“If you don’t, I’ll destroy you.” Her voice lowered, those eyes glowing with a new light. Insanity? Desperation?
He couldn’t read people any longer. The bitch was probably nuts. “Good luck with that.”
Instant pain flowed through the center of his brain. As if the sides completely divided, neurons flared like heated knives to rip through gray matter. Darkness cut across his vision.
Gravity claimed him, and he hit the floor with an impact that had his jaw snapping shut.
Unconsciousness came as an explosion behind his eyes. Finally.
Amber waited next to the elevator, her mind swirling. Kane had all but deserted her, leaving her with his pretty niece, Janie. With her light brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, the twenty-year-old looked like she should be playing volleyball on a Mexico beach during spring break—and not someone who was supposed to save the world.
Until you looked at her eyes.
Dark blue, serious, full of intelligence, those eyes spoke of a truly old soul.
Amber forced a smile. “I can’t believe there are real vampires.”
Janie shrugged. “Sure, you can. You just don’t want to believe it’s so easy to believe there are vampires.” Her grin was all imp.
Amber couldn’t help but smile back. “That’s quite a statement.”
“Yeah, I’m known for that.” Janie jammed a finger against the DOWN button again.
Amber glanced around the alcove set into an Oregon cliff. Janie had led her around a big lodge and back alcove to a hole cut into the rocks. “So you have an entire headquarters underground.” How weird to be going into the earth. Grandma Hilde wouldn’t like living underground. Amber’s heart began to beat quicker. Was her grandmother all right?
“Underground is safe. Sometimes if you listen really closely, the earth will whisper her secrets to you.” Janie ran her hand along the rock wall. Then she turned and grinned at a stoic vampire standing guard next to the elevator.
At least, Amber assumed the guy was a vampire. At six and a half feet tall, his light brown eyes were reminiscent of a predator peeking around a tree just before striking.
Janie started. “I’ve completely forgotten my manners. Amber, this is Max. He’s my bodyguard and one of our top hunters.”
Max looked like a killer. “Ma’am,” he said, a smile softening his broad face.
Amber nodded, fighting the very real urge to step closer to Janie.
Max turned his attention to Janie. “My Sarah tells me you aced the MCAT’s last week.”
Amber paused, turning toward the young woman. She’d heard of the difficult test students had to pass in order to be considered for certain medical schools. “You’re going to medical school?”
Janie snorted. “No. I just took the MCAT’s for fun. Sarah’s my teacher and Max’s mate.”
Obvious pride filled the vampire’s deadly eyes. “Sarah’s a sweet one, she is—smart as anything, too.”
The obvious affection the soldier had for the mysterious Sarah made him almost approachable. But the gun at his hip and the hard set of his face would frighten anybody. The elevator door opened, and Amber sighed in relief while jumping inside.
The door shut, and Janie pressed a button somewhere in the middle of a bunch of round, unlabeled buttons.
Amber frowned. “Why aren’t there labels?”
Janie grinned. “On the very distant chance that an enemy found our elevator, we wouldn’t want them to find their way, now, would we?”
“No,” Amber said weakly. Of course, she couldn’t find her way now, either. On the very real chance she needed to get free of the vampires, she wouldn’t know which buttons to push. “Are you sure my grandmother is all right?”
Janie’s face lit up. “Better than all right. She’s awesome. Man, you should’ve seen her ignore my dad when he called and lectured her about safety protocols. I sat in on the call. It was hilarious.”
“Now, ah, your dad is Talen, right?”
“Yep.”
The scary soldier wasn’t somebody who should be ignored. “Oh my.”
“Yep, and he’s been really cranky lately since my mom and brother went back East to assist the feline nation with some inoculations.” The door opened and Janie led the way into a spacious gathering room sporting a pool, several dartboards, and a big-screen television. “But don’t worry. Hilde had my dad eating out of her hand within seconds. Charmed the heck out of him.”
Now that would be something to see. “Um, will Kane be along at some point?” He was the only person Amber knew.
Janie shrugged. “He’s always in the lab—unless he’s hunting werewolves.”
Amber started. “Kane hunts werewolves.”
“Sure. And by himself sometimes, which really makes Uncle Dage mad. But Kane says he needs the solitude once in a while.”
The man sought solitude by chasing werewolves. Amber swallowed loudly. “Um, why doesn’t the king stop him?”
Janie grinned. “Stop Kane? You’re kidding, right?”
Good point.
The door opened and a stunning woman with long black hair swept into the room. She wore a white smock over what appeared to be tattered jeans and a ROLL TIDE, BABY T-shirt. She flashed a smile. “Hi. You must be Amber. Do you mind if I take blood?”
Amber stepped back.
Janie laughed. “Amber, meet my Aunt Emma and the queen of the Realm. She’s married to my Uncle Dage.”
While beautiful, the woman couldn’t look less like a queen. Amber forced a smile. “Um, you want blood?” Okay, she hadn’t gotten the full scoop on vampires yet, but hadn’t Kane said they only took blood during battle or sex?
“Yes. I have a lab just down the corridor,” Emma said.
Janie shook her head. “Okay. We were going to play a game of pool and get acquainted. Manners, Auntie Emma. Manners.”
Emma lifted her chin, thoughts scattering across her face. She lifted a pale hand to smooth tendrils of the dark hair out of her deep blue eyes. “Oh. Um, yeah. Sorry. It’s nice to meet you, Amber. Do you have any questions about the Realm?”
She had so many questions she wasn’t sure where to start. “Ah, well, why do you need blood?”
Emma glanced at a fine gold watch on her thin wrist. “Well, rumor has it you’re a demon destroyer, the first we’ve found, and I’d like to check your blood. Also, since you slept with Kane last night, I’d like to see if there’s been any change in your physiology.”
Amber tried to swallow and ended up in a coughing fit.
Janie clapped her on the back. “Really, Emma. Manners.”
Emma groaned. “I apologize, but I don’t have time for manners. We need to find Jase. And, um, Kane didn’t tell me, so don’t worry about that. Dage smelled him on you, or you on him, either way, Dage let the secret loose.”
“He smelled me?” So vampires were advanced in more than strength and speed.
“Sure.” Emma tapped a calfskin-smooth boot on the floor.
Amber frowned.
Following her gaze, Emma gestured with both hands. “The boots are fake. No worries. No animals were harmed in the making of these very gorgeous, often used to kick Kane, boots.” Tucking her arm through Amber’s, she started for the door. “Dage said you lived in some sort of commune . . . eco-village. Very cool.”
Amber stumbled toward the door. “Are you sure you’re the queen?”
“That’s what they tell me.” Emma quickened her pace. “About sleeping with Kane, don’t worry that he changed you. Chances are since the brand didn’t appear on his hand, and he didn’t try to mate you, you probably won’t be changed in any way.”
Amber had thought maybe Kane was exaggerating the whole marking aspect of mating. “Um, about that brand. It’s for real?”