Embrace of the Damned Read Online Free

from the endless cycle of killing and death.
     
    He was close now. He gunned the engine of his cycle, ran a red light. The city was empty, winding down into night. To his left was a parking garage. In it was his woman.
     
    Broder gunned the motorcycle inside, his blood a torpedo headed straight for her.
     

TWO
     
    Fangs scraped Jessa’s throat and the man’s huge body—he’d seemed so harmless a few seconds ago!—anchored her to the parking garage floor. No amount of screaming seemed to help and the only thing going through her head right now was
oh, shit
on repeat.
    She’d always wondered what her last thought would be.
     
    Suddenly the man was gone. No, wait, not gone—
launched
.
     
    One moment another drop of freezing-cold saliva dangling on his fang had been about to drip onto her cheek; the next moment … nothing.
     
    Pushing up on her elbows, she watched as the man careened through the air like a wadded-up piece of paper to land near a big black motorcycle, apparently her savior’s mode of transport. A huge guy with dark hair and dressed from head to toe in a long, ancient-looking leather duster strode after the man … thing … whatever it was. And he looked
pissed.
     
    Biker Guy grabbed Fanged Thing by the front of his shirt and hefted him. They struggled and she wasn’t sure who was going to win. Fanged Thing was stronger than he seemed. Alarmed, she crab-walked backward until she hit the tire of a nearby car. Fanged Thing growled and snapped at Biker Guy, but he wasn’t taking any guff. Then Fanged Thing punched Biker Guy in the side and wiggled out of his grasp.
     
    Okay. Time to go. Wrong guy winning.
     
    Her breathing came out harsh, panicked. After taking a moment to collect her thoughts, she scrambled up, going for her tote bag, her fingers scrabbling on the filthy pavement to collect her car keys.
     
    Good etiquette might dictate that she remain and thank her liberator, but she’d had a good look at Biker Guy and, frankly, even if he were victorious in this battle, the cure looked just as threatening as the illness.
     
    Hands shaking, she scooped her cell phone up and opened her car door. Portions of her arms and shoulders burned with cold. Where Fanged Thing had touched her or dropped saliva, her skin had turned a light gray.
Whatever.
She’d deal with it later. Right now, she had to get out of there.
     
    A distance away, she saw that Biker Guy had cornered Fanged Thing. Fanged Thing cowered in Biker Guy’s presence, raising his hands to shield his face and yelling,
“No, no!
”
     
    Biker Guy pulled a huge gleaming silver dagger from somewhere on his person; it had been hidden by his long coat. The blade flashed in the light, swooped … and was knocked away as Fanged Thing completed a tricky move by sweeping Biker Guy’s legs out from under him. Biker Guy went down hard and Fanged Thing was on him, inhuman growls issuing from his throat and dangerous jaw snapping.
     
    It didn’t look good for her leather-clad savior.
     
    Okay,
really
time to go.
     
    Jessamine sank into the driver’s seat and started her car engine with shaking hands. The sound made Fanged Thing’s head snap up. In that same moment, the silver dagger flashed upward and sank into Fanged Thing’s chest. Fanged Thing exploded into … glass? Or was that ice? Were those
ice
pellets? Could it really be … she squinted, watching the ice, or whatever it was, settle onto the biker dude and the floor around him in glimmering shards and tiny chunks.
     
    Biker Guy looked up at her, the blade he’d used to explode Fanged Thing dripping with water … or melted ice.
     
    Eyes wide, hands shaking, mind blown, Jessa gunned the engine of her car. Tires squealing, she was out of there.
     
    She raced around the levels of the parking garage, hands white on the steering wheel, going as fast as she could without careening into parked vehicles. The sound of her tires squealing on the pavement echoed throughout the