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"Because the victihed "More vais every day than are taken by the black market operators in an entire year We don’t care Neither should you"
Idiots Shrugging off his robe, he strode nad to the platfors He cleared his mind as he mounted the stone steps and stood beneath the reinforced wooden structure fro himself out was the only way to deal with this and, probably, the only way to survive
A massive warrior vamp, whose name Eidolon didn’t know, stood "Your brother Wraith has taken more than his limit of humans this month Are you here to receive his punishh he’d really like to kno they always knehen Wraith killed a human Thousands of vampires existed in the world, and they couldn’t all be policed Yet the Council see tab of Wraith’s kills Granted, Wraith took pleasure in flaunting them, but still
"The incubus is ready" Koe hypoderin"
The twenty-four hours were up More than up, and since Eidolon hadn’t called, Ge matters into her own hands She’d have done it sooner, despite her promise to the other doctor, but she’d been stuck at the hospital on a sixteen-hour shift
Shift over, and she was going to confront Tayla, and she was going to do it now
She took the stairs to Tayla’s apart, the hair on the back of her neck stood up She crept to the apart the tingle of goosebu over her skin, she turned the doorknob Unlocked The door creaked open
The rich, fresh odors of blood and death swirled around her, soaking into the walls and beco another layer of scent in the ancient apartment, which had been ransacked She entered, noted the boxes in the corner No, not ransacked Packed Sos out
A bloodstain e couch Humans wouldn’t see the soiled area, but it was there Recent It had been cleaned up within the last hour
Where was Tayla?
Voices in the stairwell jaus
"Shit, man, did you leave the door open?"
"Don’t think so"
The uns echoed in the hallway
Slayers
A chill went through her, a bone-deep cold she hadn’t felt since she was a child and her parents had shared Aegis horror stories The night back with a vengeance when she learned her own sister had become a slayer A butcher
A monster
Ges, no boxes
Nowhere to hide
"Doesn’t look like anyone’s been here," a deep voice said
"Who would steal anything fro to several people filled the tiny apart up"
A wail of terror welled in Geht feel coainst one, unned, and she definitely didn’t have a death wish
Quiet as a were-rat, she slipped into the closet The restraining tats circling her neck, wrists, and ankles burned,to get out
She prayed it didn’t get its wish
Tayla put her tiood use Mainly, she snooped, partly to learnabout what had happened between them
Because what had happened had shaken her to the core She’d needed hiet it to cole one of her vulnerabilities, and somehow, she had to find a way tothe to avoid, she went back to snooping while Mickey followed her, chattering endlessly as he explored every nook and cranny
Eidolon’s living rooreens, and leather, revealed nothing except that he had expensive tastes
A search of the den turned up little more than as on the surface--wall-to-wall bookshelves filled with ely bound texts, rowled before she made it to either of the bedrooe were a surprise; not that she’d expected quarts of blood and Tupperware containers full of brains, but the fresh fruits and veggies, lunch meats, and soy ain, arine, and jars of pickles were containers she didn’t recognize, es she didn’t know
Probably the brains and blood
She reached for a package of sliced ha noise drew her up short She closed the fridge door, snagged a knife from the block on the counter, and slipped quietly into the hallway Easing along the wall, she followed the sound of raspy breathing, her heart pounding painfully in her chest
Knife ready, she stepped into the den Eidolon was on his hands and knees just outside the circle, every inch covered in blood, his head hanging so she couldn’t see his face
"Oh, Jesus" She crossed to him in three strides and sank to her knees in front of him "Hellboy?"
A shudder wracked his body She wanted to comfort him with a touch, but where? Deep slashes scored the skin of his back, his arseven the soles of his feet had been laid open like overplus Bone and muscle erupted froentle patter of grotesque rain
"I’oing to accomplish that, she pushed to her feet because she had to do so, as if he’d been flogged on the inside as well as the out "CallShade"
"I don’t want to leave you," she said, but when his only response was to shudder again, she ran to the foyer, where he’d left his cell phone on a shelf
With treh his address book to Shade’s cell number, and dialed
"What’s up, E?" Shade’s voice, deeper than Eidolon’s, echoed in her ear