Free Rise of the Fae by Rebekah R. Ganiere Page A

Neeman. He looked Neeman up and down for a minute but said nothing. The females paid no attention to him, continuing to hold the dead vamp over the tub.
    “It’s not as good as human, I’m afraid,” he said. “But it’s better than what we get where I’m from. I’m assuming you were sent to fetch me.”
    “Get out of the tub,” Neeman ordered.
    The two females noticed him for the first time. They looked between Neeman and the man in the tub.
    “I’m Rexius,” said the man. “But my friends call me Rex.”
    Neeman cocked his gun. “I said, Get. Out.”
    Rex laughed. “Put the gun away, it’ll do very little against me, I’m afraid.”
    Stephos and Riley entered the room. They holstered their weapons, took the dead female from the other two vamps, and set her on the floor. Then Stephos grabbed both women by the arm and dragged them kicking from the room.
    “No need to be rude,” said Rex. “If you’d just asked, I would have told them to go voluntarily. My wives are very obedient.”
    “I’m not going to tell you a third time,” said Neeman.
    Rex shrugged and stood. Dark blood oiled his body. He stepped out, dripping onto the floor, tossed his cup into the tub, and raised his hands over his head in a dramatic fashion.
    “Well, now you’ve got me. What are you going to do with me? Beat me into telling you what I’m doing here?” The demon’s dark hair was matted to his skull and drying black vamp blood clung to his form in a similar fashion. Rex licked his lips and then his fingers, making Neeman’s stomach turn.
    “Where are your clothes?” Neeman demanded.
    “Sorry, haven’t gotten any. The portal doesn’t let you bring anything through.”
    Son of a—
    “Let’s go.” Neeman gestured toward the door. He backed up, his gun still trained on the demon. He stepped in the doorway of the adjoining room and waited. How the hell was he going to get Rex in the car without ruining the interior? He could send Riley to get some clothes from a neighbor, but he didn’t want to stir up the vamps any more than needed.
    With Rex in front of him, Neeman moved down the stairs toward the entrance. Outside, Riley, Stephos, and John waited. The female vamps huddled together and walked down the street.
    Neeman stepped out the front door, grateful for the fresh air. He did no more than blink and suddenly Rex was no longer in front of him. Riley and Stephos looked around, but it was Neeman who spotted him. Quicker than any of them could move, Rex had John on the ground, tearing at his throat. John’s eyes widened and he looked at Riley. He gurgled once before his eyes went dead. The whole process had taken less than seconds.
    Rex stood from John’s limp body and turned, a huge smile on his face. Row upon row of razor sharp teeth peppered his mouth. His eyes were completely pitch black.
    “That was amazing. I haven’t had human in I can’t tell you how long!”
    Neeman crossed the yard in a blink and knocked Rex upside the head with the butt of his gun.
    The monster swayed on his feet. “Ow. That hurt, you—”
    Neeman bashed him in the head again and Rex dropped to the ground. Riley rushed to John and felt for a pulse. He looked up at Neeman and shook his head.
    Neeman cursed a blue streak. He reached down and smashed the unconscious Rex in the face several times before Stephos pulled him off.
    He’d never wanted the humans to be trackers. He’d never wanted to train them. He’d told Danika it was a bad idea. He turned from Rex and kicked at the grass before yelling into the night. Simple assignment, his ass.
    “Get me a collar from the car,” he barked. “And strip off John’s pants and put them on this bastard.”
    Stephos and Riley exchanged a look.
    “Did I stutter?”
    They both shook their heads. Stephos went for the collar as Riley removed John’s cargo pants.
    Neeman shook his head and stared up into the night sky. He tried to concentrate on finding Orion, but couldn’t locate him. This