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“Hold!”I called out, but an instant too late. Another missile moving, even before the last had landed. I looked back, saw Alexei’s hand extended... and heard the pop of flesh.
I looked back, found a knife buried in Clive’s thigh.
“First blood,” Clive said, through gritted teeth, “has been spilled.”
“Only because you missed,” I muttered.
Jaw hard, Clive pulled the blade from his leg, tossed it away. “You’ve now attacked a member of the AAM undertaking his sworn duty. That will not stand.”
That was the next signal, the order to attack. AAM vampires rushed forward, katanas raised. All except Clive, who let the others flow around him, a rock in a stream, as they rushed us.
I unsheathed my blade with my right hand, pulled my dagger with my left, and prepared to defend.
A man came at me, katana raised overhead. I met his strike with my own, jabbed forward with my dagger. He pivoted, spun his katana, and knocked my dagger hand away. I went low, kicked at his shins. He staggered back, and I jumped forward, slashing again. He blocked, and I spun, slashed, caught his arms. He screamed in fury, put a hand over the wound to stanch it, and looked at me with loathing in his eyes.
“You came at me first,” I pointed out. Then balanced, pivoted, and gave him a side kick that had him stumbling. But he maintained, roared forward again.
Something whistled overhead again, and this time I managed to duck—and watched as metal buried itself in the man’s chest. He hit the ground. It wouldn’t be a fatal injury—not to a vampire—but it would keep him occupied.
I turned, looked at Alexei, who smiled at me.
“I had him,” I said.
“I finished him,” Alexei said with a smile, and lunged toward another one.
I heard footsteps behind me, snapped back to look, found a woman, petite but grinning, running forward with katana parallel in front of her, fangs extended and ready to fight.
“I’ll bite,” I said with a grin, and bounced once, centered myself.
She swung and I met her sword against mine, sparks flying as steel burned against steel. We both pushed back, reset, swung forward again. She came high again. I went low, spun to avoid her blade. But she caught one of the floating cap sleeves, ripped it clean away.
Damn it. I’dlikedthis jumpsuit. But I sighed and ripped away the other one, tossed it down. At least I’d be symmetrical.
By the time I pivoted she was on the attack again. We met each other blow for blow, the shriek of meeting metal searing my ears each time we made contact. I was taller, so I used my height to my advantage, brought the katana down overhand. She blocked it, then again, but I had better leverage coming in high, and her arms began to shake from the effort of holding off the blows.
I could have used the monster. I was strong and I was fast, but holding it back took energy I didn’t need to waste. Energy I could have better directed at this short and angry vampire in front of me.
One more blow, I thought, and I pushed as much power and magic into it as I could. A groan escaped her, and she fell to her knees, arms shaking. I plucked her katana from her hands. “Go,” I said, and she rose, ran toward the edge of the meadow.
Now with two katanas, I spun toward the next attacker. He was one of the vampires from the night before—the one with the pendant that now gleamed against his dark fatigues.
“Blake, right?” I asked pleasantly and, when he blinked, sunkinto a low crescent, swept his legs. He jumped to avoid it and, by the time I made the full circle, spun his arm backward, so the butt of his katana handle struck me in the chest.
I felt nothing break, but hit the ground hard. I landed on my shoulder and felt the instant tear and, in the split second before pain struck, knew it was going to be bad.
It was worse.
It was a wave of red heat, sending pain through my arm so fiercely I dropped the female vampire’s katana. I nearly vomited, but breathed quickly through pursed lips, refusing to give in to the searing agony. I was immortal, and it was going to take more than that to stop me.
He realized the same and advanced, aimed a kick at my ribs. I rolled to dodge it, pain screaming in my shoulder as it took my weight, and climbed back to my feet, my left arm all but useless. I raised my katana again, still firmly in my good hand.
Blake’s smile was thin. “You’re going down.”
“Went down,” I reminded him. “Just got back up again. I think there’s a song about that.” But I was out of time for fighting, as sirens filled the air.
There was a pause in the fight, a long inhalation, and AAM vampires began to scatter like seeds in the wind, drifting back into the shadows from which they’d emerged. Clive still stood apart, watching the battlefield.
I faced him, refusing to yield.
