A Blood Seduction (Vamp City #1)(67)

Tell him you're a sorceress, tessoro. He will not kill you.

Jeez, could Arturo see what was happening to her? Could he feel the push of glamour?

She forced herself to relax, forced her eyes to unfocus even as her pulse raced. Finally, the vamp released her, then darted away so quickly that Quinn barely saw the stall gate swing open and shut. Marcus wandered a short distance away, moving as if in a trance to join the first two women to disappear. All were now enthralled.

Clearly, the vamp wanted to collect the whole set of humans. Which meant she might actually stand a chance of taking him down.

But the minutes passed, and he didn't return. Marcus and the two women walked slowly, aimlessly, around the stall, and Quinn forced herself to do the same in case the vamp returned with more victims. If only she could unenthrall the three. She refused to leave them at the mercy of the vamp like this.

Where was he?

Had the other slaves killed him and taken off? No, she was the one they would never leave behind. She was their ticket home. Maybe the vamp had killed the others. But, then, why hadn't he come back right away? Maybe he was fetching Traders to pick up the lot of them for auction.

That final thought chilled her to the bone.

But as she tried to come up with an explanation she liked better, the vamp pushed open the stall door, holding it. "Come," he said. Marcus and the two women moved toward him as commanded. Quinn quickly followed. Outside the stall, she found Celeste and one of the male slaves already enthralled. So he had gone back for more. And he seemed to have decided six were enough.

Quinn slid the stake out of her pocket, gripping it tightly. As the vampire led the way out of the stables, Celeste and the male tried to merge into the line, jostling the others. Quinn took advantage and cut to the front, right behind the vampire.

Gripping her stake, she took a deep, nervous breath, knowing she'd only get one shot at this. Okay . . . go! She leaped, circling the vamp's neck from behind with her left arm as she drove the stake into his back, up beneath his ribs, with all her might.

A second later, she was flying through the air, crashing back first into the soft ground with a whump that left her struggling for air. Terrified, she was about to be leaped upon and her throat ripped out, she rolled, pushing to her feet. And saw the vamp on the ground, facedown.

Hot damn. I did it.

"Quinn?" Marcus blinked, confused.

She smiled, unable to help herself, and nodded to the downed vamp. "I got him."

Marcus's mouth dropped open. To her surprise, he dove for the vamp, rolling him onto his back. The vampire, who'd looked no older than his late twenties moments ago now looked sixty. No . . . seventy. Eighty? He was aging a decade every three seconds.

Marcus dug through his pockets, pulling out coins, keys, tossing them in the dirt a good distance away. Then he scooted down to the man's feet and yanked off his boots, one after the other, tossing them, too. Behind him, the others stirred, and they all watched as the skin began to fall off the vampire's bones.

Quinn grimaced. That was just . . . gross.

Marcus jumped back. "Quinn, back up!" Quinn did what she was told and was glad a moment later when the skeleton, clothes and all, erupted in a puff of flesh and ash that rained onto the dirt a good five feet in every direction.

No wonder Marcus had taken what he could. Everything he'd left had disintegrated along with the vampire. Very, very strange. As the three women swooped in to pick up the things Marcus had claimed from the body, Marcus strode over to her. "You staked him?"

Quinn nodded. God, she'd just killed a man. A vampire, but still.

Marcus gripped her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. Fine."

"He would probably have killed us, you know that."

She looked up, met his gaze with a frown. "I know." She'd been so proud of herself at first. Now she felt . . . numb.

Releasing her, Marcus motioned for the others to join them. "Let's get going. We'll find Jeff if we can. If not, we'll head toward the gladiator camp."

As they left the stables, she realized they were still downtown. There were buildings all around them though more suburban in density than modern D.C. And most appeared long abandoned.

As they started down the sidewalk, keeping close to the buildings, none of them seemed as tense . . . or were watching for vampires as carefully . . . as they probably should be. Quinn suspected they all felt the same - that if there were any vamps close by, they'd have heard the commotion and already come running.

Quinn kept feeling Marcus's gaze, his brows drawn as if he were trying to decipher a puzzle.

"What?" she finally demanded.

"He didn't enthrall you. Why not?"

"I suppose because I'm a sorceress. None of them seem to be able to."

"A handy trick."

"Especially since they never expect it."

Marcus grinned. "Thanks for the save."

And just like that, the pall lifted, and she found herself smiling back. "You're welcome."

Marcus made a funky little move that was almost a jig. "I might actually get home."

"How long have you been gone?"

The smile left his face. "Over a year. It was spring when I was captured. My wife was five months pregnant. I'm a dad." But the words held no joy, no pride, only a devastating heartache. "I wasn't there for her, to help her give birth, to take care of her afterward." Fury leaped into his eyes. "I've missed my son or daughter's entire first year. And my wife probably thinks I'm dead. For all I know, she's found someone else."