Page 118 of Let Sleeping Vampires Lie

Marcus lowered the gun with shaking hands. “I really hate my job sometimes.”

I scrambled to Con.

He lay on his side, eyes half open, chest rising shallowly. Blood soaked his shirt in too many places. One leg bent at an angle that spoke of a fracture. His skin had gone pale even for a vampire.

“Constantine,” I said.

His gaze found me, unfocused at first, then brightening just a little. “You are safe.”

The words were slurred.

“You are not,” I snapped.

“We have the piece,” he murmured.

His eyes rolled back.

He went limp.

Panic clawed up my throat.

“Do not do this,” I whispered. “Not here. Not now.”

I pressed my hand to his chest, feeling for the steady push of his heart. It beat, slower than it should, but there.

Marcus shuffled closer, the case still cradled almost protectively against his ribs.

“He needs blood,” Marcus said.

“No,” I answered too quickly.

“You cannot carry him far like this,” Marcus said. “If you do not feed him, the injuries will take longer to heal. You know that.”

“I am not binding him here in an alley behind a warehouse,” I said. “Not with this in my hand. Not with Valerian watching.”

Marcus blinked. “Valerian is here?”

“He is,” I muttered.

I shifted my grip and hauled Con up, slinging his arm over my shoulders, taking as much of his weight as I could.

Pain cut through my back as my body protested, but I ignored it.

“We leave,” I said. “Now. Before more of them find us.”

Marcus nodded, adjusting the case.

“Car two streets over,” he said. “I always plan an exit that does not involve the front door.”

“Good,” I said. “Lead.”

We limped down the alley, the night swallowing us one step at a time.

Behind us, the warehouse burned quietly in the corner of my mind. Not in reality, not yet, but in the memory of the flame I had unleashed within its walls.

We had the fragment.

But not the serum, though, thanks to my fire, no one else got it either.