would enable him to heal rapidly. No, she had to do more damage. Permanent, not-able-to-recover-from damage.
With another couple of quick slashes, she cut a deep gash across his belly and one across his throat. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. It had been millennia since she’d been in battle, but the sadness of taking another’s life, even if he was the enemy, was the same now as then.
She twisted to face the Surtur and froze as she saw him closing in on Finn. “Finn!” she cried out in warning. “Behind you.”
Finn whirled to face the new danger. He avoided his assailant’s grasp and threw a sneer his way. “You’ve backed the losing team, Phoebus,” he said. He lifted his arm and drew his short sword from the scabbard between his shoulder blades.
“Funny, I was just about to tell you the same thing,” the Surtur demon responded. “Guess we’ll see who’s right.”
“Guess we will.” Finn dodged Phoebus’s lunge and slashed downward with his blade.
Phoebus drew back in time and only the tip of the sword raked across his biceps. Still it was enough to cause pain, and yellow flared in his eyes. The next time he lunged, Finn closed the distance and thrust his sword forward deep into his enemy’s gut.
Phoebus’s eyes widened and he gasped. As Finn withdrew the sword and retreated a few feet away, Phoebus pressed his hands to his wound and staggered back. He lifted bewildered eyes.
“You always did rely too much on your ability,” Finn muttered. He hefted his sword. “You should’ve learned how to fight.” With that his blade sliced through the air and Phoebus’s neck. Finn stared at the head at his feet. “Well, it’s not on a platter, but it’ll do.”
He turned to see that Keira had squared off with Liuz. As Finn started forward, the vampire got past Keira’s defensive moves and wrapped an arm around her throat. She’d lost her dagger at some point, and dug her fingers into his arm to try to loosen his hold. Her gaze, filled with anger, fear, and exhaustion, met Finn’s. He realized whatever energy she had was depleted, and she wasn’t strong enough to break free from Liuz.
“Back off,” the vampire snarled, “or I’ll kill her.”
Finn forced all emotion aside. He couldn’t allow himself to be distracted by fear for Keira or rage that Liuz had dared to threaten her. Coldness filled him, an iciness that drove out everything but the certainty that Liuz was a dead man. “Go ahead,” Finn finally responded to the vamp’s threat. “I’m here to do a job. Regardless of any peripheral damage, that’s what I aim to do.” He met Keira’s gaze and kept his free of emotion. “I don’t care about her.” He put his attention back on Liuz. “As an enforcer I’ve been trained to focus on what matters. I care only about the successful completion of my mission.” He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Kill her and you lose your advantage. You’ll make my job that much easier.”
Chapter Eighteen
Keira felt her pulse jump in her throat. Finn had to be bluffing. He couldn’t really mean it. He couldn’t care more about his mission than he did about her life. She reached out with her empathic ability and drew a sharp breath. There was no insincerity from him, no doubt, no fear. Just the certainty that what he was doing was right.
She searched his eyes, looking for a hint of the gentleness she’d sensed in him before, the softness she’d experienced firsthand. There was only hardness. He might as well be wearing armor.
He was a warrior first and foremost. Always. Only.
This was the real Finn, then. This man toughened by his experiences, jaded by the life he’d lived. And she was to become the latest casualty of war, not even a blip on his radar.
The Finn she’d seen before, the one who’d told her he wanted something different, had all been an act so he could get past her defenses. So he could use her body to assuage his lust.
He must have lied to her when he told her that Tobias was still alive. If it furthered his mission, whatever that mission was, she believed he would kill Tobias.
And lie about his feelings for her.
She stiffened in Stefan’s grasp, listening with disbelief and sorrow as Finn told him how he’d gotten into this to gain his freedom from his father, who for his own reasons didn’t want more preternaturals coming through the rift.
“Personally,” Finn said, “I don’t