“Understatement.”
“Alright, let’s do it,” he said. “You go left, I’ll go—”
“Ash,” I sucked in a breath, taking a closer look at the crowd. “They’re not all bloodsuckers. Half of them are humans.”
“What the serious fuck?” he whispered.
I couldn’t decide whether that upped the odds in our favor or not. Chances are, we were going to die anyway.
“Just… try not to kill any of them,” I said. If humans died on Beaumont’s turf—at the hands of two demons who were known associates of his—the Council would be up his ass in a heartbeat.
Asher flicked his gaze over to me and grinned, his eyes two smoldering black pits, and I knew any chance at getting out of this cleanly was long gone. “No promises, Vacarro.”
Sixteen
GRAY
“I hate that this is your path,” Darius said, holding out a hand to help me up.
It was the night after my disastrous battle with Asher, yet I’d made Darius promise he wouldn’t go easy on me. I needed to learn how to fight; treating me with kid gloves wasn’t going to cut it.
As much as I would’ve loved to take another shot at Asher, he and Ronan were lying low at Ronan’s apartment in the Bay, giving me a couple days to recoup.
It sounded nice in theory, but recoup time felt like a luxury none of us had earned—least of all me.
I blinked away the pain and sucked in a breath of cool air, preparing myself for another round.
Respect was the only ground rule Darius and I had set—a concept as foreign to Asher as wearing a shirt.
Ignoring the vampire’s outstretched hand, I pushed myself off the ground and got to my feet, spitting out a mouthful of dirt and blood. “Doesn’t change the fact that itismy path.”
“No, I suppose not.” Darius slid out of view, but this time I anticipated his appearance behind me, throwing my elbow back just in time to catch him in the ribs. It didn’t hurt him, of course, but it bought me just enough time to spin around and duck down low, dodging his next blow.
“Good,” he said, sliding away again.
Figuring he wouldn’t make the same move twice, I tucked myself into a tight ball and rolled to the side, then swept out my leg, catching him in the shins just as he reappeared in front of me.
He stumbled a bit, but quickly recovered, lunging straight for me before I had a chance to get back on my feet. He came at me hard and fast, barreling into me and knocking me flat on my back. He pinned me down, his lean, powerful body smothering every square inch of mine.
Desperately I tried to roll over, to cover my head, to knee him in the groin, but I couldn’t get an inch of leverage.
“And this is how you die, little brawler.” He nipped at my neck, making me yelp.
“Take it easy, Darius,” Emilio warned from the sidelines. “She’s had a rough first day.”
“Not as rough as the hunter’s planning to give me,” I countered, getting to my feet and shaking off the pain. “Kid gloves aren’t going to help, guys. Until I can get a better handle on my magic, hand-to-hand combat is my best shot.”
No, I might not be able to immobilize a vampire or shifter without a stake, a blade, or a gun and silver bullets, but if I’d learned anything from the last few weeks I’d spent in the Bay, it was that weapons and book smarts were only as good as the one who wielded them.
This month alone, I’d been jumped by a human while packing a hunting knife in my boot, unable to get to it until it was too late. I’d brought a stake to a vampire club, only to have it taken away by the very vampire trying to teach me a lesson now.
Lucky for me, Darius had turned out to be one of the good ones.
But luck was a poor strategy to rely on, and I wasn’t taking any more chances. Not when Reva, Haley, and the others were depending on me.
I cracked my neck and nodded at Darius. “Let’s go again.”
“I’ll take this one,” Emilio called from behind me. “Will you talk her through it?”
