To Kill a Vampire - A.K. Koonce Page 0,41

the side.

“I’m not a fighter, Fallon.” She circles me, holding her pretty dress in her petite hands. “I’m a survivor.”

Forceful breaths shake from my lungs as we begin to almost dance together. Every move I make closer to her she takes several quick steps back. It’s a circling and infuriating dance I’m not very good at.

“Oh, look your mate seems to be in a bit of trouble.”

I peer off into the distance, my eyes scanning over the hundreds attacking one another. Among the chaos I spot him with ease; two veil are attacking Asher, and he seems to be trying to hold them off from the mortals. His sword plunges into the nearest one just as it sinks its teeth into his forearm.

He needs my help. It’s the last thought I have before the president moves with unseen speed. Her small hand shoves me harshly, and I lose my balance. The rock cuts into my feet as I teeter on the cliff, hanging on to the edge of the world.

Panic fills Asher’s eyes as he spots me from across the crowd. The wind pulls at my body, taking me down once more.

Nineteen

The Infinity Witch

Asher

The look of fear in her eyes has my muscles tightening with rage. With ease I cut through the veil before me like it’s nothing more than smoke. Its blood spatters my face as its thin body falls to the ground with a sickening splatter.

But more thrash up to me without delay. I breathe hard, realizing the veil are too much of a threat for the recently trained mortals of our community.

I have to believe in her. Fallon’s always been strong. Now her strength burns through her in cursed blood. I’ll always worry about her, but right now I have to protect the people she cares about. The people she risked everything for.

As I raise the sword, my fists tightening on the hilt, I slice into the shrieking creature racing toward our community. The blade sinks into its thick arm, clipping it almost entirely in half but it doesn’t delay the veils rage. Long claws sink into my chest, tearing me to the ground in one swift motion.

Rows of sharp teeth sink into my shoulder, and the pain flares all the way to the bone. My jaw clenches, and without thinking I bang my head into its slick gray skull. It jars back from me, a shriek flinging from its lips. Its hind legs crouch ready to leap, but a flaming blue light ignites across its spindly body.

Louder, its cries carry, and it only takes a moment for me to find the source of the burning magic. The Infinity witch glares with determination. The image of my brother stands beside me with fumes of blue light blazing from his palms, hitting the crumpling veil in the center of its chest.

My lips part as I remain lying on the ground, and for a moment I’m mesmerized by the magic glowing from his steady hands. The unnatural flames char the veil’s flesh, a strangling cry slipping from its lips.

The only witches I’ve ever met were less than honorable. I’ve never seen one so strong and living with purpose. They’d never risk their lives for another mystic. Kenzent is fighting for mortals.

Kenzent stares down at the withering creature with an almost vacant look; my brother’s lips are set thin as he glares hard. He turns to me slowly, dirt clinging to his shirt. He extends his hand to me, the same hand that held a mystical fire in it just moments ago. A hesitancy slips through me for less than a second before I take his hand. My brother nods at me, a wordless communication passing between us. A strange calm presses into me as I swallow hard.

The magic that eternally clings to the Infinity witch flickers, and the image of my brother slips for an instant revealing something just beneath the surface. The power within the mystic is being used for something other than deceiving everyone else. It’s being used to burn through our enemy.

A tingle flushes down my sweating skin as I realize just how powerful the witch really is. The Infinity witch might be stronger than a vampire.

Twenty

A Gift

Fallon

The grace I possessed just earlier is nowhere to be found. I land with a sickening cracking sound at the Eye of the Ocean. Red colors violently slash out against the gray cliff. The eerie painting I had forgotten about stares down on me as if watching my pain