Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Ella felt her brow furrow as she studied the two men. “Yeah, they do seem to be making a point of not looking in our direction. Come to think of it, even the regulars we’ve known and indulged in playful shit talk with for years don’t approach us anymore.”
Mia bit into her lower lip. “Maybe we really are losing our touch. A dreary thought.” She frowned when Ella potted two balls in quick succession. “And now I’m also gonna lose at pool. This day sucks.”
Ella snorted. “Game’s not over yet. You could still win.”
But Mia didn’t. Which she griped about even as they later left the building and walked into the dimly lit parking lot.
Her mouth curving, Ella said, “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Whatever,” Mia mumbled, making a beeline for her car.
Shaking her head with a smile, Ella began heading to her own vehicle. She was almost at it when she heard something. A rustle. And it was coming from the shadowy alley adjacent to where she stood.
Coming to a halt, she narrowed her eyes, able to make out two figures. One lay still on the ground, the other hovered over them in a way that seemed … threatening. He was lanky. Pale as death.
Her demon stilled as his head whipped to face her. Air got trapped in her lungs as blood-red eyes met hers, cruel and animalistic. Yeah, red eyes.
Ella’s brows snapped together. “The fuck?”
He hissed at her. Like a freaking alley cat. His body tensed as his legs bent, as if he was poised to lunge.
Oh, the hell no. Ella called to her magick, letting it crackle against her palms, and then chanted under her breath as she sent ribbons of magick gushing through the air toward him. Before it could touch him—holy mother of God—he seemed to explode into a billion pieces … only to become a bat. A bat. One that promptly flew away.
Gaping, Ella could only stare after it. That was … She was … He couldn’t have …
Fuck, she needed to sit down.
Instead, she cautiously walked into the alley and approached the figure lying on the ground. A human male, she quickly realized. It took no detective work to conclude that he was dead. He smelled it. The stench made her demon sniff in disdain.
Hinges creaked as the side door of the pool hall opened. Several people piled into the alley—all of whom were members of the Black Saints. They stilled as their gazes bounced from her to the human at her feet.
Ella lifted her hands. “Uh, yeah, it wasn’t me. I just found him this way.”
CHAPTER THREE
Taking in the scene, Viper wanted to groan. The universe couldn’t have just let her get in her car and drive home, could it? No, it had to make sure she stumbled into yet another ‘situation’.
“Something was just here,” Ella went on in that low and scratchy voice, dropping her arms to her sides. “I don’t know if they killed him in this spot or dumped him here, but … ”
“I believe you.” Viper crossed to the corpse with his brothers at his back. He instantly recognized the body as belonging to one of the missing humans. The guy looked surprisingly peaceful, his eyes closed, his face free of lines.
There were no signs of torture. No tears in, or stains on, his clothes. The only visible injuries were on his neck—four pairs of puncture wounds.
“He’s been dead a day or so,” noted Darko, crouching beside the body.
If Viper remembered rightly, this particular human had vanished a week ago. So where had he been all that time?
Viper met Ella’s gaze again—and sexual connection slammed into him, making his body go tight and his blood go hot. Her eyelids flickered, telling him she wasn’t unaffected by the close-up eye contact either. His entity grinned, liking that.
“You said something was just here,” Viper prompted.
She nodded. “He had red eyes. Seriously pale skin. Long nails. And he hissed at me like an honest to God’s cat. Then he morphed into a bat and flew away. As you do.” She twisted her lips. “I’m thinking vampire.”
Some vampires could shapeshift, and one of the three vampiric breeds did in fact boast red irises. But they typically didn’t go around senselessly killing humans.
There was another creature, however, who fit the physical description she’d reeled off. A creature who could shift into bats, would kill without thought, and needed no motivation to do so.
“He didn’t touch you?” Viper checked.
“He went to pounce, but when I struck out with magick he shifted into a bat to evade it. I’m an incantor,” she added, as if to explain why she could call on magick.
“I know.”
Her eyelids lowered slightly. “How do you know?”
Viper let his lips curl. “I pay attention when something or someone intrigues me.” He saw no harm in making his interest in her clear now. It would give her some time to get accustomed to it.