Page 59 of The Slayer Seduction

“How many?”

The bearded slayer across from us laughs. It’s deep and menacing, and he stares at me while he does it.

“As if we would let you collect the ultimate prize after all of this time?”

“Is he talking about me?” I complain and the Slayer pushes me further behind him.

“She was only truly promised to me.”

“Promises are meant to be broken. These endless cycles are worth nothing without a prize,” the other slayer says, and he licks his lips as he looks at me.

“She is not a prize. She’s my fucking mate,” my Slayer growls.

“She won’t be if you’re dead.”

Everything that happens next is a blur. The Slayer pushes me away, and I land against a pile of trash before getting my bearings.

The two slayers are brutally fighting, neither of them holding back anything as they beat each other. It’s hard to tell who’s winning with how fast they move. I clutch my wand in my hand as I figure out what role I need to play in this fight.

There’s no time to process the new slayer’s words. All I can do is focus on making sure I get out of this alive, along with Adam and the Slayer.

“You always thought you were better than us. Always so much smarter and stronger. You don’t deserve anything good,” the bearded slayer says, slamming his fist into the Slayer’s face. Blood spurts out of his mouth and my breath hitches.

When the fuck did violence and gore start following me everywhere I went?

Defensive magic wasn’t a particularly strong skill set of mine. It was also incredibly hard with two moving targets. One moment the Slayer was getting pummeled and then the next, he was on top of the other man, giving him just as good as he got.

“She’s mine,” the Slayer growls, and it reverberates down my spine.

I check in with myself and note that I don’t feel anything for this newcomer. There’s no pull to him. In fact, I’m absolutely terrified of him. When the Slayer broke into my shop, there was fear there, no doubt, but deep down I knew I was safe. As much as I hate to admit it, we are mates, and I’m not going to let this other slayer make my life any more complicated than it already was.

I grasp my wand in my trembling hand as I flick it, whispering the words. The newcomer goes flying in the air, landing hard on his back. The noise that slips out of him is animalistic and full of rage as he looks at me with rage and betrayal?

The Slayer never looked at me like that, not even when I upset him.

I’m thinking of what to do next as my Slayer runs toward me, wrapping his arms around my frame, and he teleports us to an apartment I’d never been to. We land on a too-firm double bed, and I gasp with the sensation, especially because we landed with the Slayer right on top of me.

“You’re alright. You’re okay?” the Slayer asks, grabbing my chin and searching me over even though he was the one bleeding from his face.

I watch in awe as his wounds heal before my eyes.

“Yeah. I’m fine. What about you?”

He runs his fingers through the longer dark hair on top of his head, his tattooed-covered biceps bulging as he does so. I might be imagining things, but I swear I see a new line on his arm, perhaps from killing a powerful vampire like Oz the mark is larger. He doesn’t move from where he hovers over me for a long moment, until he realizes our position and flops onto his back.

“This isn’t good,” he says, “Fuck.”

“I thought you said there weren’t many slayers out there?”

He licks his lips, his tongue soaking up some blood off his busted lip as he shakes his head.

“There aren’t many.”

“Okay, so what was that?”

He groans, grabbing his arm where a more severe cut is working on healing itself. I sigh, getting off the bed and going to the bathroom, where I grab one wet towel and one dry one. The apartment isn’t anything to write home about, but it’s decorated in art and personal trinkets. I take a peek out the window and decide we must be near Marigny & Bywater. The neighbor across the street’s driveway has a painted mural on it.

I come back to the Slayer, and begin cleaning his wounds, and he just stares at the ceiling. This is the most defeated I’ve ever seen him.