He strolled to the mattress and lifted it with ease, revealing a red book. “Dear Diary. It’s an archaic tradition in the modern era, but I’ve learned some of the older ladies still keep them.”
“Huh. That might tell us something.”
Christian suddenly wrapped his arm about my waist and whirled us around. He pressed his index finger to my lips, and my pulse jacked up a beat. His eyes were fixed upward, his head cocked to the side.
He must have heard something.
In a split second, a man appeared in the doorway and fired a crossbow. Christian shoved me to my knees and dodged the arrow, which struck the wall. He charged the man at breakneck speed until their bodies collided.
I reached in my boot heel and pulled out a small blade. The moment I looked up, Christian collapsed on the floor in a heap.
It took me a second to process that someone had shot him in the back with impalement wood shaped like an arrow.
When a man appeared in the doorway, I threw my stunner and pierced his chest. The crossbow fell to the floor, and I had a split second to decide if I was going to blast him or bite him. I flashed forward, harnessing my light.
Before I could deliver a powerful blast of energy, he stepped aside and staked me in the back.
Chapter 13
Impalement stakes have never workedon me, though I’d never had one that large shoved into my back. And it hurt. Tremendously. In fact, it gave me paralysis from the pain alone. But it was life or death, and I needed to play dead to assess the situation. They were armed, and I still wasn’t sure who “they” were or what their Breed was.
Definitely not Vampires.
From what I could tell, the two men were Native American—one sporting a red baseball cap and the other wearing a flannel shirt. I couldn’t see anyone else from my position, but that didn’t mean anything.
My cheek pressed against Christian’s ass, karma at its finest.
“That was easier than I thought,” the man with the cap said. “Good thing we brought the crossbow.”
“Never leave that at home when it comes to Vampires,” the guy in flannel said, panting as if he hadn’t exercised in months. He was rounder, with messy black hair that covered much of his face. “You can’t get too close to them, or they’ll snap your arm off.”
We were in a short hallway, and each man was leaning on an opposite wall.
The guy with the red hat picked up his crossbow and looked it over. “It’s your call, Standing Bear. I’m just along for support.”
I watched through my peripheral vision, thankful that Christian hadn’t eaten any beans on the airplane.
Standing Bear—the hefty man in flannel—rubbed his pudgy nose and then flicked a glance back at us. “One Eye doesn’t want witnesses. He doesn’t want the guy, so we need to get rid of him.”
Red Cap grimaced. “I don’t cut off heads, bro.”
Standing Bear lifted his eyes to the ceiling. “We’ll burn the place down. That way it doesn’t have to get messy.”
“Damn. What did they do to cross One Eye?”
“He didn’t like them snooping around in his shop today.”
“What about the woman?”
Standing Bear flipped on the hall light and knelt in front of me. He lifted my right eyelid and scooted aside. “See that?”
“So?”
He stood back up and turned away. “One Eye says she’s a demon. Her other eye is brown. He says that happens when a soul is cursed.”
“What does he want us to do with her?”
Standing Bear scratched his head. “We’ll set her to burn with the Vamp. Butyou’redoing the honors,” he said, handing the other man a knife.
