Tony’s lips thinned.
“Tell me!”
“That you’re next, baby. The blood will keep pouring in the streets, and they’re coming after you.”
She took the blow. Took it, even as her stare darted to Simon’s tense face. “They knew the first hit wasn’t successful.” Knew she’d still been living while the vamps hit the ground. “How?”
His fangs were out. “Because word travels fast in this town and his men—” He spared a hard glance at Tony. “Know more about this city than he thinks.”
A leak. No, a spy. One who reported to Grim’s vampires.
One who wanted that sweet promise of immortality?
Why did everyone want to live forever?
“I’m going to the scene,” Tony said, “and I’ll see if I can figure out just what we’re up against.”
Easy. A Born Master and his gang of bloodsuckers. Guys who liked to drink, drain, and torture for fun.
“Harper, Post,” he fired at the two charmers. “Watch this freak.”
“Run, little vampire,” Leo murmured. “Run fast. Grim’s coming for you, and he won’t stop until he has your head.”
She glanced back at the prick.
But found sadness in his eyes. Gray eyes now, not black. “Even being Born won’t save you,” he told her. “Run, while you can.”
Chapter 11
They needed sanctuary, and they needed it fast.
Simon and Dee ran down the deserted streets in the heart of the city. Pink strands of light crept across the sky. Dawn, bitch that she was, would be there soon.
He needed to crash. Needed the healing sleep that would come.
So did Dee. And with her fresh wound, she’d need blood. Mine.
The cop bastard had gone off to investigate the attack, ordering them to stay away.
Not much choice. For now.
“Here,” Dee said, and Simon stopped in front of an all-too familiar bar. No, no way were they going to seek shelter from—
The glass doors swung open. “Dee?” A woman with long, pale blond hair stood just inside. Her eyes glittered, and her hands, bare and small, fluttered in the air. “I was wondering when you’d come to me.”
The woman—the witch—lifted her eyes and met his stare. “And when I’d be seeing you again, Chase.”
Hell. He had such shitty luck.
“Don’t even want to know right now,” Dee muttered and shoved past Catalina. “Cat, I’m calling in my favor. I need a roof, a bed, and protection for the day.”
Catalina smiled at Simon and motioned for him to enter the bar. “I see you found your key, and you thought I was just bullshitting you.”
She’ll be all that you need.
But there’s a price for her. One you may not want to pay.
He’d agreed to pay everything. To trade everything, for the chance to have full control of his soul once more.
And for revenge. Sweet, sweet revenge.
Catalina closed the door behind them. She flipped the lock, then whispered a fast spell. “One day,” she said, turning back to face them. “I don’t want to get in the middle of your war.”
A broken laugh slipped past Dee’s lips. “A war? Is that what I’m in?”
“Honey, you’ve been in a war for years.” Sad. “You just didn’t know it.”
“And you did?” Snapped fast. “Thanks a hell of a lot for telling me, Cat.”
The witch’s lips tightened. “Some things you weren’t ready to know.” She swallowed, then pointed to the back of her empty bar, to the door with the gold EMPLOYEES ONLY sign. “Take the second room at the top of the stairs. Chase can have—”
“He’ll stay with me.” Flat.
Simon’s brows shot up.
“Ah, like that, hmm? Fair enough.” Catalina tossed him a smile, one brittle around the edges. “Told you what would happen, didn’t I?”
“But you didn’t tell me.” Not flat now, furious. Dee’s hands slapped down on the bar. “I trusted you, Catalina. Watched your back for years. I never came in your bar. I respected your surface rules, never tried to push your spell—”
The spell that made all the humans walk right past Delaney’s. The spell that only let supernaturals gain entrance to the bar.
“—but you and me—I thought we were friends.”
“We are.” Soft.
Simon knew better than to get between two fighting women.
“Friends don’t keep secrets.”
“You didn’t want to know this.” Catalina’s long hair floated behind her as she walked around the bar, poured a whiskey, and drank it in two gulps. “When I scryed and found out—you didn’t want to know.”