Page 120 of Golden Eagle

A moment later, the female shifted. Her hood had fallen back, revealing dark, braided hair, and an expression of unhappy, but clear surrender. She lay still, and Sasha moved off of her, so he crouched at her shoulder. He kept his hand on her throat, though.

“Care to enlighten us?” Trina asked.

“This is Hannah,” Sasha said, voice mostly growl. “Gustav’s Familiar.”

“Oh, well, jackpot.” Trina stepped in closer, and put the light right in Hannah’s face; the wolf closed her eyes and grimaced. “You want to tell us why your master’s letting you and your buddies eat your way through the city?”

“Trina,” Jamie said.

A cultured, accented voice said, “You must be Captain Baskin’s descendant. I see you’ve met my Familiar.”

Trina’s heart leapt halfway up her throat, but she didn’t spin around. She held herself in check and turned slowly, letting the flashlight beam sweep across the ground and up the body of the vampire standing behind them.

He wore a gray suit, with black shirt, no tie, his hair styled and shiny. He brought a hand up, almost delicately, to shield his eyes from the light.

“Gustav,” she said, pulse pounding, keenly aware that they were three-to-two in an enclosed space with someone who, if not approving of, was at least tolerant of the murder of innocent civilians. “I guess I’ll ask you to your face, then: what are you doing here?”

He lowered his hands, eyes nearly closed, just narrow, glittering slits. He managed not to grimace, though; that took some tight control of his facial muscles. “Rescuing my poor Familiar, it would seem. Don’t you think three-on-one is a bit unfair?”

“Why are you here at the Institute?”

He gave a close-lipped, humorless smile. “Is it a detective’s nature to make everything sound like an interrogation?” Then he lifted a wave over one shoulder and called, “Hello.”

“Answer the question,” Nikita’s voice floated out of the shadows.

A surge of relief swept through Trina, so strong she thought her knees might buckle.

Gustav turned so that his back was to the alley wall, a shoulder pointed toward her, and toward the unit that had gone into the Institute. He was vastly outnumbered…but he didn’t hold himself as if he thought that. He looked relaxed and unbothered to be surrounded.

“Captain,” he greeted. “It’s been quite some time.”

“Not long enough,” Nikita growled, stepping into the light. He had his chin angled down, shielding his throat, his shoulders lifted, his hands open, fingers half-curled into claws. Ready for a fight.

The others melted into view behind him, spanning the width of the alley, shadows sliding off their faces in a sinister display. Trina recognized them all, but with the light hitting them at throat-level, their faces painted with strange hollows, she thought even the most cynical of observers would have called them inhuman. They looked like creatures of myth and legend, eyes faintly glowing.

Gustav chuckled, the sound ringing strangely off the brick walls around them. “What will you do? Tear me to pieces in an alley?”

“No, that’s your thing,” Nikita said, stalking around so he faced the other vampire. “I was going to cut out your heart and burn it.”

He chuckled again. “That would be a neat trick.”

Trina’s entire pack tensed.

Will turned around, looking toward the mouth of the alley.

Sasha let out a high, whining growl.

Fire filled the sky.

A great orange gout of it, wide as the entire alley, its heat sending a downdraft of wind across her face. She threw herself to the ground on instinct, covering her head. She couldhearit, the awful rushing roar of it.

It pulled back, and everything was chaos.

A hand grabbed her arm, and hauled her upright. It was Lanny, his breathing choppy in her ear. “Shit, it’s that kid – we gotta – come on.” He hauled her ungently toward the back of the alley.

She stumbled after him; his hand on her arm was firm as a manacle, and she didn’t have a prayer of shaking him off. Also, getting out of here sounded like anexcellentidea.

“Kid? Who? What are you–”

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