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her. Raphael will be on his way by now, and we don't want to
miss the hunt."
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by D. B. Reynolds
Colin covered Ellen with a crocheted throw from the back
of the couch. There was something in Sophie's voice when
she talked about the hunt that made him turn and look at
her. She was edgy and anxious to leave, already heading for
the door. She glanced back at him impatiently and he saw the
gleam of her eyes, not full-on amber the way they got
sometimes, but like a rim of gold around her irises.
She met his scrutiny with a challenging stare. "What?" she
demanded.
"You're excited," he said, realizing it as he spoke. "You're
looking forward to this."
"Hell, yes," she agreed. "You've no idea what it's like to
spend your life pretending to be ordinary. To tamp down your
power, conceal your differences, lest the humans become
frightened. Raphael will let his people run tonight. There'll be
no holding back. You're damn right I'm looking forward to it."
"I'm human," he reminded her.
She moved faster than he could see. One second she was
by the door and the next she was right in front of him, her
arms around his neck, her lush body pressed against his.
"You may be human, Colin Murphy." She licked a long line
up his neck and over his jaw until her mouth touched his.
"But you're definitely not ordinary."
She pressed her lips against his in a quick hard kiss.
"Let's run the night, Colin. It's time to hunt."
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by D. B. Reynolds
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Colin and Sophie pulled into the parking lot outside Babe's
on the heels of Raphael and his vampires. The bar was dark,
the lot empty. Or it had been before they arrived and filled it
with SUVs. And even then it remained dark. The vamps had
traveled without headlights, apparently seeing as well or
better in the dark than they did in light. Even Sophie had
slipped on a pair of sunglasses to preserve her night vision
from his headlights as they'd driven here.
Colin turned off the engine and flicked off the interior light,
so it wouldn't come on when they opened the doors. Then he
waited, although he didn't know what they were waiting for.
The SUVs in front of him just sat there, presumably filled with
vampires. He was about to ask Sophie what was going on
when, as if some signal had been given, the doors all opened
at once and Raphael's people piled out.
Colin did the same, going around to the back of the truck
and gearing up, all the while watching warily as the vampires
jostled each other, practically bouncing on their toes with
anticipation. He wasn't sure how to feel about that. On the
one hand, the adrenaline rush of going into battle was so
familiar, it almost hurt to feel it again. He hadn't appreciated
until that moment how much he missed this. But there was
something a little creepy about being surrounded by vampires
who were all juiced up at the idea of killing a bunch of
humans.
"Don't let it get to you," a deep voice said next to him.
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"Hey, Rob," Colin said, looking up to find the Ranger
standing in front of him, armored up and ready to roll.
"And don't let their hyperactive behavior fool you either.
These guys are trained within an inch of their lives. When it
comes down to it, they're disciplined as hell."
"Good to know." Colin's attention shifted as Raphael
walked over to the two of them.
"Tell, me, Murphy, do you think you managed to shoot any
of these animals? Or was my Cyn the only one injured?"
Colin ground his teeth together, reminding himself the
vampire was worried about Leighton. "We hit a few. I don't
know how seriously."
"We can start with that, then. Duncan." His lieutenant half-
turned toward the assembled vamps and nodded.
Like horses out of the gate, several of the vamps took off,
rushing in among the trees so fast, they were little more than
a blur of motion. And they didn't make a fucking sound, not
even a whisper of movement despite the tightly packed trees
and years of deadfall.
Sophia joined Raphael and Duncan in some sort of confab.
Presumably discussing their plans for tonight, but who the
hell knew? Not Colin.
When she joined him again, he gave her a dark look which
she returned with a smile. "Patience, Colin."
"What the hell are we doing here?"
"Raphael's people are searching for a blood scent. You and
Robbie both said some of the attackers were injured which
means they bled. The scent will help us identify the guilty. It
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also has a . . . psychological benefit, I suppose you'd say. It
motivates the soldiers, gets them ready for battle."
"Like these guys need more motivation," he muttered.
"Raphael knows his people," she said calmly, placing a
hand on his arm.
A huge noise shattered the stillness. Colin looked up,
expecting to see a tree falling nearly on top of them, but at
the same time, his brain played the sound back in his head
and he realized it wasn't a tree at all. One of the vamps had
kicked in the back door to Babe's.
The vampires around Raphael all came to immediate
attention, staring at the closed bar like dogs on point.
"I'm guessing they found what they were looking for,"
Colin said dryly.
Sophia stood quietly, her head tilted to one side, listening.
"A body," she said. "In the freezer."
"Ah, fuck." Colin sighed deeply. "I should take a look."
Sophia walked with him into the bar. They went in the
front door, held open by one of Raphael's vamps who directed
them to the back. Not that Colin needed the assist. There was
only one place a freezer big enough to hold a body could be.
It was a big chest model, maybe twenty-five or six cubic
feet. A lot of the people around here had them. Coop's small
grocery store was fine for day-to-day sort of stuff, but most
of the residents made a monthly trip down the hill and
stocked up on things like meat and anything else that could
be frozen.
The lid was propped open, but Colin really didn't want to
see what was inside. He looked anyway.
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"Yeah, dammit, that's Leon." He glanced away. This was
beyond the pale, completely unnecessary. It wasn't Leon's
fault those jack-offs had decided to meet in his bar. But even
so, the bar owner hadn't told anyone what he'd heard. And
they'd killed him anyway.
He reached for the freezer lid and slammed it shut, careful
to hold it by the edge and wiping his prints. "The cops'll have
to be called on this," he said flatly. "Make sure there's nothing
to say you were here."
He spun on his heel and strode back through the bar into
the parking lot.
Sophia walked with him. She put a hand on his arm as
they crossed the dirt lot. "I'm sorry, Colin."
"Yeah, well, it wasn't any of you that did it."
Sophie's grip on his arm tightened, pulling him to a stop.
He waited while she listened to something only she could
hear. "Raphael wants to speak with us," she said.
Colin didn't even ask how she knew that. He'd already
figured out there was some sort of telepathy going on
between the vamps. He just wondered how widespread it
was.
"You were correct in your assessment," Raphael told him, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]