A hideous and spine chilling laughter echoed from the darkness behind Miranda.
“How touching.”
Gabriella!
Miranda’s heart stopped for
one brief moment. Her body froze with fear as her mind commanded her to run.
Where?
The door stood at her back,
as did Gabriella.
She had only one option—she
would have to face Zacke’s ex and pray for a miracle.
Miranda gently replaced
Heather’s hand back on the slab before covering her once more. She willed her
spine to stay straight as she eased the drawer back into the walled recess. She
didn’t want Gabriella looking at or possibly inflicting more damage on
Heather’s mutilated body. She closed the door after the slab clicked into place
and turned around.
Gabriella sat on a metal
gurney next to the door. The ruby dress she wore emphasized the death-like
color of her cheeks and contrasted with her dark hair. The woman who had tried
to frighten Miranda to death certainly looked the part of a killer.
Miranda hadn’t paid any
attention to Gabriella’s eyes the night the witch had kissed Zacke, but she
noticed them now.
They glowed a deep purple,
but as she watched, they took on a red cast. Her fabricated courage faded as
she glimpsed Hell’s fires.
Gabriella remained
motionless.
Miranda felt like a mouse
waiting for a lion to pounce. Well, she would just have to show Gabriella a
mouse could roar.
“Gabriella, I assume?”
“Yes, and you are the
irritating Dr. James.”
“Since I’m sure this is not
a social visit, why don’t you tell me what you’re doing here?”
Gabriella’s eyes took on a
deeper tinge of red. Miranda didn’t care for her hungry gaze.
“I am here to warn you once
more that Zachary is mine.”
Miranda clenched and
unclenched her fists but kept her eyes glued on Gabriella’s face. She wanted to
be ready if Gabriella attacked—not that she could do much to protect herself
against a vampire—but at least she wouldn’t die without a fight.
“We’ve had this
conversation before. He isn’t a possession, Gabriella.”
“I have seen the way he
kisses you.”
Miranda wasn’t sure she
wanted to know how Gabriella had come by that bit of information. “From what I
hear, Gabriella, you did more than kiss him. Yet you have no claim either.”
Miranda blinked twice. Had
she just seen the woman fly off the gurney? As she watched, Gabriella moved
toward the opposite side of the room—away from the door.
She needed something,
anything to protect herself. An instrument table sat only a few feet away.
Miranda shook off the paralysis threatening her legs.
She barely moved two feet
before Gabriella swirled around. The woman must have eyes in the back of her
head.
“Going somewhere, little
mortal?”
The sarcasm dripping off
her words goaded Miranda. “Well, yes, as a matter of fact I am. I have patients
to see, and this pissing contest about a man neither one of us can claim is
ridiculous.”
Gabriella closed her eyes,
and Miranda moved a bit closer to the instrument table.
“I didn’t believe any
mortal capable of your courage, Dr. James. I admire someone who can, or should
I say attempt to stand up to me.”
Had the woman just paid her
a backhanded compliment? Miranda didn’t know nor did she care. Only two more
steps, and she could grasp the scalpel handle peeking out from under its
sterile covering.
“So does that mean you’re
going to leave now? Fly back to wherever you came from?”
Gabriella snarled and
closed her eyes. Miranda lunged for the table. She had the sharp instrument in
her hand when she heard a guttural growl. Great, she had really angered her
this time.
Miranda turned to face
Gabriella and wished she could close her eyes. The woman’s former beauty
had disappeared. Her eyes now shone crimson and snarling lips revealed four
incisors that would make a dentist cringe. Red tinged their tips, and Miranda
didn’t even want to guess if the blood-colored substance had come from
Heather’s poor body.
She raised her weapon a
split second before Gabriella attacked.
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