“Saunter on, you old blood bag.”
Christian kept going until he reached the first landing before the ground floor. Two grocery bags were neatly set against the wall. Inside were crackers, juice boxes, peanuts, and a dog chew toy. He picked up his wallet from the floor.
Wyatt hiked up the stairs to meet up with him. “Well?”
“The bags are here, but she’s not.”
Wyatt put his hands on his hips. “Now that’s a twist I didn’t see coming.”
“Take the bags upstairs. Tell Viktor we have a situation, and don’t tell her da she’s gone missing. Not yet.”
Crush would never forgive him for losing his daughter.
Wyatt saluted him and kicked his heels together. “Whatever you say, General Patton. I’ll be in the elevator.” He scooped up the bags and headed back down.
Christian jogged back up to confront the old man. “Where’s the woman?”
From his seated position in the corner, the man straightened his brown hat, a smug look on his face. “Now they all know. Demons can’t hide. I see ’em, you see ’em, we all see ’em. How many more demons you got hiding up there?”
Christian gripped the man by the throat and hoisted him to his feet. He smelled ripe—a mixture of body odor and alcohol. “I’d drain you, but you’ve gone past your expiration date. Tell me what you saw.”
The old man fell under Christian’s spell, unable to look away. “He came. He took. Demon be gone.”
“Who came?”
“The demon catcher.”
Christian let go and hiked up the stairs. The old man’s demented laugh filled the quiet corners of the stairwell, and Christian wanted to go back and put that man’s head through a wall. Only a Vampire could make Raven go anywhere without a struggle, and that meant Sparrow knew their whereabouts.
CHAPTER21
Iwas getting real sick of this kidnapping bullshit. I knew better than to look into a Vampire’s eyes, but he caught me off guard by sneaking up behind me. Had I known he was a Vampire, I wouldn’t have turned around at all.
At least I’m home.
I’d never seen this room before. Aside from my cage, there was only a chair in the far-left corner. The wall to my right had an opening that led to a bathroom, which I had no need for. I had plenty of room to walk around in my lion’s cage. The bars were thick, and I guessed it must have been custom-built right here in this room. The previous residentswereShifters, so maybe they used it for disobedient packmates.
I pressed my head against the bars and stared at the grey door across from me. It was soundproof, so I couldn’t yell for anyone.
Behind me, snow had accumulated outside along the bottom sill of the arched windows. They looked close enough to touch. Since I couldn’t see trees or grass, this had to be the third floor. And with the sky clearing up and no view of the sun, that meant we were on either the north or the east side.
What interested me the most? The key hanging on a nail next to the door.
If only I had elastic arms.
A shadow moved across the room, and I spun around in time to see a large pair of wings flapping outside the window.
“Blue?”
I snapped my attention back to the door, which brushed against the floor as it opened.
Sparrow glided in with a walking stick tapping against the stone beneath his feet. From what I could see, the grip was a carving of a wolf’s head.
I snorted. “If you think the cane makes you look sophisticated, think again. You look like a feeble Mage who’s obsessed with vampire movies.” The long black duster wasn’t helping his case either. All he needed was a pair of round mirrored glasses and a top hat and he’d look like Dracula.
“You’re much more verbose than I remember,” he said. “I found it in one of the rooms.”
“And your head’s bigger, if that’s even possible.”
