Was this guy for real? I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I easily dodged his attacks. He swung his sword like a newborn pup. Weak and unused to carrying a sword. I smacked his wrist with the flat side of my dagger.
“Fuck!” The man dropped his sword, falling back onto his ass.
I could kill him right there, but that wasn’t the plan.
Ignoring the downed man, I turned around and lifted my daggers into an X, blocking the sword coming down at me. Gritting my teeth, I allowed myself to drop to one knee, pretending that the hunter was getting the best of me.
If I were a prouder man, I’d never pretended I was the weaker opponent in the hopes of catching them off guard. When I was a knight, I surely would never have allowed my honor to be tarnished in such a manner. However, being a vampire under the cruel thumb of Boris would destroy the honor of even the most loyal and proud man.
“We’ve got you now, fucker,” the first man crowed as the female, Mizuki, leveled the crossbow at me once more.
I guess I’ve played with them long enough.
I shoved the sword back easily, making the hunter fall onto the ground, his head cracking against the road. I kicked out, knocking the crossbow from Mizuki’s hands before spinning on my heels. "You'll have to catch me first.”
A low curse, followed by several arrows whisking through the air, chased me as I dodged and weaved. Now that I had them on my trail, I had to circle back until they grew tired and returned to their base.
I darted into an alley and jumped, grabbing the lowest rung of the metal ladder leading up to a fire escape, before I raced up the ladder's rungs, taking them two at a time. Leaping the final rung to the top, I glanced down to the ground to see if the hunters had caught up yet.
No sign of them. Frowning, I waited a moment until I heard hurried footsteps heading my way. Turning from the edge of the fire escape, I braced myself, bending my knees and pushing as much power as I could into my jump. I shot up into the sky and landed with a heavy thud on top of the brick building. The ground of the roof broke beneath me, but I didn't waste time worrying about it. The footfalls were closer now.
Pivoting around in one smooth movement, I ran toward the opposite side of the roof. The edge came into view and at the last moment, I jumped. Thankfully, the roof of the building next to me was lower, allowing me to land in a roll. I came up instantly and kept moving. If I knew the hunters, they would have figured out that I'd gone up and would be coming after me any moment. Slower, but I still couldn't tarry.
Once I was sure I’d put enough distance between us, I dropped from the side of the building, landing heavily on the sidewalk. My legs held and I made it two more steps before something small and sharp hit me in the side of the neck.
My hand went to it, my mind clouding as I pulled the small item from my flesh. A dart. Laced with poison no doubt by the way my skin was going numb. I found my vision darkening and I dropped to my knees.
"Not so slow now, are we, vampire." The voice of the woman, Mizuki, filled my ears. "Now we'll get answers from you, one way or another."
I grunted as I collapsed to the ground, my face hitting the pavement with a smack.
“Quickly, the poison won’t keep him out long,” Mizuki commanded, and footsteps hurried to my side. “We have to get him back to base. The commander will want to interrogate him personally.”
“But is that wise, Mizuki? What if the others follow us?” a voice I didn’t recognize asked, but my mind was going blank and I couldn’t listen in any longer.
Well, on the bright side, I was finally going to see where their base of operations was located. Unfortunately, Antoine was not going to be pleased.