Chapter 1
The rhythmic thuddingof hundreds of heartbeats crowded Dagan’shead.
Thump, thump, thump… Hypnotic. Enticing. The draw dangerous, inevitable, if he’d letit.
It was always this way when he first appeared on patrol. Primitive urges locked down, it should be a night like thousands of others in his long life. But this one, theworst.
All Hallows Eve was a damn pain in theass.
Hunkered on the rooftop of a warehouse in the Bowery, he coolly eyed the noisy line of humans snaking the sidewalk of Club Nocte, waiting to gainentrance.
Why would Blaéz ask him to check out this areafirst?
Besides the foolish mortals disguised as what they imagined went bump in the night—hell, they sure made it easy for the real scourges lurking within the depths of the decrepit backstreet to lure them in and snuff out their feeble little lives—he didn’t sense any sign of supernaturaldisturbance.
Dagan scanned the alley again, his focus narrowing on a couple. The male dressed in a long, black cape, his arm thrown over the shoulders of a nun in a short habit, hurried the female along. Moonlight underscoring his face pale and a red mouth with pointy canines. Count Dracul. Ofcourse.
The twosome headed deeper into the disreputable area with no idea of the dangers that prowled the night. With demoniis out in droves hunting prey, it was always a mess leading up to thisnight.
Despite the distance, he could clearly see and hear the wannabe vampire. The idiot pushed the nun against a wall, hands fumbling under her tunic. “Let me sink my fangs into you, pretty one…” His voice deepened, probably his idea of vamp talk. Dagan’s lips twisted incynicism.
“Yes, my dark prince.” The nun laughed, arching into him, her black veil falling back and exposing her smooth, tan neck. “Bite me—make meimmortal.”
The man snickered, sucking on her neck instead. Lost in their world of make-believe, she had no idea of the true danger lurking nearby. How absurdly effortless it would be to walk up to her.Hewouldn’t even have to say a word, and she’d be his for thetaking.
Go. It’s what you want,the dark thoughts unfurled in the pits of his mind, coiling tighter around him.Satisfy the hunger that plaguesyou.
His powerful mental shields shuddered. His fangslengthened.
No! He was a Guardian, sworn to protect these reckless humans, not kill. With shaky hands, he pulled out a half-smoked cigar from his pocket, put the thing between his lips, and struck a match on the wall. Palms cupped around the flame, he lit it. Inhaling deeply, he let the scented, sedative smoke saturate his lungs and cloak histhirst.
Fornow.
As he blew out a thin stream of smoke, the acrid sensation of insidious evil coasted over his skin. The mystical Gaian sword tattooed on his biceps stirred in warning. His gaze sharpened, rapidly sweeping past Dracul and his nun, honing in on the two figures lumbering toward them. They slowed near the recessed doorway where the couple tugged at each other’sclothes.
“By Hades,” the tall demonii rasped in delight. “I do enjoy this time of year more than any other. I wanther.”
“What the—?” The man pivoted. “Get lost,assholes!”
Guttural laughter ripped the air. “We cannot oblige. See, we want not just her butyou,too.” The shorter, heftier demonii punched the human in the face. The tall one snatched the woman around her waist and licked herface.
Dagan killed his smoke. Before her screams tore through the night, he immobilized the four with his mind. Pocketing the cigar, he flashed down, freeing the humans from hishold.
He summoned his pulsing weapon. In an eddy of gray smoke, the obsidian sword took shape, the mystical inscriptions glowing briefly as he swung the deadly blade, decapitating both demoniis in one lethal stroke. They fell to their knees, bodies disintegrating withinseconds.
“Whoa!” the man gasped. “That’s socool.”
Dagan pivoted. The couple gawked at him in a drunken stupor, like he was a savior or something for rescuing their foolish asses. Grim Reaper would be morefitting.
“Leave,” he snapped, letting his eyesglow.
Without a word, they stumbled off. In their inebriated state, they’d undoubtedly assume it was all part of the Halloween scene. As he dismissed his sword, an eerie, icy sensation slid over his psyche. Not demoniis…somethingelse.
Motionless, he waited, letting the cerebral wave surround him, then a crackle, like ice shattering, fury slid over him. And heknew.
There you are,asshole…
It had been a long damn wait for the psychic killer to show upagain.
