the alpha vampire while the Born Master's still in the ground."
Torrence . "Would this alpha happen to be about six foot two, with blond hair and a pretty-boy face?" One that he'd like to smash in.
The chameleon nodded shakily.
Adam smiled. Payback was going to be a real bitch for the pretty boy.
"I need an exact location," Maya said.
"I-I don't have one."
"Oh, that's just not what I need to hear right now." She made a faint humming sound. "Not at all."
He swallowed.
Enough playing.
Adam reached up and grabbed the center of the handcuffs. With one hard yank, he snapped the cuffs in half. Then he grabbed the showerhead and bulging pipe and twisted, hard.
The water immediately stopped.
The wet chameleon lifted the cuff that still circled his wrist, then looked at Adam with eyes that had widened even more. "What are you?"
"Damn," Maya said. "That was sexy."
Adam glanced at her in surprise. Found her staring at him with bright eyes and a small smile curving her lips.
"You've been holding out on me for too long." There was real desire in her eyes.
Oh, hell, if that impressed her, he had a dozen more tricks up his sleeve.
Later.
Business first. He grabbed the chameleon, yanking Max out of the tub and lifting him high into the air. "The lady asked you a question."
Max's entire body shook. "I-I told her-off the Strip."
"Off the Strip-where?" She sounded annoyed now. Maya ran a claw down his chest and the man shuddered.
That had so better have been a shudder of fear, Adam thought. Or he would hurt the ass**le.
"Do you know," she continued in a light, soft voice, "just how many feeding rooms are in Sin City? Off the Strip?"
Max shook his head. His feet dangled off the ground.
"Too f**king many." Not soft anymore. Razor sharp. "Now tell me where to find this Torrence, exactly where, or I'm gonna start slicing." Her claws pressed lightly into the fabric of his shirt, right over his heart.
She should really be letting him do that. The sun was out, and transforming her fingernails into claws, though a small act, had to be draining on her.
But the lady seemed to be having a good time, and she sure as hell looked like she knew what she was doing.
He'd just make certain he gave her a nice, long drink to replenish her energy.
A drop of dark red blood appeared on Max's white shirt. "I-I don't know!" A frantic edge broke his voice. "It's off the Strip-a place with cages for human dancers and-and they always put blond women outside, Lures, you know, women in short skirts with tight tops-fuck, I swear, that's all I know!"
"Can you show us this place?"
"I've never been there." Max trembled. "Didn't want to go, didn't want to see-"
"Everyone get eaten?" she asked silkily. "But I thought that was what you wanted, Max. I thought you were serving the vamps so that they'd gift you with the change. And once you changed, you'd be the one in that bar, killing the humans one by one."
He blanched. "N-no. Wouldn't be like that." He jerked in Adam's hold, but there was no escape for the chameleon. Max sucked in a sharp breath. "My kind-we die young, too young. Hazard of the genetics in our body. I just-"
"What?" Adam pushed.
"I just didn't want to die!"
"But you didn't care if others did," Adam said. "You didn't care if Cammie died."
"I'm sorry about the kid," he whispered. "But there was nothing I could do."
"Yeah, well, there's plenty we can do." Maya's claws retracted. She sent Adam a hard smile. "I think I know where that bastard Torrence likes to party."
"What are we going to do about him?" Adam asked, jerking his thumb toward the chameleon, who sat, looking absolutely terrified, on the sagging couch.
"I'll take care of him," she said and damn if Max didn't look like he might faint.
Jeez. The idiot worked for vamps. What, did he think he could just wander off in the world, and live all happily ever after now? Maya had found him trying to slink away from Blood Rock, running with his body tight to the ground. She'd hit him, hard and fast, and hauled his sorry ass back to the SUV.
A get-well present for Adam.
The guy had been an inch from death and he'd still managed to utter his niece's name. For some reason, that pain-filled whisper had jerked at her heart-the heart she'd long since forgotten existed.
She'd found herself running back to the canyon, trying to think of any way to help Adam and Cammie.
And she'd stumbled, almost literally, into one of the chameleons.
Sometimes, she rather thought fate was just a twisted bitch.
A dull headache pounded behind her eyes and a sweeping lethargy weighed down her body. She needed sleep. A hell of a lot more than she was going to get in the next few hours.
Actually, she needed sleep and blood.
But she had to take care of good old Max first.
Maya grabbed one of the cell phones from her bag. Kept her gaze on Max as she punched in the numbers. She didn't identify herself when the male voice answered, just said, "Skye, I have a pickup for you. Desert Inn, Room 204."
Silence hummed on the line, followed by a soft click.
"Maya?"
She glanced to the left. Found Adam staring at her with narrowed eyes.
A dragon. A f**king dragon.
And she'd been the one trying to protect him.