Jane. Secret facility. Operation.
Vampire.
An iron grip on his biceps was all that kept him off the hardwood, his patient’s brother grabbing on. “You have to come and see my sister. She’s going to die if you don’t.”
Manny breathed through his mouth and swallowed a lot. The patient . . . his patient . . .
“Is she still paralyzed?” he moaned.
“Yes.”
“Take me,” he bit out. “Now.”
If it was a case of that spinal cord being permanently damaged, there was nothing he could do for her clinically, but that didn’t matter. He had to see her.
“Where’s your car?” the goateed fucker asked.
“Downstairs.”
Manny broke free and beelined for his briefcase and the keys he’d left on the kitchen counter. As he tripped and fell about his place, his brain felt fuzzy in a way that terrified him. Any more of this in-and-out shit with his motherboard and he was going to be permanently damaged. But that was a discussion for another time.
He had to get to his female.
When he got to the front door, the vampire was right behind him, and Manny switched his stuff to his left hand.
A quick pivot and he threw out his right fist, snapping it up in an arc perfectly calculated to catch the guy’s jaw.
Crack. The impact was solid and the bastard’s head knocked back.
As the vampire releveled his stare and lifted the corner of his mouth in a snarl, Manny was having none of it. “That’s for fucking with me.”
The male dragged the back of his hand across his bloody mouth. “Nice hook.”
“You’re welcome,” Manny said as he stepped out of his place.
“I could have stopped that at any moment. Just so we’re clear.”
Undoubtedly, that was true. “Yeah, but you didn’t, did you.” Manny marched over to the elevator, punched the down button, and glared over his shoulder. “So that makes you a chump or a masochist. Your choice.”
The vampire got in close. “Careful, human—you’re only alive because you’re useful to me.”
“She’s your sister?”
“Don’t forget it.”
Manny smiled by baring all his teeth. “Then there’s something you need to know.”
“What.”
Manny rose up on his toes and met the fucker eye-to-eye. “If you think you want to kill me now, this ain’t nothin’ compared to how you’re going to feel when I see her again.”
He was practically hard just thinking about the female.
With a ding, the double doors opened and he stepped off, stepped in and turned around. The vampire’s eyes were spears looking for a target, but Manny shrugged off the aggression. “Just letting you know where I stand. Now get in or ghost down to the street and I’ll pick your ass up.”
“You must think I’m an idiot, true,” the vampire growled.
“Actually, not at all.”