22

 

 

They were fast. Damn fast, and a hell of a lot faster than me, admittedly.

I’d barely had time to block Ethan’s strike as he came at me without pause. I caught his blade with my hunting knife, blade on blade, just as I saw the bald guy coming at me from the left.

I kicked out my leg. It connected, pain reverberating all the way up my thigh. I knew I’d hit Ethan hard. He yelped and stumbled back, and I dropped to the floor, rolling as I avoided the bald guy’s blade skewering me.

As I flipped to my feet, the surprise on the bald dude’s face filled me with confidence. “Didn’t see that coming. Did you?”

The odds were that they were going to kick my ass, but I almost always beat the odds. I was ticked. Pissed that they wanted to kill me, yes, but angrier that they wanted to blame the half-breeds’ deaths on me. Hell no.

From my line of sight, I spotted the two females waiting in the shadows, like a wrestling tag team anticipating their turn for a piece of me.

Bald dude didn’t wait. He came at me swinging with a kind of vampire-speed that was truly impressive. But his swings were fueled with anger and emotion, not with skill or precision. I’d trained for years... these guys were newbies. Fledglings, as Tyrius would call them. God, I missed that cat.

Baldy came with a burst of speed. But I slipped aside. His strike went wide before he realized his mistake. I caught him by an ankle, twisted, and sent him stumbling away just as the lanky, pale, guy came at me.

He struck more proficiently than his brother, his soul blade whistling as it cut through the air aimed at my chest. I had a split-second to whirl before it struck. That almost cut me.

I jumped back. “Why, you sneaky son of a bitch,” I hurled at him, shouting. I faked a jab and drove a front kick into his groin—never forget the groin.

He froze in place, his hands going to his crotch, and then he went down with a grunt.

I felt a shift in the air behind me and I whirled, ready. Bald guy was back.

I sneered. “You just don’t give up. Do you?”

Baldy growled and swung his blade savagely at me. I threw myself back—but not fast enough. I yelped as the blade sliced across my thigh, ripping through my jeans and flesh. Blood colored my jeans as I stood there, surprised at how fast he was. And then I was even more surprised as his fist connected with my jaw. My knees twisted and I fell.

Black spots marred my vision and I blinked, trying to shake off the dizziness as I tasted the blood in my mouth.

Baldy let out a breathy laugh. “You’re nothing special. I expected better.”

I spat the blood from my mouth. “And I expected you to have hair, but we don’t always get what we want,” I said, panting.

Someone was going to die, but it wasn’t going to be me.

Baldy came back charging, and so did the tall chick. Great.

The bald dude reached me first, his confidence high but his strikes falling short. I blocked a jab and twisted, sending a reverse punch with my left fist right into his gut. He bent forward, and I smashed my knee into his face.

I felt him slop to the floor, but my eyes were pinned on the approaching blonde.

“I’m going to kill you, bitch,” she snarled, her features warping, which removed any delicate traits and made her look very male and angry.

I had to admit it was weird. It was like fighting different versions of me.

I met her snarl with my own toothy, aggressive grin. “You’re going down, Barbie.”

Barbie lunged with a punch so swift most men’s heads would have spun around. But I wasn’t most men.

I ducked and dodged and caught her arm in one hand, locking it into a hold I knew was bone-snapping. As blondie’s face twisted with pain, I drove my knee up into the side of her head. She groaned as I let go of her arm and came at her again with my hunting knife.

But she beat me to it.

Blondie sidestepped and whirled, driving her soul blade down.

I cried out as a stabbing feeling went through my upper back, through my jacket to my skin, sharp and hot. The bitch had stabbed me. She was good. I was seriously impressed.

Still, the idiot had left her blade in my back. Grimacing in pain, I leapt forward and head-butted the tall blonde girl.

“Ow, ow, ow,” I hissed, holding my head as it vibrated all the way to the insides of my ears. I heard a grunt and she jerked back and fell on her ass in a very ugly fall.

Wincing, I sheathed my hunting knife, reached behind my back, and yanked the soul blade from my left shoulder blade. I hissed through my clenched teeth. Warm liquid trickled down to my lower back. I just raised my shoulder and the wound flamed like I’d put a lighter to it. It would need stitches before it could heal properly.

The weight of her soul blade felt good in my hand. Damn, I missed these.

Wiping the blood from the corners of my mouth, I peered down at the blonde and said, “Thanks for the soul blade—”

A dark shadow approached like a rushing wind, and a hand backhanded me without breaking momentum. I stumbled back and caught myself before I fell. Turning, I looked up to find the other Unmarked female standing before me, legs planted and bent, like a tiny sumo wrestler.

“Ooooh,” I grinned. “Barbie was good, but you’re way better.”

Now that I looked at her, I could see pretty features over her tanned face. Her large green eyes were lined heavily with black kohl. She stood with both hands gripping curved, double sided blades. A dark ragged mane fell about her pretty heart-like face, set in an expression of anger. In her black leather gear, she had that Goth with a bit of sadomasochistic vibe going. And she actually pulled it off quite well. She looked dangerous and very sexy.

“Aren’t you going to use your whip?” I asked, cocking my hip.

Her lovely face creased in confusion. “I don’t have a whip.”

“No way,” I said, looking at her outfit, genuinely surprised. “Could have fooled me.”

Goth-girl smiled without showing any teeth. And then she shot forward, twirling her daggers like batons. I ducked and spun, landing my fist on the side of her head. Expression hard, the small woman fell back into a shelf, and I landed a kick square in her middle to push the air from her and maybe bruise a couple of ribs.

“Haven’t you guys had enough,” I shouted, pulling away. “You just don’t get it. Do you? Leave. Or I will kill you.” I didn’t want to, but if they didn’t stop, I’d have no other choice.

Goth-girl pushed herself up from the shelves slowly as she bared her teeth, her face only inches from mine.

“Don’t,” I urged Goth-girl. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Enough already! Move!” I heard Ethan shout and Goth-girl leapt away from the shelves and me.

At first I thought Ethan was going to tackle me or something. That was until I saw the big ball of black energy in his hand.

Oh. Shit. That was bad.