Page 67 of Vampire Lee

They weren’t, and Rei was acting strange as hell. Maybe it was to confuse Maybe-Aaron. “It’s Dillon.”

“Not Dillon, the other scent.”

“Angelo?”

Rei met his gaze, his eyes all cat. “Angelo?”

“My cellmate.”

“You held him?” Rei looked ready to snarl, but Lee didn’t think it was aimed at him.

“He was injured. I helped him clean up.”

Maybe-Aaron huffed in amusement, and Lee curled his hands into fists so as not to fling himself across the room and attack him. It wouldn’t end well since Rei was incapacitated, and Maybe-Aaron had both the fucking vampire who was gonna die and another guard standing right by the door.

The next moment, the sound of someone running reached him. The bear who’d pricked Dillon’s throat with his claws pushed past the guard and the vampire blocking the doorway. “They’ve taken Jala.”

Jala. A wave of nausea washed over Lee. Who had taken Jala? Was she hurt?

“Who?” Maybe-Aaron shot to his feet.

The bear pointed at Rei, and Lee turned to look at him. “You?”

“I haven’t touched Jala.”

“Your friends.” The bear looked ready to shift.

The grin stretching Rei’s lips wasn’t pretty. “Oh, they’re here or at The Rambling Rogue?”

A bang sounded, followed by shouts and more running footsteps. Lee met Rei’s gaze. “My guess is here.”

“Awesome, let’s go.” Rei curled his hands, flexed his arms and hissed. The zip ties cut through his skin, blood oozed, and Lee’s fangs dropped. He didn’t have time to watch though. Whirling around, he planted a fist in the bear’s face.

A roar that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge came from behind, but then he heard snapping sounds.

The zip ties were off.

Rei leaped over Lee, still in mostly human form, though the claws on his hands gleamed in the fluorescent light. He clawed Maybe-Aaron across the face as he landed more or less sprawled over the desk. He was quick to move though, and everything turned chaotic when Maybe-Aaron bellowed.

There were hisses and growls, bites and claws, and the scent of blood filled the room. Something sharp speared Lee’s side, and he looked down in surprise at the bear’s claws buried there.

Snarling, he grabbed the bear’s head in a bruising grip and buried his fangs in his throat and ripped. He needed to feed to heal the injury, but there was no time, so he tore instead. A gurgle followed, then Lee buried his fingers in the gaping wound and pulled, freeing the larynx from the bear’s body.

He didn’t have time to gloat before he was pushed to the floor. The vampire snarled in his face, and Lee saw stars as he grabbed his head and smashed it against the floor several times. He managed to get a hand up and clawed at the vampire’s eye. He found the eye socket and pushed in. A gooey mess fell into his hand as the vampire shrieked. Dots were swimming before his eyes, but he was aware enough to notice a clawed hand reaching around the vampire’s throat and slicing it. Blood sprayed over Lee, but he didn’t care.

“Damn, Lee. Why do you make everything so gory?” Rei looked down at the dead vampire in distaste, his eyeball resting against his cheek, still attached to…something. Next to him, on the floor, was the bear’s voice box.

Lee grunted as he tried to get the black dots under control. Then he rolled over on his hands and knees and got up. Four bodies littered the office. “Are they dead?”

“I think so. We’ll clean up later. If anyone’s still breathing when we get back, they go into custody.”

Lee nodded.

“Where are the cells?”

Lee motioned in the direction he’d come from. “There are ten cages. Everyone’s weak and starved and more or less hurt. I don’t know where the good fighters are.”

As they exited the office, sounds of fighting in the opposite direction of the cages reached them, and Rei gritted his teeth. A snarl echoed in the warehouse.

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