Two of them grabbed Loren who cried out, “Sire, please!”

Raphael ignored his cries. If he stopped now, he’d kill Loren without a thought. As for the woman, her mind would be wiped. She’d remember nothing of the last month—not Loren, not the post office, not anything. Certainly not Mariane or Jeremy, and especially not Cyn.

As for her brother, Curtis. He wouldn’t be a problem after tonight.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

“What the hell you want, Murphy?” Ellen nudged the rifle to emphasize her question. It was an amateur’s move, but at this distance, it didn’t make much difference.

“Ellen,” Colin said quietly, aware that Sophia had grown perfectly still behind him. He held his hands up where the woman could see them. “I’m not trying to cause problems. I heard there was some trouble at Babe’s yesterday afternoon and I’m just trying to figure out what happened.”

Ellen regarded him suspiciously down the long barrel of her Remington. It was a nice rifle and, amateur or not, at this range a blind man could hit him.

“Leon didn’t come home last night.” Her voice wavered when she said it, but the rifle didn’t. “That’s not like him.”

Colin nodded. “I heard there was some trouble,” he repeated.

Ellen stared at him, clearly trying to decide how much to say or whether she could trust him. She lowered the rifle a fraction.

“Someone said guns were fired, Ellen. If something has happened and—”

She snapped the rifle up again, glaring at him suspiciously. “Where’d you hear that? What’d you—”

That was all she managed to say before Sophia stepped deftly around Colin, wrapped her fingers around the rifle barrel and tore it from Ellen’s hands, almost before Colin even saw her move. Holding the rifle out to Colin with her right hand, she held Ellen immobilized with her left and said, “Shall we take this inside?”

“Well, shit, Sophie,” Colin drawled. “It was goin’ so well, too.”

“I can give her the gun back if you’d like?” she said, smiling sweetly.

“Maybe not. All right, let’s see what Ellen has to tell us.”

Sophie had wanted to use her vampire mojo to force Ellen to talk, but Colin had persuaded her to let him try talking with her first. Once Ellen stopped rubbing her neck and glaring at Sophie, it hadn’t taken long to convince her that Colin had nothing to do with the men who’d shot up the parking lot yesterday. He’d been right about Leon telling her what went on at the bar, but he’d never mentioned Colin’s name. Besides, Ellen was genuinely worried about her husband and had no one else to turn to.

“Leon didn’t have nothing to do with them,” Ellen insisted for the third time. “They met in the bar, but that was it. He can’t turn away customers because he don’t like their politics. He’d have no one at all if he did that. Besides, even if he knew they was planning something, what’s he supposed to do about it?”

“If something was going on, he could have told me, Ellen.”

She scoffed noisily. “Your buddy McWaters was right in the middle of ‘em, Murphy. How’d we know we could trust you?”

“Fair enough,” he ground out, still feeling the punch of Garry’s betrayal.

Ellen shrugged. “I’ll tell you this much, though. Those boys are bad news. If you’re planning on taking ‘em on, I hope there’s a lot more than just you two.” She eyed Sophia distrustfully. “Even if one’s a vamp.”

“Ellen,” Murphy said, drawing her attention away from Sophie. “Did Leon mention anyone besides Garry?”

“Curtis Jenkins, who else? He’s been trouble since day one.”

Colin nodded. “Where’s Leon now, Ellen? I’d like to talk to him.”

She gave him a bleak look. “I told you, he didn’t come home last night,” she whispered. “I figured I’d find him here when I got home tonight, sleeping off a bender.” Her eyes filled with sudden tears. “He’d have called me if he could, Murphy. He knows I’d worry.”

Colin swore under his breath. “Okay. I’m going to the bar—”

Ellen stood. “I’ll go with you. I can—”

“No,” Colin said immediately, thinking of Raphael and his vampires who’d soon be overrunning Babe’s and the woods around it. “I’ll check it out and call you.”

“You can’t force me to wait here, Murphy. I’m a free—”

Sophia was suddenly there, her hand cupping Ellen’s neck as she eased her onto the couch. Clearly after having zapped her unconscious, or whatever the hell it was that vampires did.

“Geez, Soph, could you warn me before you do anymore of that vamp shit?”

“You’re too polite, and we don’t have time to argue with her. Raphael will be on his way by now, and we don’t want to miss the hunt.”

