Page 140 of Hoofin’ It

“Unnecessary?”

“I could go up there and eat him.”

I thought about that. “Someone should be there to witness you eating him.”

“You doubt me?”

“No. I just doubt you’d leave any evidence by the time you were done licking the roof clean.”

She whinnied a laugh. “Try not to die. I do not want to eat you.”

“I don’t want you to eat me, either.” I pointed at the closest fire escape. “All right. Line up under it.”

Once Bai Bao Chen was in position, I stood on the saddle, eyed the few feet between me and the twisted railing dangling beneath the first intact step, and jumped. She helped with a buck, and I hit the metal chest first, hissing at the pain in my abused shoulder. I grabbed the rail, pulled my legs up, and jammed my toes against the first step. Hand over hand, I scrambled onto the intact stairs. The entire structure swayed under my weight, so I tested every step, aware if the fire escape toppled, I’d be trapped in a cage of broken, rusting metal.

When I reached the third story and the ladder to the roof, I checked to see if the kirin waited below. She was gone. I reminded myself ladders weren’t nets, and I could handle one stupid little flimsy ladder, cursing to myself while I climbed.

The ladder shook more than the steps, and I was shaking by the time I peered over the roof’s ledge.

Trouble came in threes, but if I multiplied by three, I was closer to the number of men and vampires hanging out on the flat roof. The din of the battle masked the creak of metal when I eased over the ledge and landed in a crouch.

I had three bullets, and I counted twelve potential targets. The math was not in my favor. My gaze locked on the most important target, Mark O’Conners, who watched the battle below with a sniper rifle in hand, although he hadn’t set it up.

The weapon did him no good leaning against the roof’s half foot tall ledge.

Since I’d already abandoned all semblance of playing fair, one of my rounds had his name on it, and he’d be the first one I took out. I wasn’t sure who my next two targets would be, but I’d figure it out. The best I could do was lower the odds down to one against nine until Bai Bao Chen made her way to the roof—if she could.

A better man would have given a warning, started an old-fashioned duel, or announced his presence, but I took aim, steadied my grip, and pulled the trigger.

My bullet struck true, plowing into the center of the man’s spine, but Mark O’Conners didn’t fall. In his hissed cry, I recognized the sound of a vampire’s pain. I shifted my aim to his head and drilled the last two rounds into the back of his skull.

The third round did the trick; the newly turned vampire tumbled off the roof. Unless his head was severed or someone staked him, he’d get back up, but I had other problems to worry about. With my ammunition gone, I’d brought a knife to a gun fight against vampires, and the eleven remaining figures whirled to face me.

Stripes was one of them, but he hadn’t had a cute pair of pearly fangs the last time I’d seen him.

Since an empty Ruger was useless, I wound up, took aim, and threw it as hard as I could. The handgun smacked right between Stripes’s eyes, and he yelped his astonishment. While I had the element of surprise, I lunged forward, closing my fingers over my new dagger, and brought the fight to them before they remembered they had guns and I didn’t.

I’d done some profoundly stupid things in my life, but facing off against eleven vampires—even newly fledged ones—topped the list. Maybe I was a shifter, but they had abilities I lacked, including speed, strength, and the stamina born from not needing to breathe.

The older vampires would kill me the instant they got a hold of me; the only ones I stood a chance against were the young ones. Since wasting my breath would get me killed, I didn’t bother saying a word. Stripes had made his choices. I’d made mine.

Deciding to join an organization enslaving people and turning them into cattle for vampires’ wealth, profit, and sustenance made him dangerous—too dangerous to leave alive.

Some vampires did good, and I was learning those were the exception rather than the rule.

Later, I’d regret killing a cop, although his transformation from human to vampire made him like me, no longer eligible to serve on the force. Firming my grip on the dagger, I slashed it across Stripes’s throat, grabbing hold of his hair with my other hand and yanking with all my strength. Beheading someone took time and a lot of effort, two things I couldn’t spare, but I gave it my best shot. The edge sliced through muscle and bone with startling ease, leaving his body to fall to the ground.

An infuriated scream cut over the cacophony of battle.

I turned to go for the next vampire, and another hit me from behind, his knees slamming into my back and driving me down, my chest smacking against the rooftop. Fangs tore into the back of my shoulder.

All the warnings of a hunting vampire’s bite hadn’t prepared me for the sensation of my blood being pulled from my body as my heart stuttered and skipped several beats. It hurt, but nothing like what Ernesto or Quinton had inflicted on me.

My world narrowed to the wheeze of my breath and the growing tightness in my chest. I knew I needed to fight, but more hands than I could easily count pinned me down while I thrashed.

“Don’t kill him,” a man’s voice rumbled. “Not yet. I want Saven to watch me make this one in my image.”

The pressure on my shoulder eased, but my heartbeat remained rapid, throbbing through me. My vision cleared, giving me my first look at Luca Ricci, who crouched beside me. His red suit dripped blood, and the vampire displayed his fangs.