Shannon’s pale cheeks pinked, and he wrapped his arm around the woman. “Yeah, mate. This is Mary.”
The female vampire offered Declan a weary smile. “I’m sorry for not comin’ out to introduce myself earlier. Shannon told me what you did for him. I’m very grateful to ya’, Mr. Bonney.”
Declan narrowed his gaze at Shannon. “You are staying here. There’s just enough human in you for me to glamour you and slow you down enough you will not be able to follow me. Do not make me do so.”
“Patrick and his gang will end you,” Shannon protested.
“And they’lltortureyou. Where will that leave Mary and the babe? Alone. No, my boy. You have fulfilled your life debt to me twice over. Now, it is I who am in your debt. And if your existence ends, you will not be in a position to collect.”
Declan backed out of the bedroom with a final nod to the mated pair. “It was a pleasure, Mary. Take care of this one.”
“I will, sir.”
Hoping it was close enough to sunset to risk leaving the basement, Declan took off at a run.
* * *
Declan parkedhis Audi on a side street two blocks from the third location on his list. The first two had been empty, though he’d found evidence of the gang’sactivities.Blood staining a concrete floor. Chains. Drug paraphernalia. Some of the newer illegal substances could be administered to a human before feeding and have an amplified effect. Declan prayed—something he had not done for hundreds of years—they had not drugged Riley.
Ducking into a doorway at the sound of quick footsteps on the cobblestone streets, Declan willed his body to go completely still. He did not need to breathe. Or blink. His heart only beat when he needed it to, which was not very often.
The male started whistling, and as he passed by Declan’s hiding place, he let himself take a single, deep breath. A hint of Riley’s sweet scent reached his nose. She smelled like the finest whiskey and cherry blossoms.
Grabbing the vampire’s neck, he shoved the male into the wall and squeezed hard enough to crush the male’s windpipe and vocal cords. “No yelling for you, mate. You will nod or shake your head only. Do you understand?”
The youngling nodded once, his eyes going dark and bulging slightly.
“The human. Does she live?”
This nod sent relief flooding through Declan’s limbs. “And is she under the old distillery?”
Three for three. “Time for a complicated one, arsehole. How many others from your gang are down there with her?”
Four nods. Shite. He could take four. If he were lucky. “Last question. Did you feed from her?”
The vampire’s entire body stiffened, and that was answer enough. With a snarl, Declan snapped his neck, let him fall to the ground, and then twisted his head off completely. “No one feeds from her. Ever again.”
He dragged the corpse with him to the old, thick wooden door he’d seen on Google Street View. Blood dripped from the vampire’s neck, but it would soon cease. And then the corpse would decay rapidly, turning into dust within a few hours. Just enough time for Declan to show Patrick and the rest of his gang what they had coming to them.
There. A faint, curved line across the cobblestones marked the door. One with no handle and no visible hinges. Dropping the body, Declan pressed his hands to the wood, his eyes closed, feeling every centimeter, letting his fingers drum against the surface quietly, until he heard a slightly hollow sound.
This…was going to hurt.
Balling his right hand into a fist, he reared back and sent all of his enhanced strength into his punch. The wood splintered, shards digging into his skin, but he cared little, for Riley’s scent was so much stronger on the other side. A second strike opened up a hole large enough for him to thrust both his hands through, and he ripped the wood away a piece at a time until he could slip through the opening and into a dimly lit stone hallway leading down at a steep angle.
Had they heard him? He listened, but there was nothing. Only the slow drip of water from somewhere far below. But then…a dull-sounding crash. And…fuck. Riley’s faint scream.
Abandoning all sense of caution, he snatched the two pieces of the corpse and ran, desperate to find her.
Around two hairpin turns, down at least three stories, he skidded to a halt in front of a metal door, this one secured with a lock. The dead one had to have a key on him somewhere.
Riley’s screams started to fade as Declan checked pockets, and by the time he’d slid the key into the lock, he could not hear her at all—another sound had all but obliterated her faint cries.
A string of vicious curses, followed by what sounded like retching. Declan shoved the door open and threw the headless body into the room.
“I can’t feel me fingers and toes,” a strained voice replied. “Like…I’m on fire… The bitch…she…did…something…”
“What the fuck?” As Patrick’s second, a vile male named Stephen, turned at the sound of the body hitting the floor. “Bonney! Yer dead! Get him, Michael!”
