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A dead end.
Dirk stumbled to a halt and blocked my escape. Fuck, I had hoped to avoid violence on my day off, but he gave me no choice.
17
“Come on, sweetheart.” Dirk grabbed his crotch. “I have a sword right here for you.”
I challenged him with a stare. “Back off before I hurt you.”
“Don’t be such an uptight little bitch.”
“Okay, now Iwantto hurt you.”
With a grim smile, I freed Chun Yi. The blade smoldered with blood magic, and I saw surprise in Dirk’s eyes.
He drew his own sword. The blade glinted in the late sunlight.
Was he stupid enough to attack me now? Apparently, he was.
I waited for him to charge, then swept past him and sliced his ribs just enough to hurt. Chun Yi crackled at the taste of blood.
With a shout, Dirk spun around. His sword whirled toward my head, and I blocked his attack. The shock of it drove me backward and sent reverberations down my arm. I recovered my balance and pivoted away from him.
He was much stronger than I had thought. But I was smarter.
The thought steeled my muscles. When Dirk attacked again, I slid Chun Yi along the length of his blade and stabbed himin the shoulder. Dirk bellowed. Blood trickled down my sword’s hilt and dripped hotly over my hand. When I yanked out Chun Yi, the blade sizzled and spat a trail of sparks into the air.
Dirk attacked again, his sword swinging wide. I dodged the blow with ease.
His stance left him vulnerable. In one swift movement, I crossed blades, reached under his sword’s pommel, and grabbed his hilt. With a savage twist to his wrist, I wrenched his blade sideways and disarmed him.
Dirk bellowed again, trying to intimidate me. Idiot.
With a sword in each hand, I narrowed my eyes. His blade was dull and ugly, just like him. Chun Yi smoldered, on the verge of flames. An urge gripped me to slice his neck open and let his blood flow onto the dirt.
But there were always consequences for killing, everywhere but the battlefield.
“You lost,” I said. “But I won’t take your life. Not this time.”
Dirk backed away, holding his head low like a wounded bull. His blood dripped down his shirt and plopped on the cobblestones. At the mouth of the alley, he groaned, swayed, then turned around and fled down the street.
After he ran away, I tossed his sword into the nearest garbage heap.
Rattled, I returned to the Hall of the Archmages. It was almost time to meet Wendel for dinner, but I wanted to talk to Margareta. As a mercenary, I couldn’t go too long between missions, or I would run out of gold.
When I knocked on her office, she called out, “Enter.”
I closed the door behind me. “Ma’am.”
“Please, sit.” Margareta steepled her hands on her desk. “I have an urgent job for you. You don’t have much time to rest, I’m afraid. It’s already Saturday, and you would need to arrive in Antwerp by Monday evening.”
“Belgium?” I tilted my head. “That sounds better than Transylvania.”
Transylvania would be forever linked to blood-soaked snow in my mind. Wendel would have bled to death there if I hadn’t found him.
“Do you know of Dr. Rudolf Diesel?” Margareta asked.
“Of course.”
