A librarian spotted me and half-whispered, “We’ll be closing in less than ten minutes.”
I nodded to her and kept moving, heading toward the south-west corner of the floor. I cut through shelving units that were aligned like columns, each row filled to the max with books.
“Looking for me?”
I halted at the end of an aisle and spun around to find Darius at the opposite end, no more than thirty feet away, staring at me with an arrogant grin.
“I suspected you were following me. You might have a future in the FBI. If you survive this fight, that is.”
“So you plan to kill me here? In a library?”
Darius looked at the shelves on either side of him. “Why not? You’re an intellectual. I’m an intellectual.” He flicked a hand to the side, noting his indifference. “It would be an honor to end your life among that which you feel most comfortable.” He paused. “Do you disagree?”
I couldn’t refute that claim. Something about books, whether fiction or non-fiction, calmed me, made me feel at home. “Why are you here?”
He grinned but didn’t respond.
That confident smile disturbed me. It intimated that he’d defeated tougher opponents than me. Correction: it implied that he’d killed tougher adversaries than me.
Had he journeyed all this way to have a showdown in a public place? Unlikely! Why else would he have traveled thirty miles to visit a library around the time it closed?
He made his way toward me, closing the distance between us. He had no intention of talking. It revealed that he had something to hide…or rather, he hid something here.
He couldn’t obscure something that wouldn’t fit in with its surroundings. Which meant, he’d…set a book among these shelves. I didn’t need more than a moment to realize that he’d stashed The Book of Souls onto one of these shelves. But which one? There were thousands of shelves in this building!
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Adrenaline rushed through me, sending heat coursing through me. Fearing that flames might shoot from my fingers, I tramped down on the energy. What if I aimed at Darius but missed? The flares might hit one or more of the books, which would then carry across the room, starting a blaze. I didn’t intend to burn down the library. Then another thought occurred to me: what if I could send pulsing waves of energy at him…the same ones that had destroyed the frozen vampires? That notion sent my morale skyrocketing. A couple seconds later, I concentrated on relaxing and dialing back the heat.
Darius hadn’t noticed the change inside me. If anything, his grin broadened, making it known that he assumed he could end my life whenever he wanted. Which explained why he had taken his time while approaching me. He wanted to stretch out the anticipation, wanted to extend the amount of time I spent in a state of terror.
But if he’d relied on his heightened senses, he would have noticed that I was horrified. Despite that, I’d never before felt more empowered, perhaps because I’d reduced the heat inside me to a shimmer. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t keep myself from smiling, regardless of my fear.
At that exact moment, Darius had leaned forward, prepared to dart toward me. Upon seeing my grin, however, he corrected his movement and stopped. “You smile?” He scrutinized my expression. “Why?” He glanced behind him, but seeing no one approaching him from either direction, he returned my grin. “Surely, you don’t think you can defeat me.”
“Come on,” I said in a thick voice, filled with self-assurance. “Let’s finish this!”
Darius’s expression darkened. He could have launched himself at me with blazing speed, but instead, he strolled toward me as though without a care in the world.
If he stood beside me and attacked me, I might have stood a chance to defend myself; while still able to move with lightning quickness, he wouldn’t have built up enough speed, making it easier for me to keep pace with him. If he sped toward me with plenty of open space between us, he’d be able to harness enough velocity to make it impossible to deflect his assault, and any blow he might deliver would exacerbate any injuries I might ordinarily incur.
Unable to rely on my martial arts skills, I hoped I could call upon my magical ability. That left my newfound gift of sending energy blasts at Darius. Unlike when calling upon flames, I strained to attract energy from around me, perhaps because I was stuck between shelves of books, rather than in a wide-open area. Uncertain what to do, I glanced up at Darius.
Twenty feet away, he analyzed my expression. “Such deep concentration. Either that or…you are suffering from irritable bowel syndrome.” He cocked his head to the side. “Given your predicament, option number one is far more likely.”
I once again attempted to collect energy from around me. Nothing happened. Dammit! What had I done previously that I failed to consider now? I glanced up.
“Hmmm.” Darius stopped. “The library is closing. It would be quite selfish of me to take my time with you…if it meant the library staff needed to remain behind until after we finished things up here.” He lowered his gaze, giving careful deliberation to his predicament. “I would hate to inconvenience them. I should speed things up.” He leveled his gaze onto mine and raced toward me.
Darius’s speed left behind only a blur of motion, making it difficult to see his face, arms, legs, or any other body part. The quicker he went, the blurrier he looked. A second later, he said, “Hello, Ignorant One!” Standing mere inches away, he threw a right punch at my head.
Before I could react, his fist slammed against my left jaw, sending me to the carpet. My head began to ache and I grew dizzy.
“Ah, your true ability shines. Perhaps our standoff outside your home was pure luck.”
If I tried to rise, Darius would pummel me back to the ground, so I kicked out, aiming for his ankle.
He hopped over my leg and jammed a foot into my right knee.
I cried out, cringing in pain.
“I had at least hoped for a contest.” Disappointed, he let out a quiet sigh. “Truly pathetic.” He shook his head. “Oh, well, it’s best we get on with it.” He rushed me.
