That was true strength.

“I wasn’t badmouthing him. Much,” Noelle added sheepishly. “But lookit. I know you better than anyone, and I know you have daddy issues.”

“Do not.” She raced through another crosswalk, but as she placed her foot on the concrete, her knee almost buckled, and black dots began spiderwebbing through her vision. She quickly righted herself and caught up with Noelle, who hadn’t noticed her decreased speed.

“Ava. Your dad left when you were just a kid, and your drunk-ass mom dated a thousand assholes after that.”

“Fine. I have daddy issues.” So did a lot of other girls. And Ava was over hers. Really. She no longer cried herself to sleep because other kids had loving daddies to tuck them in at night. (She just didn’t sleep at all.) She no longer watched kids being pushed on swings by their dads, clutching her chest to stop the sudden ache.

She didn’t have a loving dad, and never had. So what. Her dad had walked away and never looked back. So what. Her mom had seemed to forget about her entirely the day she’d moved out of their trailer. Again, so what. She’d built a great life for herself.

“So. We’ve talked about this before, but you were drunk and not listening. So listen now. I’m glad you’re giving someone a chance. Even someone who once belonged to me.”

“He never belonged to you.” Ava still didn’t like the thought of McKell being owned by anyone but her. Even her best friend. And yeah, she’d realized that before, but now, weak as she was, she didn’t have the strength to rationalize why. The statement was as much as part of her as her lungs or her heart. Just like McKell.

Her eyes widened. She liked him that much?

Noelle grinned, gray eyes sparkling with an undeniable I-told-you-so. “Alls I’m saying is that you have a fear of abandonment, so you leave before the guy can leave you.”

True. She’d already realized that, too. Didn’t mean she liked having it pointed out. “What are you, a doctor now?”

“Yes. Dr. Love. And Dr. Love is also very glad you stopped caring that McKell’s a vampire and an enemy. I mean, Mia’s willing to use him, so AIR doesn’t view him as a bad guy. You shouldn’t either.”

She tripped again, over a rock this time, and her arm bounced. The subsequent sting had her wincing. A quick glance down showed that her shirt and the waist of her jeans were completely soaked through with blood—and she was still bleeding profusely. Great.

“Can we continue this conversation when I’m not dying?” she asked. One more block, and they’d reach the clinic.

Noelle cast her a glance, and worry replaced the teasing sparkle in her eyes. Okay, no. They couldn’t continue the conversation at another time. Noelle needed the distraction, and Ava now needed to ease her own sense of guilt.

“I’m not keeping him,” Ava said. Not forever, at least. She wasn’t that far gone.

Grateful, Noelle picked up where she’d left off. “See? You plan on leaving him before he can leave you, and you—” She gasped excitedly. “This is it! This is it! We’ve picked up a tail!”

“Who?” Ava barely restrained the urge to turn and look. Only the thought of tripping and kissing concrete stopped her. “Where?”

“Remember the car at the first crosswalk? The girl who wanted to help?”

“Yes.” Human in appearance, young, sweet voice.

“She followed us. In fact, she just pulled over and is getting out of her car.”

“How can you tell?”

“Duh. The reflections on the shop glass.”

“Oh.” Good thinking. “I, uh, just didn’t think of that because of my tremendous amount of blood loss.”

“Of course,” Noelle said dryly.

“She could have just reached her office.”

“Nope. Now she’s following us on foot. And there’s a guy with her. He got out of the car, too.”

Excitement raced through Ava, which increased the blood flow in her veins. Which increased the throb in her wound, and the rate at which she drained. The weakness grew more apparent, as did the trembling.

“We need cover.” Noelle wrapped her fingers around Ava’s forearm and tugged her into another alley, not stopping until they were in the center, at the edge of a Dumpster. “Pretend you’re resting. I’ll pretend I’m fixing your bandage.” As she spoke, she slapped a pyre-gun in Ava’s hand and palmed one for herself.

Ava kept the weapon at her side, hidden from the entrance to the alley. Sure enough, the pretty female from the car turned the corner and approached, along with an unfamiliar male.

