Night Kissed (Chosen Vampire Slayer #1) - Mila Young Page 0,81

as I met his eyes. Everything else fell away as I choked on the dread splashed across his face. Nothing scared Seth, yet seeing him this panicked left me trembling.

I was suffocating.

Gasping for air to see him like this.

“Seth!” I cried out.

His expression twisted with agony.

But I had only taken a few steps before I knew something was wrong. The heat pouring off of him rivaled a nuclear reactor in crisis. His veins glowed iridescent through the reddish tan of his skin. I stopped short as the light began to pour from his eyes, mouth, even his nose.

“Oh, shit,” I whispered.

“Veronica, stay away from me,” he begged, his voice more scared than threatening.

A split second later, Seth erupted. That was the best way to describe it. I caught little more than a glimpse of his body shaking violently, panic scribbled over his face. His body stiffened, his shock palpable by the force of his expelling energy.

My stomach dropped through me as fear collided into me. I knew then, something bad was coming for Seth. Something so horrendous, that it terrified him.

Then in a flash everything disappeared in a white flash. Sparks danced in front of my eyes, blinding me for seconds.

The shockwave that came next crashed into me, throwing me to the ground. I covered my head, curling in on myself, part of me wandering if he’d bring down the whole warehouse. Moments later, I opened my eyes to see the warehouse ceiling above me remained intact, and a tangled mess of confused vampires all still scrambling to regain the upper hand. Frantically, I glanced over to the wall where Seth had been fixed into the wall. The chains were still there, but their heavy black links lay scorched and empty. There was no sign of Seth. He’d simply vanished into thin air.

My chest tightened and I reached out a hand, a chill encasing me. “Seth?” I whispered.

Footsteps pounded toward me across the concrete floor, and Orion grabbed me by the arms, lifting me to my feet. “Are you alright,” he asked.

I shoved him as far away as he would allow. “I’m okay. But Seth is…” We both looked back to the wall. I took a slow breath in. “Where the hell did he go?” Coldness licked over my skin as worry made me sick to my stomach.

“Fuck.” Orion grimaced, and a wave of worry washed over his face. Despite all their shit, he truly cared for losing his friend. “Where the hell did he go?” Fear gripped his voice.

No sooner had I come to realize how much harder this has hit Orion than I ever suspected, than a hand fell onto his shoulder from behind. I backed off as Orion turned around to face his newest challenger. There was something oddly familiar about this vamp, but it wasn’t until I got a good look at his face that I realized I’d seen him before—in Seattle, coming and going around the vamp gangs’ favorite haunts.

Didn’t know his name, but I didn’t have to. All I knew was that the guy was a prick. And apparently, Orion thought so too.

Now I had seen plenty of vamp-on-vamp infighting in Seattle; pretty much the only thing they fought was each other. And I rarely got involved. If they wanted to thin their numbers, I let them. But this was different. Orion didn’t engage the way I was accustomed to seeing vampires moving. The ones back in the city had become somewhat tamed by their modern, urban surroundings. They had less of a connection to the wild, bestial part of their nature. It was like fighting souped-up humans.

Orion tapped into a much more ferocious, animalistic style. He moved almost catlike, low to the ground, each motion executed with deadly precision. His eyes never left his opponent for a second. I watched him scan for weak points as he waited for the opportune moment to strike. The Seattle vamps could be deadly in their own right, but something told me this one wouldn’t stand half a chance against Orion.

Orion was like nothing I had ever seen. The air hummed with his concentrated power. I felt him coiling to attack. And when he sprang at last, it seemed I barely saw it. Just a flash of darkness and death. The city vamp sidestepped nimbly, but not quite in time. Orion caught his shoulder, leaving behind a heavy tear through clothes and flesh. Orion pivoted and attacked, bringing with him his full force. He moved so fast,