Know Thine Enemy (9 page)

"
Mr. Wright wouldn't listen to us if he was the one sitting in that chair," Prentiss observed.

"
Mr. Wright wouldn't have been dumb enough to wind up in this chair in the first place," Izzie replied. "He would've nailed your ass to the wall."

"
And that's why we want you," Moira said. "You don't act before you think."

"
He does what he has to."

"
He does it for revenge," the blonde continued. "You don't seek revenge on us."

"
Not yet. Keep talking, though, and you might convince me."

Prentiss grinned.
"See. And that's why I like you."

"
I'm flattered." Izzie looked quickly to the quieter woman . . . Juliette, or whoever. She didn't like the way the vamp studied her neck. Maybe she was fresh off the tap. It could be Izzie's imagination, but the chick looked like she could fall off the wagon at any time.

"
You haven't closed your mind off," Prentiss said, drawing her attention back to him. "You're still listening."

Izzie smiled through her teeth.
"Mistake number one."

"
Our interests right now are solely in cleaning up the streets," Prentiss said. "Which is in league with your interest . . . or at the very least, the interest of your friend, Mr. Wright."

"
And you're doing it by kidnapping one hunter at a time?"

The man shrugged.
"Our methods differ from town to town. Finding you here was a happy coincidence, and Mr. Ryker has clearly taken an interest in you. That makes you a weakness where he is concerned."

Izzie arched a brow.
"Don't get me wrong, but he doesn't seem like the type to have such an obvious weakness."

"
You wouldn't think so, wouldn't you?"

"
Unless you're another one of those closest cases who's read
Twilight
too many times. Vamps don't go moon-eyed for us puny mortals. Ryker wants nothing to do with me."

Prentiss just grinned.
"My dear, you don't know Mr. Ryker as I do."

"
What? You guys go to the same summer camp?"

The grin thinned just a bit, and became all the more menacing. A shudder coursed through her, but Izzie ignored it. Whatever she
'd said had visibly struck a nerve, and she wasn't the sort who dabbled in other peoples'—or vampires'—affairs. When it got personal, it got nasty, and she was already in it up to her hips in Wright's personal war. No way would she allow some two-bit vegan bloodsucker manipulate her into doing his dirty work.

"
Mr. Ryker and I were once very close," the vampire confessed.

"
And he broke your fragile heart?"

Prentiss stiffened, but the disgust on his face was too genuine for a star-crossed lovers thing. Perhaps his
self-proclaimed conservatism extended to bigotry.

"
Mr. Ryker is the worst sort of monster," he said. "He feigns empathy to get close, but, rest assured, Izzie, he will destroy you just as readily as he would anyone else. He only has his own preservation in mind."

She barked a laugh.
"How is this different from any other animal?"

Prentiss slammed his hands against the table.
"You're not listening!" he snarled. "Ryker and all like him must be put down. You're the professional in this sort of pest control. I have a problem and I want it fixed."

"
So you admit that this might be just a teensy bit more personal than you let on?"

Juliette and Moira exchanged glances.

"Let me be very clear," Prentiss said slowly as his facial muscles plainly attempting to pull his mouth into a grin. "My personal feelings have little weight on this matter."

That grimace of his was one of the most disturbing displays
Izzie had ever seen. She snickered again. "Obviously."

"
You are not the easiest girl to reason with."

"
And I wanted so bad for you to like me. Though get real—I can't imagine anyone would like being tied up by a bunch of bloodsuckers and lectured as to who the really bad guys are."

Moira stirred at that, her expression darkening.
"We're not bloodsuckers."

"
Dollface, you wouldn't be standing here if you weren't getting it somewhere, on or off the tap." Izzie shook her head. "There was this small religious sect a few hundred years back in New England. One of the tenets of their faith was they couldn't bump uglies, so guess what happened?" She paused. "Yeah, if you don't do the nasty, you can't survive. That includes you guys. Except in this case, 'the nasty' is blood and is, well, actually nasty."

Prentiss made a sound that might have been a chuckle in a former life.
"You either have utter faith that we won't bring you harm or an inflated superiority complex."

"
Can't it be both?"

His
frozen grin tightened. "We drink blood because we must," he acknowledged. "But no one here takes pleasure in the act. We survive only to reach others . . . and hopefully put an end to this epidemic."

"
The vampire epidemic?"

"
Yes."

"
This isn't like smallpox or something," Izzie said. "There will always be vampires who like violence and mayhem just as surely as there will always be Presbyterians. You can't just hope someone doesn't fall into their line of thinking."

He shook his head.
"If we isolate and destroy the problem, we will have order."

"
That sounds an awful lot like a dictator I've read about . . . ."

Prentiss glared at her.
"You're not interested in helping us, are you?"

"
Gee, you catch on?"

"
You truly do not want to be part of the solution."

"
Not the Ultimate Solution."

He snickered.
"Some hunter."

"
The ones you want are the ones who'd just as soon kill you as look at you." Izzie fought the urge to look at her dagger. God, what she wouldn't do… "The ones like me struggle enough to give a shit about what they do in the first place."

