“How do you feel about company?” I asked, tracing some runes in the air.
I went invisible a second later, Emmett barrelling out after me and shifting. His bear form filled the hallway, almost breaking through the walls. It also blocked six of the eight guards from going after Shan and Cas as they made a beeline for the suite Kylan had vanished into. I hoped.
These vampires were faster than the ones we’d dispatched at Kylan’s penthouse.Significantlyfaster. Like, I didn’t know why the others had been employed if this was what was expected of employees. I used my magic to hold one immobile, as I always did, but the others ran circles around me. They slashed blades across Emmett’s front legs, making him bellow loud enough to shake the crystal chandeliers. I felt every mark on his flesh as if it was to mine, our bond heightening my awareness of him.
I plunged a dagger into the chest of the one I’d spelled, but one of the others caught me by the wrist before I could pull away. With a curse I tried to free myself, only to be met by a wall of flesh behind me. Another vamp grinned down, damn near fondling my invisible body until he could grab both my biceps and hold me still.
Trying two spells in rapid fire, I forced the vamp in front away while the other was immobilized, but there were too many. Emmett had managed to gore one with his claws, purely by chance, but even with my single kill, it left four.
The two I hadn’t used spells on grabbed me before I could put my invisibility to work. I dropped the trick. It didn’t help when they knew where I was, becoming nothing more than a drain on my magic. Emmett released a growl when we saw me, rushing forward in an attempt to startle the vampires. They didn’t startle easily enough.
I cursed and wrestled one arm free to grab a knife from my belt. Using a spell to blast the vampires back once again, I stabbed the one I had immobilized, feeling the strain on my body lift. There were no running spells. I had a clean slate.
Three vamps remaining.
I was trying to ignore the sounds of battle coming from the other side of Em, knowing distraction could end in death. Even though I was desperate to know how Shan and Cas were doing facing off against the two. With only two, they should have killed them easily. Then again, those had been the men guarding Kylan’s room. In theory they would be the elitist of the elite, and these guards were nothing to scoff at over here either.
“Out of curiosity, are you trying to kill me or capture me?” I asked, surrounded on three sides by my remaining foes.
Emmett stood at my back, ready to support.
“Kylan prefers you alive, but he’s also not picky,” one man said.
“Noted.”
These men were suck-ups, guaranteed, meaning they would try to get me alive simply to curry favour. It worked to my advantage.
Taking a set of small knives from my weapons belt, I threw them, missing every time as the men dodged. Their self-satisfied smirks didn’t last long, because thin threads of sizzling electric magic formed between the knives, hemming them back into the walls as they hissed at the pain. It was only a short-lived solution, but stunned them enough for Emmett to take the head off one and my dagger to slide into the heart of another, leaving only one who slipped under the electrical barrier and came for me.
One, I could handle.
My immobilization spell fell from my lips, but he didn’t stop.
“Fuck,” I muttered, holding the dagger out in a defensive stance.
Of course, the last one had to be immune. Well, no one wasimmuneto the effects of magic, but the highly trained could deflect or resist it. This man hadn’t flinched at my attempt to stop him in his tracks. He was going to be a fucking problem.
I chanced a glance toward where Shan and Caspian were struggling to take out the last man between them and Kylan’s suite. It was the fallen angel we’d scented at Kylan’s penthouse. He wasn’t going down easily. Emmett’s attention followed mine and he turned on his heels, leaving me alone.
Thank fuck he’d been the one chosen as my partner. He was the only one of these assholes who trusted me to kill someone on my own.
The vampire snorted at Em’s retreat, looking me up and down. “Is he abandoning you, or does he think you can beat me?”
“Did younotsee the five vampires I just killed?” I asked sarcastically, gesturing to the bloodied floor with my dagger hand.
Fine, only three could be attributed to me. Whatever.
“I’m not like them, sweet Omega.”
“Obviously. You’re much better at deflecting my magical attacks. I don’t need that to kill you.”
He was at my throat in a second, pressing me back against the wall by the neck and inhaling my scent. “You were saying?” he purred, fangs grazing my skin.
The dagger, still in my hand, plunged into his heart from behind.
“You were saying?” I mocked as he fell to the ground, light dimming from his eyes.
If I couldn’t touch them with magic, they always got cocky as fuck. It had happened a time or two during my years at Club Chaos. I knew the type.