Colin covered Ellen with a crocheted throw from the back of the couch. There was something in Sophie’s voice when she talked about the hunt that made him turn and look at her. She was edgy and anxious to leave, already heading for the door. She glanced back at him impatiently and he saw the gleam of her eyes, not full-on amber the way they got sometimes, but like a rim of gold around her irises.

She met his scrutiny with a challenging stare. “What?” she demanded.

“You’re excited,” he said, realizing it as he spoke. “You’re looking forward to this.”

“Hell, yes,” she agreed. “You’ve no idea what it’s like to spend your life pretending to be ordinary. To tamp down your power, conceal your differences, lest the humans become frightened. Raphael will let his people run tonight. There’ll be no holding back. You’re damn right I’m looking forward to it.”

“I’m human,” he reminded her.

She moved faster than he could see. One second she was by the door and the next she was right in front of him, her arms around his neck, her lush body pressed against his.

“You may be human, Colin Murphy.” She licked a long line up his neck and over his jaw until her mouth touched his. “But you’re definitely not ordinary.”

She pressed her lips against his in a quick hard kiss.

“Let’s run the night, Colin. It’s time to hunt.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Colin and Sophie pulled into the parking lot outside Babe’s on the heels of Raphael and his vampires. The bar was dark, the lot empty. Or it had been before they arrived and filled it with SUVs. And even then it remained dark. The vamps had traveled without headlights, apparently seeing as well or better in the dark than they did in light. Even Sophie had slipped on a pair of sunglasses to preserve her night vision from his headlights as they’d driven here.

Colin turned off the engine and flicked off the interior light, so it wouldn’t come on when they opened the doors. Then he waited, although he didn’t know what they were waiting for. The SUVs in front of him just sat there, presumably filled with vampires. He was about to ask Sophie what was going on when, as if some signal had been given, the doors all opened at once and Raphael’s people piled out.

Colin did the same, going around to the back of the truck and gearing up, all the while watching warily as the vampires jostled each other, practically bouncing on their toes with anticipation. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that. On the one hand, the adrenaline rush of going into battle was so familiar, it almost hurt to feel it again. He hadn’t appreciated until that moment how much he missed this. But there was something a little creepy about being surrounded by vampires who were all juiced up at the idea of killing a bunch of humans.

“Don’t let it get to you,” a deep voice said next to him.

“Hey, Rob,” Colin said, looking up to find the Ranger standing in front of him, armored up and ready to roll.

“And don’t let their hyperactive behavior fool you either. These guys are trained within an inch of their lives. When it comes down to it, they’re disciplined as hell.”

“Good to know.” Colin’s attention shifted as Raphael walked over to the two of them.

“Tell, me, Murphy, do you think you managed to shoot any of these animals? Or was my Cyn the only one injured?”

Colin ground his teeth together, reminding himself the vampire was worried about Leighton. “We hit a few. I don’t know how seriously.”

“We can start with that, then. Duncan.” His lieutenant half-turned toward the assembled vamps and nodded.

Like horses out of the gate, several of the vamps took off, rushing in among the trees so fast, they were little more than a blur of motion. And they didn’t make a fucking sound, not even a whisper of movement despite the tightly packed trees and years of deadfall.

Sophia joined Raphael and Duncan in some sort of confab. Presumably discussing their plans for tonight, but who the hell knew? Not Colin.

When she joined him again, he gave her a dark look which she returned with a smile. “Patience, Colin.”

“What the hell are we doing here?”

“Raphael’s people are searching for a blood scent. You and Robbie both said some of the attackers were injured which means they bled. The scent will help us identify the guilty. It also has a . . . psychological benefit, I suppose you’d say. It motivates the soldiers, gets them ready for battle.”

“Like these guys need more motivation,” he muttered.

“Raphael knows his people,” she said calmly, placing a hand on his arm.

A huge noise shattered the stillness. Colin looked up, expecting to see a tree falling nearly on top of them, but at the same time, his brain played the sound back in his head and he realized it wasn’t a tree at all. One of the vamps had kicked in the back door to Babe’s.

The vampires around Raphael all came to immediate attention, staring at the closed bar like dogs on point.

“I’m guessing they found what they were looking for,” Colin said dryly.