by C. R. Jane
Connor shoves me aside and lunges at Clarissa. I stumble on my feet and stop short of falling over.
Dust and sand puff up into the air where Clarissa and Connor hit the ground. Clarissa’s on top of him, pinning him down, but Connor never gives up. He punches her in the face to no effect.
Fear pummels into me, and my heart is beating crazily in my chest. My vampires are all fighting, using fists and fangs in a savage battle of survival. The earlier peaceful yard had morphed into a battleground. The men are moving so fast, and all I see is a tangle of arms and legs, the air filled with growls and repetitive thumps from their strikes. How does one vampire defeat another when they all have superhuman strength?
I swing back to Connor, who’s still overpowered by Clarissa. So, I grab the closest thing near my feet… a stone and rush toward them. I slam it into the back of Clarissa’s head just as she swipes her backhand at me.
I react too slowly. Her knuckles clip my jawline with the ferocity of a full-on punch. I cry out and drop the rock to clasp my face as I recoil.
“Bitch,” she snaps, her glare ripping me to shreds. “I can smell the fear on you.”
A sharp pain laces up my face from where she struck me. But my attack did the job and distracted her.
Connor drives a fist right to her throat, then another to her face. He strikes so hard and fast, that I swear he moves as fast as a vampire.
Clarissa scrambles to her feet, clasping her throat. Hatred spews from her gaze.
Sick of being her punching bag, I refuse to run. Fury rises through me like an inferno.
She wipes her bloody mouth with the back of her hand. “You’re going to all pay with your lives,” she hisses. Her dark eyes widen until I swear, I only see the reflection of her dark soul looking back at me.
I raise my head higher. I refuse to be that weak girl any longer.
Anger flares across her face.
But it’s Connor who lunges at her this time. He’s grasping a short wooden stake. Where did he get that from? He moves like the wind, so fast, so accurate, that I don’t believe for a minute he is just a human. I can never imagine tearing across the ground that fast. He collides into Clarissa and takes her off her feet like she’s been caught off guard by his sudden attack. She kicks him in the gut, but he doesn’t budge.
A large meaty hand slaps down on my shoulder.
I flinch with fright, my body wound super tight. A small cry escapes my lips, and with it comes electricity surging through me, heightening and expanding inside me. It’s scorching hot as I snap around on the spot and shove my hands into the man's chest. Fuck, he’s a mountain with bright reddish hair and wild green eyes. He stumbles backward, his mouth dropping open in shock from my impact.
“You’re strong,” he growls while catching his balance. “But no match for me.”
I don’t give him a chance to catch me easily and whirl on my heels to run in the opposite direction.
I dart past Connor as he ducks Clarissa’s swinging arm and throws himself into a forward roll with the ease of a predator, then springs up to his feet.
Clarissa swings around, lips peeling upward, a hiss on her lips. But it’s Connor who launches at her faster than I thought possible. His hand raises over his shoulder, gripping his stake, and he brings it down. Then he plunges the sharp tip into her chest. He strikes perfectly over her heart, like every move has been well calculated.
My head spins with so many questions. But I turn back to look straight ahead before I trip.
I run for my life instead, calling to my power. Concentrate, Braxton had said. But I barely suck in air, and thinking is impossible.
A fist collides with the middle of my back so hard, and a wave of pain wraps around me, shuddering me all over.
My knees buckle, and I hit the ground.
Terror smothers me as the monstrous vampire grabs me by the back of my neck. His fingers are iron, digging into my flesh. I scream with pain as he hauls me to my feet.
“I’ve got you,” he snarls in my ear and whips me back around toward the house. My gaze desperately searches for Connor, for any of my men who are all fighting off to the side of the house. They don’t see me. I throw an elbow into the vampire’s gut.
He groans from behind me, catching him off guard. I shove against him again and rip free from his grasp. My feet hit the ground as I sprint toward the house to escape. To hide somewhere, find a weapon.
