Page 38 of Bullets and Blood (Hunting Hearts #1)

The us was the men in the shadows, waiting along the walls.

The windows were too high to jump to, and the doors were now guarded.

How long had his aunt planned for this place to be used for the handover?

Or was the warehouse owned by his family in case they had something that needed done in the west?

“So nice of you to come and witness my success.” He shoved Nix to his knees, pretending he didn’t care about the sound his knee bones made as they hit the concrete. “Hadley for your entertainment.”

“Or was he for yours?” She stepped closer.

Lance kept his face fixed. “I studied and learned what my enemy liked. Blonds he can ruin. I baited the hook and landed the fish without bloodshed.”

Nix lowered his gaze to the floor. He was predictable, but then everyone had a type. He’d decided that he liked cute hipsters with hidden knives and an unhealthy fear of sleeping at night.

She checked her watch. “I had planned to have a little fun.” She pulled garden shears out of her handbag and let them dangle from her fingers.

Nix’s hands clenched behind his back.

“But I don’t have time. Someone alerted the cops.” She gave Lance an icy glare.

“Why would I do that, Mother? I want to be blooded. I have done as asked.”

She squatted down. “Look at me, Hadley, and make this go fast, or I will take your meddling fingers.”

Nix didn’t move. Lance did the only thing he could; he grabbed Nix’s hair and jerked his head up. “Do as she says.”

Lance wasn’t playing the role. He wanted to survive.

“What do you want?” Nix spat out the words.

“Where is your sister?”

Lance blinked. She was supposed to be here. “You don’t have her?”

“Of course not.” His mother didn’t take her eyes off Nix. “Where is she, Hadley?” Gold shimmered over her green eyes. Her forehead furrowed. She swung the shears, catching Nix on the cheek.

If Lance hadn’t been holding him, he’d have fallen over. Maybe that would’ve been better.

“Let me in, or I’ll start cutting.” She smiled, fangs down.

“I came because you said you had her.”

“I know. So loyal.” She leaned closer. “Where is she? Last chance.”

Nix lifted his chin. “I. Don’t. Know.”

His mother moved fast, putting Nix face down on the floor. He rolled and kicked, knocking the shears out of her hand.

“Cops are at the end of the street,” one of the men called out.

His mother stood, dirt clinging to the hem of her pants. She fixed her gaze on Lance. “Kill Hadley. When the cops arrive, you can serve the time. Do your duty for the family.”

“That wasn’t the agreement. I catch him and get blooded.”

“You took too long and have been disappointing for far too long. The police know we’re here. I don’t know what scheme you cooked up, but no blooded vampire can go to jail. You can.”

“I won’t do it.”

Her eyes gleamed. “You will do the time. For this murder and the others.”

The ensorcellment brushed over his skin, and he closed his eyes, breaking her hold but leaving him blind. “What others?”

“I’m sure Hadley would like to know where you were the night his family became yesterday’s scandal.”

He cracked open his eyes and kept his gaze on her foot. “I wasn’t there,” he said through gritted teeth. “Only blooded vampires went in.”

“But who drove the car?”

Lance couldn’t deny that. He’d been at one end of the street, and another car had been at the other end.

“You’ve served your family, and you will continue to do so whether you want to or not. With modern technology, we need people willing to take the fall.”

“We need to leave.” One of the men walked over.

“When we do find her, and we will, that will be the end of the Hadleys. Toss Lance a gun, and let’s get out of here.”

A gun slid across the floor toward him. Nix was out of the cable tie and on the gun and rolling up onto his knee before Lance had even moved.

The snick of every gun being taken off safety echoed through the building.

“So you don’t have my sister. You don’t want Lance.

And you want me dead? Have I got that right?

” Nix glanced at Lance’s mother and the other half dozen vampires, all well-armed and ready for trouble.

“What have I got to lose by fighting my way out? Even if I die, you all go down. Seems like a worthwhile mission to me.”

Nix stepped backward, closer to Lance, and he spared him a quick glance over his shoulder, but his face was unreadable. Closed off and cold.

“You’re a stupid boy, Lance, choosing him over your family. The reason you were never blooded is because you can’t be trusted.” His mother stepped behind the male vampire.

“Let’s get this started. I’ll give you first shot because I’ve got what, one bullet, two if you thought he was a poor shot?” Nix said.

There went not killing anyone and the deal he’d had with the Reids. They weren’t getting out of this.

“Ma’am, if we don’t go now?—"

“Kill them both and let the cops deal with the mess.” Then she turned and walked away.

Nix had the gun trained on her back. Lance knew he should tackle him or do something to prove he was still an Orlan in more than name, but they thought he was little more than a used paper cup. He wasn’t sitting in prison for the rest of his life for a crime he hadn’t done.

Bullets punched through the air, and Nix dragged him to the ground as they sliced past where he’d been a moment before.

Nix fired one shot up into a window, and glass rained down on fleeing vampires. There was no second shot. He swore. Lance pulled the knife from his boot. Nix’s knife.

Something hit Lance in the arm. Nix grunted, doubling over.

Smoke filled the room, and men shouted, “Get on the floor!”

Nix crawled toward the smoke instead of away, moving slowly as though being dragged through mud, and Lance followed, his arm heavy, blood staining his shirt. Something struck his leg. It was bullets hitting him, he realized, and while they stung, he’d expected them to hurt more.

They were caught between the cops and the Orlans.

Heavily armed men in black moved through the smoke. Nix lay down, hands on the back of his head before they even reached him. It was only then Lance saw the puddle pooling beneath Nix, staining the concrete floor. Spreading with every heartbeat.

Lance tried to move toward him but couldn’t. He’d been shot with silver.

He was vampire enough that the silver in the bullets made him immobile. All he could do was watch the blood spread as Nix died for the second time.