Darkness Unleashed by Alexandra Ivy Page B

thrust away the stupid sensation.
    The years of her being a feeble victim were long gone. She was the hunter now, not the prey.
    Shoving her hand into the front pocket of her leather pants, she pulled out a set of keys and tossed them to the startled Duncan.
    “Here.”
    His brows lifted. “Babe, you shouldn’t have.”
    “I didn’t. The keys are to the imp’s RV.”
    His teeth flashed white in the thickening darkness. “I’m more a Lamborghini man.”
    “Caine wants the RV torched before it’s discovered by the humans.”
    An eerie glow came and went in Duncan’s gaze. He was alpha enough to resent Caine’s superior position in the pack.
    “That’s below my pay grade. Get one of the grunts to play pyro.”
    “Scared, Duncan?” Sadie taunted, turning to stroll toward the side door. She was itching to hurt something. And she had a tasty toy already tied up and waiting for her attention. How fortunate. “Don’t worry, I’ll send Silk with you. Her magic will keep the big bad vampire away.”
    “Bitch.”
    With a low chuckle, Sadie stepped through the door that connected the small shed. The bald lightbulb hanging from the open rafters by an electric cord swayed at her entrance, filling the cramp space with harsh light and revealing the broken shovels, axes, hammers, and coffee cans filled with nails left to rust in the corners.
    Sadie had no interest in the abandoned tools or the thick dust that blanketed the interior of the shed. Her entire attention was focused on the imp with long red hair and green eyes who was stripped naked and chained to the wall.
    A smile of anticipation curled her lips as her gaze ran over the tall, muscular body. Except for a few flecks of dried blood, Culligan’s ivory skin had healed to smooth perfection. It made her hands twitch with anticipation. Slicing through unmarred flesh was just like dipping her finger into a new jar of peanut butter.
    And speaking of peanut butter…
    Her smile widened as she crossed to the overturned barrel where she’d left her favorite peanut butter fudge, wrapped in foil. She popped a large bite into her mouth before retrieving a silver dagger hanging on the wall and approaching the cowering imp.
    He looked like an ancient sacrifice with his arms and legs spread wide, his flame hair flowing over his naked body. And, ah…his scent. Rich, plum-spiced, with a heady edge of stark, raving terror.
    It was enough to make Sadie’s heart pitty-pat with delight.
    Halting directly before the quivering demon, Sadie slowly leaned forward.
    “You’ve been a very naughty boy, Culligan,” she purred, skimming the tip of the dagger down the center of his chest. “First you allow Salvatore to track you down and discover the girl, then you lead one of the most lethal vampires to ever walk the earth to my doorstep.”
    The green eyes rolled like he was a wild horse being bridled. “Please…mistress…”
    She dug in the dagger until a bead of blood marred the ivory skin. “You wish to plead for your life, spineless worm?”
    “I did what was asked of me.” Culligan licked his lips, his voice rough from his hours of screaming. “I was told to keep the woman alive, and not to allow her to escape. No one warned me that the pissed-off King of Weres was searching for the bitch.”
    “You were told what you needed to know.” Sadie sliced a shallow cut from the imp’s breastbone to his belly button, her ears singing from Culligan’s cries of pain. Such a pathetic wretch. He couldn’t even manage a proper hex, the simplest of imp magic. Still, he did make the loveliest sounds when he was being carved like a Thanksgiving turkey. “Did you think you could deal with the devil and not pay in blood?”
    “What do you want from me?”
    “For now, your pain will do. A pity I’ve been warned we might need you as bait. I can’t permanently damage you, but I’m creative enough to keep you in one piece.” With a smile she withdrew the dagger, only to plunge it