“Where did you even come from?” she complained.
Theron offered her a condescending smile. “You cannot escape me.”
“Really? Then how does she keep doing it?” Kallias asked.
Theron looked past her. His eyes narrowed as he noticed Kallias behind her. “Why are you always here?” he whined. “I just want to kill her. That’s all.”
“That’s all?” Rose repeated irritably.
Theron glanced down at her as if she were some minor annoyance interrupting him, as if she were a fly that needed swatting. Then his eyes darkened with a hint of something else, something that turned her stomach, something she’d seen in his eyes back in her apartment. Lust. “You’re more attractive with your clothes torn like that. Maybe you should be attacked more often.”
Rose felt sick at the reminder of what he’d just tried to do to her.
Kallias chose that exact moment to punch Theron in the face. Hard. So hard, in fact, that the blow actually sent Theron across the alley where he slammed into the wall and crumbled onto the ground. As Theron climbed onto his hands and knees, he spat out a mouthful of blood and what looked like crushed teeth.
“I’ll kill you for that,” he growled as he spat out more blood.
Kallias shrugged. “It was worth it.”
Rose glanced back and forth between Kallias and Theron, her mouth ajar and her blue eyes wide with shock. “How did you…? You punched him, and he just flew… What?” she mumbled, apparently too confused to finish the sentence.
Theron suddenly jumped to his feet and raced toward Kallias, shoving him into the opposite wall. The force of the collision created such a thunderous crash that for a moment, Rose wondered if something had exploded. She blinked, fearing the worst as the bricks and dust fell to the ground. As some of the dust cleared, Rose saw Theron holding Kallias by the throat against the damaged wall.
“Kallias, are you okay?” Rose called as she took a step toward them.
Kallias groaned in pain. “I’m fine,” he said weakly. “Just stay back.”
Theron scoffed, “If by fine, you mean dead, then yes, you’ll be very fine.”
“He’ll be very dead? Are there degrees of deadness?” Rose asked dryly.
Theron growled in frustration and spun to glare at her, his hand still clasped around Kallias’s throat. “Are you always this irritating?” he snarled at her.
“It depends on who you ask,” Rose answered, trying to keep Theron’s attention on her while Kallias recovered. “I’m pretty irritating to stupid people.”
Theron suddenly released Kallias and raced toward her. He grasped her wrist and snatched her to him, moving his face just inches from hers. She cringed.
The blade of a dagger slid in front of Theron’s throat as Kallias came up behind him. “Let her go, or I’ll slice your head off,” Kallias growled.
Theron visibly paled. He dropped Rose and held up both hands.
Rose staggered, barely catching herself before she fell. She frowned curiously as she noticed the fear in Theron’s expression, realizing that decapitation was apparently one thing that vampires couldn’t survive.
“Are you out of your mind?” Kallias asked her suddenly. “You must be insane to continuously insult a vampire that already wants to murder you.”
Rose shrugged. “Well, it worked, didn’t it? He let you go.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. It was clever…but also insane.”
“I released the human. Now, you will let me go, right?” Theron growled.
Kallias glanced at him, making a point to press the blade closer to his throat. “I think you overestimated my honor. I’m not the man I used to be.”
Theron swallowed, glancing nervously at the dagger. “If you kill me, another vampire will come for her. I’m not the only one who knows what she is.”
“What I am?” Rose repeated. “What do you mean by that?”
“You said you wanted answers,” Theron said to Kallias, his voice shaking with nervousness. “If you let me go, I will tell you whatever you want to know.”
Kallias rolled his eyes. “Oh. Of course. Now, you want to talk.”
“Think about it,” Theron said. “How did she escape from me earlier?”
“Okay,” Kallias said, his curiosity piqued. “You have my attention.”
“I already told you. I ran,” Rose reminded Kallias.
“A human cannot overpower a vampire,” Theron scoffed.
Kallias shrugged at her. “He’s right. Humans are too weak.”
