“Rare humans like Christina?”
He gave her a hard look when he heard her snide tone of voice. Alison swallowed heavily. He noticed the rapid throb of her heartbeat. He instinctively set up an energy barrier when the girl leaned closer to him, her eyelids sinking heavily over her huge eyes.
“It’s possible I’m just as special as Christina,” she said huskily.
Her eyes fixed on his mouth. He leaned back deftly, avoiding her seeking lips.
“You know, if you weren’t so busy trying to fuck everyone before they fuck you, you might notice most people aren’t half bad,” Saint said.
“Oh, is that right? Such an angel, aren’t you, Saint? You don’t fool me, even if you have turned Christina into your number one cheerleader.”
Saint stared straight ahead and continued to drive. He knew the girl was taunting him. She existed by quickly gauging other people’s weak points, and Christina was certainly his. Good thing he possessed no vitessence, or a human like Alison could drain him to exhaustion in five minutes flat. As things stood, his admiration for Christina deepened for putting up with little energy-suckers like Alison around the clock.
He drove into a sixty-foot-tall chamber filled with emergency backup generators, metal staircases, and maintenance equipment. He shut off the vehicle. Alison remained seated when he stood. She still scowled at his rebuff of her advance. Saint sighed, not particularly wanting to put up with her sulks at the moment. He needed to find Teslar and lead the Iniskium on a surprise attack as quickly and efficiently as possible. The longer Teslar had to fade back and retrench, the worse it was going to be for Christina, Aidan, and any number of innocent humans in Chicago.
“I’m not Teslar, Alison,” he said wearily.
“I’ll say you’re not,” she countered, her tone disdainful.
“Did you come here to help me or to act like a spoiled brat?”
She jolted in shock at his harshness before she rolled her eyes and made a disgusted phffing sound. She glanced up and gasped.
“What the—”
“Alison, meet Fardusk and Isi,” Saint said evenly.
Fardusk stared impassively at the slight girl from his lofty height. “I have seen her before.”
“Yeah. When you’ve been shadowing Teslar, no doubt,” Saint said.
“She’s one of his future entrées,” Isi said, his expression disdainful as he looked Alison over. “Or, wagering from the size of her, one of those tasteless, low-fat appetizers.”
“Fuck you, Chief Head Up His Ass!” Alison shouted as she leapt off the MinerMobile, looking fully prepared to take on a skilled Iniskium warrior who was twice her weight. Isi’s dark eyes widened in surprise before he cracked a grin, his white teeth flashing vividly in his dusky face.
“Actually, he’s the Chief.” Isi hitched his thumb at Fardusk, who watched the exchange without twitching a muscle. Isi pointed at Saint. “And he’s our leader, seeing how he made us what we are. So why’d you bring the tiny morsel, Saint?”
“Stop your teasing, Isi. It’s obvious Saint wants her to lead us to Teslar’s new den,” Fardusk said.
Alison refused to back down, however, edging toward an amused-looking Isi with her hands balled into fists.
“Alison, thicken up the skin a bit, huh? Isi rides everyone. It’s nothing personal,” Saint chided, although in truth, he was thinking just the opposite. The warrior’s sense of humor had grown dark since Javier Ash had turned his lover into a revenant several years ago. But presently, Isi’s manner was almost playful.
“Does this chamber look familiar?” he prodded, trying to distract Alison. She glared at Isi balefully before she glanced around as though she’d just noticed where they were.
“Yeah, maybe.”
“Which way?”
Alison pointed to the right corner of the huge, concrete-reinforced chamber, still glowering at Isi. When they got there, she nodded to the floor. The three males removed several coiled hoses and wheelbarrows filled with concrete reinforced bolts. A few seconds later, Fardusk knelt and tried to lift the metal grate on the floor.
“Is it nailed shut?” Alison asked.
Fardusk’s massive biceps flexed, stretching the fabric of his white T-shirt. Metallic popping noises echoed off the high concrete walls. Several nails skittered onto the concrete pavement.
“Not anymore,” Fardusk deadpanned as he set aside the grate. The fringe on his leather vest flew up when he lightly sprang into the black hole he’d just revealed. Fardusk’s boots struck the ladder with a dull, metallic sound, his head and shoulders poking out of the hole. Alison made a squeaking noise of shock.
“You guys aren’t normal. What…you’re all vampires, right?” Alison accused as Fardusk lowered the ladder and Isi dropped blithely into the dark hole, grabbing the ladder with inhuman speed and ease.