Chapter 31
Krys faced the door and gestured for me to stand off to the left. I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms, hiding the impalement wood in my hand, steeling myself even though every survival instinct told me to run. We could safely communicate only through hand and eye gestures.
A series of locks clicked before the door opened.
Krys jerked his thumb to the right. “That kid’s been following me around. Is she yours? Someone said to bring her here.”
“Who?”
“Fuck. I don’t have time for this.”
When the Vamp stepped out and faced away from me, I stabbed him in the neck with the impalement wood. He never saw it coming and dropped like a stone. I’d never done anything like that before, and I had a silly impulse to cheer.
Krys stepped over the man’s legs and entered the dwelling.
In the room ahead, a Vampire faced us, candlelight flickering against his soulless eyes.
My blood chilled at the vision of this demon: his long sable hair a contrast to his alabaster skin, like ink spilling over marble; his Vandyke beard so neatly groomed that it looked painted on with the slimmest of paintbrushes; candle wax dribbling down his hand, which carried the prominent tattoo of a scorpion.
A malevolent smile crossed his face before he blew out the candle, creating more shadows at the back of the dwelling.
“Protect the lights!” Krys thundered.
I shot into the kitchen to my left and snatched an oil lantern from the wall.
Krys threw a kitchen chair at the Vampire with incredible force. It shattered when Scorpius punched through it.
Krys shot me a dubious look. “Shut the door. Get out.”
Is he serious?
My heart pounded in that moment of uncertainty. He didn’t want Scorpius escaping, but there was no way I was leaving him alone. After kicking the other Vampire’s legs into the hall, I closed the door and locked us in, sealing our fate.
“Whom do I have the pleasure of killing?” the man asked in a European accent so mystifyingly ancient that I couldn’t identify it.
His stillness unnerved me as much as the casual way he clasped his hands in front of him.
“How’s it going, Scorpius?” Krys hurled another chair at him, and with a swipe of an arm, the Vampire demolished the wood. “I heard a rumor you kidnap little girls.” Krys stood his ground, the impalement wood clutched in his hand.
Scorpius quietly assessed us, likely contemplating whether he wanted to dispose of our bodies in the river or feed them to the rats.
I casually opened a drawer and flashed a substantially large butcher knife. “Look what I found! I love a good knife.” I dramatically licked the side of the blade and smiled as if carving up villains were my profession.
Playing the crazy sidekick was my strategy.
The cavernous stone walls and ceiling soaked in what little light there was, revealing a scant few pieces of furniture in the space ahead. Darcy guarded a door in the back, arms spread wide as if she could stop the living.
Krys crooked his fingers. “Show me what you got, fanghole.”
“I could break your arms faster than you could stab me with that useless twig.”
“I’ve known guys like you,” Krys countered. “You prey on the weak to feel superior because you don’t have the balls to face someone who knows how to fight.”
I shrank back when the Vampire coolly strolled toward us and stopped short. His brown trousers and long black coat were as outdated as the gothic paintings on the walls.
Scorpius gave an unnerving little smile. “It brings me no pleasure to kill an enemy without knowing their name.”
“Are we hooking up and exchanging numbers, or are we fighting?” I twirled the knife. “Someday I’ll understand Vampire arrogance, but today is not that day.”
Utilizing a skill I’d practiced at home with an axe, I threw the knife swift and true. It sank into his chest like a carving knife going into a Halloween pumpkin.
Krys gave me an irritated look. “Stop giving him weapons.”
“Stop telling me what to do.” I set the lantern on the counter, pulled out two more knives, and held one in each hand. “Maybe if you had put a little effort into planning this…”
He snatched a blade from me. “Give me that before you hurt yourself.”
“Hurt myself? What am I, a child?”
“Sometimes you act like one,” he fired back.
“Says the man dressed like he’s going on a Carnival cruise to the Virgin Islands.”
“Your homeland?”
We were in our banter zone, and in that, a strategy was born.
“If there’s one thing I’m not, it’s a virgin,” I countered while strolling up beside him. “This ship has seen more ports than your hair has seen a barber.”
Scorpius rocked with laughter. When he bent forward, Krys and I simultaneously threw our knives. They cut through the air with precision, one landing in his skull, the other impaling his shoulder.
A battle cry poured from my lungs as I charged forward, but Scorpius gripped my waist and flung me over his shoulder like yesterday’s garbage. The end table punched against my spleen when I crashed on top of it.