Neither spoke. There was too much hunger in their eyes. Eyes narrowed on Ava’s wound. The female licked her lips, revealing sharp fangs. Fangs. Even while the sun shone on both of them, their skin remaining unaffected.

Bingo. Daylight vampires.

“Can I help you?” Noelle asked them, unconcerned.

“Mine,” the male slurred.

“Oh, really?” Noelle laughed. “Let’s see about that.”

Ava and Noelle flashed their guns at the same time and fired. Blue beams erupted, momentarily chasing away the shadows cast by the buildings on either side. Both beams hit their targets dead center. Only, the vampires didn’t stop. Didn’t even slow.

Ava blinked in surprise. “What the hell?”

The answer immediately slid into place. Along with immunization to the sun, the vampires who drained humans to death also developed an immunity to stun rays. Shit! Why hadn’t she thought of that?

Another answer didn’t have time to form. The vampires launched at her, and there wasn’t even a spare moment to dial her gun to its burn-and-kill setting. The gun was swiped out of her hand, and she was knocked to her ass.

Still at full strength, Noelle snapped into action, and stopped them from jumping on top of Ava. The three rolled on the hard concrete, arms and legs flailing. Teeth slashing. Noelle yelped, but she didn’t let go. She punched and kicked, and somewhere along the way, she managed to withdraw two blades. She, too, slashed. Only, her weapons were sharper.

Blood squirted. From Noelle, from the vampires, but none of them slowed. The vamps continued to bite at her, and she continued to swipe at them. Just as Ava gathered the strength to insert herself into the fight, the female slipped past Noelle. Ava’s hair was nearly ripped from her scalp as the vampire raced around her and jerked her backward, dragging … positioning.

Ava tore free and straightened. Breathing was a thing of the past, but she twisted, already swinging. Her fist connected with the woman’s jaw, but weak as she was, the blow barely registered. And then the woman punched her back. Her jaw exploded with pain. She saw stars, was falling down … down …

Hell, no. She wasn’t losing this fight. It was two against two, and she liked those odds, even destabilized as she was. When she hit, she grabbed a handful of gravel and kicked the woman away from her, then again made her way to her feet. Without hesitation, she chucked the rocks in the vampire’s face. A howl rent the air as her opponent staggered back and rubbed at her eyes.

Ava could see that Noelle was still struggling with the male. Bite marks marred her arms, and she was covered in blood. His, her own. Her friend was clearly tired, panting, sweating, her movements at last slower than usual.

Shit. Perhaps doing this without McKell hadn’t been such a good idea. Perhaps? Ha! But there was no help for it now. She withdrew another gun, a taser, and aimed. Her arm shook, and her grip was feeble. She wasn’t sure how long she could hold on.

“Noelle,” she shouted. “Move!” Waited … waited …

When Noelle had the opportunity, she jumped backward, out of the way. Ava fired at the male. Contact. He screeched, his entire body vibrating. Noelle then attacked, and now she had the advantage.

Another screech, this one female, and Ava knew she was about to feel pain. But she didn’t have time to switch the direction of her aim. The gun was kicked out of her hand in less than a blink, the female on top of her, pushing her down. This time she hit, and her skull took the brunt of the fall.

Pain, oh, yes, pain. Black dots filled her vision as she tried to crawl away, creating distance while reaching for a blade. Her fingers curled around the hilt as something heavy slammed her back down. She twisted, blade raised, but before she made contact, sharp teeth sank into her neck. The pain exploded, and she couldn’t really pinpoint where one ache originated and another ended. She tried to slash. Her wrist was knocked away and pinned like the rest of her.

She felt the suction, then the cold, then the fragility of her own body. No longer could she move, not even to lift her arms.

She had lost. She had lost a fight. She was embarrassed, disappointed in herself, fading … This really was it, she realized. The end. She wanted to laugh bitterly, but the sound snagged in her ravaged throat.

One regret after another flooded her. She hadn’t made love with McKell. She hadn’t told him good-bye. She wouldn’t see him again.

