Page 58 of The Slayer Seduction

It’s confusing rationalizing this all in my head. Am I really condoning murder?

Is it really murder when someone is already dead? My plans have changed in a matter of days and, to be honest, I didn’t know where to go from here.

Wrapping my head around everything that had happened was making my head spin. I wasn’t sure what was right or wrong to feel. The only concrete thing I knew was that my dark visions had decreased. There were still a few that were ominous and confusing at night. But I was sleeping, my best friends were safe, my coven was solid, yet why did I feel so lost?

When I glance up at the Slayer I sigh, because he’s right: there’s this tether between us, one that draws me to him even when I don’t want to be. It didn’t surprise me when Adam asked to pick up his things to take back to my place, honestly; I wasn’t really expecting much to change, but it’s still confusing. There’s a deep sense of guilt that I’m part of the reason Adam is suffering, and I just want to take that away.

We’re walking quietly toward Adam’s apartment when my breath hitches and I grab the Slayer’s forearm, my nails digging into his skin as I stop walking, my vision going hazy as the vision hits me.

I swear it’s because I just had the thought that my visions had decreased, but I don’t have a moment to consider that as everything comes into frame in my mind.

The Slayer is on the ground, bleeding, a man standing over top of him with a stake in his hand.

As soon as it comes to me, it fades away.

The Slayer is cupping my face, his thumbs running soothing circles on my skin and I don’t tell him to stop because it’s actually pretty nice and how can I explain what I just saw? Even worse, can I admit how sick it made me feel?

“Iris, what is it? One of your visions?”

I nod, and blink at our surroundings; it’s sunset, the street we’re on is empty and darkening by the second. The wrought iron pattern to my left looks eerily familiar.

“We need to leave. Now,” I say, grabbing his wrist and ushering us down the street.

“What is it? What did you see?” he asks and I just shake my head.

Visions aren’t a guarantee. Sometimes they’re symbolic, sometimes they’re a possibility, but they’re almost always a warning. It’s the witch’s job to decipher and act based on what they see, and right now I’m choosing to run.

“Iris. What is it?” he asks as I drag him along.

Suddenly, a sharp whistle cracks through the air. It’s intimidating, and I can’t tell where it’s coming from.

The Slayer stills beside me, and I can sense recognition in his eyes. The veins in his throat are nearly bulging out of his skin, and I swear he grows taller. The whistling doesn’t stop as the Slayer moves me behind his body, shielding me from this stranger.

“More vampires?” I ask in a whisper and the Slayer shakes his head.

“Worse,” he whispers.

A man twirling a stake walks toward us. The sun is behind him and all I can see is the outline of his frame. He’s large and imposing and doesn’t stop whistling as he approaches.

“If anything happens to me, you run, go back to the apartment and protect yourself,” the Slayer says seriously.

“It was my vision. He was standing over you, you were bleeding.”

The man gets closer and closer till eventually all his features are clear. He’s a broad man with blanched skin, with a thick beard and slightly unkempt dark hair that meets his shoulders. It takes me a moment and then I realize the most identifying feature about him.

He has the same tattoos running down his arms just like the Slayer.

This man, isn’t a man, he’s also a vampire slayer.

“Brother,” his deep voice rumbles to the Slayer. They both sound otherworldly and so similar it sends a chill down my spine.

“What do you want?” my Slayer asks.

Oh goddess, he’s in danger and now I’m referring to him as mine?

“You know what I want. It’s quite interesting how many of us have been brought back this cycle. Got to say, this place ain’t too fucking shabby.”

They don’t reference each other by name, which I pick up on immediately. What is it with vampire slayers and protecting their names?