Page 61 of Fanged Embrace

“Well.” Dylan preened as she looked around, ready to be congratulated on her deduction skills because this place was indeed very villainous. “I do believe I was right on the money this time.”

I rolled my eyes rather than dignify that comment with a response—then something else caught my attention. A faint human scent, clinging to the cold metal lockers in the far corner. I slipped past Dylan, following the trail like a hound. It led me to one locker on the left and I cautiously swung it open.

Inside was… a man. Bound and unconscious, his clothes crumpled and torn, faint bruises blooming on his jawline. Something about him was oddly familiar.

“Uh.” Dylan peered over my shoulder. “Who the hell is that?”

I knelt and pressed a thumb to his neck, relieved to find his pulse weak but present. I studied his face, taking in blond hair, and a familiar silver scar slicing his cheek. I leaned in closer, squinted.I know you…

“Arlon?” My voice was a whisper, tainted with disbelief.The guy I met at the bar?What the hell was he doing here of all places?Wait?—

Laurie had mentioned an Arlon, someone on the police force who had been helping her find leads. Was it the same guy?

Dylan wrinkled her nose. “Who?”

I opened my mouth to answer, then froze. Dylan went still beside me and the sudden narrowing of her pupils told me she’d heard it too.

Footsteps. Upstairs.

They were faint, muffled, but getting closer. A door creaked open and the sound echoed down the stairway. I picked up ascent—cloying and overly sweet, with an undertone of something significantly vampiric.

I met Dylan’s eyes. There was no time to hide. There was no point in hiding anyway. This laboratory was damning on its own, even without the bound blond stuffed into the locker. This demanded a confrontation. So we both straightened up, faced the staircase, and waited.

Clipped footsteps followed, one stair at a time, and I held my breath—untilheappeared. The Doctor. Tall, well-dressed, and surprisingly thin, with snow-white hair and eyes the color of poison ivy. Those eyes took us in, unblinking.

“Ah. Guests.” His calmness was uncanny, his voice quiet and smooth. Utterly devoid of any sort of emotion. “Though, not who I was hoping for.”

I shifted on the balls of my feet, uneasy and unsure what kind of game he was playing. He simply stared at us, and we stared right back.

His features were severe, pallid skin pulled tight over sharp cheekbones. The barest hint of fangs poked from under his lips. He didn’t look at all bothered to find us in his sanctuary, just… mildly confused. Disappointed maybe, like he’d been hoping to find someone else.

“I’m expecting another guest soon.” He stepped fully into the laboratory and flicked the lights on, and I flinched when the fluorescent bulbs flickered overhead. They washed his pale skin whiter and painted sharp shadows along the angles of his face. He met my eyes, pupils lined with poisonous green, and clasped his hands behind him. “So, I’m afraid I have to ask you to leave.”

“Leave!?” Dylan’s voice rang out around the room, incredulous and irritated. “You have a human bound up in your basement, buddy. We’re not going anywhere until you explain exactly what he’s doing here.”

The Doctor’s placid expression never wavered. He glancedover at Arlon, still slumped in the locker, and shrugged. “You can take him with you. He’s not useful to me anymore—nothing more than bait.”

Bait?

Before I could piece together what he meant, the guy sniffed the air, his head turning toward the stairs. He cocked a pale, white eyebrow, a slow smile creeping across his face. “Ah. It seems my guest has arrived.”

I didn’t understand. Not until a new scent reached me—a familiar scent—and my stomach plummeted.

“No,” I whispered, but the sound barely left my lips before I heard them: footsteps thundering down the concrete stairs.

My blood turned to ice.

Laurie appeared in the doorway, glyph gun in hand, wide-eyed and inches away from where the Doctor stood—and the vampire man was smiling. A triumphant, unsettling grin spread across his gaunt face. Smiling, because his prey had taken the bait.

Now he had Laurie exactly where he wanted her.

30

Laurie

I charged down those stairs with one goal in mind.

I had every intention of blowing the Doctor’s head off on sight. I wasready.Ready to put a bullet in his skull before he could draw a single breath or speak one poisonous, paralyzing word. My grip on the gun was certain, steadfast?—