her.
“Go!”
Lily slammed her foot down on the gas and tore out of the parking lot, tires squealing. This time, she didn’t look back. Whatever lay ahead was bad enough.
chapter
FOUR
T HE NIGHT AIR stank of death. And still, the coward did not show himself.
Ty didn’t even turn to watch Lily leave; the squeal of her car’s tires on the pavement was enough to give him some small amount of relief. But the rest of what churned within him was raw fury, all the more potent because it wasn’t just a meal that some other vamp had decided to encroach upon. It was his mission, his
future
. And whoever had decided to try poaching was about to get a very nasty lesson in how to conduct oneself around a Cait Sith.
The animal within Ty stirred uneasily, reacting the same way any beast does to an approaching storm. Cold whispered over the ground, the temperature dropping twenty degrees in a matter of seconds. Even Ty’s breath, though not as warm as a mortal’s, escaped his mouth in a small cloud of vapor.
“Come on, you bastard,” Ty growled, staring unblinkingly at the darkened sports fields where he knew the interloperwas hiding. His cat’s eyes picked up nothing, no hint of movement. But intuition, honed over long, hard years of experience, had never failed him.
Nor would it now, Ty thought, deadly anticipation beginning to course through his veins as he watched one particular patch of shadow divide itself in two, half of it pulling away into a shape that was unmistakably human. Even from this distance, Ty could see the red eyes glinting at him. Bright, murderous red. The sign of a vampire so hungry it was near starvation.
Ty fought the urge to recoil. There had been a time when such hunger was common to see. He had felt the knife’s edge of it many a time when he was younger and newly sired, hiding in shadow, living in fear of being discovered and brutally destroyed. The memories were nothing he cared to revisit.
“Fight me, then,” Ty snarled, his incisors elongating farther, his fingers hooking into claws. His stance was rigid, but his muscles were loose and limber, ready to spring. In truth, he savored the thought of making a kill. It was the only way he could think of to release the tension that had been building in him since he’d first seen Lily standing in the moonlight.
The red eyes watched him, glowing balefully, and the shadow tipped its head slightly to one side, considering him. Finally, a voice escaped it that sounded as though it had been dragged through gravel. The words it spoke were clear as day, delivered in a cockney accent that brought back memories of London’s dirty streets long ago.
“It’s not you I want, kitty cat. Don’t fancy getting a hairball. The pretty one, though… she’s quite the prize.”
Ty’s lip curled. “She’s off-limits.”
There was a harsh chuckle. “Says who? This ain’t your territory. Your lot don’t
have
territory. Gutterborn, bunch o’ filthy strays. I’ve known many a good lowblood, but someone shoulda drowned
your
line at the first.”
Ty let the words slide off his back like water. It was nothing he hadn’t heard before. He wanted to get this done, to get the kill.
“This place is no one’s territory, coward. And the woman is mine.”
“The woman is worm’s meat, kitty. And you will be, too, when I’m done with you.” The breathing grew audibly harsh, and the man’s voice changed then, sending a chill down Ty’s spine that surprised him. “I’m just… so…
hungry
…. ” he wailed, his voice turning high-pitched and piteous, childlike, making Ty remember similar wails in darkened alleyways, the stench of flesh and garbage.
Enough
, Ty thought. The past was best left in the darkness.
Ty crouched lower, sensing the impending attack before the other vampire moved a muscle. Then the gleaming red eyes were rushing toward him, and as the old bloodlust crashed over him, Ty opened his arms to receive his attacker.
The blow
“Go!”
Lily slammed her foot down on the gas and tore out of the parking lot, tires squealing. This time, she didn’t look back. Whatever lay ahead was bad enough.
chapter
FOUR
T HE NIGHT AIR stank of death. And still, the coward did not show himself.
Ty didn’t even turn to watch Lily leave; the squeal of her car’s tires on the pavement was enough to give him some small amount of relief. But the rest of what churned within him was raw fury, all the more potent because it wasn’t just a meal that some other vamp had decided to encroach upon. It was his mission, his
future
. And whoever had decided to try poaching was about to get a very nasty lesson in how to conduct oneself around a Cait Sith.
The animal within Ty stirred uneasily, reacting the same way any beast does to an approaching storm. Cold whispered over the ground, the temperature dropping twenty degrees in a matter of seconds. Even Ty’s breath, though not as warm as a mortal’s, escaped his mouth in a small cloud of vapor.
“Come on, you bastard,” Ty growled, staring unblinkingly at the darkened sports fields where he knew the interloperwas hiding. His cat’s eyes picked up nothing, no hint of movement. But intuition, honed over long, hard years of experience, had never failed him.
Nor would it now, Ty thought, deadly anticipation beginning to course through his veins as he watched one particular patch of shadow divide itself in two, half of it pulling away into a shape that was unmistakably human. Even from this distance, Ty could see the red eyes glinting at him. Bright, murderous red. The sign of a vampire so hungry it was near starvation.
Ty fought the urge to recoil. There had been a time when such hunger was common to see. He had felt the knife’s edge of it many a time when he was younger and newly sired, hiding in shadow, living in fear of being discovered and brutally destroyed. The memories were nothing he cared to revisit.
“Fight me, then,” Ty snarled, his incisors elongating farther, his fingers hooking into claws. His stance was rigid, but his muscles were loose and limber, ready to spring. In truth, he savored the thought of making a kill. It was the only way he could think of to release the tension that had been building in him since he’d first seen Lily standing in the moonlight.
The red eyes watched him, glowing balefully, and the shadow tipped its head slightly to one side, considering him. Finally, a voice escaped it that sounded as though it had been dragged through gravel. The words it spoke were clear as day, delivered in a cockney accent that brought back memories of London’s dirty streets long ago.
“It’s not you I want, kitty cat. Don’t fancy getting a hairball. The pretty one, though… she’s quite the prize.”
Ty’s lip curled. “She’s off-limits.”
There was a harsh chuckle. “Says who? This ain’t your territory. Your lot don’t
have
territory. Gutterborn, bunch o’ filthy strays. I’ve known many a good lowblood, but someone shoulda drowned
your
line at the first.”
Ty let the words slide off his back like water. It was nothing he hadn’t heard before. He wanted to get this done, to get the kill.
“This place is no one’s territory, coward. And the woman is mine.”
“The woman is worm’s meat, kitty. And you will be, too, when I’m done with you.” The breathing grew audibly harsh, and the man’s voice changed then, sending a chill down Ty’s spine that surprised him. “I’m just… so…
hungry
…. ” he wailed, his voice turning high-pitched and piteous, childlike, making Ty remember similar wails in darkened alleyways, the stench of flesh and garbage.
Enough
, Ty thought. The past was best left in the darkness.
Ty crouched lower, sensing the impending attack before the other vampire moved a muscle. Then the gleaming red eyes were rushing toward him, and as the old bloodlust crashed over him, Ty opened his arms to receive his attacker.
The blow
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