Page 63 of Cherished By the Sinners

“He’s going to kill her,” she said in that same dead tone.

Vampires aren’t real.

“Do you understand now,” Eli said to her, his voice as quiet as hers had been.As emotionless.“My uncle and I are the same.”He bared his teeth at her.“Just like the Brezniks and your special friends Mason and Magnus.We are all monsters and we all eat people.”

“Vampires aren’t real,” she whispered.

A thump brought her gaze around to see Joan’s body on the floor.Her skin was a pasty whitish-gray and her eyes were wide open and staring at nothing.

He hadn’t just dropped her; he’d thrown her.She landed with a wet smack in the growing pool of her own blood.It splashed up, soaking the front of Darlene’s scrubs and spattering her face with warm, sticky drops.

The Sniffer stared at Darlene with an insane person’s grin outlined in blood on his face.

Darlene hadn’t been truly afraid until this moment.

Now, fear was a black hole that had opened up between her feet, sucking her down into the dark where she would never escape.

Chapter Nineteen

Magnus

Magnus sat in the rearpassenger seat of Baz’s taxicab, his hands clenched tight.If he relaxed, even for a second, he’d do something stupid like put his fist through the car door.

All he could think about was Darlene in the hands of a vampire who’d probably descended into madness.Madmen were capable of any number of horrendous crimes, and Darlene was human.Breakable.His.

“Hey,” Baz said, raising his voice.“Did you hear what I said?”

“No.”Magnus didn’t see the point in lying.He didn’t have the mental bandwidth to come up with something reassuring.

His cousin sighed.“Listen closely, we’re not far away now.I’m going to park the car right in front of the building, across the street from Homeland Security and pound on the door.”

“A distraction?”

“Yeah.You and Mason are going in through a window or something.Hopefully me acting like an ass in public will be enough of a distraction that you can get Darlene away.”He paused, then added, “Without starting World War Three or committing a mass murder.Okay?”

Magnus managed to force one word through clenched teeth.“Fine.”