Eternal Kiss of Darkness (Night Huntress World 2)

When she reached the ledge below her window, Kira blew out a tight sigh of relief.

One story completed, two more to go. So far, no one had sounded the alarm. Pretending to be a compliant captive had worked, it seemed. She'd even pretended to eat the food and drink the soda the blond-haired man with the scar running down his cheek had brought her, but in reality, she'd flushed them down the toilet. No way was she risking being drugged by touching that stuff. She'd swallowed some water from the shower when she cleaned off. That was more than enough to keep her hydrated, and she doubted they were clever enough to have drugged that.

Kira kept easing herself down the rope, amazed that her arms didn't feel shaky. She'd lost a lot of blood this morning, but for some reason, her arms were steady, handling her weight with ease. That was unusual enough to concern Kira, but she decided to worry about it later. Like, when she was far away from this house and at the nearest police station.

She made it down another story, holding her breath as her rope brought her dangling directly in front of a window. The light inside glowed against the glass, making the interior clearly discernible to her. Kira prayed the darkness outside would make her almost invisible by contrast. She lightly kicked off to position herself away from the center of the window, and lowered herself a little faster. Should she risk looking down to check how much farther it was? No, Kira decided. She'd done well to get this far, considering her fear of heights. No need to ruin that by looking down now.

When Kira finally felt solid earth underneath her feet instead of more emptiness and rope, she almost whooped in relief. She stuffed her glee back, though, pulling the rope to the left of the windows and securing it by tucking the end under a potted plant. With luck, no one would find it until morning, and she'd be long gone by then.

Kira began to run as fast as she could in the direction where she thought she'd glimpsed the other house from her bedroom window. It was dark as pitch outside, but she was pretty sure she was headed in the right direction. Her heart thumped with joy and exhilaration. She was free!

She made it twenty yards before she ran into a wall.

Mencheres had watched Kira climb down the house with a mixture of wonder and amusement. She certainly was a tenacious female, stringing together rope made from various materials in the bedroom - and were those shower curtain loops she'd used as anchor points for her knots?

"Want me to get her?" Gorgon asked, his voice too low for Kira to hear him.

"No," Mencheres replied. He was rather curious to see if she'd make it all the way to the bottom. If the rope broke or she lost her grip, he could easily catch her. But in the meantime, watching Kira maneuver down the side of the house was more entertaining than anything he'd done in the past several months.

"You may go back inside," he told Gorgon, his mouth twitching as Kira delicately kicked away from the window. She was being very quiet for a human; but of course, with his hearing, she made quite a commotion.

Gorgon nodded once before disappearing back into the house. Mencheres stood on the darkest part of the lawn, where he'd be invisible from Kira's sight, and continued to watch her. He tensed when the bed frame that the rope was anchored to creaked warningly, but her line held. When Kira made it to the ground, Mencheres smiled along with her. Well done, dark lady.

Pity he couldn't let her complete her victory by running away, however. A human telling the police tales of supernatural creatures was the last thing Mencheres needed.

Radjedef would seize on that as more proof that Mencheres had broken their laws.

Radjedef. How odd that Mencheres hadn't thought about the vengeful Law Guardian since he left the warehouse this morning, but he would tend to his business regarding Radjedef later. First, he had to erase Kira's memories of everything supernatural. He could pass her off to Gorgon or another vampire in his line to mesmerize, but taking care of Kira himself seemed the least he could do to repay her for the kindness she'd shown him at the warehouse. Even if she regretted that kindness now.

He could always find another way to implement his plan concerning Radjedef after Kira's memories of that warehouse and him were gone. Mencheres hadn't seen Radjedef in over a week. No need to rush; he'd accomplish his objective soon enough.

Mencheres let Kira run for a few paces before he stepped in front of her. She collided with him hard enough to knock a scream out of her, but he absorbed the impact as if she were a butterfly.

"That's two brave yet foolish things you've done today," Mencheres noted.

Kira's breathing was labored, but her aim was steady as she punched him squarely in the chest. "Damn it! It's you again, isn't it?"

He could see her clearly in the dark, but she'd be almost blind with the lack of lights on the lawn.

"Yes, it's me," Mencheres replied. He didn't comment about the punch though he couldn't remember the last time a person had actually struck him.

"You watched me the whole time, didn't you?" Kira demanded. Bitterness wafted from her, changing her scent from lemons and sea spray to something harsher. "Why? Did you think it was funny, seeing me try to get away?"

In fact he had been amused, but only because he knew she was never in real danger.

The angry desperation in her tone made him pause, however. He might have known that Kira wasn't in jeopardy, but she hadn't. In truth, he had told her nothing to truly reassure her that she had no reason to fear, whether she was inside the house or dangling on a rope outside of it.

"I apologize." Mencheres dropped his hands from her shoulders, where he'd steadied her after Kira had barreled into him. She didn't attempt to run away once he released her. She just stood there, gulping in breaths and glaring at him.

"What are you? And what do you intend to do with me since it's clear you won't let me go?"

Mencheres hesitated for a moment before giving a mental shrug. Soon enough he'd erase her mind. What did it matter if she knew more in the interim about him?

"The modern word for what I am is 'vampire.' "

Kira's heart had already been pounding, but at that, it skipped a beat.

"Vampires don't exist," she said, even though she sounded as if her words were a last attempt at denial instead of a true statement of disbelief.

"That's exactly what humans are supposed to think, except you've seen too much to hold on to that fabrication any longer," he replied steadily.

"But you were out in the sunlight this morning, and my cross . . ." Mencheres reached out to touch the emblem hanging from Kira's neck. Merely touching silver wouldn't hurt him. Its burning, draining effects were dormant unless silver broke a vampire's skin. "The effects of sunlight, crosses, wooden stakes, and holy water are red herrings my people deliberately planted along the mill ennia. Our real weakness is not something we allowed to become common knowledge."