Dee glanced his way, then turned to stare at the long, dark street. Since the moment she’d awoken, Pak had kept her under close scrutiny. He’d watched her. Fed her. Helped her to focus the chaos in her mind that came from the enhanced senses and the fears.
Just like before, Pak had taught her.
Not how to hunt this time.
How to live as a vampire.
“Pak told me that a vamp’s scent changes,” Dee said, not sure she understood why she wasn’t reeking like a corpse. “Those bastards that hunt and rip apart humans, they stink of death and decay.”
“Because they have no soul left,” Pak’s soft voice, coming from behind them. Dee didn’t glance back. She’d known he was there. It was too easy to catch even his soft footfalls now.
“My grandfather once said that when the Taken lose their humanity, they become no more than the walking dead.”
His grandfather had been a Choctaw shaman, so Dee figured the guy had known a thing or two about the walking dead.
“You still have your soul, Dee. Your mortal life is gone, but you’re still the same inside.”
Yeah, right. She just had a few flashy additions on the outside. New teeth. New nails. New eyes.
Taken. Why had Simon changed her? “Why not just leave me to die?” she asked the night, her hands clenched into fists.
No answer. Dee hadn’t really expected one.
“You’ll hunt now.” Pak sounded certain.
She would, because there was still a job to do.
“For some reason, the Born Master left the city.”
A great stroke of luck for them. Because she sure hadn’t been up to hunting the last few days.
“We can’t risk him coming back,” Jude said, voice grim.
She uncurled her hands and glanced down at her new claws. “He won’t be back.”
“You can’t take him down alone!” Jude snapped. “You’ll—”
“Die?” She finished and gave him a tight smile. “Been there, done that.” Her eyes darted around the street. No sign of Zane. He hadn’t come to Night Watch, not once during her little “stay.” She would have known. Would have caught his scent just as she’d caught all the others.
But he’d come for her, sooner or later.
Just like Tony would be coming. Her time had expired for him, and the little matter of her being undead wasn’t going to stop him from taking her down.
She stepped into the night.
“Never the innocents, hunter. Remember that. Never them,” Pak ordered.
Dee gave a nod. The prey she’d be hunting first, well, he wasn’t innocent.
She doubted if he ever had been.
Sure, she’d track the Born Master. Find him, do her damned best to kill him. But first—
First, she had some personal payback coming.
Her nostrils widened as she scented the night. “Come out, come out, Simon Chase.” I’ll find you, wherever you are.
The hunt was on.
Following the scent of blood was ridiculously easy. Fighting the urge to let her fangs out, to take a bite, not so easy.
But the need for blood had been slaked under Pak’s watchful eye. Control, yeah, she had that now. He’d gotten her through that first mad rush of blood hunger. The rush that drove some vampires crazy and pushed others beyond that thin good/evil line.
She’d survived. She wouldn’t need to feed for weeks now, and when she did feed, the thirst wouldn’t be as overwhelming.
The first time—it was always a bitch in vampire land.
So she had her control. For what it was worth. Once she got her hands on her lying lover, Dee wasn’t real sure how long it would be before that old wall of control started to crack.
The first stop on her little hunt was his place. Not that she expected Simon to still be hanging around town. No, once he’d dumped her ass, he’d probably hit the road as fast as he could.
Why change me? Why? That question had haunted her every moment. Was this some kind of sick punishment? Another way of torturing her? Damn vampire. He’d probably thought turning her into what she hated most was hilarious.
His house stood at the end of the road, lined off by garish yellow police tape. She could see the color of the tape so clearly in the darkness. Could see everything so clearly. The bullet holes in the siding. The broken shards of glass. The front door that swayed drunkenly on its hinges.
Dee hunched down and slid under the police tape. No sign of any uniforms. No sign of anyone. Maybe she’d find something inside to lead her to the vampire bastard.
Getting inside was easy—the front door was pretty much gone. The TV lay smashed on the floor. Stuffing from the couch cushions covered the room.
And to think, she’d actually been happy here, for a brief, stupid moment of time, she’d been happy.
The floor creaked. A groan, more vibration than sound, and she caught the faintest hitch. Breathing. Coming from the bedroom.
Claws out, she sprang forward.
And slammed into her lover’s chest.
Dead lover’s chest.
Dee took him down, hard and fast. Simon’s head rapped against the hardwood. Her hips straddled him and she pinned his arms to the floor. Oh, yeah, vampire strength, baby. Payback was going to be hell.
“Dee.” Why was he saying her name like that? All husky and hungry. Like he hadn’t royally screwed her.
“Asshole.” Her fangs were growing, sharpening, and she wanted to sink them into his throat.
Bite.
The whisper she’d first heard here, with him. She should have known back then what was happening. Vampires were highly psychic. He’d been the one broadcasting that need, not her. Him.
“You should have let me die,” she growled and her fingers tightened around him.
His eyes flashed to black as fury hardened his face. Finally she was seeing the real man. Not the fake veneer. “I did.”
“What?”
He lunged up, breaking her hold and rolling them in a tumble of limbs. In the next second, Dee was on the floor, he had her caged, and his teeth glinted down at her. “Haven’t taken straight from a source yet, have you, babe? That was a mistake. You won’t be strong enough to—”
Dee tried to head-butt him, but Simon pulled back, shaking his head. “Still thinking like a human. You can’t do that, Dee.”
“I told you no!” She knew her fangs were out. Didn’t care. Her words were starting to lisp, just a bit. Still not used to those damn teeth. “I knew what you wanted, at the end.” That part was seared in her mind. “I told you no!”