Adam swore.
Maya pushed her hand through the jagged hole, unlocked the door, and jumped into the backseat.
Then she shimmied up to the front and Adam saw her crawl under the dashboard.
In seconds, blessed silence filled the garage.
Maya's head popped up and he could see the smile that stretched across her face.
Damn, but the woman was cute. And apparently, something of a thief.
But still cute.
For a vampire.
Adam drew in a deep breath.
"You gonna stand there all night, Slick?" The engine started with a rumble of sound. "Or are you ready to find Cammie?"
Cammie.
He ran to the passenger side. Maya had the door open and waiting for him. He jumped inside. As they shot through the garage, circling down the spiral ramp, he had to ask, "If you were planning to steal a car all along, then why'd we have to waste our time with the demon?" And he knew the guy, Tim, had been a demon. No mistaking those eyes.
Shit, if the rumors were true, way, way back in their family tree, the vamps and the demons were related. That's why they both had those dark eyes.
If the rumors were true.
Those same rumors said that once, long ago, the very first Born had done something to piss off a very, very powerful force. A force some called God-a betrayal had been made, and as punishment, the Born had been cursed-an eternity of darkness. The fact that holy water burned the vamps, yeah, that just made the rumors ring true.
But demons didn't have a holy water weakness. The strong ones had pretty much no weaknesses.
He'd never trusted demons. They weren't the fire-and-brimstone, Devil's-helpers, like most folks thoughts. They were actually a whole separate race of humans, maybe even offspring from the original Fallen.
They were good at magic, mind control, and deceit.
Most of 'em were outright bastards.
Like Tim.
"We weren't wasting time," Maya snapped, sounding annoyed. Instead of heading for the exit, she spun the car around and drove for the entrance on the opposite side of the building. "We were throwing the wolves off our scent."
Thus the whole stealing the SUV bit, but why go in that loud, overpriced bar? A horn beeped as another car had to swerve to avoid a head-on collision with Maya.
She didn't even flinch, but she did flip off the other driver.
Then they were outside, pushing hard toward eighty and speeding away from the snarls of traffic.
"Interesting thing about Tim," she finally said, "the guy set me up to die a few years back."
His head jerked toward her as rage pumped through his veins. "And why," he asked softly, voice deadly, "in the hell did we just prance into the ass**le's den?"
Her small nostrils flared. "Do you smell that? I swear it's like someone just opened a damn pack of matches in here and started a fire."
"Why'd we see him?" he demanded, ignoring her words. If he'd known the truth about Tim back when they'd been in that bar, he would have made certain to give the guy exactly what he deserved.
A slow, painful death.
Maya didn't speak for a moment, but he saw her fingers tighten just the briefest bit around the steering wheel. The streets and buildings passed them in a blur.
"Do you know," she shot him a quick glance, "just what Tim is doing right now?"
Probably screwing one of his scantily clad waitresses when he should have been bleeding all over the floor and begging for mercy.
"He got on the phone the minute we left, most likely with someone in the local wolf pack, and he offered to sell us out."
Bastard. "Nice ex you got there."
Her lips firmed. "There was probably some kind of tracking system on his car, and I imagine good old Tim is making arrangements to activate the GPS or at the very least, he's telling the pack to head for Mexico."
"Uh, we're not planning on traveling down to the border, are we?" He asked, feeling slow for not having recognized that fact sooner.
"No, we're not."
His anger kicked up another notch and he had to fight the urge to grab the woman. "Since we're talking about my niece's life here, do you mind telling me just where we're headed?" Or did the woman intend to keep leading him around in the dark? "The Mojave Desert, near Vegas. We're gonna stop by the safe house first, load up on weapons and gear, then start tracking."
Finally. "Are you sure she's there?"
"No."
His lips parted in surprise at her quick answer. "What?" Then why were they going to waste time driving out-
"Marie's sure, and that's good enough for me."
Marie. "The voodoo priestess? Is she always right?" He knew women like her had gifts, but he didn't want to take a chance with Cammie's life.
"Always?" Maya sighed then muttered, "I sure hope not."
He frowned.
"Relax. She's right about this." She braked for a traffic light. "We're going to find the girl."
And she'd better be alive.
But Maya didn't promise that, because he knew she couldn't promise that.
"Just get me to her," he said. If he could just find Cammie, shield her-"I'll take care of the rest."
"You and your army, huh?"
He didn't know what the woman was talking about. "What?"
"Forget it, Slick. Just sit back and enjoy the ride-because this party of ours is going to be heading straight to hell soon."
He'd thought they'd just left hell. Or had it been heaven? Hard to say about Tim's bar.
Nah, for him it had definitely been hell.
The bastard had been with Maya. Touched her. Tasted her.
His hands fisted.
Tried to kill her.
And she'd just casually walked up to the guy and let him put his hands on her again, his mouth.
The woman had ice in her veins. "I can't believe you're just letting him get away with it."
"Huh?"
"Tim." He snarled the word. "I can't believe that you're just gonna let that demon get away with trying to kill you."
She laughed them. A real, honest laugh that seemed to echo right in his heart. "Adam, I'm not letting him get away with anything." Another traffic light. Another quick brake. She flashed him a smile. "Just what do you think is gonna happen to our demon friend when the wolves find out that he can't deliver as promised?"
A soundless whistle slipped past his lips.
Her smile widened. "Tim didn't get away with a damn thing. I was just biding my time. Now his time, well, it's about to end."
And the guy had dug his own grave.
They drove until just before sunset, heading northeast along the long and empty interstate.