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“The four on the right are vamps,” I said, yelling over my strained hearing. “The two on the left are sirens. Don’t let them say too much.”
These hunters had been my colleagues. Now, they were here for my blood.
I stepped forward and Elias grabbed my arm. “We go together.”
I pulled my arm free and without looking at him, I moved forward. “These are my people. Let me start this.”
He didn’t object as I stepped over shattered glass and chunks of drywall. The hunters were leering at me as if I was a delicious meal. I knew what they were here for and it wasn’t the rest of the assembled party.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the mages were backing away, leaving the scene. They weren’t hunters. They were clearly hired hands. For a price, you could pay a mage to perform pretty much any spell you wanted. Including trying to break down wards.
“What’s the bounty on me?” I asked. It was customary to give a fellow hunter some basic information before you tried to kill them. I knew I had a few minutes of safety. I also knew the payment had to be high for the hunters to have employed the mages.
“You’re worth more dead than alive,” Sasha, a vampire I’d been on decent terms with said.
“That’s a shame,” I said. “Because you know damn well I’m not going to let you kill me.”
“You aren’t going to have much of a choice, darling,” one of the other vampires drawled. He was a newer hunter. I’d seen him around a few times, but didn’t remember his name.
I grinned. “Careful, buddy. You don’t want to bite off more than you can chew.”
I could feel Elias and David behind me, the two of them had been inching closer as I engaged the hunters. I considered telling them to back off, but I knew they wouldn’t listen.
The group before us would be a challenge for me to take on by myself, but with either David or Elias, I wasn’t worried. I’d seen what both of them could do.
I took a step back and glanced over at David. “You know that place where you called me from?”
He nodded. “Take the mages and your hounds there. Protect them.”
“Leave you here to fight them alone? I don’t think so,” he said.
“We’ve got this,” Elias said. “Do what she asked.”
I knew if I had to worry about the safety of anyone else, I would be distracted. And I couldn’t afford to be distracted. “David, please. We can do this and if the worst happens, I need you to finish it.”
The vampires were inching forward, one of them pulled a sword from behind his back.
I cocked an eyebrow. “A sword?”
“You’re jealous. I see that little knife you’ve got. Heard it’s infused with silver. Maybe I’ll take it from you and stab you with it. I know you’re only half wolf, but I bet it would hurt like hell,” he said.
Heat rose in my chest and anger spread through me. I knew what was coming and I pushed forward, embracing the magic. I slipped my knife back into its holster on my thigh.
“Cocky little bitch,” Sword Vampire said.
I smirked as Hellfire roared to life in my hands, the green and gold flames licking up my arms. “What was that you were saying?”
“What the fuck?” He nearly dropped his sword.
“Get them out of here, David,” I snapped.
“Fine,” he said. “But if I feel an injury from you, I’m coming back for you.”
“Agree. Now, go!” I shouted.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see David leading the hounds and the mages away from the townhouse. I wasn’t sure how they’d get to Heidi’s but I knew he’d keep them safe. I relaxed a little knowing the mages would be out of the way.
Elias’s magic sizzled on his hands, little sparks popping on his hands. I knew he could take these hunters out by himself in moments if I didn’t care about the outcome. I might not be the most benevolent being, but I didn’t want to kill hunters for doing their job.
“Try to disarm,” I said.
“You don’t want them dead?” Elias sounded confused.
“They’re trying to pay their bills,” I said. “Even if they’re a bunch of assholes.”
“You sure?” Elias asked as the group moved toward us.
“No. But I can’t justify taking them out.” It was a terrible idea to not go for the big guns but I if I could, I would go easy on them. If the situation were reversed, I’d go after a lucrative mark. Well, I didn’t work with groups so I’d probably be hiding in the trees waiting for the group to fail.
Either way, I wasn’t going to kill for no reason. Closing my hands into fists, I extinguished my flames and grabbed my knife instead. I might regret this, but I was going to try to let these hunters live. Now, I just needed to incapacitate them enough so they didn’t follow us.