“I will tell you the truth about her,” Theron offered, “if you let me go.”
Kallias rolled his eyes. “I don’t have time for this bullshit,” he grumbled, but his curiosity won. He kicked Theron onto the ground. “Tell me the truth. Now. You have three minutes. What is she? How did she escape from you?”
Theron climbed onto his knees. “She threw me across the room.”
Rose frowned. The memory of him flying across the room and crashing into the wall flashed through her mind. “But…I didn’t touch you,” she objected.
Kallias glanced at her and then back down at Theron. “What you’re suggesting is impossible,” he told Theron. “A human cannot throw a vampire.”
Theron looked up at Kallias. “I never said she used physical force.”
Kallias turned to stare at Rose, his brown eyes widening with shock as he finally understood why she smelled so powerful. In all of the years that he’d been alive, he had never met anyone with that ability, human or vampire.
“She’s not an ordinary human,” Theron told him, “and I’m not the only one who knows it. Others will come for her whether you kill me or not.”
Rose frowned. “What is he talking about?” she asked Kallias. She froze as she noticed Kallias staring at her. “And why are you looking at me like that?”
Kallias continued to stare at her, his brows furrowing as he realized that she didn’t even know. “You really don’t remember how you got him off of you?”
She sighed, her blue eyes darkening with frustration. “No, and quite frankly, I don’t want to think about it. The memory of what happened still makes me…” she trailed off for a moment, staring down at Theron thoughtfully. Then without warning, she kicked him in the groin and finished, “…angry.”
Theron curled into the fetal position, whining and growling in pain.
Kallias raised an eyebrow at Rose.
She ducked her head sheepishly. “Sorry.”
He laughed, “No, I understood that, actually.”
Theron suddenly launched himself at Rose, but Kallias quickly stepped between them. He caught Theron and shoved him backward several feet.
“I assume this means you’re no longer answering questions,” Kallias said.
Still glaring at Rose, Theron growled, “Humans do not attack vampires!”
Kallias rolled his eyes. “Oh, stop whining. You tried to rape and kill her. If she had the opportunity to kick you in the balls and didn’t, I’d be disappointed.”
Theron glared at Kallias. “Even now, you sympathize with them.”
“You thought I would sympathize with you?” Kallias asked in disbelief.
Theron’s eyes were dark with hatred and bloodlust as he growled at Rose, “I will kill you soon, bitch! I will cause you more pain than you can imagine!”
Rose grimaced. “I hate that word. I’m a human, not a canine. And…”
“This really isn’t the best time for a biology lesson,” Kallias interrupted.
“I know,” she sighed. “I’m just saying…it’s a degrading word.”
A blur of movement flashed before her eyes, and she gasped as Theron’s arms wrapped around her, jerking her backward against him. She felt his fangs brush against her throat before Kallias pulled him off of her. She collapsed the moment his hands released her, falling face-first onto the pavement.
“Are you okay?” Kallias yelled to her as he shoved Theron into the wall.
Rose climb
ed to her feet and dusted the dirt off of her jeans. “Yeah.”
As she tried to pull her tattered clothing together, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her backpack sitting, unnoticed, among a pile of rubble further along the alley. She realized that she must have dropped it at some point.
“This would be a good time for you to run,” Kallias called to her.
Rose glanced over at him. He faced Theron, so she saw only his back, the edges of his leather jacket swaying slightly with the wind. She figured that this was her best chance to hide the backpack before Theron noticed it. “Okay.”
Kallias frowned. “That was way too easy,” he muttered under his breath.
“Why even bother telling her to run? I can still catch her,” Theron said.
“I will tear you apart if you try,” Kallias warned.
Theron laughed arrogantly. “You’re starved and weak. You don’t stand a chance against me,” he sneered. “You’ll be dead before sunrise. I guarantee it.”
Kallias shrugged one shoulder. “I was starved and weak last night and the night before, and I kicked your ass easily enough then.”
