Chapter 11
Chapter
Eleven
Open for business only on Friday and Saturday nights, Nightfall would remain closed during the week. Marcus’s large staff would provide continual protection for the building even while it sat vacant.
Alaric had decreed weekends exclusively to fuel the fever to get in.
If partygoers could experience Nightfall on a very limited basis, they wouldn’t tire of the experience.
Additionally, the entrance rite had bonded the attendees to the clan.
They had willingly given their blood and could be tracked anywhere.
The clan had bestowed a gift on their visitors as well. Strength in the form of bolstered mental and physical health enhanced their lives for a few hours. Those positive changes would create an urge inside people to return. They felt better blowing off steam by dancing and socializing with others.
They would return in droves and bring others with them. With Costa threatening their business, Marcus would need to devise a way to safeguard the attendees. He had no doubt Costa and his men would choose to attack the patrons of Nightfall next.
Once they’d emptied the building of guests, Marcus watched revelers linger on the exterior walkways.
Security encouraged everyone to head home, but conversations and potential hookups kept the attendees close.
Marcus had checked with his staff, who reported the first few people in line had shown up three hours before Nightfall opened.
That created a wide time range he’d need to strategize how to guard effectively.
After patrolling the perimeter of Nightfall, Marcus carried Carina out of the club in the early morning hours. The secured garage where his car sat should be perfectly safe, but he would risk nothing to protect her. His precious Little still slept, only rousing to cuddle closer to his throat.
Marcus settled her comfortably onto the passenger seat and buckled her belt. He walked around the car and slid in beside her. Carina let out an adorable sigh and reached over the console to set her hand on his thigh.
“Daddy.”
“I’m taking you home, Little girl.”
“Okay,” she mumbled. Seconds later, a quiet snore sounded from the right side of the car, making him smile.
Carina definitely wasn’t the night owl he was. She’d slept soundly for the last few hours. Marcus waved his thanks to the guard, who still secured the entrance to the parking lot before turning onto the now deserted street.
As always, Marcus scanned his surroundings, keeping vigil to anticipate any possible problems. Costa had attacked twice already.
Marcus guessed he wouldn’t learn and would try again.
The man wouldn’t have gotten to his position of power without being ruthless and determined.
After the clan had killed his employees, his underlings would have started to doubt him.
Costa would need to reestablish his authority, or his followers would decide supporting Costa was too risky.
Costa would never win. He had no idea what he was dealing with, nor did he have the tools to succeed. A mere mortal versus a clan of ancient vampires was completely outgunned. No matter how lethal his human forces were.
A dim glow caught his eye. Marcus scanned the area in front of the car to the left, where he’d seen it. His sharp vision spotted a man talking on a cellphone. The amateur had forgotten to turn off his screen.
To avoid having to stop at the red light ahead, Marcus swerved abruptly into a parking lot and sped through the empty spaces to the exit on the next block.
He took the next right at the intersection and kept the vehicle moving.
When he’d detoured several blocks from his original route, Marcus didn’t relax. Costa was desperate.
He swerved around a delivery van that partially blocked his lane.
An oversized black SUV appeared suddenly in his path.
Marcus screeched to a stop, threw an arm out to keep Carina back against her seat, and shifted into reverse.
Turning in his seat, Marcus sped in reverse while keeping the SUV in his sight.
“Daddy! What’s happening?” Her voice told him no trace of sleep remained.
“We’re going to be fine,” Marcus told her before opening himself up to his clan and alerting everyone to their location. I’m under attack.
Within seconds, Alaric appeared on the road between Marcus’s sports car and the SUV targeting them. The large black vehicle adjusted its course to aim directly for the Elder in the middle of the street. Marcus shook his head. This wouldn’t end well. For them.
Carina’s scream filled the car, followed by sobs as debris struck the windshield.
She ducked under his still-extended arm to shield herself as Marcus steered the car backward, not seeing the massive landscaping rock Alaric had placed behind him.
“They hit him!” Car parts from the threatening SUV had flown in all directions.
