Angel of Darkness (The Fallen #1)(88)

The feeding room. He hadn’t even realized she’d kept the gun.

“I’ve got one bullet left.” Nicole stood over Carlos. The gun pointed right down at his chest, and her hand was perfectly steady. “That one’s for your heart.”

His body writhed. Keenan knew Carlos couldn’t shift back with the silver in him. Carlos clawed at his flesh as he tried to pull the bullets out.

“Why did you want him so much?” Nicole asked. “Why didn’t you just stay away? Leave us alone?”

Carlos threw one bullet into the gutter. “Fuck you!”

The second bullet was deep in his chest, but Carlos was digging for it, ripping and tearing into flesh and muscle.

“Nicole ...” Keenan rushed forward. “End it!” The woman should know better than to play with the hunter.

“Why here?” She whispered. “Damn you, why pick here? Why this alley?”

The coyote shifter’s breath rasped out. The minute Carlos got that second bullet out, Keenan knew he’d shift.

“Because he wanted ...” Carlos licked the blood from his lips. “To f*ck ... with your mind.”

Then he smiled, a smile as wild as the beast he carried, and Keenan knew the shifter had found the second bullet.

Behind the shifter, Keenan saw the shadows thicken. He heard the soft rush of wings.

Time for death.

Nicole fired and the bullet drove into Carlos’s heart. The shifter fell back, eyes wide. Not dead, not yet. Still struggling to breathe, the shifter fought hard to hold on. But Death was coming. Walking right there with his arms outstretched.

Az stalked from those shadows. His face was tight and remorseless. The shifter was gasping, choking as he labored to live. Shifters didn’t always die as easily as they should. The beasts inside fought hard for survival.

A footstep whispered behind him. Keenan didn’t glance back. He didn’t want to take his eyes off Carlos. Not until Az touched him. But ...

“Blood,” Nicole whispered and she stepped back. “The woman—Keenan is she—”

“Don’t worry about her.” Willing bait.

Az was almost right over Carlos then. Only a few more moments.

“Choose,” Az said.

Keenan blinked. What? There was no choice. Never had been. What was he— But Nicole was moving, spinning around and screaming as she shoved Keenan to the side.

The woman—the bait—she’d followed them. When Keenan flew back, the bait’s right hand lifted and she plunged a thick, wooden stake right into Nicole’s chest.

Keenan grabbed the woman. Touched her—and she was dead in the same second. He ripped the stake out of Nicole’s chest. Not her heart. Not her heart, not—

“It’s too late,” Az said. “It’s time for the vampire to pass.”

Then everything got very quiet as time seemed to slow. Keenan could hear the harsh gasp of Nicole’s breaths. He could feel the warm weight of her body against his.

He looked up and Az was right there, standing over him and reaching down. Az wasn’t there to take the shifter because that * was still alive. Carlos was still alive when he should have been dead.

And now Carlos was rising to his feet. He’d dug all the bullets out of his chest. A walking dead man. Death hadn’t taken his prey, because Az had broken the rules.

Bastard!

“No,” Az said, shaking his head, and Keenan realized he’d yelled his accusations at the angel. “You’re the one who broke the rules.” Az shrugged and his wings flared behind him. “I’m just cleaning up the mess you made.”

Carlos shifted then, transforming with a crunch and crack of bones into the thick, furry beast that was the coyote.

“Don’t make this harder than it has to be.” Az didn’t glance at the coyote. His eyes stayed on Keenan. “I know you lust for her, but Keenan, she’s isn’t worth what you—”

“You’re not touching her.” He pulled Nicole closer and edged away from Az. Keenan pushed Nicole’s lips against his throat. “Drink, sweet. Drink.”

Az sighed and shook his head. “I’ve done this for you, Keenan. I risked wrath because I know you’re better than this mortal world.”

“Better, huh?” She wasn’t biting him. He could feel the edge of her teeth, but she wasn’t biting. Nicole barely seemed to be breathing. “Fuck you, Az,” he yelled. “She’s the only thing I want!”

“A vampire.” Az’s lips tightened. “A killer.”

“You think we’re so different from her?” Why wouldn’t she drink? “How many souls have we taken, Az? How many?” He held her so tight, but her body was limp in his arms.

“We carry souls. Humans and Other kill themselves. We are just—”

Carlos howled behind him. The shifter was fully an animal now, and that shift would have helped him to heal. He should have died from that last gunshot. Az was changing the game.

“You’re stepping over the line,” Keenan grabbed Nicole’s hand. Her claws were still out, barely. He used them to slice his neck and then he forced her mouth back to his throat. Drink. Even if the blonde had missed Nicole’s heart, his vamp could die from blood loss. There was so much blood.

Her lips began to move on his throat. Lightly, but, she was drinking. Yes. “Stay with me, sweet,” he whispered. “Just stay with me.”