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Rei’s lips turned up. His eyes had kept returning to those. That would explain why. He chose one and quickly inspected it. “How long will it take us to reach Moon’s home?”
“About twenty minutes. Less if traffic is light, which it should be.”
“We must hurry. It will take about twenty minutes for reinforcements to reach those attacking if they send out a request for help.” Rei breezed by Xiang, leading the way to the front of the house.
As he stepped out the door with Xiang on his heels, the other SUV parked in the driveway reversed from its space. A rear window lowered, and Meimei stuck her head out.
“Hurry up or we’re leaving without you!”
Rei needed no more coaxing than that. He ran for the car, pulled open the back door, and slid in next to Meimei. He looked around as Xiang jumped into the passenger seat. Junjie gunned the engine, and they launched forward.
“Is Su Ming Yu not coming with us?” Rei inquired when he saw it was just the four of them.
Meimei shook her head. “Shijie’s gift is strongest when protecting the home. She’s got this weird hearth and health gift. She can strengthen Moon’s protective spells on the house, and she can provide some healing through her cooking.”
Rei nodded. “It makes sense. Her presence in the house makes the place feel very welcoming and safe once you’re invited in.” He held out one hand in front of him and rubbed his thumb against his fingers. “I can feel her magic when I’m in there.”
“You can? I don’t think anyone has ever said they can feel her magic like that.”
He flashed a grin at Mei Lian. “I can feel its existence and that its protection does not apply to me.”
“Because you’re not a vampire?”
“Perhaps.” Rei paused and tilted his head to the side. “Or perhaps it’s simply that I am not part of the family she is trying to protect.”
“This is all lovely, but there’s something more important that we need to discuss,” Xiang interrupted. He shifted in his seat to meet Rei’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “How willing are you to kill your own kind? Because if you’re not, we’re letting you off right here. We don’t need any dead weight in this fight.”
A sharp, harsh bark of laughter jumped from Rei’s throat. He closed his eyes, his entire body shaking with laughter. Had Xiang actually asked him that question? Did he think he hadn’t killed a single member of the fae when he’d been at Yiyi’s side all those years?
“Called it,” Junjie murmured, his voice barely reaching above Rei’s laughter.
But Rei broke it off suddenly, leaving the silence of the vehicle feeling like it was full of shards of glass. He narrowed his eyes on Xiang, holding his stare unblinking. “I can guarantee that I’ve killed far more of my kind than you ever have, vampire. I started killing members of the fae to protect my life from a young age, and I’ve never stopped. Meeting Yichen only gave me a new reason to slaughter them.”
No one spoke for the rest of the ride, and that was fine with him. It gave him a chance to inspect the bow resting in his lap. His fingertips traced over the intricate carving of a dragon that stretched nearly the full length. It appeared as if the long maned creature was in midflight, prepared to guide each of the arrows loosened to their target.
He wrapped his fingers around the handhold and smiled softly to himself. His fingers fit perfectly into the slots, the same as Yiyi’s. His heart had hoped that their hands were the same size, but his brain had argued it was insane to think such a thing.
Didn’t matter. He would use Yichen’s bow and protect his life tonight. Bring the vampire safely to his clan’s home.
That was his only goal right now. Bring Yiyi home safe. Even if he had to do it every night, he would happily throw his life into the line of fire to keep his Yiyi from harm.
Junjie was the first to break the silence. “Oh shit,” he mumbled as he turned onto a narrow gravel road. Directly in front of them was the other SUV, while the surrounding forest was full of the fae fighting Yichen, Xiao Dan, and Chen. Snow, ice, and frost covered the trees and pockmarked the ground that was already littered with dozens of corpses.
But more were coming. He could feel it. Fae magic was building in the air like a massive wave about to crash into the shore.
Rei pushed the button on the arm of the door to lower his window. “Go around the other vehicle on the right and try to keep an even, steady pace. And try not to hit the brakes suddenly.”
He’d barely finished giving instructions when he began to climb out the window. Small hands grabbed his calf and attempted to pull him back inside.
“What the hell are you doing?” Meimei shrieked.
“I’m going to shoot my arrows at them from the roof. A moving target is harder to hit, and it’ll draw attention away from the others.”
“You’re insane!” Meimei shouted, but she still released his leg.
“Damn. I wish I’d thought of it,” Xiang muttered.
“Next time, it’ll be your turn!” Rei shouted as he climbed onto the roof. The road was bumpy and uneven, but his balance was superb. It took him a second to string the bow, and then it was all death and destruction. He loosed three arrows at a time, expertly hitting his targets with each one. Pixies, hobgoblins, gnomes, faeries, and more fell to his arrows. He never missed. Not when it counted most.
