Kiss of Midnight_ A Midnight Breed Novel - Lara Adrian [602]
“Se-seize her!” he sputtered to his guards, who were recovering now from the smaller strikes Renata had dealt them.
One of them raised his gun on her. She blasted him, then gave the second guard another dose as well.
Damn it, she had to get out of there. Couldn’t risk using any more of her power when she’d pay dearly for every strike once her reverb hit. And she wouldn’t have long before the crippling wave roared up on her.
Renata spun around, broken glass crunching under her boots from last night’s chaos. She felt a small breeze cutting through the locked shutters. Realization dawned: There was no window behind her, only freedom. She took hold of the sturdy wood panels and gave a hard yank. The hinges groaned but didn’t quite give way.
“Kill her, you fucking imbeciles!” Lex gasped from behind her. “Shoot the bitch!”
No, Renata thought, desperate as she pulled on the stubborn wood.
She couldn’t let him stop her. She had to get out of there. She had to find Mira, take her somewhere safe. She’d promised her, after all. She’d made a promise to that child and God help her, she would not fail.
With a cry, Renata put all her muscle and weight into tearing down the shutters. Finally they loosened. Adrenaline coursing through her, she ripped them free completely and threw the shutters aside.
Sunlight poured over her. Blinding, brilliant, it washed into the great room of the lodge. Lex and the other vampires shrieked, hissing as they scrambled to shield their sensitive eyes and move out of the scorching path of the light.
Renata climbed out and hit the ground running. Lex’s car sat on the gravel drive, doors unlocked, keys dangling from the ignition. She hopped in, turned over the engine, and gunned it into the certain—but temporary—safety of daylight.
CHAPTER
Fifteen
The most recent round of torture had ended a couple of hours ago, but Nikolai’s body tensed in reflex when he heard the soft click of the electronic lock on the door of his room. He didn’t have to guess where he was—the clinical white walls and the fleet of medical apparatus flanking his wheeled bed was clue enough to tell him that he’d been taken to one of the Enforcement Agency’s containment facilities.
The industrial-grade steel restraints clamped tight at his wrists, chest, and ankles told him that his current personal accommodations were courtesy of the Rogue treatment and rehabilitation wing of the facility. Which, in case there had been any question before, meant that he was as good as dead. Like the Breed equivalent of a Roach Motel, once you strolled through these doors, you never came back.
Not that his captors intended to let him enjoy his stay for any length of time. Nikolai got the distinct impression that their patience with him was near its end. They’d beaten him nearly unconscious after the tranqs wore off, working him over to get his confession to having killed Sergei Yakut. When that didn’t get them anywhere, they started in with tasers and other creative electronics, all the while keeping him drugged enough that he could feel every jolt and prod yet too sedated to fight back.
The worst of his tormentors was the Breed male coming into the room now. Niko had heard one of the Enforcement Agents call him Fabien, spoken with enough deference to indicate the vampire ranked fairly high up on the chain of command. Tall and lanky, with narrow features and small, darting eyes under his slicked-back fair hair, Fabien had a nasty sadistic streak barely hidden behind the veneer of his elegant suit and pleasant civilian demeanor. The fact that he had come in alone this time couldn’t be a good sign.
“How was your rest?” he asked Niko with a polite smile. “Perhaps you’re ready to chat with me now. Just the two of us this time, what do you say?”
“Fuck you,” Nikolai growled through his extended fangs. “I didn’t kill Yakut. I told you what happened. You arrested the wrong guy, asshole.”
Fabien chuckled as he walked to the side of the bed and stared down at him. “There was no mistake, warrior. And I personally