Theron’s eyes narrowed, and he suddenly charged toward Kallias. Kallias spun to dodge him. He kicked Theron’s feet out from under him, but Theron didn’t stay down. He jumped to his feet and shoved Kallias into the wall. As Kallias recovered from the painful impact of the wall, he noticed Rose’s scent again. He glanced toward the end of the alley, his brows furrowing as he realized that she was there, but that moment of distraction costed him. Before he could block the attack, Theron grasped his arm and slung him across the alley into the opposite wall. Pain exploded through his body, the impact of the collision knocking a few bricks loose. He felt warm, sticky liquid flowing down his head, drenching his hair, and he slumped to the ground as Theron approached him.
Theron made a lazy attempt to kick Kallias while he was on the ground, but Kallias caught his foot and twisted. Theron growled in pain as he hit the ground face-first. Kallias climbed back to his feet, and before Theron could attack him again, Kallias kicked him hard enough to send him across the alleyway. Theron lay still, groaning in pain, as Kallias staggered toward him, obviously injured.
Rose hid behind the dumpster near the end of the alley, watching them fight. She frowned, baffled by what she was seeing. Occasionally, she’d see one of them hit the wall or fall to the ground, but most of the time, she saw only a blur of movement as they seemed to bounce back and forth from one side of the alley to the other. It looked unreal, and the sounds weren’t any less strange. Sometimes, the fighting seemed eerily fluid and soundless, and other times, when one of them would collide with the wall, the sound reminded her of a car crash or a small explosion. She glanced around the street, thankful that all the shops and restaurants were closed. She could only imagine the type of disturbance this would cause if anyone heard or saw what was happening. She turned her attention back to the fight, studying the blurred flashes of movement as closely as she could. She couldn’t even tell which blur was Theron and which blur was Kallias.
The fighting seemed to come to an abrupt stop after Theron finally gained the upper hand. He shoved Kallias against the damaged brick wall and kicked him with so much force that a loud crack echoed through the alleyway. Kallias groaned and clutched his side, wincing as his palm pressed just barely against the broken rib. Theron took advantage of the injury and cornered Kallias. He wrapped his hand around Kallias’s throat, and Kallias reluctantly stilled.
“I think I should kill you this time. Don’t you?” Theron asked.
“If you were smart, you would,” Kallias agreed tiredly.
Theron looked conflicted. “I can’t have you screwing this up.”
“And what exactly is this?” Kallias asked.
“Why would you need to know?” Theron asked. “You’ll be dead.”
Rose realized that she needed to act now if she wanted to help Kallias. As always, Theron was talking too much, and that gave her time to act. She inched quietly toward them, kneeling to pick up a stray brick. When she reached them, she lifted the brick above her head to bash it against the back of Theron’s head, but before she could, he released Kallias and spun around to catch her wrist.
He jerked her against him by the wrist, causing her to drop the heavy brick as she collided with him. “I told you before, human. You’re too slow.”
She gasped as he squeezed her wrist so hard that she feared it’d break.
“But I’m not,” Kallias said as he pressed the blade of a long, steel dagger against Theron’s throat. “If you want to keep your head, you better let her go.”
“Fine,” Theron said between clenched teeth.
In one fluid motion, he released Rose and grasped Kallias’s arm. Theron squeezed, and another loud crack echoed through the street as the bones in his arm shattered. The dagger fell to the ground, clanging as it hit the pavement. Kallias staggered, nearly losing his balance, as pain exploded through his arm.
“Oh my goodness! Are you okay?!” Rose cried, stepping toward Kallias.
“I’m fine!” Kallias growled. “Stay back! For fuck’s sake, just stay back!”
She froze, startled by his reaction and conflicted about what to do.
“As if those few steps would save her,” Theron scoffed.
Kallias held his broken arm with his other hand. His face was contorted with pain, but he still stood his ground, as if he were preparing for the next attack.
Theron knelt and picked up the dagger that Kallias had dropped on the ground. “You lost your weapon,” he taunted, smiling. “Now, what will you do?”
