"Where?"
More laughter. "You come alone– and you tell no one –or you'll find Storm in pieces."
The woman had just asked for her own death. "Agreed."
A sound that could have been a purr. Then she rattled off the address and said, "Can't wait to see you, love. "
The call ended and the rage exploded.
She was bait. Holly curled against the floor of the van. Bait to lure Niol to his death.
"You're awake, aren't you, demon?" That voice seemed familiar.
Holly didn't move.
"I know you are." Screamed.
Not even a flinch. She wasn't about to let her body betray her.
Where had she heard that voice?
"Your lover's coming, and I'm going to have so much fun playing with him."
The van jerked to a stop. Holly let her body roll forward. Her head rammed into some kind of bag.
"Dammit, she's still out."
Not alone. Holly forced herself to keep breathing slowly. The psycho woman was talking to someone else. Holly had only heard the woman speak. She'd woken just before the bitch called Niol.
"You think he'll really come after her?" The woman asked, her voice high and shaking with excitement.
One of the van's doors squeaked open. A second door opened immediately after.
Definitely not alone.
Christ. Where have I heard that voice before?
She could have told the woman that, yes, Niol would come after her. Holly didn't doubt it for a minute. He'd come after her and bring hell's fury in his wake.
She'd seen the fury before and knew that she'd see it again.
Provided, of course, she could stay alive until he came for her.
The doors slammed shut. One, then the other.
Breathe. Breathe.
Squeaks and groans as the van's back doors opened.
Then hands closed around her ankles and yanked her toward the killer.
"Come on, Holly, you're not f**king fooling me." A man's voice.
And this voice-she knew it instantly.
No.
He jerked her up and ripped away the blindfold.
Holly blinked and stared up at the face she knew too well.
Zack.
She shook her head. This isn't happening. Why would Zack want to hurt her? Or Sam? Or-
"Fucking demon." He turned his head toward the woman. "See her eyes, Michelle? I told you she was just like the rest of them."
Michelle. Blond grad student Michelle. Ms. I'll-Do-Anything-for-that-A Michelle.
Michelle smiled at her, smiled with her perfect capped teeth, and said, "This is really going to hurt you."
Holly almost choked on the gag.
"Let's get her inside and on the table. We'll keep her alive until he gets here." Zack licked his lips. "I can't wait to cut him open. Those other demon bastards said he was the strongest-"
They'd probably been willing to say anything before they died.
"I'll find the secret with him, I know I will."
The secret?
I was engaged to this freak?
She shook her head again. No, Zack couldn't be in front of her, he couldn't be planning to kill her, to slice her up and-
And Zack made his living dissecting specimens and studying them.
He held up a syringe. "For old times' sake, I can make this easy on you." He reached for the gag and wrenched it out of her mouth.
Holly licked her lips and tasted blood. Probably from that nice smack she'd taken into the concrete.
"What do you say, Holly? You don't have to feel the pain. One little stick and you'll slide right into the darkness."
The darkness. "Fuck you, ass**le." She wouldn't make this easy on him. Not Zack. This couldn't be happening.
His lips tightened. "Then, demon whore, get ready to scream."
And she did. A loud, long desperate scream that she really hoped someone would hear.
Come on, just let one shifter be within a five-mile radius…
Zack's fist came right at her face.
When she opened her eyes the next time, Holly was strapped to a table. An operating table. Oh, damn-not a nightmare.
Michelle's smiling face popped over her. "Wakey again, huh?"
Yeah, it was a nightmare. Holly growled and jerked against the restraints that held her.
Michelle leaned closer and whispered in her ear. "You should have taken the drugs. Zack likes to play."
Bile rose.
The blonde pulled back and glanced over her shoulder. Then she reached for the instrument tray and picked up a scalpel. The light glinted off the sharp edge. Another sweet smile. "He likes to play," she said again, "and so do I."
And then the crazy bitch took the scalpel and sliced down Holly's left arm.
She screamed, her head jerking off the table.
"No one's going to help you, Holly." Zack. Twisted, insane Zack. Zack the Demon-Hunter. His footsteps slapped against the floor and then he was beside Michelle. "Things like you," he continued, "don't deserve to live."
Her arm burned with a fiery pain and the blood flowed out, fast and hard. "And you think sadistic killers like you do?" Had he always been crazy? How could she have missed this?
Shit-she was a reporter! She should have been able to see crazy staring her right in the face.
But he'd hid so well from her.
Zack frowned, his perfect brow lining. "I'm not a killer. I'm a scientist."
"You're f**king insane!" If she got loose, she was going right for his throat.
The lines faded from his forehead. "You would think that, I suppose. Being what you are." His fingers reached out and smoothed back her hair.
Michelle's grip on the scalpel tightened.
"I should thank you, Holly." His fingers lingered on her cheek.
She jerked her head away from him.
"If it hadn't been for you, I never would have even known about the monsters who live in this world. I didn't realize what was right in front of me." His lip curled in disgust. "The impure, trying to desecrate the human race with their taint-"
She wouldn't listen to his bullshit. "You're the only monster I've seen, Zack. You've killed .
Carl. Sam. Julia. Those weren't specimens in your lab, they were people. People with families and lives and-"
His fingers clamped over her mouth. "They weren't people. They were demons."
The pressure of his hand was almost enough to break her jaw.
"Demons…like you." He glanced at Michelle. "I can still remember when I first really saw you.
You'd been lying to me, tricking me-"
"I told you she wasn't good enough for you," Michelle muttered, glaring. "Right from the beginning, I told you!"
His fingers lifted and he wiped them on his shirt.