I swung my left leg toward him, and because of the speed with which he’d attacked, my maneuver intensified the impact ten-fold. His head snapped back, and he flew twenty feet down the aisle and then collapsed to the ground.
I suspected there was another reason why I’d gotten lucky. Unlike those he sired, Darius didn’t need to feed in order to maintain his strength. In fact, Darius had told me that he hadn’t fed on a human in decades. The longer he went without consuming blood, the stronger he became. But once he fed, his tainted blood lessened his vampiric abilities. He’d drank from Kendall not long ago, which surely slowed him down and decreased his strength.
With that ray of hope in mind, I needed to capitalize on this advantage, so I got to my feet, and while my jaw ached when I moved it. I suspected that Darius had merely clipped me, especially since the haze in my mind began to clear. Putting too much pressure on my knee while shifting it, however, sent a streak of pain through it. That said, I could stand without pain. That meant it wasn’t broken. I walked forward and put most of my weight on my left leg. That helped lessen the discomfort.
I reached the end of the aisle as Darius began to stir. He’d soon be upon me…if I didn’t find some way to stop him.
Having only used my energy blast twice before, I felt far from confident in using it. I concentrated on the instant this unique gift had sprung forth from my hands, and it entered my mind a fraction of a second later: I hadn’t pushed the energy from within me. Rather than pull energy from the vacant space around me, I consolidated the mass from the books and shelving units (after all, they were constructed of matter) and a flush of vitality pumped inside me.
Darius lay only ten feet from me. He finally got to his feet and walked toward me.
So much pressure rushed in my direction that the shelves around me rattled, and the books bobbed up and down like boiling water. That response startled me, triggering my hea
rt to pound quicker.
Upon seeing the reaction around us or sensing a difference in the air, Darius slowed to a stop …and stared at me with narrowed eyes. “How did—”
Now that I’d caught him off balance, I needed to capitalize on it. Any moment of hesitation or indecision would allow him the opportunity to continue his assault. My body felt tight, as though I’d sucked in a heap of air into my lungs and held it in. I extracted my hands, aimed them towards Darius, and thrust it towards him.
A vortex of energy erupted from my palms in rhythmic pulses that I couldn’t see but definitely felt. The force blasted into Darius, bashing him in the chest, knocking him off his feet, and flinging him back fifteen feet before he skidded across the carpet, past the aisle and into an unobstructed area.
Stunned, I stared at him, trying not to relay my surprise. If I acted unaware of how to utilize my gift, he might attack. I left the aisle, but since Darius was outside of the area of influence upon which I could practice magic, I needed to get closer to him. Given that energy flowed outward with decreasing power, it made sense that Darius stood so close to me; he’d incurred a heavier brunt of the impact.
I continued toward him, unwilling to attack him again, lest he give me what I wanted, The Book of Souls. However, I didn’t like my chances with that outcome. “Where is the book?” My knee was still tender, but didn’t seem to be in as much pain as when I first stood on it.
“In a safe place.” He picked up a book, got to his feet, and hurled it at me.
I stopped and lifted my right hand, commanding the energy around me to prevent it from hitting me, and then pushed it toward him.
The book flew toward him on a straight line until it passed my area of influence, whereupon it arched downwards, continued sailing for a few more feet, and then dropped to the floor.
Darius nodded, impressed. “Well done! My congratulations upon finding your final ability.” He rose to his feet.
“Tell me where you put it.”
“In what world would I willingly give up that information?”
“Take your pick. Then I’ll knock you into it.” I shrugged. “I’m helpful like that.” I heard feet rustling behind me.
“We’ll be closing in a couple…” said a female voice, letting her incomplete sentence hang in the air. “All those books on the ground…what happened?”
“You should leave,” I said.
“I will not. You should. We’re closing!”
“I don’t care,” I said, unwilling to turn my back on Darius to address the library staffer. “Leave us!” Despite that command, I heard her approaching, making me stiffen my muscles in the event that I had to turn around and deal with her.
Darius cocked his head to the side in order to see the woman. He notched an eyebrow at her. “This one’s not the friendliest of women, is she?”
“Definitely not,” she responded, stopping a foot behind me. “And quite rude!”
“I’d be happy to settle this,” he said. “If you’d allow me such latitude.”
“By all means,” she said, every trace of her irritation gone. “Also feel free to stop by the desk downstairs if you’d like to say hi on your way out.”
I heard her jeans rustle as she left us alone once more. Had Darius just compelled her…from over twenty feet away? I assumed that he had unmatched vampire skills, but to compel someone at such lengths sent a streak of terror down my back. Why hadn’t he attempted to compel me? I suspected he did so to play fairly. Unlike nowadays, where people fought dirty, I suspected that Darius always preferred to fight fairly…until he’d lost the upper hand, after which he’d do whatever was necessary to win.
Forty feet behind Darius, I spotted Kendall. She turned her head in our direction, stopped, and stared.
“It seems we’re at a standstill.” Darius smiled at me, looking more like a gentleman than a killer. “I won’t disclose the location of the The Book of Souls, and you won’t settle for anything less. How shall we break this standoff?”