"
There are none like you," Juliette offered, the hungry gleam still present in her eyes. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but either way, the lady gave Izzie the wiggins. "You're the first without a vendetta. A reason to do what you do. We thought you could help us."

"
Sucks to be you," Izzie replied. "So, what? Is this the part where you kill me out of mercy?"

Prentiss
's eyes narrowed. "We don't kill here," he said. "I told you, human life is something we consider precious."

"
So that's it?" Her hands flexed. She took another glance around the room, but nothing had revealed itself since the first look, and her head still ached. "You just kidnapped me to give me a sales pitch and now I leave . . . no harm, no other stuff?"

The look on the vampire
's face clearly betrayed he would like nothing more than to leap down the length of the table and ravage her throat, but he hid it behind another tight smile.

"
That's right," he said. "If you feel there's nothing you would like to do for us, then you're free to go."

"
After I'm untied."

"
That's right."

"
And I won't be asked to make a blood donation?"

"
We don't drink human blood," Prentiss said. "Our supply comes from butchers willing to give us a cut of their stock. Pig, cattle . . . we eat whatever we can, so long as it didn't come from a human host."

"
You know," Izzie said. "Piggies have feelings, too."

He ignored her.
"If you think you might reconsider—"

"
I won't."

Prentiss huffed and waved a hand.
"Very well. Juliette, if you will."

The dark-headed female at his right nodded and slowly made her way around the table, focused intently on Izzie
's face. Izzie returned the stare with all she could muster, though she wouldn't deny the nervous thrill that rushed down her spine as the woman neared. Now or never, if the girl wanted a bite. It didn't help that Juliette possessed a pair of disturbingly large brown eyes—the sort that seemed ordinary but became unsettling the longer they remained attached to one object. By the time the vampire was within reach, a bone-rattling shudder had racked through Izzie's body, but she refused to look away. She wouldn't give Juliette, or Prentiss, the satisfaction.

At last, Juliette looked down
, her hands prying at Izzie's bonds.

"
Here you go, dearie," she purred. "Good as new."

Izzie shivered, her aching skin humming
with relief as the ropes fell away. She glanced at her dagger, and though her hand ached for the familiarity of its smooth handle, she kept herself from seizing it. No sudden movements seemed to be the best bet—she wouldn't believe they truly intended to let her walk out the door until she had put at least three county lines between them.

"
If you reconsider," Prentiss said, "we'll leave word at The Wall concerning how you might find us."

Izzie paused. For whatever reason, she
'd assumed The Wall was Ryker's sanctuary. If they had informants from within Connor's place, there might be nowhere safe for the mysterious vamp to hide. At least not in this town.

Then again, it wasn
't any concern of hers.

Not really.

"Yeah, well," she said, shaking off the thought as her fingers inched toward her blade. "I'd say don't hold your breath, but something tells me that won't be a problem."

Prentiss smiled thinly.
"It's been a pleasure."

"
There's a word for it."

"
Don't forget your knife."

Her feigned aloofness vanished the second he referred to the blade.
Izzie fisted the handle and relaxed. She glanced at Juliette and smiled faintly before turning back to Prentiss.

No sudden movements.

"Don't worry," she said. "Never go anywhere without it."

"
Yes," Prentiss replied, his tone ominous. "I know."

* * * * *

He didn't like this.

Ryker didn
't know how long he'd stared at the sliver of sidewalk where Izzie's scent hung the heaviest, annoyed with himself for caring but unable to stop his inner cricket from singing.

He hadn
't intended to come out this way at all, but Connor had asked him to lock up the front, which typically meant ensuring the rowdier customers hadn't made a mess outside. The sweet, natural aroma of a young woman was something no vampire could resist. It was the first thing he'd noticed about Izzie, the first thing he'd committed to memory. Her scent. Her pure, undoctored, all-female scent.

Women nowadays bathed in perfume, and while he understood the appeal to human males,
such fragrances were often an affront to his super-heightened senses. Izzie smelled like soap and toothpaste. Either she knew what attracted the seedy underbelly of the demon world, or she didn't care to scrub down in frilly foam or whatever else the girls of today enjoyed. Ryker liked it. Were circumstances different, it likely would have led him straight to her throat.

Thus, when he stepped outdoors, he couldn
't help but drink in the lingering hint of her scent.

Something had happened here.

"Evertin' all right?"

Ryker shoved his hands into his coat pockets and kicked the curb.
"The girl."

"
Whut?"

"
Izzie. She came out this way."

"
Right." Connor huffed in agreement. "After she din't eat no food."

Ryker domed a brow and favored his friend with a
slanted look. "That wasn't personal, you know. The girl's a hunter. She probably doesn't make a habit of taking food from strangers."

"
Coulda taken it from me."

"
Yeah, but she didn't know that."

Connor gaped at him for a minute then furrowed his brow as though he hadn
't considered this before. "Err. Right."

Ryker inhaled and nodded, his attention returning to the slab of pavement where Izzie
's scent was the strongest. "Something happened here."

"
Happened?"

"
Yeah. Girl like that doesn't stop to fumble for her keys. She made tracks to get away from me and stopped a hair outside the door?" He shook his head. "Something happened here. She ran into something."