Angel of Darkness (The Fallen 1)

The shadows vanished.

They screamed when Nicole kicked open the crypt door. A guy and his girlfriend, both dressed in goth black, whirled around, their cries filling her ears. They’d been leaning down, lighting candles near another crypt, leaving offerings—

Didn’t they realize the voodoo queen wasn’t even there anymore? Tourists.

“Look at her teeth! Oh, Sean, look at—”

Okay, the girl didn’t sound scared. More like excited.

“Bite me,” Sean whispered. “Please.”

Well, if he was gonna be offering … She lunged forward and sank her teeth into his throat. His blood spilled over her tongue and strength started to push back into her body.

“Sean?” A thread of fear entered the girl’s voice, banking that excitement. “Sean … she’s … really drinking your bl-blood.” Then the girl let out a shriek. Her footsteps thudded as she ran away.

Nicole took more blood from her donor. Not too much. Just enough to survive. When she let him go, her savior slipped to the ground. Not dead, but unconscious.

She pushed her hands against the nearest crypt. The bones popped and snapped back into place as she reset them. Not perfect, not yet, but she’d make it through the night. She’d—

“I can’t leave you alone for a minute, can I, querida?”

Nicole stiffened. Carlos. “No, I guess you can’t.” She licked the last of the blood away and turned toward him. “You should have used that stake when you had the chance.”

He stood between two stone vaults, his claws scraping over them. “I’ll take the chance now. Your angel can just mourn over your broken body.”

No, he wouldn’t.

“The bait’s already set. I wager one of the bikers broke by now and told him where you were.” He pulled out the stake. “Let’s see how fast you can die.”

He leapt at her.

But Nicole was ready for him. She jumped back and the stake missed her. She kicked out and caught his wrist with her foot. This time, the bone that snapped was his. When the stake flew from his hand, she scrambled after it, diving to her knees. Her fingers curled around the wood just as Carlos grabbed her legs and yanked her back.

“I’ll cut off your f**king head—”

She had the stake. She twisted and came up ready. Nicole drove the stake right into his chest. “And I’ll take your heart.” Her whisper.

Another kill. Another death.

What was one more stain on her black soul?

He stared at her, mouth open, eyes gaping, then he sagged back, slipping onto the ground as blood began to pool beneath him.

Killing again hadn’t been nearly as hard as she’d hoped.

Connor had been right. Perhaps she did have a talent for murder. Damn him.

She closed her eyes.

“Nicole!” A roar that was her name.

Keenan. Her eyes flew right back open. And it was just like Carlos had said. She could see Keenan now, running toward her, snaking through the vaults. He wasn’t even checking around him for an attack—just running straight for her, his gaze locked on her.

He would have run right into Carlos and never seen the danger until the claws were at his throat.

“It’s okay,” she called out as she rose and hurried forward. “I—”

Bones snapped. Crunched. Still not hers. Not. Hers. Goose bumps rose on her arms. Nicole glanced back over her shoulder.

Carlos was shifting.

Fur sprang up over his flesh. Thick, brown fur. His hands had already turned into paws, his claws had lengthened, sharpening even more. His face contorted as she watched. Stretched. Elongated. Animal, not man.

An animal with really big teeth—and she knew all about big teeth.

I missed his heart.

Oh, damn.

He was a shifter. He didn’t need blood to heal and kick ass. He just needed to transform.

“Run,” Nicole whispered and then she whirled around to face Keenan as she shouted, “Run!”

Too late. Keenan was almost on her. He reached out to her, but then froze, his fingers inches away. She stumbled for him. “You’ve got to get—”

A coyote’s high, quavering howl broke the air.

Then that guy, Sam, he was there. Sam yanked her into his arms and pulled her away from Keenan. “Oh, what the hell?” He huffed out a hard breath. “Now the dogs are in this?”

Not a dog. A coyote. A very big, very pissed-off coyote with bloodlust burning in his glowing eyes. “It’s a trap,” she whispered. “He’s after Keenan. We can’t let him get …”

“The sonofabitch figured it out.” Sam shoved her behind him. She caught a glimpse of the coyote. Way bigger than your average coyote. The beast lunged into the air and leapt right for Keenan.

No!

But Sam was there. Moving with his super speed, he jumped in front of Keenan.

The coyote gave a choked bark and twisted in midair. The beast landed on the top of a shallow crypt.

“Didn’t count on two of us, did you?” Keenan snarled.

Then another coyote’s wailing cry echoed in the cemetery. Another, another …

If coyotes could smile, she knew that beast would be grinning.

Her head whipped to the right. She saw a black coyote stalking along the high stone wall. The coyote had its eyes locked on Keenan’s back.

“Keenan, watch out!”

But her scream came too late. The coyote jumped from the wall and lunged for Keenan. The beast’s mouth—wide with sharp teeth and dripping with saliva—went for Keenan’s throat.

But Keenan shoved his forearm into the coyote’s mouth. The beast stiffened. Its whole body froze and as Nicole watched, the fur began to melt away.

A rolling, mourning cry rumbled in Carlos’s throat, but he didn’t close in on Keenan. No, the coyote jumped back and fled toward the high walls.

And as for the black coyote that had attacked Keenan … it wasn’t a coyote anymore. The fur was gone, the bones still reshaping, but now … yes, now that was a woman.

A dead woman.

Keenan rose and stared down at her body.

The cries from the coyotes became softer. They were all leaving. Retreating.

“Running away?” Sam taunted, voice dark and strong. “Didn’t plan for that, did you, bastards? We’re not as easy to kill as you thought. You want our blood? Then you’ll die for it.”

Nicole crept closer to Keenan. He was still staring down at the woman. The wind lifted the woman’s dark hair and blew it against her golden cheeks. Her eyes were open, staring with horror, and her lips were parted as if to scream.