Still no reaction. Her mind is closed. Mine is not. Do you think because you are not resisting I will spare you?
I think you will spare me because I have something to offer you.
I pull her to her feet. She faces me squarely. We are the same height. Her dark eyes have changed back; she still holds the vampire in check. She wears pants and a blouse that skims her shoulders, a denim jacket. Her hair is tied back from her face with a scarf. She looks like a woman of about twenty-five. Her thoughts are much older, much darker.
The creature before me radiates malevolence. She has killed for a hundred years. She has a taste for it. Lust for blood oozes from her pores like the foul smell of rotting meat. My instinct to kill her now and quickly battles with a desire to find out what a being like this thinks she can offer me.
See? You are curious.
I backhand her across the face. She flies fifty feet and lands on a barrel cactus.
She struggles to her feet. Damn, bitch. That hurt .
I’m at her side with my hands around her throat before she can finish whining.
She still has not released the beast. I can feel her fury building. She wants to. What is holding her back?
I have killed vampires before. Vampires more powerful than this sniveling female. It can be done many ways. This one, however, deserves to die slowly. The same way she has killed the helpless humans she’s lured to this place with a promise of a new life. She will feel her life ebb away drop by drop until there is nothing left but an empty husk.
I am done with you.
For the first time, something besides sarcasm and confidence flickers in the depths of her eyes. Fear is there, too. She pulls away, her hands on my arms as she tries to break my grip. Her struggles are fruitless.
But I have something you want. Information I am willing to offer in return for my life.
You have recklessly taken human life. Left bodies to be discovered—
No one of importance. No one who will be missed. I have incited no threat against us. Why should it matter to you that I thin the ranks of the miserable? I do them a service, ending their pathetic lives.
Her attitude is like a red-hot poker in my gut. Do you ask them first? Give them a choice? You kill for sport. You take their money. Worse, you offer hope, then snatch it away. You are an animal. You deserve the same fate as those you toy with, the ones you consider unimportant. I am here to exact vengeance.
Then what Chael says about you is true.
The name makes me draw back a tiny step, to look into her eyes. What does Chael have to do with you?
She takes advantage of the momentary distraction to draw herself up. Chael says you think more of mortals than you do of your own kind. I see he is right. Her words drip acid. Well, be warned. You may soon find yourself alone. There are many of us who are tired of hiding. The tide is rising.
So this is why you are here? To deliver a warning? You have made a grievous mistake if you think killing innocents is the way to gain my support for your cause.
She shakes her head. I am not here to gain your support. Chael told me there would be only one thing to tempt you away from the path you have chosen. Kill me now and you will never know how to achieve what it is your heart desires.
And how do you know what my heart desires? How does Chael?
It is obvious. You wish to return the gift of immortality, to become human.
I make a guttural sound in my throat—half snort, half snarl. You think you can forestall the inevitable with this foolish talk? The only reason you are not dead already is that I want to make sure the humans are safely away before I end your miserable existence. They have been traumatized enough.
I may not be so easy to kill.
Finally. The beast is unleashed. Her right hand dips into her jacket. Lightning fast. She pulls out a small stake and lunges for my chest.