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For a moment no one reacted, and I might as well have been speaking to the night sky. I took the extra two steps towards the pair, grabbed a fistful of long blonde hair and hissed into her ear.
“Brigit. Enough. ”
My protégée released her victim, and after the longest two-second pause of my life, Nolan’s eyes rolled back forward and he let out a raspy sigh.
“Whha?” He looked from me to Brigit, then back. Brigit was smiling sweetly, in spite of the smear of his blood across her cheek. I was less than pleased.
“Do you see now?” I asked him. “Do you see how thin the line between life and death is when it comes to vampires?”
He gaped at the blood on Brigit’s face, then his hand shot to his neck and the pieces of the puzzle came together. His big body sagged, and he slid down the wall, slumping to a defeated puddle on the sidewalk. I let go of Brigit and went to stand in front of him, crouching down and placing one hand on either of his knees.
“Nolan?”
He looked up at me, tears streaking down his hot-chocolate-colored cheeks. I squeezed his knees protectively.
“I would never have let her hurt you. ”
He nodded.
“But I can’t make that promise for any of the others. You are mine in the eyes of the council, but do you see how easy it is for someone to get to you?”
Nolan put his head in his hands and lowered them to his knees, rocking himself back and forth. He made a low sobbing noise over and over. His reaction told me that this experience wasn’t new to him. Brigit and I had thrown him into the dark, frightening corners of a memory we knew nothing about, and in turn had done more harm than good. I’d set out to teach him a lesson, not to break him. I wanted his story, but not like this.
I grabbed his face in my hands and made him look at me. His mind was especially fragile, and I had just fed. I was hoping with my vampire so close to the surface that what I was about to try wouldn’t be an abject failure.
“You are fine,” I said sternly. “You had a fright, but everything is fine. ”
His breathing began to steady and his tears slowed. Brigit was watching us with interest, but I didn’t think she needed any lessons on the thrall. She’d succeeded in getting him here without an issue.
“You’re fine,” I repeated. “The past is gone. You’re fine. ”
With a final, shuddering sigh, Nolan blinked several times and then he was himself again, awakening from a bad dream. I stood up. Looking at Brigit, I pointed at her face and then wiped my own so she would know to get rid of the blood.
I helped Nolan to his feet and gave him a guarded smile.
“How’re you feeling?” Testing the water.
“Fi—” His eyes got wide, and he grabbed me by the torso. We tumbled to the ground with him landing heavily on top of me one instant before the blade of a sword swung through what had been my head, colliding with the brick wall instead.
The clang of metal against rock echoed through the empty street, shouting the fatal promise of violence into the night. And Death was calling my name.
Chapter Twenty-One
Sparks rained down onto the sidewalk from where metal had struck brick. Time passed in slow motion, and the electric pinpricks of fire that fell from the wall singed my arm hairs. Nolan’s breathing came short and fast, and the crush of his ribs dug in to mine with each gasp. He had his hands on my face, and his mouth was asking are you okay but there was no sound. All I could hear was the ringing vibration from the blade of the sword and the thump of Nolan’s heartbeat.
I rolled Nolan over so I was on top of him and balled my hands in his shirt so I could drag him with me. The sword fell with great force, twanging again, screaming its rage at being denied the kill for a second time. I got to my feet, pulling Nolan up with me, and stood between him and our assailant, although I suspected I was the target.
Flesh wounds were less fatal for me than for him.
I turned to face the attacker at the same moment Brigit launched in to action. I’d been on the receiving end of an attack from Brigit in all her vampire glory, and let me tell you the girl packs a hell of a wallop when she wants to. She had jumped on our attacker from behind, grabbing a handful of hair, and was making great strides to go for a neck bite.
Watching a vampire attack with intent to kill is something that should be on the Discovery Channel. Forget Shark Week. A vampire going for the bite is such a cunning example of predatory guile it makes a crocodile’s death roll look like children playing leap frog.
Brigit meant business, but our attacker was apparently no fool when it came to vampire attacks. During the attempt to keep Brigit’s fangs off, I saw who had come after us with such vigor. Nolan recognized her too.
“Noriko?” His surprise was genuine. He tried to move past me to help her, but I put my arm out to stop him.
The girl who had seemed so withdrawn and terse at Bramley was standing in the street wearing an all black spandex catsuit and carrying a pretty dangerous-looking katana. I’d have been impressed, but the one I had at home made hers look mail order.
