Right About You
“What’s the deal with the sword?”
Phillip’s light cerulean eyes strayed from Daxon’s lit window to the backseat of the car. “Are you asking about my sword? Blood Slayer?”
Blood Slayer?
If that was what he named the sword, I couldn’t even laugh. It was too lame. It was quite literally the worst, unoriginal sword name in the history of sword names. Phillip’s hot guy stock would plummet if anyone at school knew the truth.
For too many reasons to count, I hesitated, voice pitched uncomfortably. “Yes?”
Two seconds later, Phillip was off rambling about his sword.
“In the days of kings and queens, Blood Slayer was forged with the precious metal of a vampire hunter’s sword that vanquished hundreds of vampires in a single night.
Said to be made of a special metal to instantly decapitate any foe, it’s a sword no one can conquer. ”
So, he’d really named it Blood Slayer? Pity didn’t even begin to describe what I felt in that moment. And seriously, what was this, a history lesson? When had we started talking like we were the Knights of the Round Table?
“There’s no stronger sword. It’s the first of its kind.”
My eyebrows rose into my hairline the longer he rambled like he wasn’t talking total nonsense.
“The vampire hunter who trained me gave it to me when I outranked him.”
The excitement in his voice surprised me. The way his eyes lit up and his lips lifted with pure delight caught me totally off guard. It was the same look Grams projected when she talked about Gramps.
Of course, as someone who appreciated a good weapon, I could relate to that sort of excitement. Still, Phillip only ever smirked or expressed happiness when it was at the expense of another person.
In the week we’d known each other, Phillip rarely talked at length about anything that wasn’t work.
Not that I really tried to get the Austrian to open up, but I didn’t know much about him or how long he’d been a Hunter.
I wasn’t sure if he had family, alive or dead, or if there was someone out there who worried about him.
Honestly, he didn’t really strike me as the relationship sort.
I was almost eighty percent confident no single person claimed him as their boyfriend, and if they did, it was likely out of misguided confusion.
“The sword is said to be cursed and only protects its one, true master. I’ve had it…” His voice softened, something totally out of character for the Austrian, and he cleared his throat. “Well, I’ve had it a long time, and it’s never failed me.”
“Yeah huh,” I said, no longer listening to the crazy person beside me. “That’s cool.”
“You have no idea how cool,” Phillip remarked with his signature smirk, then cleared his throat again. The topography of his face changed when he realized he’d gone on for nearly two minutes, and he quickly reined in his excitement. “I never go anywhere without it.”
“That must be interesting when you wander through Walmart,” I joked with a subtle glance back at the sword. “Can’t imagine how you ever made it through the tough security at any retail store.”
“I have my ways,” Phillip clapped back like it was impressive and not the saddest thing he’d said yet. “This sword has gotten me out of some pretty precarious situations.”
“I bet.”
The car quieted again, both of us awkward in the aftermath of his much-too-enthusiastic history lesson on his sword.
I stole a glance at my phone, always checking for a message I knew would never come. Nigel still hadn’t gotten in touch. I told myself it was fine and for the best. But in weak moments, I’d click his name and check if the messages I sent had been read.
They hadn’t.
Biting my lower lip, I pocketed my phone and tried to think about something that wasn’t the guy who abandoned me without a word.
The silence grew inside the car. Stuck in a small space with the ridiculously good-looking Austrian was torture. I’d opt for a punch to the face or kick to the chest over being locked inside a car with the vampire hunter. Because, in no small way, my heart was weak to him.
I was weak.
No matter how I spun the feeling, I couldn’t deny that attraction was an enemy I couldn’t defeat.
I was ill-equipped and drowning. Yeah, I could pretend all I wanted and reject the lure, but forced as I was to be around him, it was only a matter of time before my eyes wandered and my heart fluttered helplessly under his potent charms.
With nothing and no one to buffer us or the thoughts in my head, my gaze strayed to where one of his hands rested on the dash and the other on the stick-shift.
Black ink mixed with red, grey, and white spread across his smooth flesh.
I inspected each line of his tattoos, which was easy enough with his arms exposed up to his elbows.
The muscle bulged beneath fully inked skin and morphed the picture it depicted when he tensed.
Phillip followed my gaze, lifting his arm and spreading his fingers so I could see it better. “Curious?”
I swallowed around a dry throat, eyes wandering away. “Not really.”
