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  “You’ll be waiting a long time for that,” I snapped. My fingers itched for my gun, which was still in Corbin’s small restroom. The only problem was, Roderick was between me and it and if I stepped out from behind Corbin’s protective stance, I was making myself all kinds of vulnerable—and probably all kinds of dead.

  Corbin solved my problem for me by circling slowly away from Roderick, as though trying to find a better position. I circled with him, being certain to keep him between me and the other vampire. Soon I had access to both the door to the office and the door to the bathroom.

  “Addison, go,” Corbin said in a low voice, not looking at me. “Get out now. Take Taylor and drive as far from here as you can and don’t come back.”

  “You think that will save her?” Roderick demanded. “I’ll find her, Corbin. I’ll find both of them and fuck her little friend to death while your consort watches, just as soon as I’m finished killing you.”

  “You may try,” Corbin said evenly. “But I promise you, Roderick, it will not be an easy fight.”

  Roderick gave him a bloodthirsty grin. “I would be disappointed if it was.”

  He lunged forward in a movement too fast for my eye to track and suddenly he and Corbin were locked together, grappling. Just as quickly, though, they broke apart. Roderick appeared unharmed but I was disturbed to see a line of blood running from Corbin’s temple.

  “Very good.” Roderick was looking at him appraisingly. “You may be a more challenging adversary than I thought. Which will only make my victory all the sweeter.”

  Corbin didn’t take his eyes off his enemy or answer Roderick’s taunts. Instead he spoke to me from the corner of his mouth.

  “What are you waiting for—go!”

  “I won’t leave you here with him,” I said stubbornly.

  “There is no way you can help me other than leaving.” Corbin risked a quick glance at me. “Addison, I am almost certainly going to die here tonight. Don’t let my sacrifice be in vain—go!”

  I was almost swayed by the desperation I saw in his eyes but then I saw Roderick laughing and my resolve hardened. No, damn it, I was not going to leave a man I cared for—even if he was a vampire—to face certain death alone. I was going to do something, even if it got me killed too.

  The vampires came together again, striking with the speed that made a king cobra look slow. This time I didn’t wait—I took the opportunity to run for the door.

  Behind me I heard Roderick laugh. “Run little consort—run as fast and as far as you can but I’ll find you. You’ll be mine soon enough.”

  “Like hell I will,” I muttered, certain he could hear me. Despite their great speed, the vampires fought in almost total silence—it was an eerie sight, watching them strike at each other, grapple in a complete blur, and then break apart, all without making a sound.

  I headed for the office door but at the very last moment, I veered off toward the bathroom. Once inside, I knew I didn’t have much time. At the speed this fight was progressing, it would be over before I could load my Glock—luckily for me, it was already loaded.

  I grabbed the gun and eased the door open, looking for a good shot. Unfortunately, the fight happened to be in one of the blur stages and all I could see was a fast-motion tangle of vampire limbs and flashing fangs.

  When they broke apart, I could see that Corbin was definitely getting the worst of it. My heart gave a painful thump when I saw his wounds—obviously slashes from Roderick’s razor-sharp fangs. Vampires heal fast but even so he was bleeding from over a dozen places and some of the wounds looked really deep—deep enough that a human would have been incapacitated. But Corbin just kept on fighting, a silent grimace of determination on his face. Clearly he was going to see this through to the end.

  “Will I enjoy her?” Roderick taunted as they circled again. “Does she taste as good as she smells, that little human consort of yours?”

  “You will never get a chance to find out,” Corbin ground out.

  “Oh, I think I will.” Roderick laughed. “At first I simply planned to fuck her to death but now…now I think I’ll turn her. After she is born to darkness, she will be so much more durable. Her torment will go on and on…forever.”

  The thought of becoming a vampire made me feel physically ill but I forced my feelings down and aimed my gun. I finally got a good shot at Roderick but just as I was about to squeeze the trigger, Corbin gave a low roar and launched himself at the other vampire.

