No.
“You care.” Again, the faintest hint of curiosity or … surprise? “I didn’t expect that.”
“Well, a year ago, I never expected I’d get turned into a vampire and I’d have an angel stand by and refuse to help me while I’m trapped in a crypt.”
Silence.
But he was still there. She could feel him.
“Don’t you ever get tired of watching people die?” She gritted. The chain was just locked too tightly around her wrist. She’d always had too-sharp, too-big wrist bones.
“I do what I was born to do. Watch. Shepherd.”
“Shepherd?” Yes, the bones were too big in her wrists and her hands … That was the problem.
“I take the souls when they are ready to leave this plane.”
“And you’re never tempted? Never once do you think, hey, maybe this woman wants to live longer with her daughter and not die from cancer when she’s only twenty-eight…” Her mother and the pain still bled inside her. “Or maybe this guy wants to have a chance to see—”
“I know why you were at the church that night.”
That shut her up. Figured he’d know. “I never made it inside the church.” The doors had been barred to her. Talk about a big glowing sign of things to come.
“He watched you then.”
Keenan.
“He watched too much, I knew it, but …”
“But you didn’t stop him.” Ah, sounded just like Mr. Hands Off. “You could have stopped him from falling!”
“If I had, you’d be dead.”
Right. There was no win-win in this game.
“He’s losing himself in you.”
She wasn’t sure what that meant. And the chains wouldn’t break, so that meant there was only one—
“If he goes too far, there will be no saving him. Once the line is crossed, he’s lost.”
What line? “Keenan’s not lost! He’s had my back this whole time and, by damn, I will have his!” Once she got out of there.
“Carlos can kill him.”
The chain wouldn’t break.
“I can’t see a Fallen’s future, can’t see what will be, so I don’t know how quickly he’ll die.”
Screw this. She sucked in a deep breath and slammed her right hand and wrist into the concrete. Once. Twice.
The chain wouldn’t break, but she could. Her wrist bones were twisted, mangled, but now she could get them out of the chain. One hand down. It will heal.
“Why?” His voice, showing more emotion. This time, there was no mistaking the confusion.
“Because he’s not dying.” She pounded her other wrist against the cement and ignored the waves of pain that rolled through her. She and pain were starting to become good friends. Tears slipped down her cheeks but she didn’t realize she was crying until she tasted the salt on her lips. She rammed her hand into the ground. Once, twice more, and the bones shifted. Nicole slid that hand free. “He’s not dying.”
“How will you save him? You can’t even fight now, you can’t—”
“I’ll just get a little bite first …” She rose, but almost staggered from the pain. “Then I’ll be ready.”
“Death is coming.”
Her shoulders straightened. “Death … you … can wait.” She made it to the door. Nicole didn’t even bother trying to push it open. Her hands were a mess. She needed blood, fast, in order to get the strength to heal, and even then, she wouldn’t fully recover until her next rising.
Carlos could be waiting right outside. He probably was.
Won’t get Keenan.
She kicked open the vault’s heavy metal door.
Sam had taken Keenan to a bar, one that looked like a dozen others. But this one was different—his prey waited inside.
“There.” Sam’s finger pointed to the right. The two bikers who’d escaped were at the bar, guzzling beers and acting like they didn’t have a care in the world.
He’d make them care.
As Keenan stalked across the bar, smart people got out of his way. Maybe they could feel his rage. It sure burned him.
“Don’t touch ’em, not yet,” Sam muttered. “We need ’em alive to talk, remember?”
He jerked his head in agreement. The idiots must have sensed trouble because they both spun around. When they saw him, their eyes widened and fear slipped over their thick faces.
“Didn’t think it was over, did you?” He braced his legs apart. The scrape of chairs filled the room. Folks were leaving as fast as they could. Guess they were used to trouble in this place, and they knew better than to stay around and watch the show.