Dark Legion Read Online Free Page B

apocalypse.”
    “You’re still in the game, then?”
    “Freelance, like Rodriquez.”
    Lockman didn’t have the heart to tell her Rod had been another casualty courtesy of Otto Dolan. “Lots of work?”
    “Fucking mojo everywhere you turn. But this time… I was supposed to be on vacation.”
    Lockman sipped his scotch, giving her time to come to it on her own.
    She gazed down at her hands. “Would you believe me if I told you New Orleans has a vampire problem?”
    “Only if you’re talking about Anne Rice novels. There’s never been any real activity down there.”
    “There is now. I did some digging. Seems after Katrina hit, vamps saw an opportunity to find easy prey. A whole bunch of them migrated down.”
    “How many?”
    She shrugged. “No idea. Enough to find a pattern if you’re looking for one. It’s almost like hiding in plain sight, though. I guess the crowd down there is a little desensitized to murders featuring bodies drained of blood.”
    Gravity seemed to double as Lockman realized where this was headed. “Your sister was killed?”
    She bit on her lip and stared into the air between them, her eyes focused on a memory. “Sis had just graduated Harvard Law. This was our planned celebration trip. Both of us were ambushed. Three vamps. I took out two, but the third…”
    “He got Mandy.”
    Her gaze shifted back to the present and screwed onto Lockman. “He took her.”
    Lockman titled his head. “What do you mean, ‘took her?’”
    “He didn’t kill her. He picked her up and carried her away.”
    “Oh, Tree.” Gravity pressed even harder against his shoulders. “She’s gone. You know that right? He probably just took her someplace…quiet.”
    “The two I fought off were fresh turns.”
    For whatever twisted reason, once vamps found themselves on the mortal plane, they could turn humans into their own kind. Just like the mortal mythology. Though it wasn’t as common a practice as films and books portrayed. Human’s made better food than friends.
    “I don’t want to be cold,” Lockman said. “But Mandy is dead. And even if she isn’t. If they turned her, she’s as good as dead.”
    “I know you’re right.” She wiped at her eyes. “I know. But I can’t be sure. Maybe she got away. Maybe she’s lost down there, hurt. Maybe they took her for some other reason.”
    “You know as well as I do, vamps only have one use for mortals.”
    She slapped the table. “I have to be sure.”
    Lockman sighed. He stared into Teresa’s frightened and confused eyes. Her personal stake had clouded her judgment, but he couldn’t fault her for that. The same had happened to him last summer. “I don’t know what you think I can do.”
    “Help me find her.”
    “I’m out of the game. Way out. I have responsibilities here. People I care about.”
    “Hiding out in a cabin under a fake name. That’s the life you want?”
    “It’s the life I chose.”
    “Bullshit. You settled because some woman’s got you by the cock.”
    While the sweat had cooled on his skin from the work outside, a new wave of heat spread through him. “You don’t know anything about me.”
    “I know who you are at your core. I know you’re a man who used to stand for something. Who fought to protect his country from threats nobody even knows exist.”
    The golden chalice. The lamb’s blood. A father’s hard and greedy hands. He squeezed his eyes shut and willed the images away. “I’m not who you think I am.”
    “Then who are you?”
    A lie conjured by the very mojo we once swore to fight.
    But telling her that wouldn’t help either of them.
    “I can’t help you. I want to. But I can’t.”
    “Because your woman won’t let you.”
    “Because I’m not about to put Kate or my daughter at risk again.”
    That stopped her as he knew it would. She sat open-mouthed for a moment before blinking away her shock. “A daughter? Damn. When did that happen?”
    “Long story.”
    She ran a hand through her