Once Bitten, Twice Burned

“Julia’s getting—shit, forget about them a minute, okay?” Grayson ran a shaking hand through his hair. The mussed look suggested he’d been yanking a hand through his hair for a while now. “A human came by, looking for you. He said that he had what you wanted.”

“Keith,” Sabine whispered. But how could he have what they wanted? Rhett was gone. Safe.

“The guy asked that you meet him, at midnight tonight, in some place on Chartres.”

“Screw him,” Ryder said as he headed toward the bar. “I don’t need—”

“Malcolm.”

Ryder froze. Then he turned, his movements tight, and stared back at Grayson. “Why the hell did you just say his name?”

“Because your human friend told me that Malcolm sends his regards.” The vampire was sweating. His hands shoved through his hair again. Fear. “But that’s total bullshit, right? I heard the stories. Your brother is dead.”

“Dead and buried,” Ryder agreed. His jaw had locked.

“So why did the guy say that?”

“Because he’s trying to rattle us.” Ryder rolled his shoulders as if pushing away tension. “Keith knows that he doesn’t have what we really wanted, and he’s trying to draw me out for a fight.”

“Who the hell is he?” Grayson wanted to know.

“He’s just a human who thinks he can manipulate me. But that’s not going to happen.” Ryder shrugged. “Now where’s Julia?”

Grayson opened his mouth to speak.

Sabine beat him to the punch. “You’re just going to ignore this? What if—what if Malcolm is somehow alive?” Malcolm. The guy scared her. Scared her more than Genesis, and that was saying a whole lot.

“He isn’t alive.”

“How would Keith even know—”

“Because we all use spies to get our dirty work done.” Ryder cast a quick look at Grayson. “Keith said he had a person at Genesis. That person could have talked to some vamps there. Could have heard about my brother. His existence wasn’t exactly a secret.”

“More like a legend,” Grayson mumbled.

Ryder frowned at him. “Malcolm isn’t a threat that we need to worry about. The vampires after me—”

“The ones who are planning to cut off your head,” Grayson supplied, rather helpfully, Sabine thought.

“They’re the threat that we eliminate first.” Ryder crossed his arms and studied Grayson. “So what did you find out?”

“There are six . . . here in New Orleans. They’re all young, fairly new changes, and they—”

The bar’s front door flew open and slammed into the wall. “And they’re not as stupid as you think,” Julia snarled as she rushed inside. “I knew all along you were still sided with this bastard!”

Sabine eased back, taking a few fast steps closer to Ryder.

She wasn’t fast enough.

Because Julia wasn’t the only vampire to come rushing in that door. Three others followed her and two burst in from the bar’s back door.

Ryder just stared at them all. The vamps were armed, some with guns, some with stakes. They looked pissed and scared and determined.

Ryder laughed at them and said, “You’re exactly as stupid as I thought. I just needed Grayson to get you all together, to pull you out into the open.”

He glanced at the vampire with the stake. Ryder’s eyes narrowed.

Sabine knew exactly what he was doing. Telling him to kill himself.

The vampire raised the stake. Started screaming, “Stop it! Stop it!” His hand curled toward his own chest.

Ryder glanced away from him. Stared at a redhead with scruffy hair. The man lifted the gun he held to his head.

She didn’t want to see this. Ryder had been right when he’d tried to get her to stay away.

“What are you doing?” Julia screamed. Her scream wasn’t directed at Ryder. It was directed at the vampires—her men—who were turning to flee.

But those men suddenly froze in place.

Ryder.

“All vampires have blood that links to me,” he said simply. And his control, his power, it was terrifying.

Terror was exactly the emotion reflected on Julia’s face. “That’s why we have to kill you,” she whispered, licking her lips. “If we’re ever going to be free, you have to die. He was right.”

He?

But Sabine didn’t get to question her. More glass exploded because more vampires were attacking, only these vampires were different.