out of his chest. If he’d been human, it might’ve been a killing blow.
But vampires are damn hard to kill.
I should know.
“Not on my watch,” I said, sword held out in a defensive position. “You’re not killing him in front of me.”
Jason fell with a thud on the floor, but at least he was off the bed and out of the way.
“Not bad,” the vampire muttered as he hurled the dagger away. “I should have known. They warned me about you. But I have fought many like you. Most of them were not worth the breath spent on extolling their many virtues. Let’s see how good you are.”
I didn’t even want to dignify that with an answer.
“Who sent you?”
Dressed in skin-tight leathers, he pushed his light hair back past his ears and grinned. “Can’t tell you. Not worth my life.”
I shrugged. “Have it your way, then.”
They say that when two masters meet each other on the field of honor, neither of them will move. For one wrong move can end the battle and reap an unacceptable outcome.
This particular vampire didn’t seem to care.
Launching himself over the bed, he pulled out a blade from a back sheath, its point centered over my heart and I parried it, taking a step back as his strength almost sent me stumbling through the open doors.
I would not win the battle this way.
I would not survive.
And as much as I hated using the particular gift that enabled me to battle those far stronger than I, there was no longer any choice.
Not if I wanted to live.
I blinked and the world faded into shades of gray and black, the vampire before me turning into a mass of shadows, each movement made and to be made, pulsing to the beat of my heart.
Red for movements past.
White for movements to be made.
He dodged to the left, intent on spearing me in the side with his rapier-like blade.
Or rather…he would.
A human and a vampire can’t possibly fight on equal grounds.
Not when the vampire possessed inhuman strength and supernatural speed.
But with my split second precognition, it was possible.
I could fight him.
I could win.
I deflected the blade, but hadn’t taken into account the long length of the blade. The tip scored up my rib cage, bringing forth searing heat and blood in its wake.
But I was still alive when it was meant to be death blow.
I grinned widely, let him see the expression on my face. “Is that all?”
The vampire’s dark eyes narrowed and he took a step back, but by no means lowering his blade. “The rumors. They were true. You can --”
Didn’t let him finish. “My turn.”
The hwan-geom caught the moonlight and glinted once in the darkness as I brought my right hand up, let it slide down the edge of his blade, bringing sparks that brought a sudden wash of light in the room.
“What —”
He reared back, one arm over his eyes. Light affects everyone and vampires are not immune to sudden changes in brightness.
An idiot.
They had sent an idiot to eliminate Jason.
And now the idiot would die. A second time. A final time.
I thrust deep into his unprotected left side, shoved the sword between his ribs.
Watched the vampire’s mouth open in a silent cry, watched his unnatural black eyes widen, watched the rapier fall his nerveless fingers.
I stepped into the thrust, leaned into him, smelled the fetid, coppery breath on my ear. “Good bye.”
A low gurgle left his crimson speckled lips and his weight forced the blade up and out.
They say death makes a body weigh lighter.
They are wrong.
My head began to pulse as I pushed my shoulder into his and slid the sword out of his body.
The sound of applause caught my attention and I turned around slowly, afraid of what I would see. What if the vampire had a friend? In modern terminology, I would be SOL.
But no, it was just Jason, propped against the wall, a wavering smile on his lips.
He clapped once more and then dropped his hands into his lap, as if he was too weak to do anything more.
“You are everything I thought you would be,” he said quietly. “Truly, I commend you. Ran, I didn’t know you could…Ran? Are you hurt?”
Upstairs, a door opened. “Jason? Ran? Why is it so dark? I smell blood.”
Reiko.
She was up.
Thank Gods.
I struck the blade back into its scabbard and saluted messily. “You are very welcome.”
The pain in the back of my head, like someone was repeatedly clubbing me at the top of my spine,