"What's wrong?" I ask quietly, but my voice seems too loud. A cold mist falls from the sky, threatening to turn into fat raindrops.
From the shadows, figures emerge—too still, too pale, too deliberate. Their eyes glint in the weak light from the flickering dock lamp. Urban leather jackets, boots, dark hoods, they look like they’ve stepped out of a street gang, not a castle crypt. Fangs bare beneath grins full of malice.
First two, then five.
Vampires.
Mal sent them. To kill me. To punish my father.
"Aura, get out of here," Talon orders, already moving to intercept.
The first vampire lunges. Talon grabs his throat mid-air. A searing hiss fills the night as his palm ignites, turning skin to blistered ruin. He hurls the vampire sideways, spine snapping as it hits the ground.
A snarling female sprints toward me from the left. Talon turns and crushes her with a backhand that sends her sailing into a rusted container with a crack of bone.
My feet are glued to the pavement as I watch in frozen horror as more appear from the shadows.
Three more vampires fall on him. He throws fists, and embers spark off him but there are too many. A fourth pushes his way into the fray. I catch the glint of steel right before a blade sinks deep into Talon's ribs.
Talon bellows, the sound raw and animalistic.
"Talon!" I cry out, lurching forward instinctively. Cold fear is washed away by red hot anger.
They hurt Talon.MyTalon.
My hand closes around a length of rotted dock wood, splintered but solid. I may be a princess, but I'm also a Lost Girl now.
The words from the tattoo parlor return to me, firming my resolve.
“They'll underestimate you…let them."
“They’ll want you to play nice…don’t."
I swing wide. The beam connects with the vampire’s temple, a sickening crunch echoing through the night. My makeshift weapon snaps in two on contact. As my target drops to the ground, another vamp peels off from the fray and heads toward me.
"Aura, get out of here! Go!" Talon roars before two more vampires slam into his back. It takes six of them to drag Talon down to one knee.
Their hands tear at his skin, fingers prying between his glowing scales where the knife is lodged. One vampire hisses as he rips a scale free, still pulsing orange at the edges with heat. Blood gushes as Talon cries out.
“Shit,” I breathe, dropping the useless bit of wood left as I stumble.
My throat closes as Talon is overwhelmed and the vampire stalks purposefully toward me.
The Rosari aren’t combat-trained people. We don’t invest in armed forces because we can suck the fight right out of anyone.
AllIcan do is suck the life out of this guy through his dick, but that’s not exactly the scene set here, and I’m in no hurry to get in close.
I suddenly wish I had secretly trained in some kind of martial arts all these years instead of working on watercolors, horse riding, and reading books.
Talon slumps forward, fury flaring in his eyes even as his body begins to fail. He mouths to me, “Go.”
I don’t want to leave him. But I can’t help him.
I run in the other direction for a few feet, then glance over my shoulder. He's surrounded now, a blur of fists, claws, and heat.
Then I’m yanked back. The collar cuts into my throat so hard it breaks flesh. A garbled choke escapes me as my hands fly up to my neck.
I reach to unclasp the collar, but the vampire jerks the chain still locked around my throat and drags me down like an animal.
