“Someone is making new monsters.” The gravel-rough words came from Paris.
Her gaze slid toward him. He lifted his hand, showing the claws that had sprouted from his fingertips. The claws of a werewolf, even though he had the fangs of a vamp. “And I guess I was one of their experiments.”
She’d never needed her scrying mirror more. Annette felt as if she were walking blind. Who was the enemy? Where was the threat coming from?
And what was going to happen next?
Chapter Fourteen
“I need a doctor!”
The scream came from the front of building, jarring Annette. She had been trying to scry in the chunks of glass she had left, but she’d seen nothing. Paris had been silent and watchful behind her and Garrison…
He’d been a guard dog. She wasn’t even sure how long the guy had been pacing the perimeter around her and the frantic scream had her crashing back to reality.
At that scream, Garrison lunged out of the back room. She rose, about to follow.
“Don’t.” Paris’s rough voice. “Stay with me.”
She looked back at him. He still seemed sane, so maybe the blood he’d taken had turned the tide for him. Perhaps it was her imagination, but he just appeared better to her. She hoped it wasn’t just wishful thinking.
“I’m bleeding!” The plaintive voice cried out. “Take me to a hospital! Take—”
She grabbed her gun and made sure it was hidden behind the loose skirt of her dress. Then she took up a position in the middle of that room. Anyone coming through that door would have to go through her before getting to Paris.
A few moments later, she also saw their guests.
“I’m back,” Vincent Connor said, flashing her a tired smile as he sauntered into the back room. “And I’ve brought friends.”
He had his hands clamped on the shoulders of a man with dark hair and dark eyes, a man who seemed familiar to Annette though she’d never met him in person before, she was sure of it. Deep gashes covered his neck and jaw, obvious signs of a wolf attack.
Just which wolf had the guy pissed off? And why was he there?
Garrison was glaring at the injured human, but not attacking. Not yet, anyway.
And there was a woman in the little group, too. A woman with pale, blonde hair and bright green eyes. Heavy gold bracelets—bands?—curled around her wrists.
“Just what friends are these?” Annette murmured. She made sure to keep her position in the middle of the room, and Garrison hurried to her side.
“This…” Vincent’s hold tightened on the bleeding human. She was surprised he hadn’t decided to take a bite with all that tempting blood flowing. “This is Drew Hart. The human who has been fucking everything up for us.”
“Vampire bastard!” Drew cried out. “You let me the fuck go, right now, you—”
“Lena…” Vincent sighed out the name. “Make him stop talking.”
The blonde waved her hand toward Drew. Instantly, his lips clamped together and he stopped speaking.
“Thank you.” Vincent didn’t look the blonde’s way. His gaze was on Annette. “How’s our wolf? Still rabid?” Then he made a show of glancing around her.
She bristled. “No, he’s—”
“Not freaking rabid,” Paris muttered from behind her.
Surprise flashed on Vincent’s face. “He speaks…and with sense, too.”
Lena inched forward.
“Where’s Aidan?” Annette demanded. Her hand tightened on her weapon.
Vincent glanced over at Lena.
Sadness flickered on her face. “When I saw him last, the darkness had taken him over. He’d lost the battle and was running wild into the night.”
What? No, no way. He—
“Aidan had two beasts inside of him, a werewolf and a vampire.” Lena’s voice was so soft that Annette had to strain in order to hear her. “That’s not the way things were meant to be.”
Paris is carrying two beasts.
“They ripped apart his sanity. Only bloodlust and rage are left in him now.” Lena shook her head. “I tried to warn Mary Jane Hart, but she wouldn’t listen to me.”
Drew frantically shook his head. Blood dripped from his wounds.
Vincent’s teeth snapped together.
“Mary Jane went after him.” Lena’s shoulders fell. “But I’m afraid that when she finds Aidan, he won’t be the man she needs. He may not even be a man at all.”
Paris was dead silent behind Annette and tension seemed to be rolling off Garrison.
“I tried to tell Jane.” Vincent shoved Drew down onto his knees before him. “She wasn’t meant to be with Aidan. The consequences of their mating would be disastrous. Now, she’ll see for herself just what I meant.”
Annette backed away from him. Her gaze fell to her broken scrying mirror. Those precious chunks…
And for just a moment, she saw something. A quick flash.
Of Hell.
***