  Shit! They blurred together again and I lost the shot. This time when they came out of it, Corbin’s left arm was hanging limply by his side and Roderick was laughing. There was blood on his fangs.

  Okay, this was it—I couldn’t wait for the perfect shot again, I just had to do the best I could. Corbin had his back to me though, blocking my view. Damn it, if I waited for him to move, he might be dead the next time I got a chance at this!

  I wanted to stay in the safety of the bathroom and shoot from there but the way they were constantly moving meant I needed to get closer. I pushed open the door and came out, gun first. Unfortunately, the motion caught Roderick’s eyes. I saw his eyes widen, then narrow and then he was coming for me.

  As fast as vamps move, I shouldn’t have been able to get off a single shot. But for some reason—maybe because he was wounded or maybe because he wanted to play with me—Roderick was just slow enough for me to squeeze the trigger.

  At the same time I shouted, “Corbin, down!”

  The gun roared. Corbin dropped like a stone just in time for the bullet to whiz by and bury itself in Roderick’s left shoulder.

  Now, a bullet to the shoulder isn’t normally a killing shot. But as I’ve said before, my bullets are special—hollow points filled with liquid silver nitrate that acts like acid once it touches vamp flesh.

  So what should have happened was this: the bullet should have ploughed into Roderick, exploding and expanding, vaporizing his shoulder and a good part of his chest. Then the silver would spray everywhere, eating into his flesh like a fast acting acid, gouging holes in his face and arms and hands—everywhere it sprayed on impact. At this point, Roderick should have fallen to his knees, screaming and clawing at the burning silver that continued to eat its way into him like a rat gnawing cheese. He should have continued in agony until the silver reached his heart or brain or I had mercy on him and shot him again—this time in the head.

  That is not what happened.

  Oh, the bullet did plough into him and it made a very large hole—one big enough to see through, actually. I knew because I could see the tasteful Klimt painting Corbin had hanging on the wall behind his desk through it.

  But then, instead of expanding, the hole began to shrink. And instead of eating into his skin, the silver nitrate seemed to dissipate. It was as though he was somehow repelling it. Or maybe his flesh was actually taking it in—ingesting it and neutralizing it, somehow.

  For whatever the reason, shooting Roderick did nothing—well, nothing but enrage him.

  “You little cunt,” he snarled. “That hurt!”

  His face grew white and frightening and his eyes, already blood red, blazed like flames. Looking into them, I was sure I could see my death—the only bright side was that I had probably pissed him off enough to kill me immediately instead of toying with me first. Still, I wasn’t going to stand there and wait for death to come to me—I was going to fight it.

  I fired again and again, squeezing the trigger reflexively, but Roderick was too fast. He dodged around the room as I shot, always one step ahead of my bullets. One of them went wild and I saw the priceless Ming vase, which Roderick had put carefully on a chair earlier, shatter as a result. Oops. Well, that was probably the first and last time I would do over a million dollars' worth of damage with one shot. Too bad I was too busy trying to stay alive to enjoy it.

  I kept squeezing the trigger until suddenly the gun clicked instead of roaring. I stared at it, uncomprehending at first. Finally it hit me, empty—it was e
mpty. I had nothing to defend myself with now.

  Roderick realized it too. Suddenly he was right in front of me, leering like a death’s head, his face a white horror mask of rage and greed.

  “Well, my dear, it seems you’re all out of ammunition.” His voice was distorted to a weird, shrieking howl and the breath blowing in my face smelled like the snake cage at the zoo. Ugh.

  “Looks like it.” I looked at my gun. Well, even without bullets, it could still be a weapon, though I doubted Roderick realized it. And he was so busy leering at me, he probably wasn’t expecting another attack.

  If you’ve never pimp-slapped a vampire with an empty Glock, well, I can’t say I recommend it. It might break their nose—I heard Roderick’s crunch as I slugged him with the gun as hard as I could. But that doesn’t help when they heal almost immediately—it only pisses them off.