I burst through the open French doors and dart into the kitchen.
The sound of pounding footsteps close in directly behind me.
I cry out with fear, and my heart hits the back of my throat. My sights lock on the counter with the knives. I lunge forward.
His meaty hand connects with my head and he fists my hair. I’m wrenched backward then whipped around. He reaches for me with his other hand and grabs my breast, then tears at my shirt.
“You’ll pay for that, cunt!” he growls.
I unleash a gut-wrenching scream. Scorching fire blasts through me, and I shove my fists at his chest.
He jerks backward from the energy racing through my veins. I stumble and hit the counter with my back. In that same moment, my wings spring out.
The vampire’s green eyes widen with surprise, with intrigue, with greed as his gaze traces the length of my wings. A shiver zips down my spine at the way he’s leering at me.
He sees a vulnerable angel, and suddenly, his mission to collect me for the council changes. This monster wants me for himself. I see it all behind his eyes, at the way he licks his lower lip instinctively.
A shiver travels down my spine. I have no empathy for this monster and want him to hurt. It feels amazing to carry this power that I know makes me anything but weak. I don’t care that I take joy out of his suffering. He deserves so much more.
He comes at me again.
Frantically, I grab the closest thing I find on the counter at my back. My fingers curl around a wooden hilt of a knife, my knuckles white as I brace myself for the fight of my life.
The beast slams into me, knocking the wind out of my lungs. His hand grips my throat.
My head buzzes, and agony lashes over me as he squeezes so hard, I am convinced my head will pop off. My head blurs, and my lungs burn from a lack of oxygen.
The blood drains from my face as I stare into those green eyes…eyes I will never forget.
Rage swallows me. If I let this asshole win, everything my vampires and I fought for is wasted. I’ll never see them again. Not my family or friends.
My heart grows heavy, sorrow scooping out my heart. With that thought, a sudden surge of energy sparks down my arms.
In a heartbeat, the vampire’s mouth drops open as if sensing the power. Everything I have, I drive into him…waves of energy crackles over my skin. The hairs on my neck stand on end just as dread splashes over his face. His fingers unfurl from around my neck.
I stumble back, gasping for air.
“Fucking whore,” he snarls, stepping forward, towering over me. A line of blood rolls from his nostrils, more from the corners of his eyes, from his ears.
This will never end. He’ll never stop. Instinct propels me, and I lunge at him. Power flutters over my skin, fills me fully. I plunge the blade in my hand at him, the sharp tip piercing his chest. I drive the knife into him, right through his heart with a strength I never knew I possessed.
The vampire shoves a hand into my face, pushing me backward. I release the blade from my grip and slam back into the counter once again. My breaths are racing, and I can’t take a full inhale from how fast my heart beats.
He gurgles something that I can’t make out, then drops to his knees and collapses to his side. He lays there, unmoving. His green eyes are wide open, and I see the life slowly slipping away until there’s nothing left but a glassy look. I can’t stop trembling.
Blood rolls from the wound in his chest.
I killed him.
In my heart, I know he deserves it, but to see his dead body drenches
me in sorrow. I have never killed anyone. What did I do?
Finn bursts into the kitchen, his shirt torn, his ice-blond hair messy. Blood coats the side of his mouth.
“Adeline,” his voice comes out strangled as he stares at the body and then at me.
“I-I k-killed him,” I stutter.
“Good! The asshole deserved it,” he says as he studies my wings but says nothing about them. He heads over to me and takes me into his arms. A quick kiss, and he’s dragging me out of the house.
He’s happy I killed the vampire...why do I feel so startled?
We step outside to where all the bodies of the vampires are lying on the ground, perished. I scan the area and count all six of my men still standing. Bruised and battered, but they’re still moving. They defeated all of them. My gaze settles on Clarissa, flat on her back, a stake sticking out of her heart. I used a knife, and it still destroyed the vampire in the kitchen. The whole wooden stake thing must be in the movies only.
