Scorched Ice (Fire and Ice #3)(63)

Quinn stared at the field as the smoke drifting across it began to clear. The coppery scent of blood from the injured and dead hung heavily in the air. The muted cries of those who had been wounded filled the night as some of the other vamps moved cautiously toward them, seeking some way to get them off the field and to safety.

Through the smoke, she saw the vampires they had split off from and left with the vehicles as an insurance policy approaching the fence. They had come forward as Julian instructed when trouble arose. There would be no hiding their numbers from The Commission anymore now that those vampires had revealed themselves.

Quinn turned her attention back to the building. The metal front door was closed and most likely bolted shut. The thick bars on the windows were a good five inches in diameter. She had a feeling everything in this building had been specifically designed to withstand Hunters and vampires.

“One of the ones I just killed was a Hunter,” she said. “But the other one was entirely human, probably a member of The Commission or a Guardian.”

The vampires all gave her an admiring look. She’d hated killing those men, but she’d earned the vampire’s seal of approval by doing so, and most likely a little bit more of their loyalty. She’d proven to them what they’d been saying all along; they would be allowed to defend themselves against those seeking to kill them, even a Hunter or Guardian, with no punishment in return.

“What are we going to do?” she asked Julian.

“We’re going in,” Julian replied.

“How?”

The grin he gave her made her blood run colder than it had when she’d had a stake driven into her chest. “I’ll tear it down with my bare hands if I have to. They never could have prepared for me, and they have no idea who they’re f*cking with.”





CHAPTER 23


Julian stood to the side as Vern rested his meaty hands on the steel door and leaned forward to press his ear against it. He moved his hands up and down until they stopped at chest height. “One bolt here,” he murmured.

“They would know about telekinesis,” Dani said, “and be prepared for it.”

“I know,” Julian replied.

“I can’t slip it free. There’s some mechanism keeping it in place, and without being able to see it, I don’t know how to work it,” Vern said. He moved his hands further down the door until they were almost at his knees. “There’s another bolt here. I can hear the bars moving and shifting in their holds when I try to move them, but that’s all they’re doing.”

Julian stepped away from the door, and his head tilted back as he stared at the roof eight feet above him. He almost backed up and ran for the roof, but if he did that Quinn would be infuriated and most likely follow him.

The two of us working together from now on, he reminded himself.

Turning to Quinn, he tried to ignore the sight of the hole in her shirt and the blood coating it. If he focused on how close she’d come to death now, he’d unravel, and he needed to stay rational. “Will you stay here?” he asked her.

She glanced nervously at him and the building. “What do you intend to do?”

“Scope things out from above. I’ll be right back.”

“Be careful.”

“Always.”

He kissed her forehead before taking a few steps back. He ran forward and launched himself at the side of the building. His hands gripped the edge of the roof, and he swung himself easily up to the top.

“Julian!” Quinn called from below.

Rising to his feet, he peered over the edge to look down at her. Dirt and blood streaked her pretty features. Her pants had become shorts that hung in tattered and burnt ruins, exposing the flesh that had been ripped apart by her bones when they’d torn through her skin. One of her boots no longer had a sole and he could see the tips of her toes through the other one.

If she had been anyone else, she would be dead right now. Instead, she’d used the life of the man trying to kill her to save her own. He could see the results of those deaths on her, and not in the vitality of her skin or her rapidly healing wounds. No, it was in the shadows lining her haunted, honey eyes. Their deaths had been necessary, he knew she realized this, but she would forever bear the stain of them on her soul.

He would make those within this building pay dearly for that.

“I’ll be right back,” he assured her before turning to examine the flat, concrete roof. Because of its location in the center of the clearing, no leaves or pine needles littered the solar panels lining the roof. The sleek panels shone in the moonlight as he made his way around them, exploring every inch of the roof.

He had no doubt The Commission had fortified this thing to be stronger than Fort Knox, but they had no idea the shitstorm they’d stepped into on the day they’d captured him.

As he walked, he became aware that he could still feel the ebb and flow of Quinn’s ability within his body. He wondered if Quinn knew she was still attached to him in such a way, or if she didn’t realize her ability could still hold onto someone when she was apart from them.

Draining those two men had probably caused her power to strengthen with the influx of life and her continued use of her ability. If her power had grown to the point where she didn’t have to be in contact with someone to drain them, she could be nearly indestructible. He smiled at the possibility as he reached the other side of the building.