Page 37 of Angel Of Darkness

Nicole eased off the motorcycle. “Thanks for the ride.”

He turned toward her with his eyes glittering. “We get weapons here.”

Weapons? They were in front of a bar, not?—

“Weapons,” his gaze swept her, “and clothes for you.” He left the motorcycle, not glancing back, and took her hand as they pushed through the crowd. No standing in line for her angel. Just a determined stride forward.

The bouncer at the door was too smart to try and stop him, or maybe the guy saw the hint of fang she flashed.

Then they were inside. Music blared. Smoke drifted in the air and the scent of?—

Blood.

Nicole froze. The scent of blood was everywhere. She hadn’t smelled so much as a drop outside, but in the bar—it’s everywhere.

“What? Haven’t you ever been to a feeding room before?” Keenan murmured. “Would have thought it was your kind of place.”

Nausea and need tightened her belly. “F-feeding room.” Right. She knew what these places were. She’d heard about them.

“Your one-stop dining shop for vamps,” he said, his gaze sweeping the crowd. She followed his stare and saw that a woman had a man pinned against the far wall, and her fangs were in his throat. Two men fed off another woman in the corner. A few feet away, a female vamp bit the wrist of the blond with her.

Blood.

“I don’t like feeding rooms,” she managed to rasp. Her teeth were burning, an instinctive response to all the blood. Like a dog salivating. Want. Need.

But the prey in feeding rooms—they were expendable. Used, tossed away. Killed.

“I’m not…” Like this. Right. Who was she kidding?

His steady gaze—once again that bright blue—seemed to say the same thing.

“Why are we here?” Nicole demanded. Weapons. That was what he’d said, but the only deadly weapons she saw in that place were fangs.

“You’ve got demons after you. And I don’t quite have the skills I used to possess.” His head cocked and his attention drifted to the bar. “If we’re going to fight the ones coming after you, we’ll need to be armed.”

Right. Because she wasn’t exactly kick-ass. He’d probably noticed that fact about her. “How did you even know this place was here?”

But he was already walking toward the bar as he tossed his answer back to her. “Oh, you’d be surprised at the things I’ve seen.”

No, she wouldn’t be. Or maybe she would be. At least a little because of the whole angel thing.

Keenan reached the bar. He flattened his hands on the surface. “Max.”

The bartender glanced up with one brow raised. Keenan knew the guy’s name?

“I want to see the goods in the back room,” Keenan said.

Nicole put her elbow on the bar and let her stare dart around the room. The humans there had come in willingly, but with one bite, the vamps had taken control of them. There’d be no running back home and telling friends about the cool new club now. From here on out, the humans—those who made it out alive—would say nothing without the vampire’s permission.

Control.

She hated it.

“Listen, buddy,” the bartender snapped, “I don’t know you and I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about—” His words choked off.

Nicole glanced back at him. Keenan had gone over the bar. His hand was around the man’s neck, and he was squeezing, hard.

“Don’t bullshit me,” Keenan ordered. “I know about the stash, and I need weapons.”

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