Free Sample
Preview from chapter one
The acid‑yellow taxi screeched up against the high kerb, splashing a fan of icy slush across the pavement. Nika jumped out, immediately pulling up the collar of her leather jacket against the biting cold. Shivering sharply, she headed straight toward the bar entrance without giving a single glance back at the frozen driver, whose eyes remained fixed straight ahead.
Glasgow tonight looked like a badly washed grey bedsheet — prickling drizzle mixed with industrial smog clung to her face, making her skin itch with damp. By the entrance to the “Iron Fang,” leaning against the heavy stonework, loomed Duncan’s broad figure. He followed the taxi with a lazy gaze and arched a thick, amused brow as she approached.
“In a taxi, eh, Ni?” he smirked, the streetlamp catching the silver gleam of his inquisitor’s badge. “Whit’s the matter, then? Yer wings at the dry cleaners, halo needs charged, an’ the broom’s beneath ye now? Or d’ye prefer usin’ the broom for sweepin’ mair than flyin’? Whit d’ye dae tae the poor cabbie, then? An’ mair importantly — whit for?”
Nika stopped a couple of steps away, casually ignoring the heavy “holy” aura rolling off him. Any other vampire would’ve felt it as a sharp jolt of electricity, but her? If anything, she found herself basking in its residual warmth. She rolled her eyes in sheer resignation.
“Duncan! I’m a vampire, no a witch, and definitely no an angel!” she snorted, shoving her hands into her pockets. “An’ for your information, even witches dinnae fly on brooms anymore. I doubt they ever did — it’s probably just some shite your inquisitor pricks made up. And as for the cabbie…”
Her face contorted in a disgusted grimace. “I absolutely detest it when they try to strip me naked with their eyes, imaginin’ all the filthy ways they’d use me, instead of watchin’ the bloody road! We nearly crashed a couple o’ times. So, I had to crush his will a wee bit, just to get his mind back on what actually mattered.”
A wicked smile spread across her face, and the dim streetlamp caught the sharp, predatory gleam of her fangs.
“And then, I wiped any memory o’ me from his thick skull. Replaced myself with two old geezers who spent the whole ride aggressively snoggin’ in the back seat and invitin’ him to join in!”
She kept grinning playfully while Duncan shook his head hard, visibly trying to banish the horrific mental image Nika had just painted for him. Witnessing his distress, she gave a dramatic sigh and pressed on: