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Nikolai flexed his fingers, took a deep, unconstricted breath.

He opened his eyes. Grinned at Kiril’s comrades the instant before he brought his arms up and around and grabbed onto Kiril’s big head in both hands.

In fluid motion, he gave a violent twist and vaulted up off the chair. The chains fell away and Nikolai was on his feet with the loud snap of Kiril’s breaking neck.

“Holy Christ!” shouted one of the remaining guards.

Someone fired a wild shot. The other two scrabbled for their weapons.

Niko yanked Kiril’s gun out of its holster and returned fire, dropping one guard with a bullet to the head.

The commotion brought shouts of alarm from the hallway outside. Boots started pounding. A small army of Enforcement Agents storming in to take control of the situation.

Damn it.

Not much time left to make a break for it before he would be staring down the barrels of no less than half a dozen guns—a few seconds at most.

Nikolai hauled the dead bulk of Kiril’s body around in front of him and held it there like a shield. The corpse took a couple of quick hits as Niko started moving backward, toward the window on the other side of the long room.

In the open doorway now, a crowd of black-clad Agents in SWAT gear, all of them bristling with some fairly serious-looking semiauto firepower.

“Freeze, asshole!”

Niko shot a look over his shoulder at the window a few feet behind him. It was his best, only option. Surrendering now and going out peacefully with his Agency executioners was an alternative he refused to consider.

With a roar, Niko grabbed two fistfuls of Kiril’s deadweight and swung the body into the glass. He held on as the window shattered around him, using the forward momentum of the vampire’s corpse to carry him off his feet and through the makeshift hole.

He heard a shouted command behind him—an order for one of the Agents to open fire.

He felt cool night air on his face, in his sweat-dampened hair.

Then, before he could so much as register the smallest taste of freedom—

Pow! Pow! Pow!

His bare back lit up as though it were on fire. His bones and muscles went limp, melting away inside him as a surge of bile and acid scorched the back of his throat. Nikolai’s vision swam toward a sudden, consuming darkness. He felt the earth come up fast beneath him as he and dead Kiril tumbled out onto the ground beneath the window.

Then he felt no more.

CHAPTER

Fourteen

Lex stood with Edgar Fabien under the eaves of the main lodge, watching as the Enforcement Agents shoved the warrior’s body into the back of an unmarked black van.

“How long will the sedatives hold him?” Lex asked, disappointed to have learned that the weapon Fabien had ordered to open fire on Nikolai contained tranquilizer darts instead of bullets.

“I don’t expect the prisoner will wake up until long after he is securely housed at the Terrabonne containment facility.”

Lex glanced over at the Darkhaven leader. “A containment facility? I thought those places were used for processing and rehabilitating blood addicts—some kind of Enforcement Agency holding tank for Rogue vampires.”

Fabien’s smile was tight. “No need to trouble yourself with the details, Alexei. You did the right thing in contacting me about the warrior. Obviously an individual as dangerous as he has proven to be warrants special consideration. I will personally see to it that he is handled in the proper manner. I’m sure you have enough on your mind during this time of unimaginable, tragic loss.”

Lex grunted. “There is still the matter of our… agreement.”

“Yes,” Fabien replied, letting the word trail out slowly between his thin lips. “You’ve surprised me, Alexei, I must admit that. There are some introductions I would like to make on your behalf. Very important introductions. Naturally this will require the utmost discretion.”

“Yes, of course.” Lex could hardly contain his eagerness, his greed to know more—to know everything there was to know—right here and now. “Who do I need to meet? I can be at your