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AT ONCE, THEY ATTACKED. Like a tidal wave pushing between two buildings, the group filtered down the alley with fangs bared and snarls distorting their faces. I gripped my stake and Viktor cracked a bone in his neck. Both of us seemed a little too calm for the situation we now faced.
“Here we go,” Viktor said and I swear he smiled.
As the first vampire broke through the mass, he jumped at Viktor and flew through the air with his hands spread. Before the man landed on the ground, Viktor had torn his head from his neck. Blood sprayed and the body landed with a thud on the street next to me. It only took a few seconds for the mass to disintegrate into ash, but it was enough time for me to snap into it and prepare for an attack.
Two females came after me first. One was tall, with dark skin and long hair. The other looked much older, like she’d been created when she was in her forties, but her stocky build and muscular body spoke of intense military training. In my peripheral vision, I saw Viktor fighting off three or more vampires at a time. For a brief moment I wondered how he felt about killing his own kind. But that quickly faded the second the older female kicked me in the gut.
Hunching over in pain, I cursed myself for getting caught off guard. No more. Ignoring the muscles screaming in response to the kick, I raised my stake and prepared to fight. The vampire snarled, eyes black and face covered in veins like I saw outside the bar just a few days ago. Almost as if she had no control over her desire to kill me, she lunged forward—directly into my stake.
We both looked at each other in surprise. Had that really just happened? Did she just impale herself? As her body disappeared into dust, I held my hand still wondering how I could have been so lucky.
And then the other female jumped onto my back and knocked me to the ground. The stake flew out of my hand and I did my best to roll to the side so that she wouldn’t be able to pin me. But I only got half way around before she lowered her face into mine and held me tight.
“You’re dead hunter,” she said.
I’d heard those words so many times before, but this time a small rush of fear had me wondering if she was right. I tried to flip around so that I could use my hips to push her off of me, but she weighed much more than she looked. I struggled, jerking my arms around, trying to yank them free. Her fangs slid dangerously close to my neck, and that first hint of excitement in my bite tingled underneath my skin.
I ignored it and sent my forehead flying into her face. The head butt hurt and caused me to see stars for a few seconds, but it did the trick. The female vampire sat up, covering nose and cursing at me in a foreign language. I managed to snake my leg under hers and wrapped it around her thigh. Then in one quick movement, I flipped her off of me and I dove for my stake. As my fingers raced to find the hilt, the vampire pulled on my foot and increased the distance I needed to go. Her nails racked down my thighs and I cried out in pain and in frustration.
I bent my knee and kicked her in the face. It gave me just enough time to slide forward, grab my stake, and roll onto my back. She lunged, body flying over top of mine, and I jammed my hand forward hard enough to drive the stake into her heart. Her scream echoed between the brick walls and drew the attention of another round of vamps waiting to have their turn at me.
Jumping to my feet, I prepared to enter another battle. This time I had four males in front of me. I pushed the hair out of my eyes and lifted my stake. Viktor tossed one vampire into the semi-circle that had formed around me, knocking two of them down and giving me a chance to give the surprise attack. I ripped the stake across the throat of one male and had it embedded in the chest of another before the others scrambled back up to their feet. But then, I lost my concentration.
A voice called to me in the chaos. “Sophia.”
I spun, trying to find the source, but instead it just floated in the air like a disembodied thought. I heard it two more times before I felt a sharp pain in my head. When I opened my eyes, my face was smashed up against the wall, cheek pressing on the cold brick structure. Blood dripped from my eyebrow where I’d been struck.
“Let go of me,” I mumbled through the tight grip on my chin. Lifting my free hand, I raised the stake in an attempt to subdue the vampire holding me. But he simply laughed and batted it away like an annoying fly.
“You’re dead.”
Did they ever have anything else to say? I wanted to ask, but my vision kept blurring in and out of focus and I couldn’t make my mouth move very well.
“Don’t kill her,” someone said. “She belongs to Sebastian.”
The vampire holding me tensed and snapped his head around to look at his companion. “She is a hunter. She has killed many.” His broken English sounded like he was Chinese. Or maybe Vietnamese. Either way, his grip continued to tighten as he looked at me. “She should die.”
“Fine by me. But it’s your head.”
The vampire holding me growled in my ear, getting way too close to the bite on my neck. “She smells of him.”
His friend moved in front of me and I could see that he was no more than twenty years old when turned. With red hair, freckles, and a thin frame, he would perpetually be stuck in that lanky body for his entire immortal existence. “He marked her tonight.”
The Chinese vampire hissed in my face, spittle coating my cheek. “I may not be able to kill her. But she can suffer.”
As soon as the word left his mouth, he kicked at my knee causing it to buckle. I didn’t even feel the pain at first. Perhaps I was in shock. But then the searing fire tore through my joint and raced up into my stomach. I’d heard the crack when he kicked it. But now I was sure that he’d just obliterated every tendon and ligament.
I fell to the ground, head spinning in both pain and from the hit earlier. As I lay on my hip, I noticed the vampire staring at my neck. He crouched lower, and despite the agony surging through all of my injuries, his closeness triggered that sensation in my bite again. He sniffed the air.
“Ah, you want me.”
