Nathan set his stake down and stalked over to the wall to retrieve an ax from the pile of weapons. The honed edge of the blade gleamed in the light when he hefted it against his shoulder.

Vicky slid her stake back into her pocket and lifted the crossbow from her side. Removing a bolt from inside her coat, she loaded the weapon.

The garbage stench increased when Nathan stopped before the window. Lowering the ax from his shoulder, he used the tip of it to push the blind aside. Blood red eyes clashed with his through the pane of glass. Whereas Vicky’s red eyes charmed him, these made his lips pull back in a sneer, and he twisted the ax on his shoulder.

The Savage scampered out of view, but metal clinked and clattered as more of them jumped onto the escape.

“They’ve started hunting in packs,” she murmured, the realization opening a pit of dread in her stomach. “Probably Joseph’s doing.”

“Yes,” Nathan agreed.

“Duke knew I was in the Garden tonight. He called his friends. He lured me in.” The realization pissed her off. She’d walked right into his trap.

“Who is this Duke to you?” he inquired.

“What does it matter?”

“Because he and his cohorts seem extremely eager to get at you. Give me the crossbow.” He held his palm out to her.

Vicky glared at him, but she gave him the weapon and took the ax when he handed it over to her.

“So?” he prodded when she didn’t answer.

“Ex-boyfriend,” she replied.

It wasn’t the answer he’d anticipated, but then he didn’t know what he expected from her. His future wife would be a virgin, but many of his past bedmates were more experienced than him. Of course, Vicky would have a history, but the idea of her with another man caused jealousy to burn through him.

“So you’re trying to kill him because he dumped you, or cheated on you, or something?” he asked, unable to keep the ire from his voice.

“Yes, that’s exactly why!” she retorted. “I’m such a spiteful bitch that I plan to kill my ex, who has become a Savage since we parted ways, simply because he cheated on and dumped me.”

Nathan noted the way she hefted the ax as if she were contemplating braining him with it. “So, he wasn’t a Savage while you were dating?”

“I’m not in the habit of boning guys who smell like landfills. It’s a turnoff, you know?”

Nathan resisted driving his fist through the wall as her words conjured a picture of her with another man. He almost told her she shouldn’t speak like that, but she might smash him with the ax if he did, and he had to admit, as much as her words provoked jealousy, he enjoyed her candor. He didn’t get that from the women in the stronghold, and he hadn’t been with his sexual partners long enough to know them better.

His first time had been with a widowed hunter. Despite the woman’s willingness to have sex outside the bonds of marriage, and with a blundering nineteen-year-old, she was still reserved and respectful in her speech.

Vicky’s gaze flickered to the window as something on the escape clattered. She didn’t want to show any fear of Duke or those bastards out there, but knowing they were there, stalking her, brought forth memories of her time in the warehouse.

The warmth of the apartment vanished as her skin chilled like she was locked in a tomb with thousands of spiders. Breathing became laborious when the pressure in her chest grew to the point where she felt she was being buried alive. She tugged at the collar of her sweater as she struggled to remain focused on the now while one of the Savages tapped their finger on the window.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Squeeeee.

Vicky’s nerves frayed further when the finger stopped ticking to slide down the glass in one protracted swipe.

She was prepared to fight a Savage. She wasn’t as trained as Ronan’s Defenders or some of the other Defender trainees, but she was far more prepared than last October when the vampires Duke sold her to took her away. Physically, she was better prepared, but she wasn’t as emotionally ready as she’d believed.

She hadn’t loved Duke, far from. She’d liked him; they had fun together. The sex, though okay, was better than she’d experienced with anyone else. She always knew their relationship would end and been fine with it. But his betrayal had struck deep, and seeing him again was bringing that back as well as the memories of her captivity.

“What did he do to you?” Nathan bit out. The devastated look on her face pushed him toward a murderous rage.

“There are no words for what he did to me,” she murmured, and her eyelid twitched when the ticking started again. “Duke wasn’t a Savage when we were together. At least not in the way he is now, but he was definitely savage.”

“Did he hurt you?” Nathan demanded.

Vicky’s annoyance with him eased when she saw the concern on his face. “He didn’t beat me, if that’s what you’re thinking. Even before I started training with Ronan’s men, Duke wasn’t strong enough to beat me, and he didn’t break my heart or cheat on me.”

Despite her words, the sorrow in her eyes and the tremor in her hands caused Nathan’s fury to simmer toward a boiling point. He pulled the blind back again to reveal the Savage outside the pane. It wasn’t the same one as before.

The monster leered at him as it tapped the window. Knowing the Savage would most likely move before he could kill it, Nathan lifted his crossbow and fired. The Savage darted to the side as the impact of the bolt left a perfect hole in the center of the window.

Then, the pane wobbled before collapsing. Shards crunched under Nathan’s feet when he stepped closer to the window.

From its hiding spot next to the brick wall, the Savage laughed as it reappeared in front of the window. “You missed,” it taunted.

“I meant to.” Nathan’s hand shot out, and he seized the creature by the throat. “Come on in,” he said as he dragged it through the window and threw it on the floor.

The Savage lay like a turtle on its back for a second, too dazed to react to the sudden change of events. Nathan lifted the stake he’d set on the counter earlier as the Savage threw out his feet. The vampire shoved upright in one smooth motion. As the monster regained its feet, Nathan stabbed the stake into its heart.

