Bronywyn
Tarnley’s expression falls, breaking my heart. “I’m sorry, Tarnley.”
He shakes his head angrily. “I shouldn’t have hit him.”
“He was getting ready to rip that girl’s throat out,” my father adds. “You had no choice. What you did spared her great pain. It was a quick death for her, and she joins her friend in the afterlife.”
It’s easy to see that his words fall on deaf ears, though, because Tarnley’s expression doesn’t change as he pulls out his phone. “Clean up. Two dead humans, two vampires. Pinging you the location now.” He ends the call and shoves it back into his pocket. “Let’s keep moving. No one can see us in these glamours.”
Tarnley steps out of the alley, and I follow, my father falling into step behind me. We’re just reaching the next block when Tarnley stops in his tracks. Ahead, a group of men and women move onto the street, stopping when they see us.
Apparently, we can’t catch a damn break tonight.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” a man asks, moving to the front. I use my magic, extending my senses out so I can see what type of supernaturals we’re dealing with.
And the answer is more concerning than I was hoping for.Hunters.
“Out for a midnight stroll, you?” Tarnley asks.
The man shifts his attention to me, then to my dad. “With a witch and a warlock, interesting walking buddies, wouldn’t you say so, Jeb?”
A man carrying a bat with a backward baseball cap nods. “Interesting, indeed.”
“I’m not looking for any trouble,” Tarnley says. “Unless, of course, you’re in the habit of murdering humans. I don’t have much tolerance for that.”
The hunter chuckles. “I don’t fucking care what you do and don’t have a tolerance for, bloodsucker. Because after tonight, it ain’t gonna matter.”
Tarnley glances back at me. I swallow hard, noting the red growing around his irises. He’s pissed, and these hunters are about to find out just how much damage a pissed-off vampire can do.
“We aren’t harming anyone,” my father calls out. “Your duty does not concern us.”
“Wrong,” the man in front says. “Our duty is to wipe out anything that is a smear on this great planet. And you fuckers, you are a smear.”
“This is Astor territory,” I remind them.
“The Astor ain’t around much these days, is she? Too busy fucking her ex-vampire to be killing them,” he replies.
“You are outnumbered,” the one who was called Jeb adds. “Best to just let us take care of you. No need to break a sweat and prolong the inevitable.”
I step forward and throw my palms out. Violet magic snakes down my forearms. “I’ve never minded breaking out in a sweat if it’s for a good cause. And ending bloodthirsty bastards like you is a worthy cause.”
Jeb chuckles. “You blind, Red? Your boy here is the bloodthirsty one. Hell, I can smell the blood on him now.”
“Human blood spilled by a vampire he killed,” my father retorts. “Again, we are not your enemy.” He steps forward, orange power flowing over his arms. “Though if you choose to make it so, you will not be walking out of here.”
The lead hunter glances back at his pack, so I take a moment to count. At least seven of them stand directly in front of us, seven hunters against a witch, a vampire, and a warlock. I’d say the odds are in our favor, but I’ve seen Rainey fight. If these assholes have even half her skill, we’re screwed.
And all three of us know it.
They step forward.
We do the same.
I prepare to surround us with magic, shielding the blow, but without the dark magic, I can’t take all of them on at once.Damn, I really miss my ability to cloak.But unfortunately, that went away right alongside the rest of that power.
Tarnley blurs in front of me and snarls. Something slams into his shoulder. The tip of an arrow sticks out of his left shoulder, an arrow that would have hit me right in the chest. He jerks and stares down at it.
“You’re going to fucking pay for that.” He blurs forward, straight into the trap they set by attacking me. They meant to draw him out, and he fell for it.