Page 1 of The Vampire Kingpin (The Vampire Syndicate #7)

Spider

I followed Velma into an abandoned subway tunnel, the air heavy with damp earth and decay. We were deep in the Underworld beneath Manhattan. Water trickled down the grimy tile walls, and mold bloomed in reckless patterns on the crumbling concrete.

Velma halted, her shiny black braid stilling along with her. My best friend and lieutenant, she was like a blood hound when she scented prey.

“He’s here,” she said out of the corner of her mouth. Then, louder: “Grimclaw.”

The other vampire, a sallow creature in a green leisure suit, twitched.Hands buried in his pockets, he was trying hard to appear chill, but the stiffness in his shoulders betrayed him. He turned, too fast, eyes sharp despite the washed-out skin.

I jammed a kerosene torch beneath a rusted steel rail and stood back. As my lieutenant, Velma took point on enforcement.

Her hands settled on the silver daggers strapped over her short red skirt. “We’re here for the cash,” she told Grimclaw.

He didn’t reply, his gaze locking onto me instead. Wrong move. Ignoring Velma was the fastest way to get blood on your boots.

“Sorry, bro.” He lifted his hands in mock surrender. “I’m tapped out. Next month, you’ll get double. That’s a promise.”

Velma bristled. “That’s not acceptable,” and the word acceptable landed like a blade.

Grimclaw scowled at her from beneath a nest of dark hair. “You can’t get blood from a stone.”

She snorted. “But you’re not a stone, are you?” She gave his crotch a pointed look. “You’re much…softer.”

I chuckled.

Grimclaw’s jaw dropped. “Bitch.” He puffed up his chest, fangs pricking between pale red lips. “Who d’you think you are?”

My chest rumbled. Even in the Underworld, we vampires had a pecking order, and I was the kingpin, the apex predator in this realm of misfits and outlaws, with Velma my beta. This wannabe alpha of a measly crew needed to remember that.

Grimclaw’s throat worked. “Sorry, bro. But?—”

“I’m not your ‘bro,’” I snapped.

“Of course, my lord. I didn’t mean anyth?—”

Velma yanked her daggers free, the silver a lethal glint in the flickering shadows. “You live down here, you pay Spider tribute. Otherwise, leave. See how long you last.”

Grimclaw’s gaze darted around the tunnel like a trapped rodent. He knew damn well that anywhere else, his lair would be fighting tooth and nail to survive. I might be a cold-blooded bastard, but I kept my corner of New York peaceful.

He licked his lips. “I don’t have the money, but I can get it. I just need a little time. Please, my lord.”

“That’s what you said last week.”

“I know, but?—”

I sighed, bored. “Stake him.”

“What?” Grimclaw’s eyes bugged. Guess he’d figured he could keep jerking me around forever. “The hell you—” He dropped into a crouch and whipped out a switchblade.

Velma swatted it from his hand, sending it spinning into the darkness. Grimclaw froze, jaw slack. She was fast, even for a supernatural.

A subtle shift in the air behind us made me spin around. Two members of Grimclaw’s lair were creeping along the subway tracks, blades out.

I let my eyes flash with the blue of my vampire. “Try it,” I gritted, “and you’ll meet the Dark Goddess along with your alpha.”

They halted mid-step, throats working.

“Drop the weapons.” I threw all my dominance behind the command.

The blades clattered to the ground. “Sorry, Grim,” the dude on the right muttered, hands raised in surrender. “I ain’t messin’ with Spider. Might as well off my own self and be done with it.”

Grimclaw’s response was garbled. I turned back to see Velma had pinned him to the wall. She drew back her free arm, dagger poised to strike.

His gaze pleaded with me. “Have a heart, man,” he wheezed. “I can pay you, I swear.”

“With what?” I returned. “You’re tapped out, remember?”

“Not…money. I have something…better. Can we…talk in private?” He was turning purple now, but he managed to cut his eyes at Velma and his men.

“No.”

“Please. Trust me. You want…this.”

I studied him. The dark gods knew, I was sick of Grimclaw’s games, but his lair served a purpose, keeping a far-off section of the Underworld tunnels clear of other supernaturals.

“Let him go,” I said.

Velma shook her head but obeyed.

“My lieutenant stays,” I told Grimclaw. I didn’t trust him not to have more people hidden in the shadows.

He slumped against the tiled wall, sucking in air, but managed a nod.

“Back the fuck off.” I jabbed a finger at his men. “But stay where I can see you. You got phones?”

When they nodded, I said, “I want the flashlights on. Shine them on your faces so I know you haven’t gone into the shadows.”

“Yes, my lord.” They withdrew twenty-five yards or so and turned on their flashlights, sending a fat gray rat scurrying deeper into the darkness.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Start talking,” I told Grimclaw. “And make it good, because I’ve already wasted too much time on your shit.”

“It’s good.” A nervous pull of his lips. “ She’s good. You’re gonna be very…satisfied. I seen you looking at her.”

Could he mean ? —?

My slow-beating heart gave a hard thump. Because this sorry excuse of a man did have something I wanted. Very much.

Or make that someone .

“Go on.”