Free Out for Blood by Kristen Painter Page B

helpful you’ve been.” She held his gaze without blinking. “He’s looking to clear some deadwood anyway.”
    A muscle in his jaw spasmed. “Yeah, fine, whatever.” He unsnapped the rope and held it open.
    She slipped through. She hadn’t expected that to work, but with Doc being new on the job, maybe they didn’t know him well enough to know what he would and wouldn’t actually do.
    Samba music pulsed through her as she made her way inside. Large plush seating areas and potted palms dominated the perimeter, but the two-story dance floor in the center held a riotous crowd moving in a way that only creatures with superior flexibility and extra vertebrae could. From the second-story wraparound balcony, more patrons watched, drank, and conversed. Maybe Doc was up there, keeping an eye on things.
    She looked for a way up and found an elevator. Unfortunately, it also had a bouncer. The upstairs must be a VIP area. Definitely where Doc would be. Maybe the same approach would work with him. She pushed through the crowd, accidentally bumping someone.
    A glass smashed to the floor.
    She turned to apologize. “Sorry, I—”
    An enormous shifter stood behind her. Sandy blond hair brushed his wide shoulders. “Who let the vampire’s toy in here?”
    She pulled up to her full height, but she still didn’t reach his chest. “I’m no one’s toy.”
    “Did your master send you or did you come seeking revenge on your own?”
    “What? No. The only thing I’m seeking is Doc.”
    Two massive, clawed hands grabbed her by the straps of her sacres and lifted her into the air. Gold eyes stared back at her, the pupils reflecting green. He tipped his shaggy head back and roared. Pain erupted in her ears.
    She fought her instinct to stick one of her wrist blades into him and shut him up. Instead she put her foot against his thigh and pushed. He didn’t budge. There had to be a way to resolve this without creating an incident. “Please, put me down. I don’t want to hurt you.”
    He shook her, rattling her brain. “ You don’t want to hurt me ?” His short burst of laughter faded into something much more menacing. He pulled her closer, his hot breath wafting over her. “Your kind got our pride leader killed, vampire whore. Now you come here, to the heart of us, bearing weapons? Taunting us?”
    A crowd circled around them. Heads nodded at his words. “Make her pay, Brutus,” someone shouted.
    Brutus untangled his right hand from her sacre straps and clamped it around her throat.
    Being choked had a way of making a person no longer care about creating an incident.
    She reached for a blade.

 

Chapter Nine
     
    C hrysabelle’s scent draped the freighter’s corridors like holiday bunting, causing the voices to whine. Mal called her name, expecting to run into her at any moment. “Chrysabelle? You here?” But he couldn’t sense her, and her lack of answer confirmed she wasn’t on the ship. She had been here recently, though. There was no other way her perfume would be so strong.
    “Fi, come out here.” Maybe she knew. He called a second time but still no answer or appearance. Where were they? He walked the corridors, listening, but the ship was a tomb. He couldn’t even pick up the comar’s heartbeat down in the hold. An eerie sense of something gone wrong gnawed his bones. You should know.
    Following the traces of Chrysabelle’s scent to where it was the strongest brought him to his quarters. Jammed into the door frame, a piece of paper shone dully in the fading solars. He pulled it free and read the note, the words filling him with dread.
    Pride headquarters was not a good place for Chrysabelle. Mal doubted that Sinjin had been alone in his plan to kill comarré and place the blame on the vampire population. There had to have been other pride members who’d thought it was a good idea. Maybe even helped Sinjin plan the attacks.
    For her to go strolling in there, even if it was to warn Doc… What if Doc wasn’t