Her companion hadn’t seen it; he was too focused on me. Somehow he’d gotten hold of my saw, and he sliced my thigh clear to the bone. I had just enough time to knock the tool from his hand before he could do more damage. It spun out across the floor, once again out of reach.
My leg tingled, then went numb.
Still, I didn’t relent. I wouldn’t—couldn’t—let him get to Gray. I hit the man with an uppercut, then launched myself at him, biting an ear until I tasted more blood.
I glanced up to search for Gray, hoping she’d taken cover. But I couldn’t see her, and for my momentary distraction, I was rewarded with a punishing blow to the head, my skull ricocheting off a metal sink pipe. The room spun before me as I sank to the floor.
Finally noticing the state of his female, the male turned back to me with renewed fury.
“You die here tonight,” he spat, dropping to the floor and unleashing a storm of punches to my head. Blood poured from the lacerations in his face, his ear torn clear off, but he was a powerhouse, relentless in his quest to pulverize me. “And your little blonde bitch? She’ll be no more than a smear of blood on my shoe, not even worth the time it would take to lick clean.”
My vision swam with red, and I channeled all that rage, that fear, that primal need to protect Gray into a deafening roar. Shoving him off, I pulled my good leg to my chest and kicked hard, blasting him into one of the metal tables.
He was up again in an instant, charging right for me.
“D!” Gray shouted, and I chanced a quick glance up—just long enough to spot another wooden stake sailing through the air.
I caught it in midair with one hand.
And I slammed it straight into his heart.
The vampire gasped, then collapsed on top of me, eyes rolling back into his head.
“Gray! Are you alright?”
“I’m good,” came her call, loud and clear.
I nearly wept with relief.
Shoving my unconscious vampire aside, I slumped back against the wall and closed my eyes, giving my flesh and bone a moment to mend. It didn’t take long; the attack had taken a toll on me, but now that the beating had ceased, my body could focus on knitting itself back together.
After a moment, I got to my feet, frantically searching for Gray.
My eyes found hers across the room.
Her hair was a mess of tangled curls, her eyes wide with fear. But she was otherwise unmarred.
I took in the sight of the two staked vampires on the floor, then smiled at Gray.
“Are you always so well-armed, little brawler?”
She shrugged, a small smile lighting up her face as well. “Why do you think I wore these boots?”
Because they’re sexy as sin, andyou’resexy as sin, and I don’t care if wearestanding in the middle of a morgue surrounded by carnage and death. If I stare at those exquisitely creamy thighs any longer, I’ll have no choice but to kiss you…
“So what do we do about these two?” She nudged the woman with the toe of her boot. Unlike decapitation or incineration, stakes wouldn’t kill our visitors, but they did poison them. Hawthorn was especially toxic to vampires, considerably slowing the innate ability to heal. If Gray and I left now, we’d have a few hours’ lead on them, at least.
But leaving them incapacitated wasn’t an option.
“Gray, you know we can’t leave them alive.”
Despite her deftness with the stakes, Gray looked seriously pained by the idea of finishing the job. “But… Isn’t there some kind of dominance rule? We kick their asses, they run away with their tails between their legs, never to rise up and bite the hand that feeds them again? Or… something?”
“No one likes a mixed metaphor, love.” I stepped over the pools of spilled vamp blood, finally locating the bone saw. “I have no idea where they came from, but unless we take care of them now, they’ll almost certainly come after us again. Probably with reinforcements.”
Gray’s brow creased, her eyes glazing.
Bloody hell.