In the distance, she thought she heard Noelle curse. A second later, the teeth were ripped out of her. She expected Noelle to smooth the hair from her face, and tell her everything was going to be okay now. Even though they would both know it was a lie. Fading … But it was a man’s touch she next experienced, soft and tender, and a man’s voice that whispered in her ear.

“Ava, darling. Can you hear me?”

McKell.

Pleasure overshadowed all other emotion. She didn’t know if McKell was really there or if she was hallucinating, and she didn’t care. If she was going to die in an alley, she wanted him with her, one way or another.

He was strong, just as she’d told Noelle, and he treated her as if she were special, not the trash she’d always been called. Despite her human—and, according to him, inferior—origins. He teased her, got her. Didn’t try to change her. Unless you counted changing her from human to vampire, but she didn’t, because he’d promised not to feed her any of his blood.

“I’ll make you better,” he cooed, and she knew. He was real. Somehow he’d overcome stun, and found her. Her sweet, sweet protector.

And she trusted him, she realized. He wouldn’t try to change her even now, injured as she was. Even pissed as he had to be. She knew it. She knew him. She’d told him no, and he wouldn’t disregard that. Pride wouldn’t let him.

Determined hands banded around her, lifted her, gentle and warm. He started forward. His gait was smooth, and she felt like she was floating.

Where was Noelle? Why wasn’t her friend talking?

She began to struggle, wanting answers. McKell must have sensed the direction of her thoughts, because he said, “She’s fine. Noelle is fine.”

Ava relaxed.

“Now sleep,” he said silkily, “and I’ll take care of everything. Although, once I’m done, you’ll probably wish I had stayed away.”

Even then, she trusted him. She slept.

Twenty-two

McKell didn’t know what else to do. He convinced a human to haul him and the injured females to Ava’s apartment via removing the blanket hood and flashing his fangs while his skin sizzled. Oh, and issuing a threat of death. Along the way, he phoned Bride, who agreed to meet him there. In fact, by the time the driver had stopped in front of Ava’s building, Bride was already there. With Devyn.

If that bastard turned the charm on Ava, as he’d done to Bride, McKell would butcher him. Although, to be fair, Ava was much smarter than Bride. He liked these thoughts. They spoke of a future.

“Open the door,” he snapped at the human—who may or may not have peed himself.

“O—open.” The passenger door split from the car frame.

Noelle was so rattled and weak, she hadn’t said a word the entire drive.

McKell kicked his way outside with Ava cradled in his arms. She moaned. His blanket slipped and his skin burned, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t going to rush inside. He wouldn’t risk jarring her.

Bride, who waited in the shade, protected, pushed Devyn forward, a hint to help with the girls. McKell instantly pivoted, moving out of reach.

“Uh, McKell,” Bride said. “Let Devyn take her. You’re nearly deep fried.”

He ignored her, expecting her to cover herself and follow as he headed toward the building. As he strode past Devyn, he said, “The other one’s yours. They left two dead vampires in an alley a few blocks away. You might want to call AIR for pickup.”

“You sure they’re dead?” Devyn called.

“Very.” He’d removed their heads. Savagely. First his teeth had ripped out their tracheas, then his claws had finished the job. He hadn’t been able to stop himself. Hadn’t wanted to stop himself.

He’d followed Ava’s scent, dying inside when he spotted her trail of blood. He’d run—and run and run, until finally spying her. And when he had … murderous instinct had taken over.

Once inside, he carried Ava past curious onlookers, allowing the blanket to fall the rest of the way, forgotten. Up the elevator and down the hall, until he stood at her door. He didn’t set her down as he reached up and flattened one of his palms on the ID pad. A quick scan, and the door popped open.

He strode inside, finally allowing himself to glance at Ava. She was pale, the blue veins under her skin evident. There were shadows under her eyes, and cuts all over her neck and arms. The scent of her blood wafted to his nose, and he—

Sharp teeth sank into his ankle.

He stumbled, but didn’t let go of his charge. Something growled as he looked down. And spied Hellina. She was drinking his blood greedily. Lapping up every drop she could, and then biting his ankle again for more. Trying, McKell thought, to get to Ava.