Hope again, brighter this time. “Then there might be a-a chance. I-if we can get to the house before anyone else ch-checks in, I can get them out—”
They’re dead.
Simon shook his head. False hope, that’s all he’d given her. Freaking false—
“The vampires drained the man first. The one with streaks of silver in his hair.” Catalina’s voice. Calm and cool. Simon’s gaze found her huddled on the ground, leaning over a thick shard of broken glass.
Her eyes were fixed on that glass. No, on what she could see in the glass.
Scrying. A witch’s talent.
The human’s heartbeat raced in his ears. Pounding, fast, too fast. Dangerous that.
“They held the woman, made her watch. Then it was her turn.” Catalina picked up the glass and blood dripped from her fingertips when the sharp edges cut her. “Death waits in that house near the water. Only death.”
The Ignitor didn’t cry out again. The tears came silently, long, pouring streams, and Dee snarled.
Her fangs were out, her claws glinting, and when she rounded on the witch, her eyes were perfect midnight black. “See him.” Grim.
The blood drops splattered onto the ground. The scent drew him and power pulsed in the air.
Simon crossed to the witch.
Catalina’s eyes had been glassy with her magic. A dazed blink seemed to bring her back to them. “I-I didn’t mean—I haven’t even cast my circle—”
No time. The bodies were piling up. The evil closing in.
No more attacks.
Our turn.
Simon swiped his claws over his forearm. He lifted his hand and let the blood drop onto the darkened glass. “See him through me.”
A glow lit her eyes, then she stared down at the glass once more. He couldn’t see a damn thing. Soot. Ash. The red smear of his blood. Darkness. But Catalina stared and stared, and the silence thickened around them.
“Where.” A demand from Dee. He should have known her patience would break first.
“Texas.” Soft, tired. “Waiting, in a place called Heuco, near the Mexican border.”
Hueco. Hollow.
Excitement burned through him. “Cut the link.” She couldn’t look too long. With Grim, there was no telling who he’d forced onto his side. An Ignitor was just the start. He could have a witch or even a warlock. Probably a warlock. When choosing his weapons, Grim would go right for someone who’d stepped onto the dark side of magic. A warlock would be able to sense Catalina’s power if she stayed tuned in too long.
The glass shattered in her hands. “Can’t find me now,” she whispered. “But I found you.”
Hot damn. They’d done it. His gaze met Dee’s. Her lips began to curl, just a bit.
He hurried to her. Kissed her hard and deep. Tasted her.
The end was coming.
Not for them, oh, no. For them, it would be a beginning. They’d have forever.
But for Grim, hell waited.
Simon would get his freedom. Dee would have her revenge, then they’d have each other.
Pretty fucking perfect.
“Is the trap set?” Grim asked, his eyes on the woman who danced before him. Human. He liked the human dancers best. This one—her eyes smiled, flirted. Her heart raced and all that sweet blood pumped with every sway of her body.
“Greg didn’t report in.”
At that, Grim pulled his stare away from the woman. Music beat, a sensual rhythm, and he knew the woman kept on slithering. “How long has he been missing?” He didn’t worry about guarding his words with the dancer. No need with her.
“An hour.” Malik, a vampire who’d been with him since the guy’s first Taken breath five hundred years before, met Grim’s gaze directly.
An hour was plenty of time to die. Grim rubbed his hand over his chin. “The parents are dead?” His Ignitor was such a useful tool. Weak package, but an incredible power inside.
“Their bodies should be found tomorrow.”
A quick tip to the cops, yes, that would do just fine. “And my brother?” Like he didn’t know the asshole was around. The instant Tore had crossed the ocean, he’d felt the fool. He’d taken steps to prepare for him. Tore wouldn’t have an advantage in this hunt.
“No word yet.”
There wouldn’t be. “He won’t come for me.” Tore had learned his lesson the last time when Grim had left the dead children for him to find.
His brother had always had a soft spot for the kiddies.
When you knew someone so well, it was easy to work their weak spots. He knew just how to make Tore suffer.
His brother had begged him for death over twelve hundred years ago. When he’d seen what Grim had become. When he’d found the bodies and known that he’d be the next to feel Grim’s fangs on his throat.