Lance wasn’t playing the role.He wanted to survive.
“What do you want?”Nix spat out the words.
“Where is your sister?”
Lance blinked.She was supposed to be here.“You don’t have her?”
“Of course not.”His mother didn’t take her eyes off Nix.“Where is she, Hadley?”Gold shimmered over her green eyes.Her forehead furrowed.She swung the shears, catching Nix on the cheek.
If Lance hadn’t been holding him, he’d have fallen over.Maybe that would’ve been better.
“Let me in, or I’ll start cutting.”She smiled, fangs down.
“I came because you said you had her.”
“I know.So loyal.”She leaned closer.“Where is she?Last chance.”
Nix lifted his chin.“I.Don’t.Know.”
His mother moved fast, putting Nix face down on the floor.He rolled and kicked, knocking the shears out of her hand.
“Cops are at the end of the street,” one of the men called out.
His mother stood, dirt clinging to the hem of her pants.She fixed her gaze on Lance.“Kill Hadley.When the cops arrive, you can serve the time.Do your duty for the family.”
“That wasn’t the agreement.I catch him and get blooded.”
“You took too long and have been disappointing for far too long.The police know we’re here.I don’t know what scheme you cooked up, but no blooded vampire can go to jail.You can.”
“I won’t do it.”
Her eyes gleamed.“You will do the time.For this murder and the others.”
The ensorcellment brushed over his skin, and he closed his eyes, breaking her hold but leaving him blind.“What others?”
“I’m sure Hadley would like to know where you were the night his family became yesterday’s scandal.”
He cracked open his eyes and kept his gaze on her foot.“I wasn’t there,” he said through gritted teeth.“Only blooded vampires went in.”
“But who drove the car?”
Lance couldn’t deny that.He’d been at one end of the street, and another car had been at the other end.
“You’ve served your family, and you will continue to do so whether you want to or not.With modern technology, we need people willing to take the fall.”
“We need to leave.”One of the men walked over.
“When we do find her, and we will, that will be the end of the Hadleys.Toss Lance a gun, and let’s get out of here.”
A gun slid across the floor toward him.Nix was out of the cable tie and on the gun and rolling up onto his knee before Lance had even moved.
The snick of every gun being taken off safety echoed through the building.
“So you don’t have my sister.You don’t want Lance.And you want me dead?Have I got that right?”Nix glanced at Lance’s mother and the other half dozen vampires, all well-armed and ready for trouble.“What have I got to lose by fighting my way out?Even if I die, you all go down.Seems like a worthwhile mission to me.”
Nix stepped backward, closer to Lance, and he spared him a quick glance over his shoulder, but his face was unreadable.Closed off and cold.
“You’re a stupid boy, Lance, choosing him over your family.The reason you were never blooded is because you can’t be trusted.”His mother stepped behind the male vampire.