“Quick,” Alexander commands. “More are going to arrive here. We have to leave now.” His brilliant blue eyes are cloudy, the corners of his mouth taut. He’s scared. We all feel the heaviness in the air, because we let our guard down and they almost caught us.
We all run around the side of the house and to the front where our car is parked, my wings tucked up against my back.
Three other black SUVs are parked across the road from the house.
“For fuck’s sake,” Braxton growls.
I turn in his direction to find him staring at the slashed tires on our car.
Dante huffs as he crouches down to study the extent of the damage.
My skin ripples with dread as I glance down the beachside road. Aside from our house, there isn’t much else out here.
“We don’t have time, we’ll have to take one of those,” I say as I rush across the road to the closest SUV. I pull open a passenger door to find it open. “It’s our lucky day.” In truth, the day has been far from lucky, but I push aside the tidal wave of emotions rushing toward me. I can’t cope with them when shivers race up and down my spine.
Escape. That’s all I can think of.
“Get in,” Nyx rasps, wiping the blood from the cut beneath his eyebrow.
Braxton is leaning into the driver’s seat and pulling open a panel under the steering wheel. He’s fiddling with wires.
I duck low to get into the back of the huge SUV and try not to bump my wings. There are two rows of backseats in this SUV. Connor is close behind me.
The engine kickstarts with a roar, and everyone else climbs inside. I have to sit forward for my wings to fit. One is tucked at my side, the other juts out to my other side, forcing itself behind Finn’s back, pushing him slightly forward as well. With the rush, no one seems to pay attention.
We’re driving before we all have our seat belts on. As if a veil has been lifted, I shift in my seat and take a deep breath.
“Fuck, that was close.” Alexander’s voice is clipped.
“Yeah, but we kicked ass,” Nyx adds.
The rest of them break into nervous chatter about how they fought, half laughing, but the tension in the air never dissolves. We all know the truth deep inside.
Yeah, we escaped, but just by the skin of our teeth. We let our guard down, and it could have gone a lot worse.
My heart pounds again. And all I can think about are those green eyes that I swore stared right into my soul.
Chapter 6
This whole running away thing is getting familiar. We're all silent as we drive to who knows where, but I can't stop looking behind us, sure I'm going to see a black SUV, or whatever bad guys usually drive in the movies following us at any moment.
Although, the lines between good and bad are a bit skewed for me at the moment. I'm surrounded by vampires...and whatever Connor is. And they definitely have all killed people.
As have I…
It hits me again that I actually killed someone. I lean over and start to hyperventilate at the thought. His eyes when I stabbed him. He looked so surprised. Surprised and shocked. My heart is still going a million miles a minute as I think about it, and adrenaline is literally beating through my veins.
I killed him.
"Shhhh. It's alright," comes Finn's voice as he softly rubs my back. I can feel the attention of everyone in the car on me as I try and take deep breaths. I had watched as the light had drained from his eyes. He couldn't have been much older than me, although I guess with vampires it’s impossible to tell. He could have been ancient.
"I stabbed him," I croak. "He's dead."
"And you would have been dead if you hadn't stabbed him," Dante says matter-of-factly. There's anger after that statement, and I know they're all kicking themselves that one of them got that close to me.
But wasn't that what this training has been for? So that I could actually contribute?
"Tell me your first kill felt like this," I whisper, those green eyes still front and center in my head. They are going to haunt me, I just know it. Just one more thing to fill my dreams at night.
"It gets easier," reassures Finn darkly. I pick my head up, surprised to hear such a thing from the man I consider the most gentle in the group. He has a pained look on his face, like he's remembering a particularly terrible memory. There's a heavy silence in the car, and I know they are all thinking about whatever Finn is remembering right now.
Nyx is sitting next to him and gives me a small shake of his head, letting me know it's not something I should ask about right now.
I look away from Finn and stare at my hands, expecting them to be bloody or something. It feels like they should contain some kind of evidence of what I've just done.
