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Chapter 4
By the time midnight had come and the live music had stopped, Willa and I had drunk through an entire bottle of whisky. We’d gotten so caught up in reminiscing and celebrating our freedom that we hadn’t noticed the time passing until she’d yawned—which also triggered a yawn in me.
“I think I need to call it,” Willa said. “Thank you for the dagger.”
I nodded and squeezed her hand again, unable to let go the feeling of gratefulness for this friendship. “We need to get together again soon.”
“Definitely.” Willa stood and threw her messenger bag strap over her shoulder. “Probably best to leave my car here until morning and not drive. Do you want to take the same taxi?”
I shook my head. “That’s all right. Dark Iron is just around the corner. I can manage it.”
“Are you sure?” she asked. “It’s pretty late.”
Nodding, I stood as well and readied to leave—and tried to hide a slight waver in my stance.Yikes.We’d drunk a ton of whisky. “Yes. It’s no big deal. Thank you, though.”
I hugged her quickly and walked with her to her taxi, seeing her off. My face was warm with alcohol and my head buzzed, but the happiness and relaxation that had swept through me was worth every penny of that bar tab. This was what life had felt like before Lazarus and his feeding community: fun and carefree. This was what life could feel like again after it.
“Thank you for convincing me to go inside,” I said to Mrak. But he didn’t respond before another voice rang through the air.
“Any chance we can convince you to go home with us?”
I turned, suddenly aware of the two vampires from the bar approaching me. “No, I’m good.”
“Aw, come on,” the taller man said. Both of their gaits suggested danger.
My heart leapt into my throat. “I told youno.”
The two men glanced at each other, but they didn’t laugh.
I backpedaled, unaware that there was a brick wall behind me until my back slammed into it, followed by my head. Pain splintered across my shoulders and skull. “Leave me alone.”
They didn’t. Instead, they approached, their hands reaching beneath the black coats they both had on. The taller, dark-haired man withdrew a weapon first, a shiny black obsidian dagger with a gold symbol engraved on the side—which I only noticed because he made a point of brandishing it. It was a set of three inter-locking circles with a triangle in the center. A line had been drawn right through the middle of the symbol.
The familiarity of it drew my attention for a moment too long thanks to the alcohol buzzing in my system. A moment in which the men drew close enough to corner me against the brick wall.
“Where’s the diagram?” the taller one asked as he held the dagger up between us.
My brow furrowed. “What diagram?”
My pulse sped, thundering loudly in my ears. Where the hell was Mrak? He’d said he’d protect me and this was so very clearly danger that his absence swept a bereft feeling through me fast and hard.
“Take over if you need to,” I said to Mrak because that was the only way I could talk to him.
Only the men responded.
The shorter one stepped closer, drawing his own blade. “We don’t need to take anything more than the page Leif gave you if you just cooperate.”
“Yeah, baby,” the taller man said, his tone softer but infinitely more dangerous for it as he, too, encroached on my personal space.
I swallowed hard, trying to stave off the rising panic within me. I’d begun learning how to fight. And Ididhave fire magic. But as the men drew closer and my addled, intoxicated brain tried to both remember how to use that new magic and piece together why these men might be after Leif, I found no answers. No movement. No magic.
Cursed whisky. It was throwing my survival instincts so far out of gear.
“Mrak!” I yelled as I opened my bag, hoping to materialize a weapon I knew didn’t exist.
The shorter man wrenched the bag from my hands and cut the strap at the same time. I cried out as my poor bag was destroyed. The shorter man drew it upside down and shook it out, depositing my clothes all over the street. Warmth swept my cheeks, embarrassment and fear all the same.
“Where is it?” he screamed as he didn’t discover what he was after.
