Luther grunted.

“And open your fucking visor when I’m talking to you.” The vampire guard narrowed his eyes, his hand shifting toward his weapon, but Luther didn’t follow his order and took a step closer.

Pulse racing, Katie took a quick inventory of the room and the guard. There was a computer console that looked like it belonged in a recording studio. Behind it was an arsenal of weapons, and beyond it the only other door. The way out was past this guard.

“Come on, buddy, gimme a break,” Luther coaxed. “They’re gonna eat her alive back there. And I’ve already given her more than she can take.”

“Lockdown! All stations on lockdown!” a voice came through a loudspeaker. “Watch out for a male intruder posing as a guard, accompanied by a female.”

Patterson’s eyes widened as he reached for his weapon, but Luther was already pouncing. With his full body weight, he slammed into the prison guard. As Luther and the other vampire traded blows and kicks, Katie ran toward the other door, but to her surprise there was no knob and no card reader. She spun around.

“The console!” Luther called out to her, before the guard’s left fist flew toward him. He avoided it narrowly and tumbled backward.

Katie rushed to the computer console. Her eyes traveled over the buttons and switches. But there were too many, and they were only labeled with initials. “Fuck! Which one?”

Luther and his opponent crashed against the console, making it rattle. Both men growled and continued fighting each other. Luther had lost his head gear, and Katie knew what this meant: they would recognize him and hunt him should they ever make it out of here.

Frantically, Katie flipped switches and pressed buttons. An alarm began to sound.

“Oh shit!” Luther cursed, freezing for a moment. Time enough for the prison guard to land a blow to his temple, jerking his head to the side.

Luther careened back, trying to regain his balance. Horrified, Katie watched as the guard pulled a smaller gun from his boot and jerked it toward Luther. The metal barrel gleamed under the harsh lights. This wasn’t a UV gun. This was a small-caliber handgun. She’d seen Scanguards’ people use them—they were usually loaded with silver bullets, and once they hit a vampire, the silver would eat him alive from the inside.

“Fuck!” Katie gripped the first thing her hands reached and charged toward Patterson.

Holding the iPad with its rigid cover in both hands, she threw herself between the guard and Luther, thrusting the tablet in front of the muzzle just as the shot fired.

She felt the impact as the bullet hit the iPad and—luckily!—got stuck in it. The force of it though, pushed her back, making her lose the ground beneath her feet. Arms flailing, she fell with her back against the console. The wind was knocked out of her lungs, and when she pulled in another breath, a scream ripped from her throat.

Pain seared through her flank. She dropped her gaze toward the floor and tried to focus her eyes amidst the blinding pain that wracked her body.

A knife. Covered in her blood.

It came toward her once more, ready to plunge into the same wound it had already caused, but the second hit didn’t come. Instead, the guard was jerked back.

Her legs buckled. “Luther,” she murmured and closed her eyes, trying to block out the pain.

22

Luther tightened the silver chain he’d snatched from a hook on the wall around the guard’s neck and jerked him away from Katie just in time. With his knee, he kicked his opponent in the back, making him not only lose his balance but also the bloody knife in his hand.

Instantly, Luther trained his eyes on Katie: a red bloodstain spread on the white dress shirt, soaking it just above her waist.

“Shit!”

He noticed her sway.

“Hold on, Katie!” he urged her, as he pulled his captive back toward the wall lined with steel conduits. He looped the ends of the silver chain around the thick metal rod and secured it, tying up his prisoner, while Patterson clawed at the chain to loosen it from his neck—to no avail. The silver bit into his skin, burning him, slowly eating away the upper layers.

Angry eyes stared at Luther.

“Don’t worry, you’ll survive.”

“Bastard!” the guard choked out. “I’m gonna get you for this!”

But Luther had already rushed to Katie, who was barely keeping herself upright. “Got you!” He grabbed her with one arm, lifted her off the floor and rounded the console.

“Gotta get out of here,” she murmured, sounding breathy.

“I’ll get you out,” he promised, while he scanned the computer console with his eyes, looking for the right button to operate the door to the outside.