“She didn’t burn him like the sun!” a man shouted from the back, silencing the crowd once more.
Quinn scanned the crowd as she stepped forward. “If you or anyone else would like to volunteer, I will gladly drain you completely.”
No one moved. The woman from the couple they had sent out to spread the word turned to face the crowd. “I saw what she can do. I saw her leave vampires nothing more than shriveled husks. She made it possible for Julian to do the same thing to them. There were a couple hundred vampires in that hotel, yet we are the only two who were allowed to walk away and only because we were chosen to spread the word. They are all strong. They can offer us protection unlike any we’ve ever had before, and the prophecy says she will be our savior.”
“How do we know Devon doesn’t have control of your mind?” someone shouted at the woman. “He could be compelling you to say these things!”
“She has been set free from any kind of mind control,” Devon said. “There is no way for me to prove this to you. Again, trust is required.”
“I feel like we’re the ones doing all the trusting here!” another vampire yelled.
“You far outnumber us,” Julian replied. “We are showing trust in you right now.”
“You’ve proven numbers don’t stop you,” a woman near the front said and waved at the hotel.
“They don’t, so know that you’d all be dead right now if that was what we truly intended for you. We have kept our word; you are standing here unharmed,” Julian said. “We could have killed you all already and been home watching TV by now.”
“What that woman claims she saw is impossible!” another vampire cried from the back. “Vampires and Hunters can’t share their abilities with others! Julian can’t use her power!”
“Grab my hand,” Julian said to Quinn. When she slid her hand into his, he stepped forward to glower at the vampires. Many of them shied away from him.
“Julian, we promised them safe passage,” Quinn said.
He didn’t miss the appreciative gazes her words earned her from the vampires standing closest to them.
“And they will have it,” he replied. “Chris, are you willing to show them what I can do?”
The expression on Chris’s face made it clear that he’d rather eat shit. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“No,” Julian replied. “Give me your hand.”
With measured steps, Chris came toward him. “You owe me, big, for this.”
“I do.”
Chris held his hand out with a sigh. “Do your best to make me ugly, but remember, it may be impossible.”
He’s been hanging out with me too much, Julian thought as he seized Chris’s hand.
CHAPTER 7
The tentacles of Quinn’s power swelled and grew within him before moving into Chris. Julian felt the moment it latched onto his friend. Chris’s eyes widened, but he didn’t try to jerk away. Julian knew Chris wouldn’t be able to break free even if he did attempt it. Once Quinn’s power seized someone, there was no stopping it.
The flow of Chris’s life seeped into him, spreading out to his cells and filling his body before moving onto Quinn. He’d experienced this same rush of vitality when Quinn had used him to feed from another before. The fact she managed to keep herself restrained from absorbing the life and power from everyone she encountered only made him love and respect her more. There were many who wouldn’t have been so controlled if they possessed her ability.
With her extraordinary birth, Quinn was far more powerful than any who had ever wielded her ability before. It would have been so easy for her to lose control and cross a threshold he knew was difficult to come back from. She’d killed with her power before. She knew how incredible and enticing that influx of life felt, but she still kept it reined in.
Melissa bit her lower lip as Chris shriveled before their eyes. Chris’s heartbeat stuttered, and his eyes rolled up into his head. An influx of life flowed into Julian again as Quinn pushed everything back through him and into Chris. The grayish hue of Chris’s skin became a healthy pink once more, his sapphire eyes were bright when they warily met Julian’s gaze. The tentacles of Quinn’s power retreated, recoiling swiftly through Julian until he no longer felt them within his body.
Chris gasped, and his hand went to his throat as he took a staggering step away from them. “Never again,” he muttered. “Never, ever again.”
Tears shimmered in Melissa’s eyes when Chris returned to stand beside her. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“I swear my life flashed before my eyes,” Chris said. “Crazy vampires.”
“I still don’t see ash!” a man who towered over the crowd shouted from the back.
Julian gritted his teeth. He’d known the vamps were going to be difficult to convince, but now they were just looking for blood.