Free Mortal Defiance by Nichole Chase

I don’t know why or what made him choose those people.”
    “You traded those people’s lives for what? To be some monster’s slave?” Books along shelves rattled with Ree’s anger. Suddenly she felt as if she had been too kind when looking for her answers.
    A hand touched her shoulder and Ree whirled to find herself eye-to-eye with the tall Greek woman. Understanding filled Sophie’s eyes. Slowly the anger fled Ree and her feet drifted down to touch the old wooden floors. Taking a deep breath, she turned to look at the darkling cowering in the corner.
    “Tell us anything you can remember. If I think you’re holding anything back, I won’t be as nice this time. Understand?”
    “Let me finish up, Ree. Why don’t you go wait outside?” Sophie looked at her with compassionate eyes. “I will get the information we need.”
    “No, I’ll tell her.” Scott scuttled forward so that he could see them clearly. “They said something about those people being untapped. I think their blood gave them more power or something. I can tell you more, but I want to make a deal. I tell you what I know and you let me go. I leave Savannah and you go back to doing whatever it is you do.”
    Sophie and Ree stood silently, looking at the filthy man on the floor. The sleeves of his pink shirt were sticking to the sores on his arms and mixing with the grime he had collected while scuttling through alleyways. Narrowing her eyes, Sophie silently measured the darkling.
    “How can we know you’ll actually leave?” Ree asked.
    “If you want to make this deal, Ree, I can make sure he is escorted out of town.” Sophie let her gaze linger on Ree’s for a moment. “I think we are going to have to call in reinforcements, anyway.”
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 12

     
     
    Not wanting to expose the darkling to what might be sensitive information; Ree only nodded her head at Sophie.
    “Tell us what you know,” Sophie said. “And know that if it isn’t worth it, we will not be giving you an escort out of town. Understand?”
    “Yeah, I get it.” Scott tilted his head to the side and looked at Ree again with his shifting eyes. “The blond guy was important, but there was someone even more important.”
    “More important how?” Sophie’s voice was quiet, yet held a tense note that caused goose bumps to rise along Ree’s neck.
    “She was the leader, but never said anything. The blond guy did all of the talking, but you could tell by how everyone else moved around her that she was pulling the strings. They were scared of her. She never smiled, except when the blond was eating.” Scott shivered, for the first time showing a sign that he had a seen a real monster. “She completely ignored me, except for the last night that I was at Barlow, my club. I asked when they were coming back, but no one answered. I think I was jonesing or something. I got desperate and I threw myself at the boy. I just wanted a little more blood. I mean, I’d given them some every time.”
    “What happened?” Swallowing, Ree looked at the man on the ground in apprehension.
    “She motioned for me to come to her and I crawled to her like a damn dog. I couldn’t get off of my hands and knees while she was looking at me. The closer I got, though, the more beautiful she was. Large, dark eyes that seemed to take up her face. I swear I could see things flickering in them.” He stopped and looked at the water bottle longingly. “She picked me up. With one hand. I knew they were strong, but this was more than the others had shown. I don’t remember anything else, just waking up in the alley. I was covered in blood, but I couldn’t go in the sun. I couldn’t go home until that night, but when the sun went down I couldn’t think straight. All I wanted was to find the woman. I’d have done anything to be close to her again.”
    Sophie rocked back on her heels, her eyes wide with fear. Ree looked at the older Guardian and felt dread settle in her stomach. If