seize hold of her.
Could cage her.
Dim, dark memories threatened to surface but she shoved them down and buried them deep. She had vowed no one would ever hold her like that again and they wouldn’t.
Grave slowly drew the blade that hung at his waist, brought the katana down and gripped it in both hands before him.
Night went one better.
He reached around his back and pulled out a black gun, and had squeezed the trigger before she could react.
Fire exploded in her left shoulder, the force of impact knocking it back. She slammed into the ground, a grunt bursting from her lips as she hit it hard enough to send a vicious jolt up her spine. Her eyes widened as Night pulled the trigger again and she rapidly rolled to her right, flipping over twice as three shots rang out in quick succession.
Grave sighed. “It always seems so unnatural to use firearms.”
Night shrugged it off and fired again.
Mackenzie gritted her teeth and rolled backwards this time. A deep, hot throbbing in her shoulder stole her breath and her head turned. What the hell had been in that bullet? It felt as if it was pouring molten fire through her, incinerating everything in its path.
She flipped onto her feet and fixed her sights on Night. She needed to take him, or at least that gun, out of action.
The hot throbbing worsened, each pulse of fire threatening to steal consciousness from her as it pushed her back down into her memories, into a past she wanted to forget. Heat filled her hands, had her bones aching as her muscles clamped down on them, and her vision wavering. She blinked to clear her eyes and launched at the vampire, managed to dodge another two bullets and frowned as a third hit the ground in front of her and exploded in a splash of violet liquid.
The bullets contained spells, just as she had feared.
She flipped her dagger and caught it by the point, pirouetted and grunted as she hurled the blade at Night. It nailed him in the shoulder, knocking him back and tugging a grin from her as he lost his grip on his gun. Payback felt good.
She didn’t get time to enjoy it.
She screamed as fire seared her side, arched forwards as she felt the chilling slice of metal through her flesh, and shook as she looked down at the tip of the blade protruding from her. Another scream burst from her lips as Grave yanked the sword out of her and she stumbled forwards a few steps, desperately summoning her abilities.
She didn’t get a chance to use them.
Grave grabbed her hair and pulled her back.
Plunged his blade into her again.
Her ears rang as she stared down at her chest, as she blinked and tried to make sense of what she was seeing. It felt so unreal. Like a terrible nightmare. She fought to lift her hand, wanted to touch the bloodstained blade that stuck out of her just an inch to the right of her heart. She coughed, choked on her own blood as her strength rushed out of her.
As she sank to her knees on the black dirt.
Grave pressed a boot to her back and tugged the sword out of her, and she sagged forwards, breathing hard, spluttering as her heart laboured and she fought for air.
The vampire rounded her.
She looked up at him out of the corner of her eye, swallowed thickly as cold invaded her veins and awareness slowly dawned on her.
He had lived up to his name.
Death had come calling for her.
Chapter 12
Hartt was sure this was a mistake, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt Fuery was right. Something had felt off about this contract from the beginning, and if Rosalind was correct and the client was a witch, then he really needed some answers.
And the vampire was the only one who could give them to him.
He landed in the square outside the bastion of the First Legion.
Close to a hundred vampires in a strict formation of twenty men wide and five rows deep stared at him.
“Well, fuck,” Hartt muttered and braced himself.
Only none of them moved to attack him.
He tensed as a gunshot rang out and whipped to face the direction the sound had come from. He stretched his senses outwards, charting the town, and detected more vampires, groups of them that were spaced at intervals that could only be by design. Several of those groups were situated at the mouths of