Jace Read Free Page B

in my way.”
    A tiny jerk of her chin indicated the man hiding behind her. The move put a nick in her skin. A drop of blood welled. “Things are still in your way.”
    Out of the corner of his eye he watched that bright red drop swell and quiver, holding one instant before it grew too big and began its slow, inevitable surrender to gravity, sliding down her neck, almost glowing in intensity. “Not for long.”
    “Just long enough,” the vampire snarled, pressing those nails deeper, sending more droplets of blood chasing the first in a splash of color. A little more pressure and those razor-sharp talons would sever her jugular.
    Jace brought his revolver higher, sighting it dead center between the vamp’s eyes. “So you say.”
    The vamp focused on him, reaching out with his energy. Not for the first time, Jace wished he had his brother Jared’s ability to turn people’s energy against them, to manipulate their minds. It would come in real handy right now. “Miri, sweet?”
    “What?”
    “Drop.”
    She didn’t question, didn’t blink, just held his gaze and took the leap of faith he needed. He was moving before her weight shifted, springing across the distance between them. Derek’s shot came at the same second. Blood exploded into an arc, filling his vision. Miri’s scream ended in a gurgle. Bastard, she better not be hit. Jace’s hand closed over her upper arm, sinking into the resilient flesh. A flash of recognition shot to his soul, staggeringly strong. He grabbed the vamp’s slack fingers, yanking them away from her throat as he tossed her back toward Derek.
    And then there was just him and the stunned vamp. The shot had been too high to scatter his brains. The caliber too high to have the bullet just ricochet around inside the skull. But, still, he should be out. He should not be blinking the blood out of his eyes and snarling. He should definitely not have the strength to lash out.
    “Fuck!”
    Jace went flying backward and slammed into shelves. Glass vials fell, exploding by his feet in glittering shards. His vampire rose at the challenge. His fangs cut through his gums; his talons stretched; bloodlust rose. This vampire had threatened Miri. Drawn her blood. Hurt her. There was another scream as the vamp launched at him, fangs and talons bared. Jace met him in midair, holding his red-rimmed gaze with his own, snarling back. The vamp was strong. Very strong. Enhanced maybe. Jace twisted away from the swipe of his claws, using the vamp’s momentum against him, sending him into the same shelf he’d just left.
    “Stop playing around, Jace, and finish it,” Derek snapped from the doorway. “You’re needed over here.”
    Derek never used that tone unless things were bad. Jace risked a glance over, tracking the vamp’s next advance from his peripheral vision. Derek was holding Miri. His hand pressed to her neck, blood was spilling through his fingers as she struggled to get free, her gaze locked on him with a desperation he couldn’t fathom.
    The vampire hit him with a shoulder in the gut, overconfident in his strength. Jace pulled his revolver. He placed the muzzle against the vamp’s side and pulled the trigger. The vamp jerked in shock a second before the paralyzing agent went through him. Jace pushed him off. “I don’t have time to wrestle with you.”
    Leaning over the prone man, he drove his hand through his chest and removed his heart. The vamp’s eyes closed. Jace tossed the organ to the floor and torched it with the sunlight replicator attachment from his gun; a damn handy gadget.
    The whole thing took about fifteen seconds. That was fourteen too long. The one more required to get to Miri’s side, a lifetime.
    Derek, his eyes narrowed, handed her over before Jace could make the demand. Jace checked her heart rate, her blood levels. She was bad.
    “Has she lost too much?” Derek asked.
    Jace placed his hand over the wound, reaching for the knowledge he instinctively knew was his. “I