Disgust filled my head but the words wouldn’t come out. I searched for my stake, not seeing it anywhere close to me. A sharp pain ripped through my arm and I screamed out. The vampire had sliced me open with his finger, which was now in his mouth tasting my blood.
“You’re a fool,” the redhead said. “Sebastian will kill you for this.”
The other vampire looked down at me with a sinful grin distorting his features. He didn’t say another word as he reached down with his super speed and cut into my thigh. Once again, it took a moment before I felt the pain. Yet while my head and knee throbbed, this particular wound only stung for a second or two. I looked down to see blood squirting from my inner thigh. Had he cut the femoral artery?
A pile of ash rained over my face and the redhead screamed an instant before Viktor killed him. I managed to focus, ever so briefly, on the alley only to see it clear of all vampires and filled with piles of ashes. “Did you...?” I tried to ask Viktor.
“Shh,” he said. “I need to get you out of here.” He scooped me up into his arms and I almost passed out from the pain. I think I blinked in and out of consciousness because one moment we were in the alley, and the next we were on the street. And then we were running.
“Viktor...it...hurts.” I couldn’t say anything else. And I’m not even sure why I said it hurt because the truth was that I could hardly feel anything at all. Even the sexual desires my bite ignited had all but faded.
Everything turned a shade of gray. The noises of the city became muffled background sounds. My head lolled back, hanging and bouncing off of Viktor’s arm. I couldn’t hold on to him any longer.
“Sophia?” Viktor shouted at me, but it sounded like nothing more than a whisper. “Shit,” he mumbled.
We stopped moving and Viktor smashed his hand through a pane of glass. At least that’s what it sounded like to me. At this point I could barely feel my limbs and a part of me wanted to seep into the darkness lurking at the edges of my vision. I heard a door open and close and then we climbed some stairs. Viktor never set me down until we reached a bathroom. He flipped on the light and I cringed at the brightness.
“Sorry,” he said, gently laying me on the floor. “But I need to see all of your injuries.”
“I’m fine,” I said without feeling.
“You’re not. Look.” He grabbed my face and forced me to look at the white tiled floor. Red liquid covered the area below me and my dress was stained even darker. “You’ve lost too much blood,” he mumbled under his breath.
“I’m fine,” I said again in a daze.
“Sophia, you’re going to die.”
I shook my head and rested it against the cold floor. The ceiling had those metal tiles on it that made the room look like something from another era. To my side sat a large claw-foot tub, and for some reason I noticed how clean it was underneath. “Where are we?” I whispered to myself.
Viktor had his head between my legs examining the gash on my thigh. And had I been in better shape, I may have found it erotic. Yet I couldn’t muster a single feeling at all. Nothing. My hands hung to my sides as Viktor moved me around like a rag doll.
“You need blood or you’re going to die,” he finally said.
“I’m bleeding.” It made no sense, but then again, my brain couldn’t send any messages to my lips right now.
“Yes, you are,” Viktor said sternly. “Sophia, look at me.” He grabbed my face and lowered his to mine. While my senses were fading, I still managed to notice how Viktor’s eyes were solid black but the creases around them let me know he was truly worried.
“How?” I whispered.
“You need to drink from me.”
“Drink blood?”
He nodded. “It’s the only way.”
“What...what will it do?” I think I was trying to ask him another question yet it wouldn’t process in my rapidly fading mind.
“Heal you,” he said. Then he bit into his own wrist. “Here.”
He shoved his arm up against my mouth, the thick liquid trickling over my lips and stinking like metal. I kept my mouth closed, unable to force it open. Somewhere, deep down, I knew this is what I needed. I also knew that there would be consequences from this decision. And because of that, I couldn’t accept the blood.
“Sophia! Drink!” Viktor’s voice echoed in the bathroom. Where were we anyway? When I didn’t comply, he pushed down on my torn knee, causing me to scream out in pain.
And the second I opened my mouth, he shoved his wrist between my lips.
The hot liquid seared my throat, making me gag at the same time I thought it tasted better than I expected. Then again, what did I really expect blood to taste like?
“Sophia, drink.” Viktor’s tone had softened, but he still held his wrist firmly up against my mouth.
I tried to make my lips move. I really did. But the blackness scraped at the surface of my vision and all I wanted to do was sleep. Blood or no blood, I finally realized that I was dying. The idea of not having to survive anymore had its appeal. I’d never fancied myself a quitter, and perhaps it was due to the lack of energy in my body right now, but dying didn’t seem all that bad considering how numb I felt at this moment.
Viktor shifted his body so that my head rested in his lap. Blood still dripped from his wound into my mouth, but my swallowing abilities were nonexistent. He swore several times, adjusting my body and opening up his wound again. “Damn it, Sophia. Stop fighting me.”
Stop fighting him? I wanted to stop fighting period. I closed my eyes. The lids were too heavy now anyway. Nothing would help me at this point. Viktor just needed to let me go. I needed to let go.
Viktor made a noise of frustration and moved out from beneath me. I barely felt anything anymore. He’d stopped giving me blood and even the cold, tile floor no longer seemed unwelcoming.
“Sophia?” Viktor slapped my face lightly. “Sophia?” His voice increased an octave. “I’m sorry.”
I didn’t understand what he was talking about. And even when he bit down on my neck on the opposite side from where Sebastian had marked me, I didn’t understand his words.
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