He slammed into the door. The damn thing wouldn’t give. It must have been reinforced.

Fine. If it wouldn’t give, then he’d just burn it down.

Because he was getting to Cassie. “Hold on!” Dante shouted to her. “Just hold on!”

He wasn’t up to having her die in his arms a second time.

She was out of bullets. She was also a terrible shot. Cassie hadn’t hit even one of those vampires in the heart.

She’d just blasted them until her gun clicked. Two of the vampires—the blond and a bald guy—were on the floor. But the others were closing in on her.

Crap.

Smoke began to drift in the air. Her head whipped toward the door. Dante was out there. That was his smoke. She’d heard his shout. He wanted her to hold on—hold on to what? The vampires were right freaking there!

One grabbed for her. She slammed the gun into the side of his head and managed to break free of him. Then she raced for the wooden table in the corner. The vampire she’d hit grabbed her legs and she fell, face-first, onto the floor. She ignored the pain from that impact and grabbed out with her hands. She caught the side of the wooden chair and yanked it back.

The vampire was pulling her toward him even as the chair slammed into the floor—slammed and broke apart.

She grabbed for one of the broken pieces of wood. “Got to taste . . . got to taste . . .” the vampire snarled.

“No. Trust me, you don’t want a taste!”

He didn’t listen.

His fangs came at her.

She drove the makeshift stake into his chest. That close, well, that close her aim was dead-on. He screamed, but the cry choked off as his body stiffened.

His blood pulsed out of his chest as she shoved him away from her. Cassie jumped to her feet.

And realized that she was surrounded.

Three vampires . . . including one that she recognized.

“Hello, bitch,” said the redheaded female vamp that Cassie had last seen in Taboo. “Didn’t think you’d get away from me, did you?”

Sometimes, Cassie truly thought that she had the worst luck in the world.

She bent and scooped up one of the chair’s broken legs. “This is your last chance to walk away.”

The smoke was thickening. Dante was outside, probably growing more pissed by the moment. The angrier he got, the more powerful he would become. She just needed to buy a little more time. Time for him to burn his way through the wall of the building.

“One of us will walk away,” the vampire promised Cassie with a click of her too-sharp teeth. “But it won’t be you.” The redhead rushed toward her.

Cassie screamed and brought up her stake.

The redhead just ripped that stake out of her hand—and laughed. “Amateur hour is over, honey. Time for you to play with the big girls.” The stake was thrown against the wall. The redhead grabbed hold of Cassie’s hair and yanked back her head, baring her throat. “You should never have come between me and my snack.”

That snack had just burned his way through the back side of the warehouse. As Cassie gasped, flames leaped around them, racing up the walls, burning hot and bright.

Over the female vampire’s shoulder, Cassie saw Dante surging toward them. The flames were reflected in his eyes. “You should run,” she whispered to the vamp.

“And you should die,” the redhead snarled, then she sank her teeth into Cassie’s throat.

Cassie cried out as the woman tore into her neck. The bite was brutal, and she felt the knife-slice of those teeth as they sank deep into her jugular. She tried to push the redhead away, but the vampire was too strong.

Cassie’s eyes were still open, and her wild stare saw that the other vamps were rushing toward Dante. He sent balls of fire flying toward them. The flames hit the vampires, and they ignited.

“Get . . . off . . . me . . .” Cassie yelled as she twisted in the redhead’s hold.

The redhead jerked her head up. Blood dripped down her lips. Her eyes widened with horror, even as a tendril of smoke rose from her mouth. “What . . . the hell . . . are . . . you?” She stumbled back.

Cassie had told her to run. “I warned you . . .” She put her hand to her throat, trying to stop that gushing flow of blood that she could feel on her neck.

Dante was rushing toward the female vampire, coming with his fire and fury, but there would be no time for his attack.

She hit the floor. The vamp was screaming. Every bit of color bleached from her skin, and her body stiffened, contorting, and she died . . . thirty seconds after tasting Cassie’s blood.