Someone let me in on the party. Dee darted a quick glance at Simon.
His black eyes burned. “He’s Grim’s brother.”
What? Damn, talk about one powerful bloodline. Two Borns?
“An unfortunate circumstance of birth,” Tore murmured. “Can’t really choose family now, can we?”
Her heart slammed into her chest. “No, we can’t.” You couldn’t always save them either.
But you could avenge them.
“I thought death would finally let me escape the bastard.” Tore shook his head. His dreads brushed over his shoulders. “Should have known things wouldn’t be that easy.” His eyes raked over her. “I really thought you’d be…bigger.”
Dee shook her head, fed up. “Look, are we gonna stand around here pissing and moaning all night, or are we gonna fight?”
“Not so fast,” Simon growled. “We need to—”
“I can’t kill him,” Tore told her, patting Jun’s hand with a soft, “Easy, love.” One red brow rose. “But according to the seer—”
“Uh, you want to kill Grim?” But, then, didn’t everybody?
“He killed me once. Payback should be…acceptable.”
“Right.” Dee shook her head. “I don’t get it, why can’t you—”
“Kill him?” Simon fired at the same time.
“Because we’re linked. Grim can’t control me, but he can feel me. He can slip into my thoughts, no matter how hard I try to shield my mind, and he knows when I’m coming for him. He runs, always runs, and leaves a bloodbath for me to clean up.” His teeth snapped together. “Blood bonds, you know? There was no bite between us, but we shared a mother and the bond linking us has always held.”
This guy didn’t sound like a raving lunatic. He didn’t act like a power mad vamp, either.
He’d come into town, without raising a stir, without leaving a river of blood in her streets.
“Can’t get it, can you?” Jun asked, voice sharp. “Even now that you’re one of us—”
Uh, no. Not quite.
“—you still think we all deserve to rot, don’t you?”
No. Her eyes went to Simon again. No, all vampires weren’t evil. Some fought like mad to keep their souls. Their spirits. Some of them, well, they just got stuck in a curse or a war they didn’t understand. “I’ve never gone after every vampire,” Dee said slowly and she kept her focus on Simon. He glanced at her. Their eyes held. “Only those with bounties on their heads.” The killers. Those who loved to torture and raise hell.
“Like the bounty that’s on your head?” Jun pressed.
Simon’s jaw locked. “Don’t push me,” he growled at the chatty chick.
Her hero. So sweet. Her fingers lifted and brushed against his cheek. His head turned, just a bit, and his lips pressed against her palm.
“You’re making a mistake,” Tore said. “You shouldn’t trust him. Take him, screw him all you like, but don’t let your feelings blind you. You’ll die if you do.”
Simon attacked. He lunged at the other vampire, wrapped his left hand around Tore’s throat and lifted the stake he’d snatched from Dee—
Jun raked her claws down Simon’s side.
The vampires closed in.
“Stop!” Dee screamed. No, Simon wasn’t going out in front of her. No. Way.
At her cry, every vampire froze. Some of them—wait, did a few of those guys just lower their heads?
A vampire celebrity. That’s what she was now. Hell. “Let. Him. Go.” But nobody moved. “Jun, chick—I’m talking to you.” She could take that vampiress down, no doubt about it.
“He won’t kill my chosen mate!” Jun didn’t ease her hold, but she didn’t go in for another attack, either.
“Yeah, well, he won’t insult mi—” Whoa. What was that? No way she’d been about to say mine. “He won’t insult the guy that’s had my back this whole time. I know Simon’s linked to Grim. I know the spell won’t hold forever.” Her shoulders squared. “It’s a chance I’m willing to take.”
Tore whistled, or well, kinda gurgled.
“Simon…”
His hand fell away from Tore’s neck, but the stake remained pressed right over the other vampire’s heart. “I’d die to protect her.”
“You’ll probably have to do just that.” Tore’s gaze dropped to the stake. “Lesson for you, little vampiress. When you get to be as old as I am—as old as Grim—killing us is hard.” His fingers rose, curled around the stake. “It’ll take more than a stake through the heart to keep Grim down.”
She’d heard a rumor like that years before. Talk of another Born who’d been staked and nearly decapitated, but the guy had gone to ground and risen again. “So what’s your killing tip?”
“Burn him. Burn him until there’s nothing left.”
Easier said than done.
Simon swore and stepped back, yanking the stake with him. “Why don’t you just tell us where to find the ass**le?”
“Go back for your charred witch. She knows.”
The vamps began to retreat into the shadows.
“And where are you going?” Dee demanded.
“I just wanted to see you and to figure out if you were up to the task before you.” A somewhat sad shake of his head. “You’re not.”
Now he was going to insult her? “I could’ve had you dead on this ground in the first minute.”
“And I could have taken your heart in the first thirty seconds.” A taunt. One that had her hands clenching. “Don’t hesitate on your kills. Stop thinking like a human.”
Impossible. Inside, she still was human.
Deep inside, and she always would be.
Surface. Maybe Zane had been right about that. Maybe rage had been blinding her for too long.
“When you face Grim, strike fast and strike first. Because you won’t get a second shot.” He turned away.
So did Jun. Protecting his back. Good girl. She could admire that.
“Oh…” He stopped, looked back. “Tell the Ignitor they’re dead.”
Then he was gone.
But the knot in Dee’s gut had just gotten bigger.
Spells were powerful things. A few words, charms, a wisp of magic, and the world could change.
Dee and Simon rushed back to Delaney’s. Simon half-expected to find the street swarming with fire trucks and neck-craning bystanders, eager for a glimpse of tragedy or heroism.