Page 121 of Thirst
“I’ll carry you.” I stepped forward.
Perla cringed, shoulders hunching, like she was expecting a blow.
“Easy,” Nyx murmured. “This is Cain. You can trust him. He’s from the Maritime Syndicate—they all are.”
The human blinked. “Cain? He is the one who?—?”
“Oui,” said Nyx.
“Ah.” Perla’s bruised mouth curved. “A Maritime lieutenant,” she said like that explained something. She straightened back up. “Yes, please,” she told me.
I shoved my dagger into a hidden pocket in my tactical pants, gathered her into my arms and headed for the stairs, Nyx on my heels.
Above, Talon whisper-shouted, “Someone’s coming.” The door thudded shut.
My pulse kicked. I bolted up the stairs, Nyx right behind. Brien snatched up the torch, and he and Twilight followed. We hit the landing as someone banged on the other side of the door.
Talon held up three fingers. “Three men,” he told us. “That I saw, anyway.”
“James and Adrian?” asked Brien.
“Still in the great room. I saw these dudes dropping out of the shadows and threw the door shut. It locked automatically.”
Perla lifted her head from my shoulder. “I told you,” she said, her voice flat, stripped of hope. “He won’t let us go. He means to stake you all.”
“He’ll have to catch us first,” I told her.
Brien turned to Nyx. “Is there another way out?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“This is it,” Perla confirmed.
Twilight bounced once in her black Adidas, fangs shining in the murky light. “Then we make our stand.”
Brien’s eyes flared blue. “Damn right.”
On the other side of the door came the scrape of a key being inserted in the lock.
Talon planted his feet and grabbed the doorknob with both hands.
I turned to Nyx, but she was already reaching for Perla. “I’ll take her—you fight.”
I nodded and eased the injured woman into her arms.
The brass knob turned. Talon braced himself and hung on, as someone tried to open the door from the great room. “Ready?”
“Swear you’ll leave me if it means saving yourself,” Perla told Nyx, her expression fierce beneath the bruises. “I’ll cover for you.”
I eyed the injured human. She’d already won me over by befriending Nyx, but now she’d earned my respect.
“No.” Nyx’s jaw tightened. “You’re coming with us. I promised you that when I left, you were going with me.”
I pulled my daggers free. Brien and Twilight already had their blades out.
Brien nodded at Talon. “Open it.”
Talon released the knob, whipped out a stake, and kicked the door open. We poured through the doorway as three vampires dropped into fighter’s crouches, fangs bared and blades out, eyes shining in the chandelier’s blood-red light.