“He’s safe, Little girl. He’s too wily to get taken out that easily.” Marcus whipped the car around to face the other direction and continued away from the accident. He could sense Alaric’s presence as always.
“But they hit him! He was right there in the way.”
A high-pitched ping sounded, and Marcus’s front tire exploded.
As he struggled to control the car, its rear tire burst and flipped the car onto its side.
As it slid, Marcus freed his seatbelt, steadying himself inside the vehicle by sheer strength alone.
Someone was shooting at them. A skilled sniper. He had to get Carina out of here.
As the car’s skid slowed, he unfastened her seatbelt, and Carina’s limp body tumbled into his arms from above him.
Carina moaned, putting a hand against her forehead as she roused.
Marcus could smell her blood and struggled to keep himself under control.
Rage and bloodthirst battled inside him.
Her precious life force should not be spilling.
Whoever had wounded his Little girl had just sealed their fate. Their death would be painful.
Marcus pulled himself out of the wreckage and scooped Carina into his arms. He hesitated to use his ability to move quickly.
Could the force against her frail human form worsen her injury?
He darted at a slower pace to a spot protected on three sides and set her down.
This sheltered alcove on the block could protect her if he shifted the metal security partitions.
Carina clung to his neck. “Don’t leave me!” she begged.
“I need to take out those men. Stay quiet for me. Do not move. You will be safe here.”
When she nodded, he bent a metal partition to shield her from view.
He climbed up the side of the building in the shadows and scoped out the area.
Concentrating on the direction the shots had come from earlier, Marcus spotted a man repositioning himself on the rooftop next to the one where Marcus crouched.
The slim barrel of a rifle cast a shadow, confirming the man’s guilt.
Marcus flexed his shoulders automatically. His sword hung as usual down his spine. This time they’d endangered his mate. Now their fight was with him not with the clan.
Moving faster than any eye could track in the night's gloom, Marcus leapt between the two buildings. He darted behind the prone man, who scanned the area below for new targets with his rifle’s scope.
Marcus’s rage boiled over. He yanked his sword from beneath his coat and drove it through the sniper’s hip, pinning him to the roof.
Before the injured man could aim at Marcus or cry out, Marcus dropped onto the bleeding man’s back with one knee.
The sniper’s breath exploded from his lungs, leaving him gasping for air.
Marcus shoved the rifle halfway across the roof with his left hand while grinding the sniper’s face into the roof with the other. He leaned over so that his lips were close to the squirming man’s ear. “You harmed someone very precious to me, and I will not allow that to go unpunished.”
With a savage snarl, Marcus sank his teeth into the man’s jugular vein.
While a bite could be sensual between sexual partners, Marcus pierced the man’s neck, causing excruciating agony.
Drinking in the waves of fear coming from the sniper, Marcus savored the sniper’s pain as retribution for his attack on Carina.
When that didn’t appease his wrath, Marcus increased the pressure on the man’s skull against the roof.
The pops and cracks of his victim’s facial bones shattering as Marcus ground the man’s head to a wet smear below him finally eased Marcus’s anger.
Rising from the lifeless shell, Marcus wiped his hands and sword off on the dead man’s jacket before slinging the assailant’s now ownerless rifle across his back.
No need to leave the enemy weapons to reclaim.
An instantly recognizable scream sliced through the silence of the night.
Marcus leaped over the side of the building and plummeted six stories to the ground in an instant, landing catlike on his feet without a sound.
He scanned the street where he had left her, but through their blood bond he could sense she was moving in the opposite direction.
Something or someone had spooked her, and he could feel her distress.
He reached out to his clan.
Shut off this area! The men holding Carina are mine.
Mental acknowledgements returned to him like a fiery glow.
He could feel their anger. Alaric and Donovan were close.
They would handle any threats that might slow him down with the brutal efficiency of their kind.
With the avenues of escape closed, he could focus on Carina and whoever had taken her.
Rage and the need for vengeance warred within him.
Fear kindled in his stomach for the first time in a hundred years.
He had to reach his Little girl in time.
Gripping his sword in anticipation, he ran.