Demon Moon

“Lilith went after them.”
    Savi glanced between them. He meant he wanted Colin to go offer Lilith backup, if she needed it.
    Anticipation, merciless and hard, flashed over Colin’s features. “Do you want any alive?”
    Hugh had turned back to Geetha, but the coldness in his voice could’ve answered for him. “One. For questioning.”
    Colin nodded and gently caressed Savi’s cheek with the tips of his fingers. He no longer had his sword; he must have hidden it when the police arrived.
    “I’ve notified Taylor and Preston, love,” he said, his pale gaze holding hers. “They’ll be here shortly. They’ll have an idea of what truly happened, but Lilith will spin it to anyone else as a gang hit. It’ll go over.”
    She drew in a shuddering breath, wiped at her eyes with her forearm. “Okay. I’ll tell Hugh about the demon, too.” If Hugh stayed after he’d been healed and spoke with the detectives; he was likely anxious to go help Lilith. “You’d better hurry if you want her to leave one alive.”
    A part of her hoped that he wouldn’t.
    His lips quirked slightly, but his face darkened. He hesitated, then he stood with a muttered “bloody hell” and disappeared.
    Savi looked up as a pair of red tennis shoes came into her view; Dru stood above her, smiling as she squatted beside them, her long white lab coat flaring around her.
    “Don’t worry, Savitri darling; I’ll have her fixed up in a jiffy. She’ll only feel a little pinch.” She winked as Savi stared at her without expression. “Just a bit of medical humor.”
    God, but Savi hated Hollywood doctors.

    It took little effort to locate Lilith; Colin followed the shrieks of pain, the scent of leaking fuel. Four blocks from Auntie’s, he found the Navigator rolled over on its side in a weed-choked lot, the windshield broken out. At the end of the lot, near the rear of a brick building, a vampire lay facedown on the asphalt.
    Lilith was on top of him, her knee jammed into his back, her fist locked in his hair and her sword against his throat.
    She looked up at Colin’s approach, and her angry snarl widened into a wicked smile. “Are you hungry?”
    “Starving.” Colin’s gaze narrowed on the vampire’s weapon, lying next to his side. An automatic rifle. Icy rage worked itself from his stomach to his veins. “Were there others?”
    “Two.” She yanked on the vampire’s scalp, and her eyes gleamed when he yowled. “Sir Pup is giving chase.”
    “I want them,” he said softly.
    Lilith stared at him for a long moment, then yelled an instruction into the air for the hellhound to return the vampires alive. “If it isn’t too late,” she added with a lift of her brows. “Hugh?”
    “Healed.”
    Her throat worked. “Good.” She bent toward the vampire’s ear. “For you. You wouldn’t believe the tortures I’d have designed for you. I’ve had the best instructors.”
    The vampire coughed, spit. His nose was bloodied, his forehead raw and spotted with flecks of mud; she’d likely slammed his face into the ground. “Fuck you,” he managed, and Lilith sighed.
    “Allow me,” Colin said. He laid his sword on the ground and crouched in front of them. Studied the clothes, the face. Pale skin, though it retained some natural olive pigmentation. His eyes were closed, but judging by the dark hair, Colin would wager they were brown. The vampire couldn’t have been older than twenty when he’d been transformed, and probably in the past year or two. Not more than a boy. “Look at me.”
    Dull brown eyes, not the rich bittersweet chocolate of Savitri’s. The vampire gasped, and emitted a low, panicked moan. His mouth slackened, revealing his fangs, his tongue.
    “Fuck me,” Lilith breathed. “Your beauty can be terrifying sometimes, Colin.”
    “Yes.”
    He felt her stare a moment longer before she turned her head.
    She didn’t allow the vampire the same mercy.
    Colin reached out, ran the backs of his fingers down the vampire’s cool, rainwet cheek. “Tell me your name.”
    “Denver.” The boy shuddered. “Denver Jennings.”
    “Denver.” Colin rolled it seductively off his tongue. There was no chance the boy was older than his estimate with a name like that. By the way Lilith’s form stiffened, she realized it, as well. “Where is your partner, Denver? One of those who escaped?”
    If fear didn’t convince the boy to talk, the threat of losing his partner might.
    “No,” the boy panted. “She was an elder.