Slaying Monsters for the Feeble - Annette Marie Page 0,74

by tiny bubbles.

I stared at the syringes, cold recognition flowing through me. I remembered Claude’s demon tossing one to Claude, the needle coated in Zylas’s blood. I remembered Zylas collapsing to his knees, clutching my waist as he struggled to stay upright, and Claude’s quiet, gloating words: A good summoner knows how to safely neutralize a demon.

“What on earth is this?” Zora asked, bewildered.

Amalia reached past me. She lifted a second metal case from the drawer and opened it. Instead of syringes, it held five sealed vials of dark liquid. She wiggled one out of the foam insert and held it up. Light refracted through the thick fluid, revealing its red tone.

Dark, thick blood. Demon blood.

“Zora,” Taye said sharply.

As one, we all looked at the blood tracker she held. The gem-like end was glowing brighter by the second.

For an instant, none of us reacted, then Taye backpedaled toward the center of the room, facing the open door. Zora dropped the blood tracker and grabbed the zipper of her weapon bag. Amalia snapped the case of blood shut and shoved it on top of the desk as she backed away.

I didn’t move, my mind spinning as pieces clicked into place—but the answers I now possessed had created more questions.

“Robin!” Amalia yelled in warning.

I looked up.

Three vampires filled the doorway. Red rings marked their eerie eyes and their fingers had elongated into deadly claws. The two males and a female, reflective sunglasses perched on top of their heads, wore jeans and jackets like every other pedestrian on the streets.

“Looky what we found,” a male crooned.

Zora pulled her sword from its sheath with a slithering rasp. The blade gleamed. “Out in the sunlight, bloodsuckers? How bold.”

The female vampire leered delightedly. “Not a problem … not for us.”

“We were waiting for a summoner.” The creepy male licked his lips. “Not pretty ladies.”

“Taye,” Zora called. “Get out of here. Use the patio.”

The telethesian rushed toward the sliding glass doors. Amalia shot me a questioning look and I nodded. She ran after the psychic and they disappeared outside.

Setting her feet in a defensive stance, Zora raised her sword confidently—but she had no idea these vampires were nothing like the ones she’d made her career exterminating.

The three vampires smiled. They knew we didn’t stand a chance.

The creepy one stepped away from the others, his weird eyes on Zora. He strolled toward her, getting closer and closer to the shining blade of her weapon.

“Ori torpeas languescas,” she said quietly. A faint shimmer ran down the sword.

He took one more step—then blurred almost out of sight as he lunged for Zora.

She wheeled sideways, saved by her combat reflexes. The vampire shot past her, spun, and halted, leering tauntingly.

“What the …” She adjusted her grip on the sword. “This bastard is a fast one.”

I grabbed my infernus. “They’re all fast.”

Red light flared across my pendant and all three vampires attacked at once.

The creepy one charged Zora again while the other two came straight for me. Zylas materialized with his dark claws slashing. He sprang between the two vampires, striking both simultaneously. A whirling kick sent one vampire flying past me. She hit the refrigerator headfirst and bounced off, the dented door swinging open.

Zylas exchanged swift blows with his second opponent. As the first one climbed to her feet, shaking her head back and forth as though stunned, I threw my full weight into the fridge door. It slammed shut on her head.

Across the living room, Zora darted side to side, frantically evading her adversary. A spell glowed on her left wrist, not doing anything as far as I could see. The vampire circled her, his attacks swift but playful. He was toying with the petite sorceress.

As the vampire pounced again, laughing nastily, she whipped her sword around. The tip of the blade nicked the vamp’s arm—and a shimmer ran up the length of steel. Silver runes flashed across the vampire’s arm and over his shoulder.

Beside me, the female vampire pushed backward off the fridge, wobbling unsteadily after the second impact to her skull. Before I could panic, Zylas slid across the island counter. He slammed both feet into the vampire, knocking her back into the open fridge. Condiment bottles tumbled to the floor.

He grabbed the door and swung it shut on her torso—but with exponentially more power than I had. Plastic shattered, metal warped, and bones crunched.

At the other end of the room, Zora’s opponent was no longer playful. Silver runes glowed on his side and he kept lurching and