Krys pulled the knife out of the Vampire’s shoulder and sliced his neck.
Blood appeared, but it missed the juicy vein.
He tried to impale him, but the Vamp moved swiftly and swung his arm.
Krys ducked and cut the Vampire’s calf with the knife.
He remained out of reach, waiting for his moment.
Trying to impale a Vampire in the leg or hip was sloppy, and Krys was an obvious professional.
Large bones created obstacles, and the wood could fall out when the Vampire collapsed.
I threw a stone ashtray at the Vamp’s skull. When it hit the knife handle instead, he bellowed like a dog being kicked by a mule. Krys lunged as fast as lightning and stabbed him in the groin.
I felt my testicles recede at the sight.
The Vamp swiped his arm and knocked Krys into the wall. Krys snapped back like a rubber band and made a forceful attempt to impale him, but Scorpius grabbed the stick and broke it. He kicked the broken half beneath the sofa.
Krys used what he had left, but Scorpius pivoted. I picked up a sharp fragment from the broken chair and drove it into the Vampire’s back.
When he didn’t collapse, I scrambled backward before he crushed me with a single blow.
Scorpius swiveled his head. “Do you think I’m foolish enough to own things that can be used against me?”
Krys gave him a wolfish grin. “You bet your ass you do.”
What’s he talking about?
Scorpius moved swiftly and blew out another candle. If he snuffed out all the lights, he could kill us within seconds. Not only could Vamps see in the dark, but they could move effortlessly through the shadows.
When Krys gave me a pointed look, I shook my head.
Does he think I can kill a Vampire? With what? My sharp wit? Why the look? What am I missing?
“The lantern!” Darcy bounced up and down and pointed toward the kitchen. “It’s kerosene.”
Krys kicked over a tall vase and steered the Vampire’s attention away from me. “What do you want with the girl?”
“And what business is it of yours?” Scorpius inquired.
“Her mother gave her to me. She is mine. Leave now and I shall let you live.” He slowly pulled open his shirt.
“If you want to kill me, I invite you to try. You would not be the first. Would you like to see my collection?” He opened a drawer in a black shelf and lifted a tooth.
“All of them thought they could steal from me. This belonged to Michael from the 1300s.” His sardonic laugh tickled my spine like a nightmare.
Krys kicked a chair, putting another obstacle between Scorpius and the candle. “I’ll be sure to donate them to the needy after I cut off your head. Are we done with the tour?”
I sprinted toward the front of the dwelling, but the Vampire caught my shirt. My wolf exploded onto the scene, twisting out of my clothes and escaping. I focused on the lantern so he wouldn’t follow his impulse to fight.
A commotion ensued. My wolf jumped against the counter and attempted to bite down on the lantern handle, but it wasn’t cooperating.
You can do it, I communicated mentally. We need the lantern. Get it!
A sharp cry startled my wolf, and he whipped around to look.
Scorpius had pinned Krys to the wall by the throat and shoved him higher until his legs were dangling off the ground.
Krys still held the broken impalement stick, but Scorpius’s fingers were locked around his wrist. The Vamp could’ve easily crushed every bone in his hand, but he was clearly savoring the slow torture.
Blood became trapped in Krys’s head, and his face turned purple.
When Scorpius bit Krys’s neck, I morphed into human form.
Krys drove his thumb into the Vampire’s eye.
I charged in with the lantern but hesitated, my hands shaking.
What if I set Krys on fire by accident?
In the shadowy room, Scorpius twisted his head away from Krys’s punishing assault. My stomach knotted at the sight of his bloody eye socket.
I pitched the lantern at Scorpius, and his coat ignited.
A burst of flames illuminated the dark room, and the pungent odor of burning hair and clothes filled the air. Scorpius staggered backward and frantically stripped off his coat, which was ablaze. Most of his hair had burned off, and the back of his scalp was blistering red.
Krys punched the impalement wood into the Vampire’s throat.
Scorpius teetered, rogue flames clinging to his shirt as he collapsed face down onto his burning coat.
Krys stomped on the fabric. “Help me put him out!”
“Why? Roasty toasty, my friend.” I put on my pants. “Get the marshmallows.”
Krys ripped a bearskin off the wall and used it to smother the flames, though two puddles continued burning on the floor. “I’m not done with him yet. Check on Cleo.”
After putting my shoes on, I sprinted across the dwelling until I reached Darcy. “Are you sure there’s no one else in there?”
Darcy nodded.