Night Kissed (Chosen Vampire Slayer #1) - Mila Young Page 0,82

I struggled to make sense of what was happening. The enemy shrieked and blood splattered to the ground. Soon followed by the vamp.

That was the beginning of the end. As I suspected, the Seattle vampire was ill-prepared to handle a “wild” creature like Orion. He was never given a chance to react properly. His jacket and shirt were shredded to rags, to say nothing of the skin beneath them. When he fell, the weak light glanced off an exposed bit of bone.

Orion pinned the enemy under his knee, glaring down into his eyes. “This act of disrespect,” he growled, “will be the last thing you ever do.” Without looking up, he reached his hand out toward me, palm open.

He wanted the metal staff. And I knew exactly what for.

I threw it to him.

Orion raised the weapon with one hand, the pointy end aimed to his enemy. In a flash, he struck down hard and fast. The sound of the vampire’s last breath rushing from his lungs filled the whole space. His arms and legs went limp, and his head lolled to the side, eyes open and rapidly dulling. Orion didn’t move until he was sure the guy was dead.

“Thank you, Veronica,” he said quietly.

“I’m really worried about Seth,” I admitted.

“I can tell, and I’ll find Seth, no matter what it takes. And you’re a lot stronger than I initially thought.” He put the staff into my hand, turned my face up, and kissed me. I couldn’t stop myself from melting a little.

“Gross,” I told him. “You smell like dead vamp.”

“I’m not the only one who needs a shower,” he fired back. His expression quickly sobered. “Come home with me. We don’t have much time.”

Behind him, the window showed a horizon just starting to lighten toward dawn. But I couldn’t leave yet. “What about Logan? And…” I turned to look at the wall with the chains, unable to stop the ache growing in my chest at Seth taken. “He’s not dead, is he?”

“Logan will be fine,” Orion said coolly. “As for Seth…Demons don’t die that easily. He annoyed the shit out of me, but I never wanted him hurt. I’ll track him down one way or another, I give you my word.” He took me by the hand, and while he didn’t say it, I saw the worry in his eyes that maybe Seth was in more danger than he let on and it trouble Orion. “We have to go, Veronica. Unless you want to keep me on the mantle in an urn.”

I hated leaving the warehouse without any sense of where Seth was or what had happened. Fragments of pain struck through my chest at the possibility that he might be in horrible danger. The brief image of him disintegrating into light was seared into the back of my mind. I shouldn’t care, and the one time we shared was just that… a one off. Yet I never wanted to see him hurt or killed, no matter how much of an ass he was. One last time, I scanned the scorched wall where he’d been earlier, my hands trembling. Anger and a guilt floated to the surface. And with it came something feral surging through me that I never got a chance to help Seth. Goosebumps danced along my arms.

I twisted away, my emotions melting into one another, until they sat like a knot in my chest. This wasn’t how I should feel about a demon, yet there I was feeling empty at the loss.

It was only a mild consolation to see Logan emerge from the front of the building, wings folded on his back, looking no worse for wear. He nodded to Orion. The majority of the enemy vampires had run or lay on the floor. The ones that remained bowed their heads at Orion.

“Seth is gone,” Orion said softly.

Logan’s brows pulled together, and he lowered his gaze momentarily as though he experienced his own moment of loss. “We need to find him.” The darkness in his voice surprised me.

“We will,” Orion answered curtly, and the hunger for revenge rose in his tone. “I’ll destroy anyone who stands in my way.”

“And I’ll help,” I added.

The smile from both Orion and Logan brought with it a strange union I felt with them with us being a team, working toward one goal.

While I swallowed the lump in my throat at Seth being gone, as a demon was he really gone somewhere else or just to hell? Whatever had been done to