Greg’s slightly chubby face seemed to swell with rage as he stared into Kale’s wild eyes. He attempted a smirk despite the arm crushing his windpipe. “You’ve got to be kidding me, pal.”
The girl tied to the chair made a small whimper low in her throat as she eyed us, unsure if we were her saviors or simply new masters. I approached the two vampires but kept a safe distance.
“Do I look like I’m kidding?” Kale’s fist met the other vampire’s face with a loud crack.
I didn’t react, except to wince on the inside. The scent of blood quickly thickened the air. My stomach tightened, and the energy that I’d gathered seemed to grow hot.
Before Greg could respond, Kale followed up with another solid blow to the vampire’s midsection. He grunted yet laughed again.
“Who do you think you’re kidding? Do you really think I’d allow you two to back me into a corner like this without some kind of backup?” He attempted to wipe away the blood that streamed down his chin from his nose.
“If you don’t start talking, I’m going to let my lady friend have some fun with your manly bits. And, I can safely say that she will be the only one enjoying it.” Kale’s tone dropped low, and the menace pulled another whimper from the victim in the chair.
Greg’s expression faltered as he fixed his eyes on me. My lips spread slowly in a sadistic grin, and I gave him a wink. “Ready to play with me, Greg?”
“You wouldn’t,” he choked out, but his eyes clearly said that I just might. I was a werewolf after all, and a little bit of blood and gore was nothing new to me.
I held up a hand so he could watch as my long fingernails lengthened into five razor sharp claws. My smile grew even broader around the four fangs that filled my mouth, two on both the bottom and the top.
Vampires don’t fear werewolves, in general, since we each have our own very respectable attributes. However, poor Greg was alive with fear. As he filled the room with terror, he fed the energy that I had gathered within me.
“Are you going to start talking, or is Alexa going to start tearing you to bits?” If Kale’s eyes were any indication, he was feeling the effects of the fear as well. His pupils were so large that his eyes were solid black.
“I don’t work for anyone,” Greg ground out between a few grunts and groans. “I work for myself. Ask the bitch if she’s seen anyone other than me.”
I looked at the woman who sat in the chair and sobbed. She didn’t seem to be paying much attention to what was being said as she pulled uselessly at her binds.
“You’re lying,” I said. “I can smell it.”
And, I could. Though vampires may rival me when it comes to the sixth-sense stuff, my other five senses had one up on them. A lie carries a very distinct scent from the change in brain chemistry.
“And, who the hell is your so called backup?”
The impatience in Kale’s tone caused me to wonder if he had fed yet tonight. He often prowled the underground vampire bar downtown for donors, something Arys frowned upon. Arys resented the imposition of being forbidden to kill. He stuck with traditional methods. Kale, on the other hand, made a point to kill humans only when necessary rather than simply from a snack attack. To each his own, I suppose.
Greg struggled in Kale’s grip but the other vampire was both too strong and determined. A mocking smile played along Greg’s greasy lips as he quickly rambled a series of unintelligible words, which I realized a moment later to be Latin.
Horror struck me. He was calling a demon. And, though my experience with them is thankfully limited, it has never been a pleasant one.
“Shut him up!” I yelled.
Kale, not one to ask unnecessary questions, promptly snapped his neck. Unfortunately, vampires can live through that. The sounds that came out of Greg when Kale dropped him in a puddle were more wretched than those of the girl in the chair. I watched with satisfaction as he writhed on the floor and wished for death.
Though I was hoping we’d cut his words off in time, the growing scent of sulfur told me we had not.
“Alexa,” Kale’s voice was low as he glanced around the hotel room. “Get out of here. Before it shows up. Just go. Now.”
“What? No way.” My eyes went to the woman, then to Greg on the floor wailing. “I can’t just leave you behind.”
“Can and will.” He actually moved as if to physically force me to the doorway.
Before he could attempt to lay a hand on me, a cloud of smoke seemed to billow up between us out of nowhere. My heart swelled as a lump stuck in my throat. Fear shook me. I watched the misty cloud evaporate until a man stood in its midst.