“The black snake is sin,” he went on despite my answer. “I’ve got several on me. I’ll let you guess where and for what reason.”
What a perv.
“I’m good.” My breath came faster, and I struggled to keep the heat out of my face, not used to having nowhere to run. “I might get one or two someday,” I mumbled helplessly. “It won’t be long before I can.”
Even I knew how I sounded. I wanted him to acknowledge I was nearly an adult. I wanted him to see me as a woman and not some child.
I’m doomed. I’m seriously doomed.
My heart and head were at odds, and it was by far the most frustrated I’d ever been. It was like having hindsight but no will to employ it. It was seeing the trap and still walking right into it.
The older vampire hunter was a bad idea. It was very clear to me from day one. Yet, here I was, demanding he see me as an adult woman and not a child. And even as I heard the words leaving my mouth, their meaning obvious, I couldn’t stop them.
Phillip’s sly smile greeted my next glance. “Ah, yes. You’re eighteen in June.” The way he said it made my stomach twist nervously. “Soon, you’ll get to do whatever you want, and no one can tell you no.”
The hint of seriousness in his voice hit me in a weird way, and I readjusted on my seat, licking my lips which were annoyingly dry again. But I refused to wear lip gloss or makeup.
I didn’t want Phillip to think it was for him.
He’d worn enough makeup for the both of us, anyway. To be fair, I envied his eyeliner application. Whenever I did dark lines, they looked like I was going for an undead look and not the sexy kickass girl look I wanted. His eyes were perfection in moonlight.
He looked like a badass warrior.
“Not really,” I started, tearing my eyes away from his perfect face. “I’ll still be under Grams’s thumb, and it’s not as if Hunters get to decide much outside of what weapon they want to take with them on a mission.”
Phillip hummed low in his throat and leaned closer to me, the leather creaking under him. “I don’t know about that. You don’t strike me as a rule-abider, and I’m certainly not the type to follow orders to the letter.”
My pulse thudded in my ears with the look Phillip offered me seconds after he'd essentially admitted to cutting corners. “I’m not a top-notch Hunter. I don’t get the allowances you do,” I replied, voice much softer than I intended.
“True.” His hand touched the head of my seat, the tips of his fingers caressing my ginger hair in a way that was somehow the most sexual yet. “But you’ve been partnered with me, so it’s basically the same thing.”
The sensation in the air was unmistakably sensual.
Even with as little experience as I had, I could tell his words carried a hell of a lot more meaning than what was said on the surface.
And the way he stared at me wasn’t even close to the way Nigel or any other man had looked at me.
It was mature. It came from a place of experience and confidence.
It bore an uncanny resemblance to a Hunter who was about to deliver a death-blow to their enemy.
But then the moment was gone, and Phillip’s eyes narrowed on Daxon’s house, focused. Sounds echoed into my ears, and I tuned into the chaotic noise coming from inside the home.
“Something’s happening.”
Already looking over, the light in Daxon’s room was out and the window had been shattered.
Phillip recovered his sword from the backseat, and we both hurried out of the car with our unnatural speed.
But I was barely out the door when Daxon hit the pavement, legs and arms bent at weird angles and lifeless eyes staring up at a starless sky.
Shit.
I cursed under my breath and rushed to my classmate’s side. Kneeling, I checked for a pulse even when I knew by the way his neck was bent, he was gone.
Blood swelled like a great puddle beneath him, and I moved to avoid its reach, heart in my throat. While I checked on Daxon, Phillip disappeared into the house before he was back outside, eyes on me. I already understood from his expression what he’d found inside the home was beyond tragic.
A painful pang hit my chest.
Fighting myself, I kept my voice even. “Is it gone?”
Phillip’s lips thinned. “I can track it, but the entire family was annihilated. We’ll need to report it to the Organization.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen someone dead, and it wouldn’t be the last. People were often killed before I arrived on a mission. Lives stolen before I could even fight to protect them. This time, I was distracted. I silently chided myself for not knowing—for not going inside before it happened.
Careless mistakes as a Hunter in training were unfortunately par for the course. It was the lifeblood of being a Hunter to learn from where you went wrong. Still, it never got easier. Not when it was someone I knew. Not when a life was snuffed out before it really even started.
Teeth gritting, I stood and nodded to show I understood. “We’ll track it first.”