Slaying Monsters for the Feeble - Annette Marie Page 0,15

hoping Zora assumed my shouted command had been directed at her and not my demon. Contractors didn’t control their demons with verbal commands.

Branches snapped behind me and I jumped in fright, almost crashing into Zylas. A man pushed through the thicket to join us. He was stocky and muscular, with his hair shaved on the sides of his head and the rest combed straight back.

“What’s this?” he asked in surprise. “A demon?”

“Remember Robin, our new contractor?” Zora rested her sword on her shoulder like a baseball bat. “Robin, this is Drew, my partner today.”

“Hi,” I mumbled. “What are you doing out here?”

“Hunting,” she said brightly. “Though we probably spooked it with all that noise.”

“Spooked … what?”

“The vampire.”

I stared at her. Zora was hunting a vampire … and Zylas had been tracking the scent of fresh blood. That probably wasn’t a coincidence.

“So,” she drawled, noting my shocked expression, “I’m guessing you aren’t hunting the vamp. What brings you all the way out here, then?”

“Uhh …” I cleared my throat. “I’m investigating a … rumor about Demonica. Illegal Demonica.”

Her eyes lit up like I’d revealed there was buried treasure in this backyard. “Ooh, exciting. Our guild usually skips the Demonica postings, since we don’t—or didn’t—have any contractors. What are the details of the—”

“Zora,” Drew interrupted dryly, “we should deal with the vamp first. It’s close.”

“Right, back to the hunt. Wanna come along, Robin?”

“Huh? Me?”

“Sure. I’ve never seen a demon take on a vamp before. It’ll be interesting.”

I gulped, unsure if I could say no without raising suspicion. “I don’t know anything about vampires.”

“Crash course, then! Walk and talk, my girl.”

She marched past me and Zylas, who hadn’t so much as blinked during our conversation. Cringing, I fell into step beside her and Zylas followed, walking woodenly. Drew cut sideways into the trees, taking a different route.

Zora glanced back. “Gotta say, that’s kind of creepy. I figured you’d put the demon in front so you could see what you’re doing with it.”

I smiled wanly. “Direct line of sight is helpful but not necessary for a contractor.”

Thank goodness I’d been studying up on how all this worked—though I wouldn’t want to risk talking shop with another contractor.

“So, um, vampires?” I prompted before she could ask me anything else.

She plucked what looked like a short stick with a red marble on its end from her belt. The orb glowed faintly. “Most important tool for vampire hunting: a blood tracker. This baby is spelled to react to nearby vampires. If it’s glowing, we’re going the right way. The brighter it glows, the closer the vamp.”

As she spoke, she swung it side to side. The glow dimmed as she pointed it east and brightened when she aimed it north.

I glanced at the overcast sky, masked by tree branches, but didn’t ask if vampires could go out in the sun. I’d never studied them, but Ancient Tales of Mythic Hunters, one of my favorite history texts, included a story about two famous vampire hunters of the fifteenth century, a sorceress and a heliomage. Part of their technique had been to find the vampires’ nests during daylight hours, when the vampires were slower and weaker.

“Vamps are, generally speaking, a bit faster than a human,” Zora explained, aiming her blood-tracker artifact. “At night, or right after feeding, they’re quite a bit faster. They aren’t particularly strong, though.”

“Okay,” I agreed, not at all comforted, seeing as every adult biped on the planet was already stronger than me.

“The most important thing is don’t let it bite you,” she warned, lowering her voice as the blood tracker glowed brighter. “Their saliva will—”

A high-pitched yowl cut through the chill air.

Zora shoved her artifact into her belt and launched forward, sword poised for combat. I glanced back at Zylas with wide eyes, and he gave his head a slight “go already” tilt.

I raced after the swordswoman and Zylas followed on my heels. He could have outpaced all the humans easily, but he seemed to prefer a cautious approach. That or he wasn’t sure how well we could keep up the farce of our contract with witnesses.

Zora cut around a manicured hedge as another shrill cry erupted. This time, I recognized it not as a human voice but an animal. I whipped after her, then slid to a halt.

A small gazebo was nestled in the trees beside a pond, and stepping stones wound away toward the sprawling mansion up the slope. Crouched in front of the gazebo, his hunched back facing us, was a man in