  “Little bitch!” he hissed, coming for me again. “You’ll regret that—for a thousand years you’ll regret it.”

  “Roderick!” Corbin called from behind him.

  Looking over the angry vampire’s shoulder, I saw Corbin pulling something out of his inside suit jacket. Something long and sharp and lethal looking—a black metal stake. My eyes had a brief instant to notice that the stake was carved all over with intricate silver curlicues and markings, almost like runes—and then Corbin plunged it into Roderick’s back.

  The vampire Inquisitor gasped, stiffened, and dropped to his knees. Such was the force of Corbin’s blow that the black and silver stake protruded a full three inches from the front of his chest.

  Finally! I thought with a surge of relief. Something that affects him—something to take the bastard down!

  And he was down—down but still moving, which disturbed me. A stake through the heart—especially one with any kind of silver—was usually the end of a vamp, no matter how powerful they were. But Roderick was still hanging on. His eyes opened and closed and his mouth moved like a fish trying to breathe air instead of water.

  I frowned—he should have been completely dead. I could tell by the placement that Corbin had skewered his heart like a piece of steak on a shish kabob. The silver rune-like markings were covered in blood—blood so black it looked like tar. As I watched, they began to move—writhing like centipedes along the black shaft protruding from Roderick’s chest.

  And then the unthinkable happened—Roderick grasped the stake and pulled it free. He rose to his feet, the jagged wound in his chest sealing itself as I watched. What the hell? Could nothing kill this son of a bitch?

  Turning to Corbin, he began to laugh. At first it was a breathless sound but then, presumably as his lungs healed themselves, it was more full throated.

  “A silver-worked stake,” he cried. “Is that all you could think of? You thought you could kill me with this?” And he threw it point first at Corbin, like an athlete tossing a javelin.

  Corbin caught it in mid-flight and flipped it, turning the point toward himself. It made me nervous to see that wicked silver tip hovering so near his heart.

  “I know I can,” he said coldly.

  And then he drove the stake into his chest.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Corbin! Oh my God, Corbin, what did you do?” I gasped as he sank to his knees. There was red blood on the stake now—Corbin’s blood and, as before, the silver rune snakes were writhing and curling along the black shaft that protruded from his chest.

  “Addison,” he whispered, his voice strained.

  “No!” I rushed to him, heedless of Roderick or any danger he might still represent. “No! Oh, no, no, no.”

  Horrified tears filled my eyes. Emotions were flooding me—regret for all the harsh words that had passed between us, overwhelming sorrow at the idea of losing Corbin, anger at myself for my own stupidity in pushing him away…

  “No,” I cried again. “No, I won’t lose you like this—I can’t!”

  I reached for the stake, prepared to pull it out but Corbin knocked my hands away.

  “Stop,” he muttered. “Must give…enough time to feed. A life for…a life.”

  “What are you talking about?” I demanded, blinking away tears. “What has to feed? These things?” I touched one of the writhing silver runes and pulled my hand back immediately. “Ow! The damn thing bit me! Corbin, what the hell is going on?”

  “Did…what was…necessary.” He shook his head. “Don’t worry…I’ll…be fine.”

  “You’re kidding—you just drove a stake through your own chest! How the hell are you going to be fine after that?” I demanded.

  “Fine,” he insisted and even had the nerve to smile at me.

  “What—?” I began but then a strangled moan from Roderick tore my eyes away. I nearly choked when I saw what was happening to the vampire Inquisitor.

  Roderick had sunk to his knees again and this time he didn’t look like he was going to get back up. His face, formerly white, had turned a dirty gray and veins were standing out all over his body like worms crawling just under the surface of his skin. As I watched, his eyes turned from red to black and then they simply dried up and caved in, leaving empty sockets staring back at me. His skin dried up too—wrinkling and sagging before pulling tight to his skull until he looked like something out of a horror movie about mummies.

