Undead for a Day by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom Nancy Holder Chris Marie Green Page A

stay for long as Kiko touched Lilly’s neck, as he had when he’d interviewed her.
    Dawn asked the questions this time. “Are you messing with us, Lilly?”
    After a hesitation, Kiko shook his head. “I’m not getting much of a read on her. Everything’s scrambled in her head right now.”
    Meratoliage magic at work?
    “Lilly,” Dawn said, louder now, “were you lying to us about anything tonight?”
    This time, Kiko received a quick answer from Lilly. “The location of the family...” he mumbled before strength came back to his voice. “She lied to us about not knowing where the family is right now...”
    But then he shook his head, as if he didn’t understand what he was reading in Lilly anymore. “Damn, she went on the fritz again.”
    Dawn had the feeling that Lilly was playing with them once more, and she bristled. It was time to get the little bitch out of here. Interview over.
    When Kiko removed his hand from Lilly’s neck, he focused his gaze on her face. “She’s blank now, but I did get something at the end there. Her thoughts were fading in and out, like she’s losing energy. Maybe it’s because the sun is getting closer to rising and the dark powers that raised her are waning. I don’t know. But I got the vibe that she actually wants to show you where the family is.”
    Costin spoke from his side of the room. “Perhaps she wants to lure Dawn there with the dragon.”
    “No,” Kiko said. “I felt...bitterness. Betrayal. Rage.”
    When he looked at Dawn, she saw how pumped up he was. He loved being in the thick of things and would never be the same man without the hunting to keep him going.
    But he had a whole other life ahead of him.
    “Thanks, Kik,” she said softly, simply. What else could she tell him?
    He nodded, then glanced over to where Costin was lingering by the curtains before he paused, then finally quit the room.
    Something was in Dawn’s eye, and she blinked it away. But that only left the same something wet on the top of her cheek instead. Dammit.
    Costin breezed over to her. “Dawn...”
    She didn’t know what alerted her to Lilly—a twitch she saw out of the corner of her eye,  a gut feeling?—but the next thing she knew, ropes and cuffs were flying, and Lilly was standing up and raising some kind of object in her hand...
    Suddenly, Costin’s essence was being pulled away from her, and she reached out, as if she could hold onto him.
    “Costin!”
    But by the time she saw what Lilly was holding it was already too late.
    A box. A tiny black box that looked like a button from the keeper’s shirt.
    Just like that, Lilly snapped the box shut and pressed something on her opposite wrist, targeting Dawn.
    Liquid squirted toward Dawn, and she sprang out of the way, but not in time to avoid being hit on the neck, where she wasn’t covered by her shirt.
    Her skin sizzled, and she slapped a hand over it, yelling.
    Acid. And from the look of the ropes and the cuffs all over the floor, Lilly had used it to subtly escape while they’d been momentarily distracted by Kiko leaving.
    Dawn heard a vicious laugh and looked up to see Lilly shoving the little box onto her belt. Then she leaned forward and, with another hellish sound—just like fast, dry, loud clicks coming from her throat—she jumped over a sofa and bounded toward the glass door.
    With one powerful, fast-running kick, she smashed it open and dove outside.
    But Dawn already had her revolver up, and in spite of the burning on her neck, she squeezed the trigger.
    The bullet seemed to catch Lilly in the leg, making her stumble, but she didn’t fall. She just took off into the night with the most precious thing Dawn had.
    Costin.
    Had the Meratoliages wanted him all along and Lilly had schemed her way to him?
    Without thinking about the consequences, Dawn screamed. She thought she heard a clamor as the others rushed into the room, but she’d already jumped through the glass door, avoiding the shards, running as fast as