Invincible (A Centennial City Novel) - By Fionn Jameson Page 0,91
uttered by a snout the length of my forearm, the serrated teeth glinting in the faint moonlight. Every one of the teeth looked more than capable of going straight through my arm and I slowly backed up, staring at the monster that loomed over me like the worst possible nightmare.
“You think that potato peeler is going to help you?” he asked.
It looked like he was smiling. It was hard to tell with all the teeth and hair getting in the way.
I took a moment to stand up, keeping my eyes on his chest. I'd be able to see any blow he threw my way although how I could possibly counter any attack, I hadn't the slightest idea.
“You're just a pawn,” I said. “How does it feel to be so manipulated? Is that how you want people to remember you?'
There was no mistaking the raspy exhale-inhale for anything other than laughter. “How I want people to remember me? Are you implying I'll be dead soon?”
I chanced a look behind me.
It was a stupid, life-risking move, but I had to know the reason for the lack of sound. Had Noir won? Had the vampires won?
And if Noir was dead, where did that leave me?
Did I still owe an allegiance to the Fellowship?
Although, if what Annabelle said was true, maybe they no longer wanted me. Maybe I was now persona non grata. That or someone on their Wanted list. I didn't know which was worse.
And did I still owe Jason? If Noir, my original purpose, no longer existed, where did that leave the two of us?
Questions laid thick and heavy in my mind and I couldn't not look.
I had to know.
But as it turned out, all of my questions were for naught.
The parking lot was completely empty.
“Where do you think you're looking?”
Without thinking, I ducked.
Instinct and training paid off.
An inch or two higher and I would've lost the top of my head.
Even so, I felt the wind from his passing claws ruffle my hair and with my heart in my throat, I tripped over my own feet, trying to put as much distance between myself and the werewolf.
“If it's the bloodsuckers you were looking for, they made for the forest a long time ago,” he said. “Hah. Noir was running with his tail between his legs. Just like the bloodsucking coward I always knew he was.”
Noir is the most frightening one of us all.
Vincent's voice echoed in my mind.
Why had that come to mind now? “I've heard otherwise.”
I sounded almost normal. Well, that was something. Father would have been proud of me. Mother would have lamented.
The smile was almost obscene and I would be lying if I didn't say it knocked my heartbeat up to the triple digits. “Oh?”
It was getting hard to talk in a normal voice. “Someone once told me Noir is the one you need to look out for. That he's not the meek lamb everyone seems to think he is.”
“And what do you think?”
My head was still attached to my shoulders. That was a good start. “I think you should be glad I'm the one in front of you. Not him.”
The hwan-geom was back at the car, fallen out of my hands as Marcus dragged me from the car.
I needed it.
I couldn't take on a seven foot beast with my bare hands.
Unfortunately for me, I didn't have much of a choice. Not when the shifter reared back and then charged.
At that point, the sword seemed kind of moot. Especially when he had the equivalent of ten, one for each of those claws that could turn me into raw meat, ready to be hurled on the grill.
I waited until I could count the individual lashes on his eyes.
Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes.
I hurled gravel into his face, fighting to buy time.
He howled, those sharp claws trying to swipe at the grit in his eyes, and that was all the time I needed.
I took advantage of the slippery, tiny rocks and ducked as the werewolf made a sudden swipe in my direction. I let the momentum carry me over the gravel and slid to the car, almost hitting my forehead on the back bumper as I slid, perhaps too well.
But the sheath was in my hand, and that was half the battle, wasn't it?
The hwan-geom made a beautiful sound as I pulled it free from the lacquered sheath and the blade glittered in the moonlight.