in running away when you are outnumbered hundreds of times over.”
Whitfield brushed off his response with a laugh. “Is that sour grapes I hear in your voice, old friend?”
“You’re no friend of mine,” Ethan fumed. “So, stop referring to me as one.”
“There’s no need for such anger. I said you were free to go. It’s the witch I’m after.” He stopped and sucked in a savouring breath. “I’ve rarely smelled such appetising blood as hers in all my years. I will relish finally getting the chance to taste it.”
“I thought you wanted to kill me because of Eliza?” I said shakily.
Whitfield stared at me condescendingly, as though I was an idiotic child. “Of course, I will be killing you as a tribute to my daughter. Your blood is simply an added reward for my loss.”
“I’ll kill you with my bare hands before you ever get to her,” Ethan threatened.
“Go ahead and use your bare hands,” Whitfield pulled his sword out of its holster. “And I will use this.”
He swooped down on Ethan, who shunned his bare hands in favour of pulling out his own weapon. They sparred against one another, and it struck me that both of them possessed sword fighting skills you didn’t encounter in this day and age. Skills possessed only through the necessity of living in a time when guns were not so readily available. Not to mention their moves were lightning fast and entirely inhuman.
Seeing that the other vamps were trying to get past Ethan to capture me, I began moulding my palms together and creating balls of sparks to throw at them. It was exhausting, and I felt my magic dwindling away with the effort it took to create them. However, right now they were my only bet at keeping the vampires at bay.
At one point, a female jumped high into the air, and before I knew it, she had her hands on my throat and her fangs were coming down on me. As quick as I could, I pulled the stake out of my pocket yet again and plunged it right into her heart. Her dark blood sprayed in my face, and her body crumpled to the ground.
The victory was short-lived, however, because my fight with her allowed the others enough time to get to me. I did my best to gain my previous momentum, and I started throwing sparks at them again. I glanced at Ethan and Whitfield just as Ethan slashed Whitfield’s arm. The vampire governor reeled back, hissing at the strike.
Just before he had the chance to recover from the blow, strange purple smoke began to seep out of the ground around us. It came from everywhere, pouring eerily through the bricks and cement. It became so thick that it practically blinded me, and for a few brief seconds, I couldn’t see anything at all. The purple clouded my vision, and the world around me vanished. Slowly, the smoke began to drift away, and when I could see again, I rushed to Ethan, affixing myself firmly to his side.
Things were bad before. There was no way we could fight off the vampires for much longer, but now the situation was ten times worse because standing before us were Rita and Theodore, their black eyes almost identical.
And when Rita’s landed on me, she smiled.
18.
It wasn’t a friendly smile. It was the smile of a killer just before they took their knife and gutted you. My entire body turned to ice.
“Hello, Governor,” Theodore said, his dark eyes landing immediately on Whitfield. “I’ve been searching for you. What a coincidence to find you here with my dear little Treasure.”
I’d always hated Theodore’s pet name for me, but right now, I despised it with every fibre of my being. It was almost like he was mocking me, or like he knew how frustrated it made me to have all this power bottled up inside and not know how to tap into it.
I was a treasure for anyone who could capture me, but hardly ever for myself.
“Rita,” I burst. “What are you doing with him? Please, just stop this and come back to us. I know you’re in there somewhere!”
Theodore wagged his finger in my direction. “No, no, no, she’s mine now. Contrary to what you might believe, my daughter has only just become her true self. Before she was a shell and had not yet discovered her potential. Oh, isn’t it marvellous how grief can transform a person, how it makes them see the world