Page 7 of Slayer

In one swift movement, he threw me to the ground on my back, straddling his legs over my waist and pinning my arms above my head. The impact knocked the air from my lungs, the back of my skull stinging as it hit the concrete. His eyes were wide, mouth popped open slightly as if he were staring at a wild creature.

“You attacked a fellow hunter outside training?” He sounded perplexed. “That’s against the codex.”

Hunter? Codex? Rune? What kind of role-playing crap was this?

I could no longer blame bad Top Ramen.

Being on your back, arms pinned, was one of the worst holds for a woman. But I wasn’t going down that easily.

I bucked my hips upward, trying to push him off, but he held me down effortlessly. His weight was solid and unmovable, like I was wrestling a statue. Then I screamed, but the sound barely left my lips when his hand clamped around my mouth, drowning out the noise. The skin of his fingers hit against my teeth, and the heel of his palm dug into my cheek.

“What are you doing? We’re on the same side,” the guy named Asher spat, continuing to look at me like I was a feral cat.

I tried to talk but it came out muffled, so he removed his hand before I could bite it.

“What?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes. “Says the dude pinning me down against my will! Get off!”

The scratches on his face were bleeding, thin trails of red running along his cheekbones, catching in the alley’s dim light.

He released my hands and held up my left arm, peering at it as if looking for something. “Are you… I’m confused. The drainer was there, everyone was enthralled…but not you. You’re immune, which makes you a hunter,” he said.

I was supposed to be the one who was high? Bro made zero sense.

“Get. Off.” I growled, feeling another surge of anger wash over me. Maybe I could bite off one of his fingers. Then the police would really have zero trouble IDing him.

Asher sighed. In one swift move, he stepped off me and stood while simultaneously grasping my upper arms and heaving me up with him. My legs wobbled as he lifted me, keeping a firm grip on my arms, as they were pinned in front of me.

“You saw everything tonight. The others won’t remember, but you will. I have to at least contend with that,” he said, almost to himself.

Others like Rae? Melanie?

“My friends,” I gasped suddenly. “Are they okay?”

That well-dressed guy attacked Rae, and here I was running off like a coward. Guilt twisted low in my stomach.

“I assume so, but since I had to run off and babysit you—” He stopped mid-sentence and cocked his head to the side, as if he heard something. His whole body went still, like he was listening to a frequency I couldn’t hear. “You shouldn’t have cut my face, not with so many vampires nearby,” he growled.

Vampires nearby? Poor guy was having delusions.

He yanked me to the side, which caused a scream to rip from my throat, and then pulled out his sword as he released my hands. The metal caught the weak alley light, gleaming as he drew it free. Asher placed himself protectively in front of me and faced the mouth of the alley.

“Listen, buddy, I think you’re the one who’s been smoking a bit too much grass, okay?” I told him. “Now I’m just going to sidestep you here and go home.” I stepped out from behind his back and looked at the opening of the alley…

Two men and one woman stood there. One of the men had his head cocked to the side at an unnatural angle. Their lips were all…very red. It didn’t look like lipstick. It looked like…

“Blood,” one of the men hissed.

“Hunter blood,” the woman said.

“My favorite,” the other guy purred in his best impression of Smeagol.

Okay. That was a gross fetish I wasn’t here for.

I stepped back and hid behind the dude with the sword, because it seemed smart given the current situation. Peeking around him, I noticed the three people at the mouth of the alley were now directly in front of us.

How had they moved so fast?