Page 43 of Death Deals

Spinning around, I began to march back down the street. The subtle rustle of clothing lightly tickled my eardrums, and I paused. Simultaneously, a warning prickled up the back of my neck, raising the hair there.

I glanced over my shoulder to find a shadow leaping from the building’s fire escape above us. Right for Andre.

There was a flash of silver, and I screamed his name. At the last second, he shifted, the attacker missing him by an inch and tucking into a roll before bouncing back to his feet. A vampire with skin as dark as night and hair a brilliant contrasting silver faced Andre, switching his blade from his left hand to his right and back again.

There was another thud of shoes hitting pavement as another vampire landed between us, this one a woman with fangs bared.

Terror seized me. We’d been found out.

“Get out of here!” Andre yelled at me as he stared down the vampire with the knife. “Get Hector and the others!”

There was no way in hell I was going to leave him to fight by himself. I held up my fists, eyeing the female vamp, who was hissing at me like a cat. I shifted back on my leg and another whoosh of air moved behind me, signaling a sneak attack.

I lashed out with my fist, barely seeing the blur of movement at all, but then my hand connected with something solid and pain spiked. The encroaching vampire stumbled sideways, face meeting the nearby building’s brick wall at full speed. Bones crunched.

I didn’t have time to revel in it because a sudden weight slammed into my back, sending me forward and to my knees. When fangs scraped against my neck, rage surged and I reached behind me, clutched what fabric I could get ahold of, and flipped her over my shoulder. She landed flat on her back.

Glancing back at Andre, I saw him battling the vamp with the blade and a new one who’d joined in the fight. He managed to dance away from the first guy’s swipes, but the other one was able to land a sucker punch to the side of his face. As he stumbled, a third Omari appeared, snatching Andre’s arms and pinning them at his back while his brother came over, blade lifted.

Calling to my light and feeling the power snap through me, I was about to throw up my hands when a whisper caressed my ear. “His pretty head will be detached before your power even leaves your fingers.” It was the woman I’d been fighting. I could tell by the hiss at the end of her threat.

Realizing she was right, I ordered my gift to recede and dropped my hands to my sides. If she knew about my light, then that meant Cornelius had spilled the beans about me already.

Andre shook his head, his vision returning. As he took in the scene again, he jerked against the other vamp’s hold. The silver-haired Omari’s muscles tensed as if he was about to swipe his weapon anyway, despite my surrender.

“Drop it, Zaire,” the woman commanded, grabbing my arms and jerking them behind me. Weren’t vampires supposed to be weaker during the day? Her grip was still strong enough to bruise. “Now’s not the time to get carried away.”

The man named Zaire snarled. “I’ve never faced a DeMonte and let them walk away.”

“We have orders.”

That made him drop the blade. He sheathed it on his belt with a dissatisfied grunt.

The woman jerked me forward, and with a strong hand, forced me across the street. The other vampires, including the one pushing Andre, followed. Handling us roughly, they walked us through the theater’s main doors, through an abandoned and musky-smelling lobby, with two curved staircases going to the upper levels and a snack counter that hadn’t been used in years. The place must have been a wonder to see in its heyday, but those busy nights and sold-out shows were definitely a thing of the past. The distant, distant past.

It was a sad thing to see, actually.

When they led us through another set of doors and into the main theater area, I gasped out loud. We stared at the stage, all lit up and red velvet curtain drawn, as if ready to rise for a show. Hundreds of wooden chairs were set up in neat rows with three distinct sections, and even more rose in the levels above us and in balconies along the sides. A chandelier more gaudy and spectacular than the one at the Grand Piazza hung in the middle, setting a golden glow upon the missing audience.

Compared to the outside and lobby in this place, this area had been perfectly preserved. Even updated in some places.

As we strode down the aisle, I searched the balconies near the stage. More vampires appeared from behind the shrouds, peering down at us with hate-filled glares. Our captors pushed us along the front row, making us take seats right in the middle. Now free of their holds, I glanced at Andre on my left. It was the first time I’d ever seen fear on his face. It only heightened my own worry. With vamps sitting on either side of us and more sneaking in from the back and upper levels, we were surrounded.

Suddenly, the stage curtain rose, revealing old play scenes—a ripped canvas forest backdrop, a cardboard castle, and a large rowboat with the back half of it missing. In the center stood an empty high-backed throne, like something an actor playing a king might sit upon. Or a queen.

On cue, a woman strolled out from stage left, head held high and her coat’s long train dragging behind her. She took her place in the chair, and I couldn’t help but think how stunning she was. With perfect brown skin, bald head, dark eyes, and high cheekbones, her look screamed Amazon warrior princess mixed with sleek, modern goth. She was wearing a black leather catsuit, after all. Every Omari in the room dropped to a knee and bowed their head in respect to their leader.

One thing was for sure, she was intimidating as fuck.

A man stepped from his hiding place behind the chair’s back. An equally impressive sight in looks and stature, his gray dreadlocks were so long, he had them twisted into an intricate knot at the top of his head.

Andre’s grip tightened on the armrest between us, and my anxiety spiked.

“Rise.” It was one word, but Queen Imani’s powerful voice echoed throughout the theater and shook me to the core. The vamps did as they were told.

Her gaze landed on me and Andre, but instead of anger, she only appeared…unimpressed.

Ouch.

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