The Darkest Pleasure (Lords of the Underworld #3)(86)

His gaze caught on one of his friends. Maddox was rushing forward, leapt in the air and fell upon a cluster of Hunters. For several seconds, there was a tangle of arms and legs. A blade moved quickly, fluidly, a dance of feral motion. Then there was utter stillness. Had Maddox -

The warrior pushed to his feet, dislodging lifeless bodies. Maddox turned and motioned to someone with a wave of his fingers. Reyes, who had his arm wrapped around a human female's waist, stepped into the light, but they were gone a moment later.

The All-Seeing Eye. Thank the gods I didn't kill her when I had the chance.

His cell phone vibrated in his pocket. Shit. The patter of footsteps suddenly sounded again, catching Sabin's attention. Too late. He whipped around. Four Hunters had entered the hallway. "Found one!" he heard as they trained their weapons on him and raced forward.

"He's mine. When he recovers from my blows, he's yours."

"I will hurt him. Now, later. This is for my son, demon!"

A barrage of bullets slammed into him: shoulder, stomach, next to the fresh wound in his thigh. He'd known better than to allow himself to be distracted. Pushing past the pain, he launched forward with a roar. He fired his semiautomatics until the magazines were emptied, dropped them and spread his arms, bullets continuing to hit him.

He and the Hunters met in the middle of the hall.

They crashed together and tumbled to the floor. One of the Hunters cracked his skull into the marble so hard he didn't move again. The other three withdrew blades and tried to slice at various places on Sabin's body. But he'd expected the attack and had palmed his own during the fall.

Humans, no matter how smart, were no match for an immortal's strength and speed.

He had their necks gushing before they managed more than a few incisions. Panting, Sabin lumbered to his feet. Dizziness battered against his brain like a drum, and he swayed. This rate, and he might not live to fight Stefano. Much less Galen, if the coward ever showed his face.

He closed his eyes for a moment, fatigued, weak.

He must have blacked out, because when he refocused, a human was standing just in front of him - though out of striking distance, he noted. Not just any human, either. Stefano.

Hate rose like a tidal wave in his chest, but he didn't have the strength to rise.

"Knew it was you," Sabin said. His throat felt raw, as if blood and acid had played Search-and-Destroy with his voice box.

Stefano tsked under his tongue. "Look at you, Doubt. You must be in pain. How sad."

Sabin slowly moved his good arm behind his back, where a dagger dangled from a chain. He could feel the cold metal against his skin.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Stefano said, lifting his own arm and aiming a gun at Sabin's face.

Sabin stilled. "We both know you're not going to kill me."

"Perhaps we do. But I have no problem hurting you, taking you to the brink of death. My team includes doctors who know how to save a man who's only a heartbeat away from extinction."

"Aren't you a sweetie?" Damn, but his head was filled with a sickening fog. A fog that had nothing to do with weakness but everything to do with...drugs? Had Stefano injected him with something while he was unconscious? Sabin wouldn't put it past the f*cker.

"Yes. Yes, I am. I didn't slice off your limbs as I wanted. I didn't carve Darla's name in your chest."

Hearing his lover's name from this man's lips was foul. "She hated you, you know? You think I lured her away from you, but the truth is, she ran willingly into my arms."

Stefano's nostrils flared. "Liar! She loved me! She would never have betrayed me. But you and your demon messed with her mind, changed her." His breath was sawing in and out with the force of his fury. "The last eleven years I've prayed and hoped you would take a lover so I could take her from you, but you never did and I'm through waiting. I'll take your friends, your dignity instead. And ultimately, I'll take your life."

"And such violence will make the world a better place?" he asked dryly. "What of peace and harmony?"

A tongue over teeth. A change of expression, from anger to composure, as if Sabin's questions reminded him of his purpose. "Where's the girl?"

"Maybe we sold her." Sabin straightened his fingers, and they brushed the tip of the knife. "Maybe cut her up and had her for breakfast." Sabin envied Gideon just then, hating that he himself passed out cold every time he tried to lie. Hated that the only way around it was speaking in terms of "maybe" and "probably." Anyone who knew him knew his tricks.

Stefano knew him. "Where is she, demon? She has to be nearby. You knew she'd been with us, and wouldn't want her far from your side."

Another wave of dizziness swept the corridors of his mind. Don't lose control of yourself. Don't give Stefano the upper hand.

You're wounded. He already has the upper hand.

His jaw clenched. Didn't we talk about this? If you want to live, demon, you had better turn the waterworks on the Hunter.

He's closed his mind. Needs a distraction. Make him think.

A distraction. "This brings back memories, doesn't it?" Sabin asked. "We've been in this position before, only you were the one wounded. You and your men raided my home in New York, thought to sneak in and take us while we slept. You soon learned the error of your ways. Won yourself a personal introduction to my favorite blade. Got you in the stomach, yes?"