Freak Show (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #7)(45)

“For f**k’s sakes,” I swore.

“Do you need help?” I turned to find a lady wearing housekeeping garb, pushing a cart filled with cleaning supplies. Here was my chance to get into that room.

“Yes, I do.” I approached her slowly, a huge smile pasted on my face. It was time to draw on the vampire glamour that I rarely used. It wasn’t my strongest skill. I gazed into her eyes and encouraged the thrall. “I must have lost my keycard somewhere. Can you let me in?”

She blinked a few times, seemingly puzzled. Then her pupils dilated, and her shoulders relaxed. “Of course, dear. That won’t be a problem.”

I waited with growing impatience for her to open the door. The lock released, and I grasped the door handle, waiting for her to move along down the hall in a mesmerized stupor. It wouldn’t last long.

“Thank you, Arys,” I muttered beneath my breath. As much as I feared the vampire essence that possessed me, it was growing harder to loathe it.

Shoving the door open, I flicked on the light and prepared to draw my dagger. Of all the scenarios that had flashed through my mind, this was not one of them. Jez was most certainly inside the hotel room. She was furry on four legs, a gorgeous leopard, not entirely out of place in a city like this. She was also mauling the shit out of a vampire.

It was a nice room, painted in dark colors with a carpet to match. The king size bed was accompanied by a couch and coffee table placed before the window. The minibar was housed in an elaborate entertainment unit boasting a big, flat screen TV.

What my gaze was drawn to most of all was the writhing vampire flailing about on the floor. She had already torn his throat out which explained the lack of screams. From the twisted agony on his bloody face, he was in absolute hell.

“Holy shit.” I closed the door firmly behind me.

Jez had done a real number on him. One of his hands lay several feet from his body, and she was currently working on a leg. What the f**k did he do to her?

She rounded on me with a snarl. Those green eyes sparkled with ruthless fury until she saw that it was me. Then she cleared the distance in a single leap, knocking me down in her haste to greet me. The golden black pattern on her svelte frame rippled. She was so rare, so gorgeous. I was a little jealous.

“I think it’s time to put this guy out of his misery.” I stood and drew the Dragon Claw from its sheath. “We have to get out of here before Roscoe comes back with reinforcements.”

The shift was fast and fluid. In just seconds, her body reformed, leaving her naked and quaking on the floor. I wasted no time in slicing the vampire’s head off. Immediately, he went up in a small puff of dust and ash.

“Lex? What happened to you?” Jez’s voice was rough, as if she’d just chain-smoked a carton of cigarettes. “I woke up here, and that f**king scumbag vampire was standing guard.”

I went through the bathroom and the small linen closet until I found a bathrobe. I wrapped it around her and pulled her up. She was a little shaky but appeared unharmed. “Did he hurt you? Do you remember anything from the past few hours?”

“No, it’s a total blank. I woke up with that crazy shithead leering at me. He said he was to watch me while Roscoe hunted you down.”

“That’s strange. I just had a run in with Roscoe. Once I put the squeeze on him, he wanted nothing to do with me.” I gathered the few things of Jez’s that I could find while she washed the blood from her face and hands. “We have to go. Arys is going to burn at sunrise unless I can find him first.”

“Have I mentioned yet how sorry I am for dragging you to this godforsaken f**king city?” Bitterness laced her tone. “I can’t go out like this.”

“We’ll grab something from a shop downstairs. You’re not going to like it though.”

She emerged from the bathroom wearing a frown. Her face, free of makeup, radiated an innocence that red lipstick and mascara hid well. I couldn’t understand why she wanted to hide such pure beauty beneath a crimson veil.

“Great, so I get to wear tacky Vegas tourist attire while we save your boyfriend. Give me what you’re wearing. You obviously had time to go back to the hotel.”

“Jez! We have to move it before anyone else shows up here.”

“Alright, alright.” She swiped her purse from my hands and tied the robe tighter. “So what happened to you anyway?”

By the time we purchased a Las Vegas t-shirt and Capri sweatpants, I’d filled her in on my brief time alone. Admitting to the death of almost half a dozen humans left me feeling hollow inside. I knew it wasn’t entirely my fault, yet I couldn’t shake the certainty that it had left a stain on my soul that would never wash clean.

Right there on Fremont Street, Jez slid the clothing on beneath the robe before ditching it in a trashcan. “Good Lord, I feel like the ‘fashion don’t’ page in a magazine. When I get home I’m burning these ugly rags.”

“The fun of being a shifter, huh?”

We hurried to the front of the hotel where the taxi line was thirty people long. I glanced around frantically with no real plan and mounting panic. I didn’t know what to do.

“Over there.” Jez pointed to a small line of limos. “The windows are blacked out. That’s what we need. Go do that handy vampire glamour thing on the driver.”

It was a start. I jerked open the driver door, almost giving the guy behind the wheel a heart attack.