Threshold of Annihilation (The Firebird Chronicles #3) - T.A. White Page 0,63

with a sword. For one thing, she didn't have the reach she would have with a sword. Timing was everything.

Kira stayed light on her feet, dodging in and out of range of the shriekers, as she slashed, each move delivering a precise, lethal blow.

Kira pivoted as a shrieker dove in low. She stepped out of the way, slicing a long line along his spine. It wasn't a killing blow, but she didn’t want to chance having her only weapon taken from her if it got stuck in a body.

Movement on her left had her swaying to her right. A shrieker swung at her. Kira blocked with one arm, stepping inside his guard to plunge her knife in his throat.

Hot blood splashed on her hand.

That was three.

She stepped back to find a small circle had formed around her. Her expression turned cold as the shrieker she’d killed folded to the ground.

Kira lifted her head. "Who's next?"

They shrieked and pounced.

Kira became a whirling dervish, never remaining anywhere long as she sliced and hacked her way through them. Blood lust rose until Kira lived for the swing of the blade and the feel of blood splashing.

Shriekers weren't difficult to kill. Their primary danger lay in their numbers. There was a reason they were called the enemy of a thousand cuts. Bring one down, and there would be another to take its place in a never-ending cycle, leaving behind only despair when you realized your fate.

A smart Kira would run, bleeding off their numbers and trying to divert their attention to other victims.

But if she fled into the more densely populated parts of the city, civilians would die. The Haldeel peacekeepers would eventually arrive, but by then, it would be too late.

Kira could take care of herself. Others couldn't.

She danced around, feeling wind scrape by her as she narrowly avoided being disemboweled.

She returned the shrieker’s attempt by embedding her blade in his back. The shrieker's scream of agony brought a smile to her face.

That's it. That was what she wanted to hear.

She yanked the blade free, slashing it across the shrieker’s throat in the next second.

Kira took stock.

Bodies littered the clearing. Many of them a result of her rampage. A few were Jin’s contribution, showing scorch marks.

She pointed her blade at Jin. "This is your fault. Don't think I've forgotten that."

"If you have breath to talk, you have breath to kill faster."

He swooped on a clump of shriekers, lightning bolts erupting from his body.

"How do you like me now?" Jin crowed. "Not the easy opponent you thought, huh?"

Kira killed two more shriekers who decided to test her patience.

"Maybe if you'd done a little more of that sooner there wouldn't still be this damn many."

Jin sputtered. "How do you think I ended up pissing them off in the first place?"

A shrieker padded toward Selene from behind. Selene slid out of its way in one graceful movement, bringing the parasol down hard on his neck. There was a crack, and the shrieker slumped to the ground.

"Perhaps we should focus on the matter at hand," Selene suggested.

"Is that a parasol?” Jin asked. “What is it made of? Steel?”

Amusement touched Selene’s eyes as her lips curved up. "Something like that. It's an invention of my own design. This is the first time I've used it. Quite effective I might add."

Instinct warned Kira. She leapt into the air, her body arching as she flipped over the shrieker that had thrown itself into her blind spot.

She landed, stabbing into the base of its neck in the next moment.

"You can handle it from here," Selene said, looking around. "I'll take my leave."

Kira hesitated before nodding in acknowledgment. Selene had stayed far longer than Kira had expected, dealing with more than a few of the pesky bastards. It would be greedy for Kira to ask her to stay to the end and risk exposing her to the Haldeel.

"Maybe stay home until the quorum is over," Kira suggested.

"You worry about yourself. Me and mine know what to do. We’re not nearly as likely as you to go tilting at windmills that are already on fire."

With that, Selene glided across the steppingstones of the pond and disappeared into the trees.

Kira and Jin moved to block the shriekers who would have followed, cutting through their ranks with zero mercy.

A long time later, Kira's arms and body screamed. Exhaustion pulled at her, demanding a break. Just a little one. Enough to catch her breath.

Kira felled another shrieker, whirling to meet the next, only to find nothing