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He turned his head, staring at the bruised face and bloody nose of the guy with the handlebar mustache. Rob. Rob, the guy with the reddish brown mustache, only without his friend Rick. Maybe Rick was the one bleeding out on the driveway. Nick got another good whiff of that blood as soon as Rob opened the side door.

The Long Island homicide detective stared at Nick blankly. Then he seemed to take in the situation with the spear, the door, with Nick pinning Rob’s favorite vampire to the wood and holding him still.

Strangely, the venomed human didn’t look alarmed.

He stared at Nick like a lumbering, injured monster, a strange gleam of triumph in his eyes. Maybe even happiness. He looked at Nick like he was pleased.

Meeting that stare, Nick frowned.

Okay. He didn’t know what the fuck that look meant, but he didn’t like it.

Nick was officially out of time.

He was killing this fucker now.

The certainty of the thought solidified in Nick’s mind.

Before he could act on it, however, something changed.

Some part of the being Nick had pinned to the door… changed.

A piece of arm vanished under Nick’s fingers.

Part of one leg vanished where Nick squeezed and held him against the wood.

Nick let out a startled cry.

He loosened his fingers.

He lifted part of his weight.

It wasn’t much. Barely an inch in any direction.

Barely long enough to realize what he’d done.

But it was too much. It lasted too long.

Whatever distance, whatever amount of time it took for Nick to react, it lasted too long.

The vampire on the door jerked his arm closer to his body.

Nick didn’t know why. He didn’t even know the other vampire had shoved his hand into a pocket of his black pants… not until after.

He didn’t know anything into the needle slammed into his neck.

Nick reached for it with one hand…

Right as the other version of himself depressed the organic stopper.

CHAPTER23

ON THE FLOOR

“HEY!”The voice echoed overhead. Warped, underwater. Insanely, piercingly loud, yet somehow far away. Through a tunnel. Invisible. “HEY! MIDNIGHT! MIDNIGHT!”

Nick, please! Please! Wake up, baby. Wake up… please…

Nick gasped.