Midnight Shadows: An Urban Fantasy Series (Bat McCall Book 1) by Laken Cane

Author:Laken Cane [Cane, Laken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2023-06-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

With a dizzying suddenness, my birthmark flared to life once again, screaming a warning, and I forgot the cell as my blade and a stake jumped into my hands. I whirled, weapons up, preparing to kill the vampire sneaking up on me, which would likely bring the entire fucking street down on my head, but Mateo Raith slipped from the shadows and held up his hands.

“I mean you no harm.”

I didn’t put away my weapons. “Fuck you,” I snarled, as I waited for my heart to calm. “A master vampire means everyone harm.”

He gave the barest whisper of a smile. “Perhaps, but at this moment, and for you, I do not.”

I was relieved at the further delay in facing the Far Street vampires, which was crazy. Mateo Raith was a thousand times scarier and more powerful than anything waiting inside that house. But I didn’t care how dangerous he was—when I got scared, it pissed me off and I got mouthy. “Why are you here, Mateo, lurking in the streets like some sort of bloodsucking peeping Tom?”

He stared at me, silent, something odd and almost confused floating through his eyes.

“What?” I asked, frowning.

“I was taken off guard by the pleasure it gave me when you said my name,” he told me, his voice soft but somehow deadly. “Like we are friends. Like you see me as something other than a terrifying monster.” It was his turn to frown. “Like I care that you do.”

My mouth went so dry I couldn’t swallow. I backed up a couple of steps without meaning to. “My question,” I said, and my voice was not soft at all. “Why are you here?”

He lifted his stare from my mouth. “It is a place of vampires. The question is, why are you here?”

I cleared my throat and attempted not to appear nervous, uncomfortable, or worried. I was reasonably sure I failed. “I was sent here on a tip that Far Street may be keeping bloodslaves. You know anything about that?”

“I will go inside with you,” he said, without answering my question. “You should never come here alone, Battista. Not ever. They are not above taking you as a bloodslave, if they believe they might somehow get away with it.”

I was just a little insulted. “I wouldn’t let that happen.”

He flinched as he neared me—not because of anything I did but because of the silver shine of the holy item lying against my chest. He didn’t ask me to put it away though. He knew better.

“They’re vampires,” he said, a bit dryly. “And though I greatly admire your confidence and appreciate your strength, they are not going to wait around for you to let anything happen.” He studied me, serious and frowning in the dim light. “Battista, do you not understand that you are no match for a houseful of vampires?” He tilted his head quizzically as he peered down at me. “I have no desire to anger you, but what I say is true. And yet, you seem to believe otherwise.

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