“I didn’t miss that time,” Nathan told him with a wink.

The vampire’s mouth parted in an O of horror. Its hand swung out, but Nathan leaned back to dodge the blow. Nathan smiled, placed his foot on the monster’s stomach, and shoved it back to tear the stake free. The Savage hit the ground, its feet kicking against the carpet for a minute before stilling. Then, its arms flopped out, and its head lulled to the side.

Vicky lifted her gaze from the dead Savage to Nathan, then to the window before returning to Nathan. He wiped the bloody stake casually on his jeans before setting it on the counter again.

“Impressive,” she murmured, not sure if she meant the kill or him. She’d never seen anything quite like it, and despite her unease over this situation, she couldn’t deny it had been sexy as hell.

She was in so much shit with this hunter.

Another Savage materialized in the window. It gazed into the apartment before spotting the body of its friend and recoiling. Turning, it gripped the railing of the fire escape and swung over the side to land silently below.

Nathan stepped closer to the window as the rest of the Savages fled the fire escape. On the street, the group of Savages loped around the side of the building. They could enter through the front door, but he suspected they would come in through the basement if they discovered the side door in the alley on the opposite side of the building. Entering through the basement would keep them hidden for longer and give them more time to flush him and Vicky from this apartment.

“They’ll come in through the basement,” Nathan said.

“They’ll make noise, and someone will call the police.”

Nathan stepped away from the window and strode over to the stockpile of weapons to search through them. “This isn’t the type of place where the occupants invite the police to stop by. That’s why I picked it.”

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Going after the Savages before they come after us. They’re not making it out of this building alive.”

He reloaded the crossbow, stocked up on more stakes, and lifted an assault rifle. “It’s difficult to hit the heart with the wooden bullets in this thing,” he told her, “but it will slow them down and might take some of them out.”

Vicky stepped away from the weapon and eyed it like it would come to life and kill her.

“What if the bullets go astray and kill someone else?” she inquired.

“I’ll be careful.”

“You don’t think gunfire will make someone call the cops?”

“Probably not, but if it does, we’ll be gone, or dead, before the police arrive.”

The nonchalant way he said it reminded her of the way she felt about life now, almost half deadened or perhaps just tired of it all. She was too young to feel that way, especially with an eternity looming before her, but she couldn’t deny the emotion festering within her since her captivity.

“Besides, worse comes to worst, you can always change the memories of the witnesses,” he continued.

“True.”

Vicky set the ax down to lift another crossbow and more stakes before she hefted a small hatchet into her hand. Testing the weight of it, she deemed it suitable for throwing if necessary. Nathan opened the door and checked out the hall before stepping outside.

Vicky followed him as he stalked down the hall to the stairs. From behind the closed doors, more humans made noise as they went about their night, utterly unaware that death lurked outside their homes. She briefly envied them their oblivion as Nathan stopped at the entrance to the stairwell.

Taking a deep breath, she strove to control the adrenaline rushing through her as Nathan entered the stairwell. She was so close to possibly ending this with Duke, but concern over Nathan’s safety almost made her grab him and run back to his apartment with him. However, they wouldn’t be safe in this building for much longer. She stayed close to Nathan while they descended to the first floor without encountering any Savages.

Nathan crept to the end of the hall and stopped outside the metal door leading to the basement. Sniffing the air, he detected Vicky’s sweet scent mingling with the disgusting human aromas. When he glanced back at Vicky, her eyes were wide, but she looked resolved for battle.

He hesitated, not wanting to put her in this situation. He didn’t have much choice though; there were many he could call, but he doubted any of them would arrive before the Savages set fire to this place, flooded it with carbon monoxide, or came up with some other way to force the two of them outside.

“You ready?” he asked.

“Yes.”

Slinging the rifle over his shoulder, he gripped the knob and twisted it slowly to keep it from making any noise. When he first established a base here, he made sure to explore as much of it as he could. He’d memorized the layout of the basement.

He pulled the door open and stepped to the side in case one of the Savages rushed out at him. When none of them ran into the hallway, he poked his head around the doorway to take in the wooden steps leading into the bowels of the old basement. Either someone had forgotten to turn off the light at the bottom of the stairwell, or the Savages were already below and turned it on when they entered through the other door.

Vicky almost drew Nathan back to tell him she should go first, she was immortal after all, but he had more experience in these situations than she did. Her immortality didn’t guarantee her life, and she sensed a lot of power in this hunter.

Still, it took all she had not to stop him from descending ahead of her. He stayed on the edge of the steps, keeping his back to the wall, and she did the same. If the Savages were already in the basement, they could have heard the door opening, but if they weren’t, then the two of them might get the drop on the creatures.

Stopping at the bottom of the stairs, Nathan listened for anything approaching. He could see a piece of the concrete basement floor that had accumulated a thick layer of grime over the years. The acrid stench of the oil furnace mingled with the potent aroma of mildew and mold. All those smells should keep Vicky’s scent dulled down at least enough that Duke couldn’t pinpoint her location in the building.

From across the room, a door creaked, and a subtle step hit the dirt. Nathan counted ten beats of his heart before another footstep sounded, then another, as more Savages crept cautiously into the room.

He hadn’t expected their caution; he’d expected them to be emboldened by their numbers, but he and Vicky already killed three of them. The Savages probably expected to win, but none of them wanted to die to achieve that victory.