Deadly Desire (Riley Jenson Guardian 7)

Glass crunched softly under my feet as I picked my way through the rubbish, my laser held at the ready and every sense I had tuned for the slightest hint of movement or life. But there was nothing. The only sounds were the wind and my own breathing, which wasn't quite as steady as I would have liked.

The doorway led into a short corridor and, at the far end, a set of swinging doors. Two other doors led off the corridor itself, but neither of these were open. I hesitated at the swinging doors, flicking to infrared and searching the room beyond. Once again, there was nothing to suggest there was any sort of life-or unlife-laying in wait, but that strange blackness was filling it.

I went through carefully and quietly, catching the door with my free hand before it could swing back and clip the other door. The less noise I made, the better. I had no idea what lay beyond that blot of darkness, but I wasn't about to announce my presence any more than necessary.

The air in this room was still, untouched by the wind that played about the rest of the building. Despite my earlier confidence that the inner building had to have some light, it didn't. There were absolutely no windows or skylights. It was little more than a big, black metal box. A box that held a heart of deeper darkness.

I scooted to the right, keeping my footsteps light and my back to the wall. Though I still wasn't getting any readings from infrared, I had a sense that something was near. My internal radar for dead things was jumping. Whether it was my zombie or something else, I had no idea. I certainly couldn't smell either the zombie or anyone else up ahead.

I reached the side wall. There were rust stains and small holes on the concrete floor-indications that machinery of some sort had once stood here. The smell of grease was prevalent, and a good inch of it coated the wall. It smelled faintly of age and rot, and made me wonder just what had been manufactured here.

Keeping a few inches between myself and that grimy wall, I padded along, listening intently for any sounds that might indicate I was getting nearer to my quarry. There was nothing. If not for the fact that my "other" senses were insisting that something was near, I might have thought I'd lost him yet again. It was almost as if that black blot in the center-whatever it was-was sucking up all sound and motion.

I crept nearer. Power began to slide across my skin-a tingling, almost burning sensation that somehow felt unclean. I frowned, my steps slowing as the darkness in front of me seemed to grow-deepen-somehow. I reached out with my free hand and felt an odd sort of resistance to my touch before it gave way. My hand moved forward, into that darkness, and became lost. I knew my hand was there, but I could no longer see it.

Great. I was about to walk into a black hole, and who knew just where I was going to come out?

I blew out a breath, then wrapped the shadows of the room around me, using my vampire skill to hide my body from view. I might be walking into a trap, but I had no intention of doing so in plain sight.

I stepped into the blackness. I might as well have walked into a wall of glue. It pulled at me, making every step a battle. I pushed forward, fighting the gluey blackness, until sweat began to trickle down my spine. Just when I was beginning to think the blackness might never end, I was free of it-the suddenness of it leaving me staggering forward for several steps before I caught my balance.

The darkness beyond the black wall wasn't as deep, meaning I could actually see again. Ahead of me was the zombie. By his side were two big, black dogs. Only I didn't think they were ordinary dogs-not if the scent of sulfur was anything to go by. Sulfur was the scent of demons. I'd come across it once before, when I was trying-with Quinn's help-to close down a demon gate. It had been guarded by a hellhound, and the bastard had almost torn me to pieces. I didn't fancy meeting two of them-not without any sort of weapon that would do them damage, like holy water and silver. God, it was tempting-very tempting-just to step back into the gluey darkness and disappear.

Only I had a job to do, and they didn't seem to be noticing me anyway. They were too busy looking upward, just like the zombie. I followed their lead. Above them, a gantry stretched from one side of the room to the other-a rusting metal structure that seemed far older than the building itself. On it sat a crow.

And while it looked like an ordinary everyday bird, I doubted there was anything plain or ordinary about it, if only because whatever it was had the complete and undivided attention of both the hellhounds and the zombie. If it wasn't a shifter, then it was undoubtedly something a whole lot less pleasant, and I really didn't want to discover what. Especially with the bitter taste of evil that seemed to be rolling off it.

I raised the laser and pressed the trigger. The crow must have sensed the shot at the last moment, because it dived sideways-a very uncrowlike movement if I'd ever seen one-and the bright laser beam shot past its wing.

I fired again. It squawked and avoided the laser a second time, moving faster than I would have thought possible for anything not a vampire.

I swore and shot the zombie instead. The beam hit him neck height, severing left to right. His head rolled slowly off and made a wet splash as it hit the floor. His body crumbled and did the same.

I shuddered. Rotting flesh indeed.

I raised my gaze to the ceiling again. The crow squawked even as I sighted the laser, and the two hellhounds turned as one, their beady yellow eyes gleaming in the darkness and their thick canines bared.

The bird was definitely in control of the beasties.

I pulled the trigger, firing off a final shot at the crow, then turned and ran into the black glue. A howl ripped across the air, but the sound abruptly closed off as the blackness wrapped itself around me.

But I knew they were behind me. I could smell the thick scent of sulfur getting ever closer. It seemed the blackness wasn't quite the hindrance to them that it was to me, and sweat broke out across my brow as I realized that I wasn't going to get out of this before they were on me.

Then a hand came out of nowhere, wrapped itself around my arm, and hauled me none too gently upward.

Chapter Two

As I landed on a metal walkway that groaned under my weight, the hand released me. I spun around, ready to fight, not sure whether I'd been rescued or drawn into deeper danger.

The raw scent of wolf swirled around me, rich with a musk that was all man and totally delicious.

It was also a scent I recognized, even if I'd only smelled it once, and then only briefly.

Kye-the man who'd played bodyguard to Patrin, the son of our pack's alpha, Blake, and one mean bastard.

I couldn't see him in the gluey blackness, but I really didn't need to. Not given how close he was. Not when the heat of his body rolled across mine, sending warm prickles of desire skating across my skin.