Page 68 of The Incubus and the Bodyguard

Tarang’s snarl filled the air as he circled behind their enemy.

“Please!” Santana dropped to his knees, his body quaking. “I’ll give you anything you want! Money! Power!” He gazed pleadingly at Vlad.

“I already have both,” Vlad growled. “What I want is revenge.”

Santana screamed as demonic magic detonated around him, the crimson tide lifting him off his feet and slamming him into a stack of crates. Wood splintered. The crime lord slumped to the ground with a groan.

“Get up.” Vlad stalked toward him, his blade trailing scarlet static on the concrete floor. “I’m not done with you yet.”

Santana staggered to his feet and tried to run.

Tarang cut off his escape. Santana whirled around wildly, only to find Vlad right behind him.

“You know what the worst part is?” Vlad gritted his teeth. “You made me feel helpless.”

His fist caught Santana in the jaw. The crime lord flew across the floor and struck a support beam with a sickening crunch. Blood sprayed from his lips.

“You made me doubt myself.”

Vlad’s next punch drove the air from Santana’s lungs.

“And, of all the stupid things you could have done”—he grabbed the crime lord by the throat and lifted him off his feet—“you hurt my friends.”

Santana clawed weakly at Vlad’s fingers, his face turning purple.

Tarang issued a warning growl that made the incubus pause.

Delphine frowned at the shadows in the west end of the warehouse.

“DEA’s here.”

Figures in tactical vests emerged from the gloom, weapons trained on them. Navarro was in the lead. The agent slowed and lowered his gun when he saw them, his face relaxing slightly.

Vlad frowned. “You said you’d give us eighteen hours.”

“I lied,” Navarro said, unabashed.

“More like he was worried about us,” someone said. “If theBlack Devilsheir died on his watch, there’d be hell to pay.”

Vlad’s head snapped around.

Cortes was limping toward them. He was covered in dust and sported a cut above his eye. Popo looked similarly disheveled on his shoulder.

Relief lightened Vlad’s chest. “I thought you were dead.”

“Almost was.” Cortes grimaced. “That explosion buried us under half a wall. If it wasn’t for Popo manifesting a shield at the last second?—”

“My Enrique would have been squished like a bug!” the parrot declared proudly.

This earned the bird wary looks from several DEA agents.

Navarro jerked his head. “How about you let him go before you kill him?”

Vlad turned. Santana’s eyes had rolled back in his head.

He curled his lip and dropped the crime lord.

Santana crumpled to the ground with a wheeze.

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