  As I watched, his whole body seemed to crumble in on itself, putrefying and shriveling up almost instantly like a fast motion film about the process of decay. When he finally fell all the way over, there was nothing but a desiccated husk lying on the floor with a shock of gray-brown hair sticking out of its dried up scalp.

  I stared at the weird thing in awe and horror until a low sound from Corbin pulled me back to the present.

  “Corbin?” I looked down to see that he was pulling the stake out of his chest, just as Roderick had done. What was going on? Didn’t this thing kill anyone? Or did it have a way of killing I didn’t understand? I stared at him, disbelieving, as I saw the black and silver stake come out smoothly. Corbin laid it to one side. The silver runes were completely red now but they had stopped writhing, reminding me ominously of snakes who have become sluggish after having their fill.

  As I watched, the hole in Corbin’s chest filled in, just as the one in Roderick’s had. And then he was up off the floor and smiling at me as though nothing had happened. As though he hadn’t appeared to commit suicide right in front of me not a minute ago.

  “There, you see, darling?” he asked. “Fine—I’m completely fine.”

  I sniffed and shook my head. “But…how? I don’t understand.”

  Corbin winked at me. “And you don’t need to. Roderick is finished—that is all that matters.”

  “No, that is not all that matters.” I climbed to my feet, ignoring the hand he held out to help me up.

  “Addison,” he began in a placating tone but I held up a hand to cut him off. Earlier when I thought he had killed himself I had been horrified and grief stricken. Now I was just mad.

  “Corbin, what the hell did you do?” I demanded. “How does that stake work? How did you kill Roderick? I want to know and I want to know right now.”

  He frowned. “I got a little help from a business acquaintance, that’s all. Don’t worry about it.”

  “I do worry about it,” I said. “What acquaintance? Are you talking about that weird Goth girl with the purple hair who was leaving when I came in tonight? Who is she, anyway?”

  He sighed. “Just a witch I know. Her name is Gwendolyn LaRoux and she has a small business here in town. Don’t worry…” He put up his hands. “She hates vampires almost as much as you do, darling. But I made her an offer she could not refuse—in return, she gave me the means to kill Roderick.”

  I looked at Corbin for a long moment but he showed no signs of drying up and turning into a mummy like Roderick had, so maybe everything really was all right.

  “So…he’s really dead?” I nudged the mummified thing on his carpet carefully with one toe. I half expected Roderick to come b
ack to life and grab me. Thankfully, he didn’t.

  “He is.” Corbin sounded serious. “One of his age is extremely hard to kill.”

  “Yeah, that’s the understatement of the year.” I sighed and looked around. “Your office is a mess. And the vase…” I looked at the blue and white shards of the priceless Ming vase lying scattered across the carpet.

  “The vase doesn’t worry me—are you all right?” Corbin took me by the shoulders and ducked his head, peering anxiously into my face. “Do you feel well, Addison?”

  “I’m fine.” For some reason I couldn’t meet his eyes.

  “Are you certain?” He cupped my cheek and wiped something away with his thumb—a tear. “Then why are you crying?”

  “I’m not.” I swiped at my eyes and tried to smile. “I was just…shocked when I thought you were…were gone.”

  “Shocked, hmm?” He looked at me more closely. “Perhaps you were upset? Could it be that you realized that you could return my love after all?”

  “Nothing like that,” I said, pulling away from him. “More like…I didn’t like the idea of the world without you in it.” I looked at him at last. “Satisfied?”

  Corbin sighed and for one quick instant a look of infinite sadness crossed his face. Then he smiled. “Not nearly satisfied, darling. But it’s nice at least to know that you will miss me when—” He stopped abruptly and cleared his throat. “I mean, that you would miss me if I were gone.”

  “Corbin?” I frowned at him. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

  “Of course not.” He looked around at his ruined office. “Nothing but that you owe me a new office. You’re a real menace with that gun of yours.”

  “I’m usually a really good shot,” I said, stung by his teasing. “It was just…Roderick was so fast.”