Page 98 of Vervain

“What do you smell? A human? A nightwalker?”

I look down at an unconscious Olivia and Serun, realising that I can’t stay in here if I want to protect them. If they open this door, we are sitting fucking ducks.

“Someone is here,” another voice says, and I flinch at the thumping sound. “There’s a bag filled with food—the good kind too.”

“Hey, human,” the first voice shouts. “If you’re in here, come on out. We won’t harm you. We are slayers.”

Well, there go my chances of survival.

There is a tap on the bathroom door. “You in there, human?”

Biting my lower lip, my fang sinks into flesh, and I look at Serun. With a muttered curse, I lean down and press my lips against his, then whisper, “If you don’t wake soon, I will gut you in your sleep. But first I will save your life, nightwalker.”

I rise, blade poised, the tip resting against the wood. The handle turns, and as the door starts to open outwards, I thrust the blade forward, piercing the wood like butter. A guttural cry pierces my ears as the blade sinks into flesh on the other side, and I step out of the bathroom, following the blade. I yank the sword clear out of the wood, and blood splatters across Olivia and Serun’s unmoving bodies.

The slayer hits the door as he collapses, closing it. I aim my blade towards the entrance and crouch low behind some boxes. Another person steps into the storage room, a medium-sized dog following, his flashlight finding the body against the bathroom door. A pool of blood has already formed, oozing away from the corpse I don’t particularly care for—especially compared to the ones I need to protect.

“What the fuck…” The man steps forward, and as he passes me, I suck in a breath and drive my sword into his back, the blade bursting from his chest. “Fuck!” he cries out.

The dog has fled the room by the time I pull the blade out, but then a spark of pain shudders through my scalp. Someone is dragging me backwards by the hair. Wild, feverish eyes lock onto mine, and when I try to reposition the blade, my hands slide through blood, and it slips from my grip. A guttural cry tears from my lungs as he drags me towards the exit.

Another man stops by the door while I’m dragged out kicking and screaming. “A fucking nightwalker. Take it into the sunlight. Smoke it!”

Two more humans? Slayers? It’s hard to tell, but they stand at the open door, sunlight bleeding towards me.

I reach out, grabbing hold of his wrists and puncturing his skin with my nails as I hiss at him. The one walking behind me barks a laugh. “Fucking bloodsucker. Feral little thing you are.”

“Almost there,” the one holding me grunts, and in one swift motion, I slide into the sunlight and wince at the intensity of the light. It has been over a week since I’ve seen the sun. The man lets me go and stumbles back, sharp blue eyes widening. He turns to the others. “She isn’t fucking burning, mate!”

“I cut, tant,” I spit, shying from the rays.

The man who dragged me by the hair draws his gun. “What the fuck did you just say, nightwalker? Speak our language, not your vampire tongue.”

Rage burns inside me, blistering with light that glistens against every freckle. “I said, ‘No shit, monster’. And it was not Daryun.” I raise my hand and say, “Caet, motherfucker!”

Blinding white light bursts out of my palm, buffeting him until skin peels away from muscle and muscle from bone, and bone shatters into sparkling dust. While the others are blinded, I sit up and reach for my sword when the cool barrel of a gun presses against my forehead. The one behind me wearing a mask cocks his head to the side.

“Vegodian,” he growls. “To think we—” I flinch, my eyes widening at canine teeth crunching down on the flesh of his wrist. The gun goes off, ringing in my ears. The dog keeps ripping the man’s flesh. Ravenous growls tear through its lungs as the dog attacks. “Scout, what the fuck are you doing?” he wails, grabbing the dog’s snout and prying open the dog’s maw.

A slayer by the door grabs my face and forces cotton in my mouth, saying, “The Council will want her.”

“You’re right. Keep her gagged and bound so she can’t use those vegodian powers. When we get to Padbury, we will talk to Dr Hill. Search for the tattoo as well. She might be something else entirely.”

My screams are muffled as cotton is stuffed in my mouth and secured with tape, and tears prick in my eyes as my shirt is torn and discarded to reveal my back, stripping me of my dignity.

I reach up to claw at the man when there is a spark of pain in my wrist. He cuts at me with a dagger, my blood spilling to the ground. My cries are stifled by the gag as I wrap my arm over my bare chest.

“Oh, fuck, there it is. A moonflower tattoo,” he says, tapping the point of the blade against the ink on my back.

From behind me, the dog whimpers and the man curses, a frustrated roar rising from him as the dog runs back into the storage room. “She fucking turned on me! The fucking dog I raised since she was a pup!”

“It don’t matter. Grab this freak and help us toss her in⁠—”

Suddenly, darkness washes down the walls, and the sunlight shrinks until black paints my vision. No amount of blinking will help me see in this.

A gargled cry cuts through the stunned silence as the hold on me slackens, and I fall to the floor. I shuffle backwards on my hands and feet, slipping in my own sticky wet blood until my arms buckle when I crash into something hard behind me.

Through the darkness, familiar piercing red eyes stare at me, and I suck in a breath. Then, shapes start to come into focus.