Blood Shadows Read Free Page A

they were insulting.
    But restraint was a necessity, and the echoes of two sets of footsteps fast approaching from the main corridor told him time was short.
    Taking both her hands in one of his, he turned her around again, tucking her against him as he raised the tranquiliser gun to the brighter light of the main corridor ahead. ‘Looks like we have company,’ he whispered against her ear. ‘Make a noise and I’ll do more than send them to sleep.’
    As soon as they appeared, Kane let off a single shot.
    Neither agent saw it coming.
    His shot pierced the first agent cleanly in the chest.
    But something also pierced Kane. Pierced him in the palm of his shooting hand. Something that threw him off balance, weakening his hold on the gun as paralytic pins and needles swarmed his fingers, his wrist and his elbow.
    The second agent took the opportunity and shot Kane twice in the shoulder.
    But Kane’s world was already turning black.
    He didn’t even have time to curse.

CHAPTER TWO
    C aitlin’s breath misted the office window as she gazed out across the headquarters’ floodlit grounds. The smattering of rain obscured Lowtown’s cityscape, Blackthorn nothing more than a blackened mass beyond the distant border.
    The radiator warmed her thigh through her jeans, as she nervously bit the thumbnail she had jammed between her teeth. Vampires hunted more in the rain. Rain meant hoods up, umbrellas up, deficiency of sound, lowered eyes. Rain disorientated and distracted people, making the kill or capture so much easier. Even there in Lowtown, rainy nights were busy nights. Busy nights when you weren’t suspended pending a full investigation.
    She mindlessly rubbed her neck where he’d caressed her. All those years studying him and none of it had prepared her for the lethal spark behind those navy-blue eyes. Eyes that only seven hours before had confirmed her deepest fears, her deepest hopes. The truth of what he was had glimmered through that compelling self-assured gaze. Kane Malloy was indeed a dual feeder, a master vampire: a rare archaic strain of vampirism believed to have slipped into extinction in place of the weaker but more prevalent singular-blood feeders. And deep in the shadowy recess of his absent soul, every last remaining truth about his species lay concealed.
    Or at least it would be concealed until she got into that interrogation room, which is exactly where she needed to be instead of wasting time waiting on others to decide her fate.
    She pulled away herself from the window, glanced down at her watch for the ninth time in ten minutes and wandered over to her desk to find the last of her caffeine tablets.
    ‘Caitlin,’ Mark called from behind, ‘you’re wanted.’ He looked as sullen and tired as the rest of the team but there was something more. He cocked his head towards the corridor. ‘Max’s office. Now.’
    Her stomach flipped. With leaden legs, Caitlin walked past the disdainful looks of her male colleagues and headed a few doors down the corridor. She steadied her breathing and composed herself before opening the door.
    Her stepfather stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, his hands cradled behind his back. As he turned to face her, his lips were taut, his eyes grave.
    And behind the dominating conference table, folder neatly opened in front of him, sat Xavier Carter, chief of both the Third Species Control Division, of which the VCU was a component, and the Third Species Intervention Division. His (usually elusive) presence was enough to tell her something had gone horribly wrong.
    Xavier stood, indicated for her to move to the seat opposite his, his wrinkled grey eyes observant, intrigued. ‘Agent Parish. It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard much about you.’ He held out a hand across the table.
    ‘Just in the last few hours I bet.’
    Xavier smiled as he shook her hand once, firm, businesslike, and indicated for her to sit. ‘On the contrary. Your work hasn’t gone unnoticed. Your