Aren't I an angel? Am I even allowed to kill people? Am I going to be barred from heaven now because of what I've done?
My hyperventilating kicks up. I know I should calm down, but I think that most people are really out of their minds if they could watch someone's life fade away in front of them...because they stabbed them, and think they wouldn’t be affected.
Suddenly, the SUV is jerked to the side of the road. I sit up, looking behind me again to make sure that I haven't missed someone following us—although, I doubt Braxton would be stopping if someone was.
Braxton sits silently in the driver's seat, his hands clenching the steering wheel so tightly, I'm a little worried he's about to rip it off the car.
I blink, and he throws open his door and is out of the car. He yanks the back door open and forces Connor out of his seat, throwing him to the ground. The rest of the guys get out and surround him. I'm the only one who hasn't figured out how to access the speed that all other supernaturals seem to possess, so it takes me a second to whip off my seatbelt and climb from the car. Alexander has already levied a few punches to Connor's face before I get there.
"That's enough," Braxton says coldly, and Alexander stops and takes a step back, the promise of murder written across his features.
I try to intervene but Dante gently grabs me around the waist, preventing me from moving forward. Braxton looks more intense than I've ever seen him. He looks terrifying in fact, and I'm fearful for Connor's life. Why are they doing this?
"Who the fuck are you?" Braxton hisses as he grabs Connor by the collar and shakes him hard and fast, causing Connor's neck to snap back so hard, I'm afraid that Connor's just had his neck broken.
Connor grits his teeth though and shakes out his neck, pulling away from Braxton in a showcase of strength that is just more confirmation that Connor is more than he seems.
"You know what I am," Connor responds with an arrogant smirk.
"Connor?" I ask quietly. Connor's gaze darts to mine, and his bravado falls. He searches my face for something for a moment before he seems to come to a decision. He squares his shoulders.
"There's a lot of names for what I am, but I think the one that's most recognizable to your kind is a dhampir, or perhaps it’s a Van Helsing," he says boldly. Whatever he just said evoke
s a violent reaction from the guys. It takes me a second for what Connor said to sink in.
"Wait, Van Helsing, as in the vampire hunter guy?" I ask, confused.
"That's exactly what he means," Alexander growls.
My mouth drops in horror. "That's a real thing. Like you've been around this whole time and you fucking want to kill my boyfriends?" I screech.
"I was trying to find a way to tell you," Connor tells me as if I'm the person he needs to apologize to the most.
I open my mouth to respond but Braxton cuts me off. "Who sent you to Raven Academy?"
Connor's face resumes its smug expression. "The humans you lure to your school haven't been quiet about how weird the school is during their breaks. Their gaps in memories...their health issues, they're like blaring signposts for the presence of your kind."
Nyx snorts. "Fair enough."
A sick feeling is growing inside of me. I stupidly thought this whole time that Connor and I were actually building something. Instead, he was using me to try and kill the vampires I'd fallen in love with. I feel like I'm going to throw up.
Connor sees my facial expression, and he takes a step towards me, his arm stretched out. I take a step away from him and turn away, wrapping my arms around myself protectively.
Alexander finally can't hold himself back, and he gives Connor a knock-out blow that sends Connor unconscious to the ground. Nyx appears next to me with ropes in his hands.
"Where did you get those?" Braxton asks.
"Apparently, they were going to take at least some of us alive. I found these in the trunk."
"Tie him up," Braxton orders, and Nyx and Dante get to work binding Connor's arms and legs. I watch silently as they haul Connor's tied-up unconscious form to the car and throw him in the trunk. There's a numb feeling spreading through my limbs. Between the attack, killing someone, and finding out about Connor, my body is having trouble processing. Dante sends me a look that’s a little too close to pity as we get back into the SUV.
Braxton doesn't start driving right away. We just sit there, absorbing the news. Emotions flick too fast through me for me to settle on how I'm really feeling. Things start to snap into place.