“Orfeo.” I can barely force his name from my lips. I shove at his chest again, urging him to turn around, and lift a trembling finger to point. “Look. Down there. Th-there’s someone. And…and h-he’s killing her.”
Without a second of hesitation, he jumps up onto the railing and lands with soundless precision on the balls of his feet. A real, animal growl tears through his throat. “Fuck.” Orfeo spinsaround to face me, fangs flashing. “Stay here. Donotfollow me, Diantha. No matter what happens, do not eventhinkabout coming to help me.”
I nod vigorously, pressing myself back up against the house.
In one fluid motion, he leaps off the balcony railing and lands on his feet in the alley, behind the attacker. He grabs the beast by its stubby. blond ponytail and delivers two swift punches to its temple. But the attacker doesn’t stop. The beast thrashes, trying to break out of Orfeo’s hold as the woman continues to choke and gag.
“Let go!” Orfeo commands. “Let her go!” He yanks it back by a fistful of hair, ripping its mouth loose. The monster lets out a gurgling, shrieking noise, throwing back its head and baring blood-soaked teeth. Orfeo spins it and throws it up against the wall.
The creature slams into the brick wall with a nauseating thud andcrack, clawing desperately at his face. He manages to evade most of the attack while it spews hot, fresh blood, splattering the building’s darkened windows and drenching Orfeo. The woman collapses to the ground, a limp puddle at Orfeo’s feet.
“Enough,” Orfeo roars, yanking it forward then slamming the hellish beast back against the wall—once, twice—until it shivers, emitting a final shriek of pain, then blinks out of existence.
The following moments of silence are somehow even more horrible than the screaming.
He drops to his knees at the woman’s side.
“Kat?” His voice breaks with emotion. Withfear.
He tears off his jacket, biting into his own wrist and holding it to her mouth.
“Drink. Kat, listen to me. You must drink.” Then, he lifts the woman into his arms and takes off in the direction of Devil’s Row while terror holds me captive in the shadows.
It’s only when he’s gone that I realize I’ve been crying.
Orfeo
In the basementof Hades House, I stand over Kat’s limp body as two healers work to nurse her back from the edge of death. One focuses on stitching the shredded flesh and veins of her neck; the other casts spells across her broken bones, speaking rapidly in an ancient tongue.
“Remind me why we care about this human again?”
“Shut the fuck up, Nisos,” Leo spits. His face is drained of any color, green eyes glowing with rage. He sits on a keg with his face in his hands, pulled up beside Kat. He only moves to stroke her hair away from her face. I knew Kat was his friend, but I didn’t realize there was this much affection between them.
“For every dead human body left to rot in the gutters of this town, there will be an entire family looking for justice,” I say to Nisos, pushing off the damp wall and pressing a cigarette between my lips. I snap my fingers to light it.
“Let them look! Fucking idiots.”
“Nisos.” Alfo growls his name. He’s been uncharacteristically quiet, letting us argue amongst ourselves.
“If we want to bring more demons and vampires here, fine,” I say. “I am in no position to stop you, but you cannotreallybelieve that the consequences will go unnoticed.”
Nis’s eyes darken. “Fucking bloodsucker scum, you think you have any power here?”
“Nisos,out.” Nis straightens at Alfo’s command, turning and thundering up the stairs to the club. Alfo takes a drag of his cigarette before tossing it to the ground and crushing it with his heel. For good measure, he spits on it. “I’m not sure why you even care what these humans think, but whatever happened tonight is already done. There’s no use wasting time worrying. I will deal with the vampire myself. Leo, you and Nis head into town and clean up anybody you find. I want them driven to New York and thrown into the Hudson. Now, enough of your fucking crying.”
“Brother.” Leo shoots to his feet and takes a tentative step forward, head bowed. “I believe we need to take stronger precautions. We need to find a witch to cast a spell of insulation or a protective circle. Orfeo can handle the communications, since he will not be in any danger. He can tell them it’s a vampire bar, backed by demons.”
Leo towers over his half-brother, but his body language betrays his sense of inferiority. In the supernatural world, it’s the loudest idiots who hold all the power. I know that firsthand.
Alfo grunts, mouth contorted into a lipless grimace. “I’ll consider it.”
Left alone with just the healers and Kat, Leo and I smoke in silence, the thump of the club rattling the beams around us. Dust falls, and Leo reaches out periodically to drag a damp towel over Kat’s face. He looks more than angry—he is hurt.
Eventually, I say, “You’re a better leader than him.”
Leo eyes shoot up and he glares at me. “Don’t fucking start.”
“It’s just a fact. Even Alfo notices. Why do you think he’s so cruel?”