“I don’t need weapons,” Kallias said. “They just make things more fun.”
“Oh?” Theron asked. “And what about your arm? Do you need that?”
Kallias didn’t answer. Instead, he kneed Theron in the stomach. Before he could attempt a second blow, however, Theron, moving at a much faster speed, grabbed Kallias’s injured arm and twisted, forcing Kallias to his knees. Theron grabbed his head and slammed his face repeatedly into the pavement.
Kallias’s head spun as he lifted himself onto his forearms. For what felt like an eternity, he watched blood drip from his forehead and nose, the crimson liquid seeping into the black pavement. The scent of his own blood filled the air.
Rose’s quiet whimper interrupted the incessant ringing in his head, and the haze that had momentarily separated his consciousness from reality cleared.
He wiped the blood from his brow with the back of his hand so that he could see and turned toward the sound. He blinked, trying to make out the images through his swirling vision. He saw Theron standing a few feet away, one hand clutching Rose’s tattered T-shirt, holding her still, as he roughly searched her pockets with the other hand. Rose fought against him, shoving both hands against his chest and pressing her feet against his knees in attempt to make him let go.
“Where is it?” Theron growled in her face. “It wasn’t in your apartment.”
“Ow! Get your hands off of me!” Rose snarled at him.
She collapsed on the ground as Kallias snatched Theron off of her and slung him across the alley. Kallias turned, staggering, to check on her, but before he could even look at her, Theron raced toward him and shoved him into the wall. Still disoriented and injured, Kallias slumped to the ground, his head falling back. Theron then began to kick him repeatedly in the ribs, shattering his other ribs along with the one that was already broken. Kallias just groaned at the pain.
“Stop!” Rose screamed, scrambling to her feet and running toward them. She could barely even breathe as she saw what Theron was doing to Kallias. “Please, stop hurting him! Leave him alone! I’m the one you want to kill, right?”
Theron froze for a moment and cast an amused, curious glance at her.
Kallias coughed, and blood poured out of his mouth. He turned to the side and spat out a mouthful of the blood on the pavement. He leaned back against the wall, his breath coming in harsh
pants. “Damn it, Rose, just run,” he groaned, his voice so hoarse, she could barely hear it. “Just save yourself.”
Theron turned and stomped on his leg. The crack of bones shattering echoed through the streets. Kallias’s head fell back as he growled at the pain.
Her stomach turned at the sound of his agony. “Stop! Please! Please!”
Theron smiled, obviously pleased by her reaction. “You really care this much about a man you know nothing about?” he laughed. “Why?”
“Because he’s a person, you sick, psychotic monster!” Rose cried. “How can you hurt someone like that? How can you enjoy seeing him in pain?”
“A person,” Theron repeated, his lips curving into a smug smirk.
“Yeah, a person. What else would he be?” she snapped impatiently. “Are you going to kill me or not? Because quite frankly, I’m getting tired of the games!”
“But I love the games,” Theron said, “and you’re making this too easy.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Rose asked.
She glanced worriedly at Kallias as he began to cough up mouthfuls of blood again. She took a step toward Kallias to check on him, but before she could step past Theron, his hand shot out and wrapped around her arm. Before she even realized what was happening, Theron threw her against the wall.
Kallias wiped his hand across his mouth and looked over at her, anxiously watching her crumpled body. She’d curled into the fetal position after she hit the wall, but she had yet to move or even make a sound. The scent of her blood filled the air, enticing his ravenous hunger. Her heartbeat remained steady.
“Leave her alone,” Kallias said weakly. “You’ve tormented her enough.”
Theron studied him. “Why do you care about her? She is just a human.”
“I don’t care about her,” Kallias said quickly. Then, too quietly for her to hear, he added, “But…none of them are just humans. They’re living beings. They think. They feel. They dream. They change things. They’re not just food.”
The Stone of the Eklektos Page 23