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

times have you missed when stabbing a vampire, Macey?”
    “What are you doing here?” Macey asked, moving the stake back into position again. Flora’s taunting was making Macey’s vision flush red with anger. She had no qualms about slamming the stake into the vampiress’s heart, old friend or no.
    “I told you, I’m looking at the photo—”
    Macey drilled the stake tip into Flora’s sparkling, sunshiny frock, right between the breasts, and held it there with two hands. One good thrust and her childhood friend was dust. “I don’t have any patience left tonight, and regardless of what might have happened in the past, it’s impossible for me to miss my target tonight. So talk, Flora. If not, I’m sending you to the devil.”
    “I’m already with the devil,” Flora snapped. “I came to you for help, remember, Macey? And now look at us. Two weeks ago, you said you’d try and find a way to help me save my soul.”
    “And then you immediately went and mauled a man.”
    “I have to eat.” There was a hint of whine in her voice.
    “You didn’t have to leave him to die .” Macey had no desire to go over this conversation again. “I want to find Iscariot. How do I find him? Where is he?”
    “Why should I tell you that? The minute I do, you’ll pin me through the heart and that’ll be the end of me. At least if you leave me alive, Macey—Wait a moment, just think about this. If I’m alive, you have someone you can trust who’s close to Iscariot.”
    Macey snorted. “If I could trust you, we wouldn’t be in this situation right now.”
    “Fine. Maybe trust isn’t the word. Maybe just someone you know . Doesn’t our history mean anything to you? We’ve been friends for thirteen years.”
    “We were great friends—until you decided you wanted to become immortal.”
    “Look, Macey, I’ve never tried to harm you—which is more than I can say about you.”
    Macey contemplated this excellent point for a moment, then retorted, “But you’ve hurt others. Without remorse. And you went down this path because you were trying to get back at me.”
    “I’d never hurt you, Macey. I truly wouldn’t. I might have…needs—a gal has to have sustenance—but—”
    “It’s not me I’m worried about. I can take care of myself. It’s all the other innocent people you might decide you need for sustenance, and then leave to die. Look, I’m not going to stand here all night. Tell me how to get to Iscariot, tell me something relevant and valuable, and maybe I’ll let you walk away tonight. One time. For old times’ sake. But you’d better make it worth it.” She pushed the stake deeper, and a blossom of red began to seep around the wooden point.
    “Now you’ve stained my frock,” Flora said. “All right, just give me a minute,” she added when Macey’s expression darkened and the stake thrust a hint deeper.
    “Thirty seconds. Spill something, or it’s over.”
    “All right. All right. I’ll tell you this: he wants the Rings of Jubai.” Flora’s eyes widened when Macey twisted the stake a little deeper. “All right, you already knew that. But do you know he has the amulet of Rasputin?”
    Macey eased up on her weapon. “Rasputin? He was the mystic who served the Romanovs of Russia, just before the Great War. He supposedly saved their son’s life.”
    “That’s the one. He’s nothing but ash now, but his medallion somehow came into Iscariot’s possession.”
    “Tell me about the amulet. What does it do?”
    “From what I understand, it gives the vampire stronger powers, and can help protect him from the sunlight. Rasputin used it to cloak himself and enthrall the tsarina while he was living at the Russian court. There might be other powers. Iscariot wears it all the time now.”
    Macey felt a sudden shivery spark. “Does it glow green? Like an emerald with a light behind it?”
    Flora nodded. “Yes.”
    Macey kept her attention on the stake and its position, but her mind was