The Red Lily (Vampire Blood #2)(69)

She looked over her shoulder, panic flooding her with a glacial chill. Lieutenant Volkov stood, legs planted wide, one hand on his hip, the other rubbing the scratch on his face she'd given him.

"My kitty cat's a little wild, boys."

The men chuckled darkly. Sienna swallowed the bile crawling up her throat.

Volkov turned a fevered look of lust down at her, sinister grin spreading wide. "No worries." He leaned over to take hold of her. "Taming them is the part I love most."





Chapter Nineteen

Nikolai sat in the corner booth closest to the bar, the raucous noise of men enjoying their ale after a hard day's work growing louder. He stared at the barkeep, a young man who'd told him that Reginald wasn't in yet. So Nikolai waited. But a warning was rattling his bones. The evening rush was building, and this kid behind the bar couldn't manage this many customers on his own. Reginald would know that.

Enough. He didn't like it. He slipped out of the booth and skirted through the crowd for the door, ignoring any sideways looks from the workers. Vampires weren't welcome in most places, but even less so in Dale's Peak. It had always been more hostile toward his kind. The main reason he needed Sienna for the recruiting. She had a way with people. She could convince a starving man to give up his last crust of bread with a few words and a smile.

Back out into the blustery night, he pulled his collar up. Not so much to block out the cold, but to hide his face. Something wasn't right, and he didn't want too many locals getting a good look at him. The street was busy, for there was more than one tavern open along this strip. He skirted along the buildings, avoiding the street lanterns posted every four buildings. Dale's Peak was a thriving town, a place of sophistication and modernity, bustling with people.

Nikolai could hardly imagine Sienna growing up in such a place. No wonder she left. She didn't belong in this busy, overpopulated city, hosting parties and doing a husband's bidding. The very idea smacked him hard as a sacrilege against her nature. Sienna belonged in the woods where she could gather her herbs and plants, brew her healing potions and salves, and live amongst the animals she loved so well.

He smiled at his own idiocy. Never more had he understood how much she truly belonged in Silvane Forest until he was walking the streets of her native home of Dale's Peak.

"Pardon me," he said after bumping into a gentleman in an evening coat, stepping up to a posh restaurant with his lady on his arm.

He moved on, again with Sienna on his mind. Truth be told, she never left his mind. In the few moments they'd been separated on this journey, he couldn't stop thinking about her. She'd become so much to him, he could hardly function. The simple act of accidentally bumping into the man he'd just passed was a sign he was distracted. He was a man of precision and efficiency. But Sienna had thrown him off his game.

He moved swiftly, eager to get back to her. With the cover of night, humans wouldn't even detect his movement. They'd think his passing only a chilly wind in the night air. He stopped on the doorstep of the Winchester Boarding House. Once inside, his senses prickled, gooseflesh raising on his skin. He could not hear Ms. Winchester in the kitchen. The candle that was burning on the desktop was now snuffed out. No lanterns were lit at the front foyer. It was not so late that no one should be moving in the house.



       
         
       
        

Quietly and quickly, he strode down the hall and through the parlor, stopping just before the parlor door. He detected several heartbeats in this part of the house when he should only detect one. They were strong and steady. Above the rest was a sound he knew well, the swift thump-thump like a lark's wings, the very distinct sound of Sienna's heartbeat when she was afraid. Then the sickly rich smell of blood poured into his nostrils. Lots of blood.

No matter if there were two men or ten in that room, he'd kill them all. He'd done it before. It was nothing new for him to be outnumbered and come out the victor. Rage lit like flames through his veins, urging him to act now. Lightning-swift, he barreled down the hall, noting Ms. Winchester's body on the floor in a puddle of crimson a split second before he leaped over her body into the bedroom.

He'd barely registered the vampires in the room when a stinging burn hit his face and body like a brick wall, bringing him to his knees on the instant. Two brawny vampires held a net of gold over him. He'd literally run straight into the trap, never considering they'd have a weapon that humans had used against vampires in long years past. He gripped the netting to try and push it off his face, only to feel the powerful burn cutting into his hands and fingers. He barely registered the muffled cry of Sienna before he fell on his side, the net searing his left cheek where it stretched taut across his cheekbone. Within seconds, the two vampires with gloved hands had cinched him inside like a hunted animal.