Night Kissed (Chosen Vampire Slayer #1) - Mila Young Page 0,40

me. He was scrawny, all sinew and bones, his eyes bulging out of his face. Starving, probably so not much blood in his system. The madness of bloodlust was written all over him.

He didn’t see the knife coming, didn’t even try to turn away. It felt like cheating, the way the blade sank between his ribs with almost no resistance. I yanked it out and watched him drop, wheezing through a lung that was now most likely punctured. Goggle-eyed, he stared straight ahead like a fish that had been dragged from the water.

I turned back briefly to Orion. “Don’t you guys regenerate?”

He was shielding his eyes and facing away from me. “Not in the light. Hurry up.”

“Oh.” I looked down at the glow from my skin, which was rapidly approaching white hot. “Right. My bad.” To the rest of the vamps, I said, “Who’s next?”

Some of them scattered, the cowardly rats. A few of the braver vermin leapt toward me. It was fun to watch them try to protect themselves from the scorch of hellfire even as they reached to tear at my face and arms. Long, unkempt nails raked over my skin. I reveled in their screams of pain. The scent of roasting meat filled the air, although vamp flesh always smelled a little rotten. I would have happily stayed there until they’d all burnt to pile of char, but alas, the bear-hybrids were on the move, and so was Orion’s little girlfriend.

She disappeared from my sight as the vamps got up their courage and piled on. It felt like a dozen clammy hands grasping, scratching, gouging at all the places they might hurt me the most. Sheer terror, for a mortal. For me, the sensation was closer to nostalgia. A sea of desperate, ravenous hands reminded me of a place where I was revered and free to do whatever the hell I wanted—like tear those hands clean off.

The vampires did not react well to being relieved of their appendages. Harsh shrieks of pain and outrage colored the air that only intensified as I started to fling the assailants off of me, one by one. They hit the floor scrambling for purchase. The first one I staked hadn’t quite regained his feet. He fell back instantly into a flaccid heap. The snarl on his lips melted down into a blank stare. I lunged forward, loving every moment.

VERONICA

The back of a meaty hand clipped the side of my head, so suddenly, so fast, I saw stars as I was sent crashing into a wall.

In a flash, I pushed back into the chaos in the bar, my heart pumping furiously, my gaze settling on the bear shifter in my way. He might not have transformed yet, but the smirking asshole was as big as one in human form.

"Don't waste your time, girl," he snarled, his gaze leering over my body. "Only one thing you're good for, and it ain't fighting." He reached down and groped his dick over his jeans, and I gagged.

Fury burned through my veins. I licked the blood from the corner of my lip, closing the distance between me and the brute. He didn't budge but took his eyes off me and focused on the battle around us. That was a mistake.

I threw a roundhouse kick, my heel slamming into his chest. The idiot stumbled backward, but chortled like a pig. Little did he know, my intention wasn’t to make him fall... not right away. But rather nudge his huge mass.

The back of his knees suddenly bashed into a fallen chair, and his eyes widened as he tumbled backward, arms flailing outward for purchase.

All that went through my mind were Lian's words about the dead girls found in town since the arrival of the bear shifters.

Not wasting a second, I leaped toward him, fingers gripping the hilt of my blade.

The chair snapped under him, breaking and he hit the ground hard.

Crash landing on his chest, I shoved my knee into the curve of his throat, my blade pointed at his eye.

"Just imagine if I was a decent fighter, asshole."

His fist came flying for my head. In haste, I slashed my knife outward, the blade biting across his forearm. Blood bubbled instantly.

He roared, bucking his hips, his other arm latching me around the neck.

I cracked the end of the hilt right into the side of his head, so hard, I was certain I heard a snap.

Eyes rolling upward, he collapsed onto his back, the tension from his body melting