Page 118 of Brushed By Moonlight

“Henrik,” Mina and I growled at the same time.

The vampire beckoned to someone behind him. “Hurry.”

I’d been expecting the same cold, hard shell of a man as usual, but Henrik genuinely seemed flustered. Since when did vampires hurry?

He strode closer, but a second person overtook him. The light caught in his fair hair, and—

Mina cheered. “Bene!”

“Heya, Mina.” He grinned, then wrinkled his nose at the stench of wine. “Whoa. Have you guys been partying or something?”

She motioned impatiently to the lock. “Key?”

He held up a skeleton key, then bent over to work it into the lock. “You doing okay?”

“Peachy, thank you for asking,” she said, glaring at Henrik. “Just full of questions.”

Henrik stuck up his hands. “I had to think fast. It was the best I could come up with.”

She huffed. “Getting us all locked up was the best you could do?”

“No, taking great personal risk to bring Bene here is,” Henrik replied coolly.

Bene glanced up long enough to nod. “It’s the truth. He didn’t turn you in. It just took us a while to figure out where they’d taken you.”

The lock clicked open, and I leaped out, claws bared. But Bene stopped me from throttling Henrik.

“None of that now. He’s on our side.”

“Is he? Because all I know is that he was on the outside while we were locked up.”

“If I’d broken cover too early, none of us would be walking out,” Henrik said.

“I don’t believe a word, you son of a—” I started, but Roux gripped my shirt.

“Later. We need to move fast. Do you want Mina out of here or don’t you?”

Moving fastdidn’t register, butgetting Mina outdid. I stuffed away my fury and forced myself to focus.

“Out is good,” she agreed. “But not without that painting.”

Oh no, you don’tjumped to the tip of my tongue, but Bene was already leading her to the exit. He peeked both ways, then stepped around three prone bodies.

Mina froze. “Oh my God. You didn’t—”

Bene snorted. “Don’t worry. Mr. Spirit of the Night here wanted to off them, but he settled for knocking them out instead.”

Henrik shot us a haughty look that said,See? Aren’t I such a softy?

I wasn’t fooled, but I saved my two-fisted reply for later.

We regrouped and hurried down the dim hallway with Bene and Henrik in front, Mina and me in the middle, and Roux bringing up the rear. The place was a goddamn labyrinth, but Bene led the way without hesitation. Several twists and turns later, he pushed open an arched doorway, peered out, then motioned us forward.

“The coast is clear.”

We tiptoed outside, keeping to the shadows against the side of the building. The bright lights of the villa’s service entrance weren’t far, but catering vans blocked us from view.

“Okay, everyone. Head that way.” Bene pointed. “Roux knows where the vehicle is. I’ll give you a ten-minute head start while I find Delphine and get the hell out of here.”