Free Embrace The Night by Joss Ware

different way to get into the building so that she could come with him.
    Simon paused and listened. Silence.
    With a deep breath, he stilled, focused, and drew deep down inside himself, wavered…and disappeared.
    Now he could move quickly, walking across the empty corral toward the Beretta building. He remembered when it had been built, for Mancusi had been interested in one of the condos in what would be Vegas’s premier residential property.
    At least until the next hot development came along.
    The
gangas
might smell him, but they couldn’t see him, and Simon walked boldly through the entrance of the lobby. It had once been decorated with colorful blown glass that put the Bellagio’s famed glass flower ceiling to shame, but of course, there was nothing left of that but a few swaths of dirty, broken waves. Some of the
gangas
milled about, but most of them were sleeping or lying comatose—or whatever the fuck they did. The ever-present moaning
ruuu-uuth
came out in the form of snores and exhales from the prone monsters.
    He counted four that were up and about, and from the way they stiffened and looked in his direction, Simon knew they scented him.
    Ignoring the creatures, easily evading their clumsy feet and loglike arms, he hurried through the room, wondering how long Sage would stay put.
    I’m not stupid.
    Fuck no. And that was a big problem.
    Not that a woman like Sage would want anything to do with Simon anyway. Nor could he imagine even touching her with his corrupted hands.
    He saw a door in the corner and realized it would be the stairs. And that there might be a building exit in the stairwell.
    Moments later, Simon found just what he was looking for. The exit had been locked and barricaded from the inside, which was why he’d not been able to access it when he originally searched for the entrance. But it took him little effort to clear it away and open the door, thanks to the super strength he seemed to have acquired in that Sedona cave.
    When he returned to Sage, fully visible again, he found her sitting in nearly the same position in which he’d left her. “Ready?”
    She looked up at him, her lovely face dirt- and blood-streaked, her blue eyes accusing. “I thought you might have gone in without me.”
    Simon shrugged. Why should she trust him? She didn’t know him, and after all, she probably sensed he was exactly who he was: Simon Japp. Bodyguard, goon, right-hand man to Leonide Mancusi. He might have had a chance to start over, but his sins, his choices, his corruption, still clung to him like a bad odor.
    There was no sense in defending himself. “Come on.”
    Sage pulled to her feet, and he heard the faint groan of pain as she did so. The cut above her knee had bled into a large dark stain, and he noticed the way it stuck to her skin. That was going to hurt when she undressed—
don’t think about that
. And the cuts and scrapes on her hands…she was lucky they weren’t any worse. Maybe he should check on them before they went any farther.
    No. Dragon Boy will make sure she’s all patched up. And then some.
    They crossed the corral-like space between the vehicle barrier and the building, running the twenty yards quickly and silently to the door Simon had left open. It was unlikely that the
gangas
would see them from inside the building, and if they did, they’d never figure out where they went or how to find them. Nor could they venture into the sunlight.
    Simon was confident they were safe.
    “Lots of flights to go,” he said once they were inside the dim stairwell. There was only a window every three or four floors, so the light was iffy. “Twenty-three floors.”
    “No problem,” she told him, flashing a quicker, less potent version of the smile that had fairly dropped him to his knees earlier. “I always take the stairs to my room. On the fourteenth floor.”
    Simon nodded. It was obvious she got her exercise despite the hours sitting at a computer table. She had a sweet ass and