Page 4
With a snarl, Darius stepped back slightly.
“Remove his hood,” Marcus ordered. “I want him to see what he’s dealing with.”
One of his men roughly ripped the material away. Marcus paused, infuriating Darius. Get to extracting the information!
Give him a few seconds to realize his life is over, Marcus answered Darius before sending instructions to the vampires who lined the room. Take turns moving. Be noisy. He’ll be easy to unnerve.
As their captive struggled to peer through the darkness, the vampires, who normally would never betray their locations, taunted him with exaggerated rustling movements. The man’s heart rate skyrocketed as he flinched, snapping his head from side to side in an attempt to locate possible threats. The man’s rising panic soothed Darius’s soul slightly. Marcus was good at his job.
“Talk,” Marcus commanded.
“Okay. Someone wants to speak to that woman. I’m just the transit guy. I wasn’t going to hurt her,” he babbled.
“Who sent you?”
“I have no idea. Someone posted a contract on the Dark Web. I received a hundred bucks, her picture, and a location. When I dropped her off, I’d get the rest of the money.”
“Where were you supposed to drive her?”
“To the abandoned building on 2nd Street. They said I’d find a metal box to secure her in on the third floor.”
Marcus looked at one of his men. He slipped noiselessly out of the room. “Open his phone and take the device to Bram.”
The sudden glow appearing in front of him made the would-be kidnapper jump. Before he could drop his head, facial recognition activated the phone. The vampire quickly tapped the screen to change the password. The next second, the light from the phone disappeared as another member of the security force followed Marcus’s instructions, leaving for the tech office.
“We are the only ones permitted to use violence at Nightfall. You made a poor choice when you accepted that contract,” Marcus told him. “Allow me to introduce you to your worst nightmare.”
Darius stepped forward and allowed anger to course through his body. He heard the man’s breath stop at the sight of Darius’s eyes glowing in the darkness. “You have no idea what you have unleashed,” Darius said.
“What are you?” The man’s voice no longer held the bravado of bravery.
“Lights,” Darius ordered.
With a click that sounded like a thunderclap in the heavy silence that filled the room, the overhead light blazed to life. Darius bared his teeth, revealing to their captive exactly what he was.
“The left hand held the knife,” Marcus said helpfully.
Darius reached out to grab the man’s biceps. With a quick twist, Darius snapped his shoulder and ripped the limb completely from his torso and the duct tape securing his arm to the chair. The tortured scream that followed was music to his ears as he tossed the arm away to slide discarded across the floor. He turned and walked out of the room.
Make him suffer.
“Pull yourself together!” Mara said to herself, straightening her shoulders and shoving the tail of her blouse into her skirt’s waistband. She tried to present a professional appearance while inside her heart pounded with fear.
When she stumbled, Troy steadied her with a hand under her forearm. “Hey, you’re safe. Would you like to take a second?”
Mara nodded before she could stop herself. They had walked toward the rear entrance of the massive building. Shadows reached out to wrap around her. Fear penetrated to her bones. She could hear the men talking, but their words sounded jumbled. Whatever existed inside that building was predatory.
She shook off Troy’s touch. Every fiber of her being screamed at her to flee. A flash of light ahead caught her attention. A scream burst from her lips.
The slight figure of a woman silhouetted in the open doorway in front of them seemed so unalarming that Mara laughed at herself. Even to her own ears she sounded hysterical. She forced words from her mouth. “Sorry. Sorry. I’m the biggest wimp in a haunted house. I’ll pull myself together.”
The woman moved closer. “I’d totally scream too. I’m Carina. Come inside.” Carina held out a hand to Mara that suddenly looked like the biggest lifeline ever offered.
Placing her hand in the other woman’s, Mara allowed her to draw her inside. To her relief, plentiful lights illuminated the hallway in the interior of the massive building. Mara took a deep breath, trying to compose herself. The sensation of that man’s hands on her skin still lingered in her mind. Who was he?
Forcing herself to focus, she turned to Carina and whispered, “Thanks.”
“Of course. No one is allowed to hurt Nightfall’s guests,” Carina said with a smile.
