Flame Unleashed (Hell to Pay) Read Free Page A

upturned lips, a mouth full enough to give a provocative smirk. A combination of cologne and Cajun spice blended perfectly around him. For a moment, she wanted to indulge, to taste, to experience a different life, to be someone else.
    What the hell was wrong with her? With a dead body cooling at her feet, a handsome but still-clueless Indebted before her, and citizens on their way, she fixated on his mouth?
    The damn blade pulsed again, again eager for someone’s—anyone’s—blood. It insisted on her complete attention, pulling her focus away from the man in front of her.
    When she tried to evade him, he snagged her arm. He was strong, but of course, she was his equal. He couldn’t budge her. At the display of her Indebted strength, shock crossed the visible part of his features. Yes, they shared the exact same secret.
    “
Chèri
? What the—?”
    Using his surprise to her advantage, she acted on pure instinct, stomping his instep with her spiked heel. He bit off a curse as his grip loosened. Dropping to a crouch, she rotated and swept an outstretched foot under the one leg he hopped on, and he fell hard onto the cobblestones. Unfortunately, when she rotated, her stupid wig caught on his hand, knocking it askew and covering an eye.
    Not caring if he saw, she tugged her hair back in place. In one fluid motion, she leapt to the metal fire escape ladder and vaulted to a roof. Quite a feat in heels. How did those sexy vampire chicks in the novels manage? Never mind. No time to think about silly books.
    She gritted her teeth and sprinted across the roof. Before descending the next ladder to the opposite street, she glanced back into the courtyard. She had gotten away in the nick of time. Patrons from the bar rounded the corner into the courtyard, followed by a police officer.
    Decker’s body was gone, a glistening puddle on the cobblestones all that remained.
    The mystery man, too, was gone. Although he wasn’t actually a mortal man but Indebted. Just like her.
    He must have removed the body.
    Why?
    To protect her.
    To take attention away from things in this world that could not be explained.
    What a joke. Her entire existence couldn’t be explained. Everything she did as a result of being Indebted defied logic. How would a dead criminal change that fact?
    It wouldn’t.
    But a pattern of dead criminals could bring unwanted scrutiny to the Indebted that called New Orleans their home. Where had her consideration for others gone?
    To hell, along with the greater portion of her conscience.
    Jumping from the roof to adjacent buildings, she continued to the end of the block. There was no easy fire escape. She peered down the four story building and sighed. This was going to hurt.
    She dropped off the roof, landing with an audible pop on one foot. A red wave of pain swamped her, and she gripped the edge of the brick to clear her head. Masonry disintegrated under her fingertips.
    She pressed her lips together to keep from crying out.
    Breathe
.
    Another few seconds, and she’d be functional.
    With another crunch, her bones knitted back together enough for her to walk. Each step felt better than the last.
    Once she reached the French District, she ducked into a dark corner behind a dumpster and pressed her fingers to her forehead. So tired. In the past, she had salvaged botched kills, but tonight was different. She still needed to kill, but the control she had exerted over that biker’s mind took so much energy. Her fatigue would keep the desire to kill in check for a short period of time. The desperation no longer consumed her.
    Sick consolation. For now.
    Meeting a fellow Indebted had thrown her for a loop. True, some Indebted worked together, but Ruth operated in private, always had. She hated spectators of any kind. Ironic, then, how she’d given the man in the trench coat quite a show.
    Like most of her kind, she avoided hunting in the daytime. More potential witnesses. So she would have to endure a miserable day until