Free Wrath: The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 2 by Denise Tompkins Page A

know well enough now that you’re not comfortable with killing, Madeleine. Your job will force you to handle it, but you will never kill indiscriminately.”
    “Thanks, I think,” I muttered, finishing my drink. I lay under the covers, shifting to my side so I faced him. Hellion slid down with me so we were lying with our noses only inches apart.
    He kissed my forehead gently and I pulled back, too broken to rail at him for a simple kiss, too scared if I didn’t move he might try to take it somewhere I wasn’t ready for it to go.
    I rolled over and stared at the ceiling. “I need to get it together and go to the hotel.”
    “Give me a few minutes to get cleaned up, and we’ll go. For now, rest. I know you didn’t sleep last night.”
    I shoved pillows up behind me, displacing him and forcing him to move back some. “Will you turn on the news so I can watch for any additional information on the murdered girls?” I asked. “I have to get my mind off this while I wait on you. Work might help.”
    He nodded and flipped on the TV with a wave of his hand. Surfing to the local station, he settled down to wait with me. I was about to ask him to get moving so we could leave when a local reporter came on with a news update. “Again, today’s victim was found outside the Pemberton Hotel, near the valet entrance, her throat slit ear to ear. The victim profile seems to be the same. Panic is beginning to take hold as Londoners wonder exactly who it is targeting these similar young women. I’ll bring you more information as it’s available. Back to you at the station.” Hellion switched off the TV and I lay there, the smoothie a heavy block of ice in my stomach.
    I wondered about Imeena, the rogue vampire and former member of the High Council who had defected with Tarrek. She’d also been intimate with him. Imeena was vicious and hated me with a passion I hadn’t recognized until it was nearly too late. My hand unconsciously caressed the small scars her fangs had left on my neck. “That’s three in three days. No one’s found Imeena yet, have they?”
    “No, no one’s seen her since she escaped the night we took Tarrek down.” He shifted to lean on one elbow and look up at me. I fumbled with the edge of the comforter, feeling like I had with Bahlin weeks ago—uncomfortable, uneducated, unprepared. “I suppose…well, I suppose she could be biting the victims and then slicing their necks to hide the evidence?” I posed it more as a question than a statement, so if it was foolish I had an out.
    Hellion pushed himself out of bed and began to pace around the large room. He was irritated, his steps choppy and unbalanced. “What concerns me the most is that the newest victim was taken down at the Pemberton without witnesses and that she, again, looks like you. We have to assume someone is trying to kill you, Maddy.”
    He hadn’t answered my question, so I forced my mind to slow down, consider the facts and apply a liberal dose of logic. I knew each woman had looked similar to me, at least from the back. Each murder was moving the killer closer to my last location. Bahlin had said their throats had been slit from left to right. Slicing is a pulling activity whereas stabbing is a pushing activity. Logically, this meant the killer was right-handed. Bahlin had also said the blade was non-serrated, and I had taken him at face value, though I had no idea how he’d obtained this information or, when combined with the other facts I had, what it might mean. And, most importantly, I knew each victim had been killed at night. The murders had been fast and efficient, or else mind control was at play, because there were no witnesses.
    Hellion stopped and looked at me. “What are you ticking off on your fingers?”
    I hadn’t realized I’d been labeling each item with my fingers, but he was right; I had. “Facts I’m sure about.” I covered all my points, and he agreed with me. It looked like I was the target.
     
    Hellion