Page 11 of Slayer

My chest tightened, breath catching as everything slammed together in my head.

“Wait,” I breathed.

He looked back at me, and I turned the water to scorching heat, rubbing my nails with the soap until they were clean. The burn grounded me, steadied my shaking hands. Picking up the stake, I stashed it in my boot, the top four inches sticking out so I could easily grab it. Then I grabbed the tank top he’d given me and slipped into the bathroom, taking off my red silky top, which was spattered with dried blood, and replaced it with his white tank. The scent of some unknown sexy cologne washed over me, and I cleared my throat. Leaving the bathroom, I tossed him my bunched-up bloody shirt, which he stashed in his plastic bag.

“I’ve seen these runes before,” I told him, pointing to the stake in my boot. “They were…on my body when I was given up at the hospital as a baby.”

There. My dark secret was out. I’d never told another soul. Only Linda knew and whoever else had access to my file.

I was a ritualistic sacrifice baby apparently.

He nodded, looking nonplussed by my admission.

“Probably protective runes. All hunter parents put them on babies so that vampires can’t smell us, but they eventually wear off.”

The words landed heavily, shattering something fundamental inside me.

And just like that, my whole world slipped upside down.

“What?”

He froze, going very still. “I can’t tell if I’m sensing a vamp or⁠—”

One second, we were alone, just the two of us, and the next, a man slipped into the room on a wisp of a shadow. It was like a curl of black smoke created a doorway, and now we were not alone.

“I thought I smelled a hunter.” The man in the ripped jeans and black screen-printed T-shirt grinned at Asher and I. “Oh, you look young. Trainees at the academy, I presume? Young ones taste the best.” He sneered, showcasing two long fangs that dented his top lip.

My stomach lurched.

Asher pulled his sword, looking pissed off at the man who’d just shadow slid into our freaking hotel room.

“Get staked, drinker.” Asher lunged for him.

I was expecting another head to come off, but the man was fast. Too fast. Ripped Jeans was standing between Asher and I, and then suddenly, he was behind Asher, about to clamp down on his neck.

“Look out!” I shouted.

Asher cracked his head backward quickly into the man’s face, and the sound of bone hitting bone filled the hotel room. Ripped Jeans was barely fazed. He reached out with both hands and grasped Asher around the throat, squeezing hard.

Asher’s face went red as he bucked in the man’s grip. The man lifted Asher up off the ground so that his feet were dangling in the air.

Holy crap!

Asher’s face went red and then blue, and he peered at me with a look of desperation.

My heart slammed against my ribs as I thought about what to do. They were blocking the doorway. If I wanted out, I’d have to deal with the psycho anyway. And I really didn’t want the hottie to die before he could tell me more about the runes.

Pulling the stake from my boot, I rushed forward, hand shaking.

“Put him down!” I commanded in the most lethal tone I could muster as I gripped the stake in my fist.

The man in the ripped jeans looked at me and grinned. “Don’t worry, love. You’re next.”

Oh hell no, I’m not.

I didn’t have access to his heart, with Asher blocking his body. Besides, I didn’t want to kill the guy. He needed jail time, not to be six feet under.

Instead, I dropped to one knee, slid between Asher’s dangling legs, and shoved the stake into the side of the dude’s thigh with surprising ease. It sank halfway in until I let go.