And he didn't want to live another day without her in his life.
He didn't know if she felt the same way. She'd given herself freely to him earlier when they'd made love.
She hadn't blamed him for turning her into a vampire. They'd worked together like a well-oiled machine when they weren't fighting.
But that didn't mean a thing.
Okay, he told himself.Stop wasting time. Go back and find her before it's too late .
She was going to be pissed at him for doing this. She could be. He was fine with it.
As long as she was safe, nothing else mattered to him.
He ran back to the El Diablo. There were flashing lights of police cars that had just arrived, probably to investigate the bomb threat. All he had to do was sneak in past them.
A man stood with his back to Quinn, his arms crossed in front of him, staring up at the hotel. He was alone.
It was Gideon.
No one was watching. This could be the opportunity of a lifetime. Sneak up behind the leader of the hunters and snap his neck. It would be murder, but could he justify it to himself that it would save so many in the long run? Also, Gideon was well known for being unforgiving to those in the hunter ranks who disappointed him. Torture was one of his tools for getting the information he wanted.
Kill him. Break his neck. It would be fast, and the man who had ended so many with no thought to gentleness or being nice about it would be dead.
He tried to summon something inside himself, that spark of the killer he once was, but came up empty.
Quinn wanted never to kill again—not if he could help it. And not like this.
"I know you're there," Gideon said softly without turning around.
"You do?"
"I don't like when things are out of my control. There are few things I cherish, and my power is one of them."
"Could have guessed that."
He turned to face Quinn. There was no friendliness on the man's face, only weariness. He looked much older than his thirty-five years. "Why did you do it?"
"Do what?"
Gideon's lips curled into the ghost of a smile. "Warn me about the bomb."
"I wish I could hang out and chat, but I'm needed somewhere else right now."
"Then tell me quickly."
"Because I don't believe in mass murder. And the man who planted the bomb had a very skewed idea of the world now that he's a vampire."
"And you don't?"
"No. Actually, I see things a lot clearer now."
"Does it make things simpler?"
"What things?"
"Choices. Life and death and all that lies between?"
"Not sure what you mean, exactly, but no. Choices are not any simpler. Clearer, maybe, but not simple."
"And where is the man who planted the bomb now?"
"Dead."
"I see." Gideon nodded. "Can I tell you a secret, Quinn?"
"Make it a fast one."
"I know that vampires are not all deserving of death. It was my father and my father's father, and those that went before, that made the decision thatvampired would be our targets—our life's mission to destroy. They were blind to reason, but I am not."
"So what is that supposed to mean?"
Gideon's expression shadowed. "It changes nothing, of course. But it does make me question my own humanity. The fact that even knowing what I know—I won't stop. I'll never stop what I'm doing until all vampires have been wiped off the face of the earth."
Quinn felt cold at his words. "And you think that's going to happen?"
Gideon breathed out a short laugh. "Unlikely. But my life is devoid of challenge. Women are too easy—none excite me enough stimulate my intellect. Other men fear me, and I call no one my true friend.
My father was too focused on his work, and now he is dead. There is only me and my mission."
Quinn nodded. "No challenge, huh?"
"I climbed Mount Everest last year. It was disappointingly uneventful."
"Vampires are pretty easy to kill."
His mouth turned up in a cruel smile. "Like shooting fish in a barrel. So few put up any sort of a challenge. They just accept death. It bores me. I thought for a moment that you would present me with an interesting diversion tonight, but even you…" He trailed off and sighed. "You offer nothing new."
If Gideon weren't whining about not having enough cool things to kill, Quinn might even feel sorry for him. He supposed that was what it was like, to have everything in the world, any woman, any material possession, the luxury to travel to the four corners of the globe and stay in style. Life would be boring after a while.
Gideon had nothing he cared about.
Quinn had Janie.
That made all the difference at the moment. And he'd do whatever it took to save her.
The helper drones pushed her, wordlessly, into a suite at the hotel that made Quinn's lavish room look like the economy special. The place was still empty of guests. As they passed a window, she saw the flashing lights of police cars and ambulances that had arrived in case the bomb scare had not been false.