“That’s an issue for humans. It’s not your concern.”
“And yet here you are,” he said, reaching out to grab one of the other three released cops by the neck. The cop screamed and kicked, but Tate was unmoved. He held him in the crook of his arm like the cop was nothing more than a game animal, caught for sport.
Or in this case, to prove a point.
“This city is corrupt!” Tate yelled out, thrusting the sword into the air with his free hand, the fervor of a zealot in his voice. “It must be cleansed, and mine is the sword that will see it purified.”
It was time to bring him down a peg. I took another step forward. “You know, Tate, if I had a quarter for every time a politician promised to clean up this city, I’d be a millionaire by now.”
I heard an appreciative chuckle in the crowd, as Jonah stepped slowly toward Tate from behind as I moved closer in front.
“Justice will be done,” Tate said, then threw the cop to the ground and raised his sword to strike.
Neither Jonah nor I wasted any time. Jonah struck Tate from the back, and I launched toward him, katana in the air, from the front. I aimed for his sword and managed to knock him off target. Our swords clanged together with body-shaking force, and I hit the ground in a roll before popping up again.
“Run!” I told the cop, and he squirmed away.
Tate roared out his displeasure, turning to swipe at Jonah, which sent his wings flying in my direction. I jumped back, but the tip of a claw grazed my stomach, sending a sharp spike of pain across my belly.
I cursed but hopped to my feet again. Jonah and Tate began sparring, Jonah’s thin, sleek katana an odd foil against Tate’s massive sword—like a samurai fighting a medieval knight.
They battled in a circle, Jonah moving spritely up and down the stairs as Tate moved after him.
The cop who’d given me my sword back was moving toward the released cop, who still lay motionless on the ground.
It was my turn to tap in. “Tate!”
He stopped and glanced back at me, eyes narrowed like a predator. Or a crazed angel.
I crooked a finger at him, then loosened my knees and positioned my sword. “Come and get me.”
Tate took a step forward, but it wasn’t to get to me. Instead, he launched toward the cop who’d given me my sword back and lofted his sword in the air.
There was no way I was going to reach him in time. I said the only thing that occurred to me…and did the very thing Ethan had forbidden me to do.
“Tate!”
He looked at me, ferocity in his eyes.
“Let him go,” I said. “Take me instead.”
I’d hoped to throw Tate off his mark or at least gain a little time. But he didn’t pause to think.
“Very well,” he said. Before I could move away, Tate lunged forward and grabbed my wrist.
My skin flamed beneath his touch, and everything went black.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE
I woke to searing pain and blinding light. My leather jacket was gone, and sunlight poured over my bare arms. I pulled them back into the shadow that covered the rest of my body.
Tears sprang to my eyes as blisters lifted down my arms, but the pain was the least of my worries. My mind fuzzy, I squinted against the glare and looked around.
I was in a square concrete room with a window on one wall. The window was uncovered, and sunlight spilled across the room. I was tucked into the only shaded corner, a little ball of vampire…and my phone had been in my missing jacket.
“Handy, isn’t it?”
I also shouldn’t have been awake at this hour. Slowly and groggily, I looked toward the sound of Tate’s voice. He stood in an open doorway that was twenty feet of sun-drenched concrete away from me.
The doorway led directly outside. Even if I managed to cross the room, there was nowhere to go.
Tate had imprisoned me with sunlight. He’d even left me my sword, because what could I possibly do with it? I had no room to wield it, unless I hoped to spare myself the pain of death by sunshine.
“You’re a sadist,” I said.
“Hardly. I’m a realist,” he said. “The world could be better than it is. I intend to prove that.”