No longer shocked to have found us, Kendall rushed toward us.
His smile widened. “Excuse me.” He spun around at the exact moment Kendall came upon him and punched her in the face, sending her flying fifteen feet backwards.
I hadn’t expected him to hear her approaching, much less to catch her at the precise second she came upon him. Seeing him react so quickly stunned me, but it also permitted the briefest moment to attack. I sprinted toward him and ignored the pain in my knee.
Still with his back to me, no doubt admiring the quick work he made of Kendall, Darius spun my way.
With only five feet between us by the time he swung around, he caught sight of me and staggered backwards, shocked that I’d used the moments he took to pummel Kendall in order to charge him.
Just as I came upon him, ready to grab onto his suit jacket and push flames across it, Darius extended his hands, knocking mine to either side before kicking me in the gut.
The air in my abdomen whooshed out, and my feet flew out from under me as I shot backwards seven or eight feet. I suspected that Darius hadn’t put so much effort into the blow because I’d caught him by surprise. Thankfully, I landed on my side, so the fall hadn’t induced any pain.
Hearing movement behind him, he whirled at the same instant that Kendall attacked for a second time. “This again?”
She leapt into the air on a collision course with him.
Darius extracted his left hand…and caught Kendall by the neck, holding her over his head with the utmost ease.
She dangled in the air, arms and legs swinging in every direction as grunts erupted from her mouth.
“How inconsiderate!” said Darius. “Do you not see me conversing with Serena? You’re like a spoiled child eager for attention.” He shook his head with displeasure. “This is the second time you’ve resorted to rudeness.” He wagged the index finger on his free hand in her face. “If you’re bent on extracting vengeance for my having turned you into a vampire, you must wait your turn!”
Squinting, gasping, Kendall’s legs wriggled left and right as she punched his arms, trying to unlock his grasp.
“Now leave us!” Darius flung her twenty feet through the air. She crashed to the ground, banged into a desk, and rolled into the wall.
I finally snatched my first full breath since getting kicked in the gut. An ache throbbed in my rib cage, but I disregarded the pain, pushed off the ground, and darted toward Darius, determined to get to him before he turned around.
He veered toward me again, but this time, rather than continuing onward, I pulled up short, since I’d failed in my endeavor. Instead of rushing forward foolishly in hopes that I’d catch Darius off guard, I cut my losses. Instead, I pulled in all the energy around me that I could muster.
Then, just as Darius fired off a left punch, I shoved my right hand in his direction.
Before his fist connected with my face, the force I sent his way bashed into his chest, sending him ten feet backwards until he crashed into a rectangular table. He tilted over the chair, and bones crackled as he hit the ground.
Kendall hurried over to him and lifted a foot, ready to smash it down on his head.
Darius tilted, caught her sneaker, and shoved her backwards.
I blasted him again.
The force cracked even more of his bones, this time, probably in his clavicle. He dropped to the ground in anguish, trying to maneuver his shoulders, hoping they’d heal quickly enough to fend off our next attack.
I headed over to him, feeling a dull ache in my knee, and stood a few feet away from his legs to prevent him from kicking me. Then I called upon all of the energy from around me. When so much pressure built inside me that I feared popping like an overinflated balloon, I pushed the energy at Darius’s chest.
It hit him, and he jerked in place, pivoting left, rocking right, and curling up, all the while countless bones fractured inside his body.
Yet, I had plenty of strength left, so I mounted the pressure, ai
ming for his wrists, and remained in place until I heard his bones crunch. Then I moved on to his elbows. Satisfied to hear shattering bones there as well, I shifted up to his shoulders, looking forward to snapping every single bone in his body so he couldn’t turn another helpless human into a vampire or compel others to turn on me as he’d done with Nolan.
“Stop!” Kendall shouted, coming to a stop beside me. She looked down at Darius’s squiggling form. She reached out and locked her hand around my arm. The vibration from the power leaving my palm immediately made her hand fall aside. “Don’t kill him. We need answers from him!”
“Yeah, but he won’t give them to us unless I make him!” Hearing no further comment, I worked my way down to his knees and heard tiny snaps as if someone had stepped on a bunch of twigs. Then I moved down, heading for his ankles, prepared to end at his toes. I relished the agony rippling across his face, and I was eager to break all two-hundred plus bones in his body.
“Serena,” Kendall yelled, “that’s enough!” She hacked down on my arm, sending a bolt of energy into the ground.
The floor rippled below my feet, and I shut off the energy flow. I whirled toward her. “What’re you doing? Stop!”
“Not after what he did to you? You haven’t even asked him a question, and he’s flung you around the building.” Despite hearing groans coming from his direction, I glanced his way to ensure that his healing processes hadn’t already begun. For now, we were safe. “He’ll turn on us the first second he gets.”
“Don’t you think I know that? I’m the one he turned into a vampire, not you!”
She had a point, and while I planned to halt the punishment, it took my mind a little longer than normal to process the request, not to mention a bit more effort to get my hands to obey my brain. Furthermore, halting my punishment left me feeling a little empty, similar to eating a snack when you craved a full meal.
She had me there. I set my attention on Darius. “Where’s the book?”
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