Night Kissed (Chosen Vampire Slayer #1) - Mila Young Page 0,38
shitty beer.
The spectacle of it all would’ve been funny if it hadn’t filled me with such foreboding. I felt my pulse slowly rising as I wracked my brain in an attempt to figure out why they were obviously loitering. Was I about to bear witness to a hit?
And if so, could I stop it in time?
The seconds began to crawl. Each minute felt like an hour there in that stuffy, poorly lit hovel. I’d forgotten all about anyone who wasn’t at those two tables.
At least until the door opened again. By now, the place was starting to get a little packed, and for a moment, I couldn’t get a good look at whoever had just come in. Then a wave of energy smacked me in the face. More vamps, but not from Seattle.
The natives were in the house. Their presence appeared to change the game; all the players knew it. Every head at the tables locked within my sight turned toward the front of the bar. The shifters stopped their half-drunken carousing. The air in the bar grew thick with something other than cigarette smoke and booze.
One of the vamps from Seattle spoke first, sneering at the newcomers. “What do you want? Come to cry about being forced off your own turf?” He laughed mockingly. “Save it, you hillbilly assholes. We’ve got other things to worry about. Like, say, what we’re going to do with all your land once we finish smoking you out.”
“Big words from a shrimpy little man,” the Alaskan growled. He was, in fact, not so much taller on his own, but his words lit a match in a room full of gasoline. “Why don’t you back ‘em up with some power?” For emphasis, he beat a fist against his chest. His cohorts drew up around him like a starving pack of wolves. I could see the bare bloodlust in their eyes. “Oh, right. You don’t have any here.”
Instantly, everyone was on their feet. Several chairs toppled over, and the sound of a heavy glass mug shattering cut through the noise. Around me, the bar’s other denizens also stood up, some heading for the exit, some vying for a better vantage point to see the action. My view had been blocked by a few of the burliest shifters, but the rapidly raising voices left little to the imagination.
My pulse spiked, the tension close to bursting.
“Come on, dickhead!” shouted someone with a shrill, nasal tone. “I’ll make a goddamn rug out of you!”
I rolled my eyes. Then a primal roar ripped through the air. Behind me, a woman screamed. I saw the dark, rugged form of a gigantic grizzly loom up on two legs in the middle of the crowd, claws out, fangs glistening. It smashed one of the downed chairs with one great paw, sending the wooden frame soaring. I had just enough time to duck out of the way before it crashed into my table and sent splinters everywhere.
“You think you’re tough?” the Alaskans jeered. “You ain’t shit! Who’s getting their asses run out now?”
It only took a few seconds for the barroom to dissolve into utter chaos. Soon, chairs weren’t the only things flying around. I dodged a table, a heavy serving tray, and a barrage of glasses. My heart pounded in the chest at being caught in here, but I made no effort to leave. If a fight was going down, then why not take the chance to eliminate some of the foe.
The floor sparkled with shards of broken cups. My footsteps crunched as I crouch-ran for cover. All of a sudden, I found myself in the middle of a warzone, and a shiver raced down my spine.
Still, I couldn’t resist the urge to sneak a look. A frenzy of sounds threatened to overwhelm my senses. As I peered over the top of an overturned booth, the scene in front of me didn’t make much more sense. Shifters and vamps clashed together in one horrific, writhing mass, slashing, biting, striking at each other. At least one vamp lay sprawled on the floor, stunned. The bears had already shed a ton of blood.
Telling anyone apart had become impossible. All of the energy churned together into a dizzying miasma of signatures. I couldn’t have said who was coming out on top if my life depended on it. Nor was I aware that the bar had emptied of its previous crowd. Survival instinct had driven every single person into the streets.