The Black Dagger Brotherhood Read Online Free PDF Page B

rescue.
    â€œZ?” Rhage said from above. “Anything there?”
    Z snapped to attention and cleared his throat. “I’m on it.”
    As he approached the civilian, he said softly in the Old Language, “Be of ease.”
    The vampire’s eyes flipped open and his head jerked up on his spine. There was a look of disbelief, then astonishment.
    â€œBe of ease.” Z double-checked the corners of the basement, his eyesight penetrating the shadows, seeking signs of a security system. All he saw was a lot of concrete walls and wooden flooring, along with old piping and wiring snaking around the ceiling. No electric eyes or sparkling new power supplies.
    They were alone and unsupervised, but God only knew for how long. “Rhage, still clear?” he shouted up the stairwell.
    â€œClear! ”
    â€œOne civilian.” Z assessed the male’s body. He’d been beaten, and though he didn’t seem to have any open wounds, there was no telling whether he could dematerialize. “Call the boys in case we need transport.”
    â€œAlready have.”
    Z took a step forward—
    The floor broke apart beneath his feet, splintering right out from under him.
    As gravity grabbed him hard with greedy hands and he went into a free fall, all he could think about was Bella. Depending on what lay at the bottom, this could be—
    He landed on something that shattered on impact, shards of whatever it was slicing at his leathers and his hands before bouncing up to cut into his face and neck. He kept hold of his gun because he’d been trained to, and because the jolt of pain tightened him up from head to foot.
    It took some deep breathing before he could reboot his brain and try to assess any damage.
    As he sat up slowly, the chiming sound of bits of glass falling to a stone floor echoed around him. In the circle of light that fell from the cellar above, he saw that he was sitting in the midst of a brilliant shimmer of crystals. . . .
    He’d fallen on a chandelier the size of a bed.
    And his left boot was facing backward.
    â€œFuck. Me.”
    His broken lower leg started to pound with pain, making him think that if only he hadn’t looked at the damn thing, maybe he would have kept on not feeling it.
    Rhage’s face popped over the rim of the ragged hole above. “You okay?”
    â€œFree the civilian.”
    â€œAre you all right?”
    â€œLeg’s shot.”
    â€œHow shot?”
    â€œWell, I’m looking at the heel of my shitkicker and the front of my knee at the same time. And there’s a high probability I’m going to throw up.” He swallowed hard, trying to convince his gag reflex to pipe down. “Get the civilian loose and then we’ll see about getting me out of here. Oh, and stick to the rows of nails on the floor. Clearly the boards are weak.”
    Rhage nodded, then disappeared. As massive footsteps above caused drifts of dust to powder down, Z went into his jacket and took out a Maglite. The thing was about the size of a finger but could throw a beam as strong as the headlight on a car.
    As he panned the thing around, his leg problem bothered him a little less. “What . . . the hell?”
    It was like being in an Egyptian tomb. The forty-by-forty-foot room was stocked with objects that gleamed, from oil paintings in gilt frames to silver candelabra to bejeweled statuary to whole mounds of sterling flatware. And across the way there were stacked boxes that probably contained jewelry, as well as a lineup of fifteen or so metal briefcases that must have had money in them.
    This was a looting repository, filled with what had been taken during the raids this past summer. All of this shit had belonged to the glymera —he even recognized the faces in some of the portraits.
    Lot of value down here. And what do you know. Over to the right, close to the packed dirt floor, a red light started blinking. His fall had triggered the