Free Roaring Dawn: Macey Book 3 (The Gardella Vampire Hunters 10) by Colleen Gleason

Flora. Excuse me, gentlemen.” She turned and walked away, feeling the weight of her friend’s blazing eyes boring into her back.
    Macey ground her teeth. Now what? She’d been jilted by Temple; run into the last person she wanted to see; had encountered an astonishingly subdued gangster king; and had found a vampire she couldn’t do anything about—and now she had to leave her to whatever devices she had in mind.
    But what if there was a distraction? That might free the gentlemen from Flora’s thrall—or at least give Macey the opportunity to drag the vampiress away. She needed to stake her, yes, but just as important, she needed information.
    So what sort of distraction could she manufacture? Cutting out the lights was an option, if she could figure out how to do it. People might even blame it on the bad weather.
    But that was impractical—for even if Macey found the fuse box and pulled the correct fuses, she’d still have to make her way back here to the hall in the dark, and among panicked people, and by then, who knew where Flora would have disappeared to—and whom she would have taken with her. Macey needed an accomplice…but Temple was otherwise occupied. Hmm. What about Capone? Perhaps she could appeal to his Venator side and get him—or better yet, one of his minions—to help. But she didn’t see him anywhere in the room.
    Another option was for Macey to find a way to lure Flora from her post.
    She pursed her lips. What a frustrating situation for a Venator to find herself in. Being held hostage, in a way, by a single female vampire. She doubted Victoria Gardella had ever found herself stymied in such a manner.
    By now Macey had walked far enough away that she could still watch the cluster of gentlemen and their vampiress coquette, but Flora couldn’t see her. Her arms folded over her middle, Macey leaned against one of the columns that held up the archways at the top of one flight of stairs, looking around for inspiration.
    She saw Grady, without his older lady photographer, and felt a stab of relief that he seemed to have divested himself of her—or vice versa…and then she felt guilty about the thought.
    Dammit. It wasn’t as if she could be in his life, so why was she hoping for him to be alone? He’d never done anything to warrant what she’d done to him—erasing his mind, indiscriminately taking away memories both good (she hoped) and terrifying. And now here she was, wishing and hoping he’d be alone. To what end? So he’d be as miserable as she—without even knowing why?
    You’re a selfish bitch, Mace .
    The thought was sobering in its raw truth, and her heart ached a little more. She’d done the right thing; she knew it in her heart. She had loved Grady, and she didn’t want him to experience pain or suffering simply because a woman targeted by the undead had fallen for him. He didn’t deserve that.
    He deserved a woman who could love him, who could have a family and make a home with him. Not someone who had to creep around dark, dangerous streets every night, putting her life at risk every day.
    Not someone who was the most wanted woman in the world, according to the undead.
    Not someone who had a vampire “baron” that could make her bleed in a damned dream .
    Grady didn’t deserve to be tortured and torn into ribbons as Macey’s mother had been, simply because she’d loved Max Denton. Simply because she’d meant something to a Venator.
    She tasted sour in the back of her mouth, and Macey swallowed and then stilled. Grady was making his way toward Flora and her cluster of men.
    Her heart began to thud harder. Flora not only knew who Grady was—and what he meant to Macey—but she also had helped herself quite liberally to his blood on that horrible night two weeks ago, when Iscariot tried to kill Sebastian.
    Macey’s palms dampened and she moved away from the wall. No, Grady, stay away from her , she thought, sending the mental message as strongly as she could, and fully