scene. I swallowed down the urge to go to her. It was a struggle to ignore the heady siren’s call of blood beckoning me toward where she stood. She pushed her hood away from her head, and I paused. Cocking my head to the side, I gazed at her with no recognition of who she was other than we shared magical blood ties. It wasn’t my mother, as I’d hoped.
The woman’s hand lifted, and I watched her beckoning silver to her, smiling coldly as she pulled more power into her missiles. Silently, I nocked a single arrow, before aiming it at her. Vampires lay bleeding or dying on the ground as a cold-looking male appeared beside her, grinning at the other men’s worried expressions. Smoothing his hand down the woman’s back, I noted the glimmer of the ring he wore, recognizing the Van Helsing insignia.
Realizing that a Silversmith witch was helping a Van Helsing, I pushed off my hood and redirected my aim. Exhaling, I released the arrow the moment she let loose her bullets for a direct kill shot. The arrow sailed through the air, slamming into the line of ammunition, moving faster than immortals could see. She gasped, and I smirked, noting her wide-eyed look of horror at missing.
Slowly, I reached behind for another arrow, nocking it before moving to stand beside the opposing men, all of whom watched me through narrow-eyed stares.
“Cease, and stand down,” I ordered, staring at the silver-haired woman. “On the order of those who hold authority over you, stand down now.”
She had fake silver hair, I realized, dyed to fit her role.
She wasn’t full-blooded, which meant silver hair wouldn’t come naturally for her until she was old enough to have it from aging. All but one of our direct bloodline had silver hair, and that was my awkward ass.
“You don’t order me around, sweetheart,” she hissed vehemently.
“I won’t ask you twice,” I warned.
“Only a Silversmith can give me orders. I have orders to assist the Van Helsing in taking the houses of this region!”
“On whose orders?” I countered.
“I don’t answer to you!”
“Nor I to you,” I smiled cruelly. “I asked you to stand down. If you insist, I will end your life.” Her hands lifted in the air, and I observed as silver magic slithered through her.
Narrowing my gaze, I watched the silver lines etching against her flesh as her power erupted in the parking lot. The man next to her was ancient, that much I could feel from the power he radiated. He had dark hair and tattoos covering his arms from wrist to shoulder, with an upside-down cross beneath his left eye.
“She’s a Silversmith,” the man beside me growled, and I turned, my jaw hitting the ground as he came into sight.
He was wearing a suit and held blades in his hands. Dark, inky hair stuck to his face, covered in sweat from fighting. Azure eyes narrowed on me while my gaze slowly lowered to his chest, which his suit hugged tightly, exposing a long, lean, muscular frame.
Magic exploded toward us, and I turned, lifting my bow that I hadn’t realized I’d lowered while I eye-raped the male beside me. My magic erupted without thought, turning my eyes silver as my veins filled with it, pulling the bullets toward me, absorbing them into my body. The woman’s mouth opened and closed, realizing her mistake too late. My fingers released the string, watching as the arrow shot through her open mouth, shattering her silver until it looked like glass raining down on the ground as she crumbled.
“What the fuck is happening?” someone asked, and I turned toward the Van Helsing that stood across from us, smiling as my silver magic reflected in his eyes.
“Pretty,” he said huskily.
“Did a Silversmith just kill another Silversmith? How are there two in the same town, when a week ago we couldn’t even find one?” the voice asked again.
I ignored the men behind me, watching the Van Helsing as he calculated his chances of reaching me before I could react. I lifted my hands, and he stepped back, feeling the undead closing in around him.
The silent monsters hidden within the shadows preparing to attack finally lunged, and I slipped away from the men next to me, offering them a coy smile. I stepped into the opening of the parking lot to fight. Not that I needed much room, but my silver was faster than normal Silversmith silver. I called the silver bullets that the fallen woman had