Once Burned

"Frankie, isn't it?" he asked pleasantly.

My first instinct was to turn and run, but I didn't. The fact that he hadn't grabbed me yet meant he wanted to toy with me. Great, a murdering sadist, as if I hadn't met enough of those lately. I glanced to my right and then back at him.

"Yeah, I'm Frankie," I breathed. "Nice to meet you." And then I vaulted over the balcony rail.

My gamble paid off because he clearly hadn't been expecting that. I landed on one of the few patrons who hadn't run out of the club yet, rolling as soon as I felt warm flesh. That lessened the impact, but the person still screamed and then limped toward the exit, coughing at the increasing smoke.

I didn't get more than a step in that direction before a thud sounded behind me and rough hands seized me.

"Ooh, you do give off quite a charge, don't you?" Silver Hair commented.

With his grip, I couldn't raise my right hand to zap him properly, and time was running out. Flames crawled up the club's walls as if they had their own agenda. Multiple crashing noises indicated that Maximus was still fighting, but the screams had died down. Almost everyone seemed to have made it out of the club. Music continued to blare, making it hard for me to hear what Maximus and the other vampires were saying, but I caught "Frankie" a few times and knew, with a sinking feeling, that I was the reason behind this attack.

Silver Hair glanced behind me and sighed. "Looks like they need help killing him," he said in mock annoyance. "Stay here."

His foot shot out with brutal efficiency. Two kicks later, and I fell to the ground, tears streaming from my eyes. My calves bent at awkward angles, broken so badly that bone protruded from the skin. Silver Hair smiled and then walked toward Maximus, who had his back to him as he fought the three other vampires. Almost leisurely, Silver Hair pulled out his knife.

Hunter had been slaughtered trying to protect me. Now Maximus was about to die. I dragged myself toward them, crying out at the white-hot pain of my broken legs scraping across the floor, but not stopping.

Silver Hair must have heard my cry, but he didn't turn around. He had no fear of me stopping him, and that made my fury grow. Fear for Maximus, hatred of Silver Hair, and ever-increasing agony made my right hand do something it had never done before: It began to form a visible sliver of electricity, like a tiny lightning bolt. I looked at it, at Silver Hair-who had almost reached Maximus-and then crawled faster. More blinding pain shot through me, but that sliver increased, growing longer and thicker.

Silver Hair's companions saw him behind Maximus and doubled their attack. Maximus fell back, not knowing he put himself closer to Silver Hair. I crawled faster, almost delirious from the pain, but through my tears and the smoke, I saw Silver Hair raise his knife. Now my cry was one of pure despair. I wasn't going to make it. I was still a dozen feet away-

A blast of white shot from my hand, quick as a thunderbolt and long as a whip. It cracked across Silver Hair's back, ripping his shirt and making his whole body glow for a split second. He fell to his knees, the knife fusing to his hand as the electrical currents melded his flesh around it. Maximus didn't glance away at the distraction, but one of his enemies did, and with a savage swipe, Maximus's knife cleaved through the vampire's neck. He dropped over, headless.

Silver Hair turned around and glared at me. I recognized that look-I'd seen it on many faces right before someone got killed. I tried to summon another whiplike bolt from my hand, but I felt more drained than I ever had before. I started to crawl away only because I didn't want to die without trying, but I wasn't surprised to be hauled up moments later.

"Bitch," Silver Hair snarled, lifting me until our faces were level. "Now you'll stay put."

Then he flung me backward so hard that the last thing I felt was a wall breaking behind me.

Chapter 20

The pain must've caused me to pass out, because when I opened my eyes, it looked like I was under a blanket, but that was impossible. I was still somewhere in the burning club, wasn't I?

I pushed the blanket off me, and smoke immediately had me coughing so hard, my throat felt stripped. Yep, still in the club, and I hadn't been covered by a blanket, but a coat. Several of them were around me, some still on hooks, some fallen from where my impact had knocked them loose. Silver Hair had flung me right through the wall into the coatroom.

I tried to crawl away-and screamed. Pieces of the wall had collapsed on my broken legs, pinning them. The hole I'd made was too far up for me to peer through to see if Maximus was still out there. And the walls around me were getting hot while the smoke continued to make breathing an effort.

Amidst the searing pain and coughing, I had a moment of clarity. I couldn't get out myself, so unless someone came to get me, I was dead. If I was lucky, the smoke would kill me first. If I wasn't, well . . . the pain in my legs would be bliss compared to what burning to death felt like.

"Maximus!" I shouted, hoping he'd managed to defeat Silver Hair and the other vampires. "Maximus, I'm here!"

Nothing but the still-blaring music and ominous breaking sounds that probably indicated the club was starting to fall apart. I coughed more, feeling light-headed. What had the fireman whose near-death experience I'd relived done to save himself? He'd covered up, for starters.

I grabbed every coat I could and piled them on top of me. The heat was unbearable, but they'd provide a barrier against the flames. Then I took one of the thinner coats and wrapped it around my mouth, trying to use it as a filter against the smoke.

"Maximus!" I screamed again. "Maximus, where are you?"

Still no response. Panic rose but I pushed it back. If there was one thing I'd learned, it was that panicking never helped anyone. Okay, either Maximus couldn't hear me above the music and crumbling structure, or he was dead. I'd have to try something else.

I got as low as I could, keeping the blankets over me and trying to think past the dizziness and searing pain that radiated all through me. If only I had something of Vlad's, then I could link to him for help. Even if he wasn't near enough to come himself, he could tell someone where I was. But I didn't, and I hadn't seen him today.

Maybe desperation gave me the crazy idea, maybe it was the growing lack of oxygen to my brain, but I stuck my right hand under the coat and began to rub my lips. Please, oh, please, let Vlad have felt something when he touched them yesterday! If that near-kiss hadn't meant anything to him, then I was a dead woman. But if he'd felt a strong enough emotion, I might be able to find a hint of his essence that I could follow back to him-