Free Last Vamp Standing by Kristin Miller Page B

One second she was tangible and talking and as real as Ruan. The next she was fading into the wall like a ghost. Something was happening. There wasn’t time to figure out what the hell it was.
    A beast of a lion charged Ruan, its massive paws striking the floor heavy and fast. Ruan popped off two shots that dropped the fur bag, reloaded, then fired two more.
    “That’s it, Dante! I’m out!” Ruan pushed against Dante’s back.
    Surging behind the fallen lion, a wall of snarling creatures chomped at the bit for some vamp action.
    Dante met Ariana’s amber eyes and glimpsed a shadow in their depths. Fear. His stomach pinched. He had no other choice.
    “I’m not leaving you,” he breathed, gathering all the energy he could muster into the pit of his stomach. “I can’t.”
    He brushed his hand over the long, white shadow extending from her body and sank his fingers into what used to be her hand.
    “No!” she yelled, fading out.
    The ground trembled.
    As a cold, crippling sensation slithered up Dante’s arm, he seized Ruan by the elbow, dragging him with them into the unknown.

 
    Chapter Seven
    “Blood will spill and Savage will bring an end to vamps in Crimson Bay. But, having no part in their battle, we will be spared.”
    W ATCHER A RCHIVE, UPDATE
    “W AKEY, WAKEY,” A scratchy voice taunted from somewhere above. “ ’Bout time you come ’round.”
    Dante registered his surroundings with the speed and clarity of a snapshot. They were in a hole. Ten by ten with walls as high as a two-story building. Chunky groves circled the sides as if dull shovels had been used to hollow it out. The walls and floor were clay, hard but cold. And the shadow of their captor loomed over them, tall and broad, as thick and solid as the fir trees towering behind him.
    He’d been here before. . . .
    Arian crouched at Dante’s side, hissing through clenched teeth. Ruan checked his belt for weapons and came up disappointed. He must’ve lost them in the jump.
    “Who are you?” Dante scanned the ring of the pit, searching for other movement. He caught nothing. “What do you want?”
    “I’m Pike, head of the Watchers.” He spread thick, shadowed arms to the area around him, as if hundreds of his people— Watchers —were standing by. “And I welcome you to our forest.”
    Did he really teleport to the same damned forest from last night? Something had really jacked with his trajectory . . .
    “Quite a welcome,” Dante said, clenching and unclenching his fists, readying himself for hand-to-hand. “My name’s Dante. And this is my buddy, Ruan. How ’bout you drop us a rope so we can climb out and introduce ourselves properly.”
    “Easy,” Ariana whispered. “There’ll be twenty more Watchers protecting his back.”
    “She’s a smart one.” Pike knelt out of the shadows and leaned over the edge of the pit. His spiked white hair was nearly translucent against his baby powder white skin and flaming crimson eyes. He looked albino, but it could’ve been the contrast between his black leather garb and the paleness of the moonlight reflecting off his skin. He nudged his chin at Ariana. Dante wanted to nudge it clean off. “We’ve been waiting for you, Ariana.”
    “She’s none of your concern.” Dante stepped in front of Ariana, blocking her from the daggers shooting through Pike’s eyes.
    She stepped around him. “What do you want?”
    “From all of you? Nothing.” He snarled into a smile. “From you? Everything.”
    To hell with this.
    Dante hissed so loud that the birds in the canopies over their heads scattered into the night sky. “As soon as I recharge my batteries, you’ll wish you hadn’t said that.”
    He’d need longer than a few minutes to teleport again, but the twisted ringleader didn’t need to know that. At least his voices were quiet, gurgling in the back of his mind. He’d cherish a clear head when he cut Pike’s clean off.
    “Oh, there’s fire in you.” Pike laughed. “I