by A
hadn‘t realized that sirens were on par in speed with vampires. If I‘d still been a vanilla human,
that kick would have laid me out flat, maybe even broken my neck.
But I‘m not fully human, not anymore. I saw the blow coming and was able to duck, twist,
and grab her ankle. Using her foot as a handle, I continued my turn, pulling her off her
anchoring foot and flinging her to the rocky ground with a heavy thud. It had to hurt. Hell, it
was painful to hear. But she rolled and stood, blood oozing from scrapes where her skin had
been torn off by the coarse rock. Ouch.
But it didn‘t even slow her down. Before I could even step backward, she was flying at me.
She grabbed my arm and tossed me probably a dozen feet. The circle of people parted to let me
fly past. On landing, I shook my head and tried to clear the fuzz from my brain. As I stood up,
the calf that had been injured the night before informed me there was still glass somewhere in
my muscles. The pain was sharp and immediate as I frantically moved left to avoid a kick
square in the face. I leapt to my feet from my knees like I was an extra in a Jackie Chan movie
and we were off again.
We circled, eyeing each other, looking for telltale movements. Blows flew and were
blocked. Feints succeeded or failed.
Soon, the scent of blood filled the air, adding copper to the salt filling my nose. I figured out
pretty quickly that ―first blood‖ wasn‘t actual first blood. I paused briefly when that happened,
but nobody stopped the fight, so oh, well. I‘d keep going until someone yelled, ―Stop!‖
My vision was flowing in and out of hyperfocus, making it hard to think. Fortunately, there
wasn‘t really time to think, so it didn‘t much matter.
The two of us were well matched. She had me in reach. I had better strength, though not by
as much as I would‘ve expected. We both were well trained. We would‘ve been equal if I‘d
neglected my weight work. This could wind up being a long, painful ordeal with the winner
determined by willpower and stamina. Fortunately, I have quite a lot of both.
She moved to sweep my legs, putting all her weight on her left leg. Timing my jump with
exquisite care, I went for a flying kick. She turned, taking the blow on her shoulder rather than
giving me her back and risking a spinal injury.
The impact staggered her, threw her off balance. It was the break I‘d hoped for. I dived at
her in a flying tackle, the pair of us hitting the ground with a jarring impact.
I thought I had her, but she managed to pull herself out of my grip and roll away before I
could pin her.
I scuttled back, trying to gain my feet, but she was quicker—quick enough to kick me in the
ribs as I rose. That hurt. I came to my feet hissing with pain and annoyance, blood gleaming
like neon on the surface of glowing skin.
She was on her feet as well. Her expression flickered from startled to grim determination
and she moved in to attack.
My eyes shifted into full vampiric hyperfocus. Everything was suddenly so clear. I could
see each grain of sand, the pores and flaws in each stone. Adriana‘s tiniest muscle movements
were grossly exaggerated. I knew what she was going to do almost before she did.
She shifted, throwing a hard punch toward my solar plexus, but I wasn‘t there. I‘d dropped
down and was sweeping her legs out from under her. She went down hard. Her head slammed
against the same rock hard enough this time to stun her for a second. In that second I was on
her, pinning her body with mine. She started to struggle, turning her head back and forth as she
searched for some way of escape. I hissed again, but this time it wasn‘t a sound of pain. It
wasn‘t a human sound at all.
My eyes focused on her neck and the pulse that beat so rapidly, so close to the skin. My
sense of self began to fade as the world narrowed to that tiny fragment of flesh. I needed to
taste the blood underneath . . . more than I‘d ever had to do anything before in my life. I
couldn‘t breathe, couldn‘t think. My mouth opened. Adriana‘s eyes went wide and she
struggled anew, but the sinews in my arms had turned to iron straps and she couldn‘t get away.
The vampire within me started to lunge forward to feed and the siren in me was going to let
it happen. Clear victory would allow a taste of flesh. But at that last moment, my human
conscience forbade it.
People are not food !
Throwing back my head, I howled in hunger that was so strong it was an actual pain. It
ripped through every nerve in my body like an electric shock. Pain. So much pain.
But I had to be human enough to say no: human enough not to do this even though another
part of myself demanded it. I might be part vampire and part siren. But I was born human and I
never intended to lose that part of myself.
I crawled off of Adriana awkwardly, moving painfully to the opposite side of the ring from
where she lay. I had beaten my hunger, but I was going to pay dearly for that victory. Rising to
my feet, I shoved through the eerily silent crowd to where Hiwahiwa stood beside Ren. I
grabbed my clothing without ceremony and turned to Ren. ―Get me the hell out of here. Now.‖
I spoke aloud. I needed food, now, or someone was going to die.
―But—‖ She glanced over to Queen Lopaka. The queen was still nodding her assent when I
felt the world lurch and I was back on the Mona’s Rival— and in the middle of a battle.
15
We materialized into chaos. My eyes burned from smoke and the deck shifted beneath me as
an explosion of magic erupted from the door of the front cabin. I watched as a half-charred
man flew backward over the rail to slam into the side wall of the cabin of a boat that was tied
to our railing.
I felt, rather than saw, Ren vanish. Whether she‘d gone for help or just gone was anyone‘s
guess, but I didn‘t have time to worry about it. I ducked down, my world still slowed by
vampire vision and the need for blood. But my effort at stealth was spoiled when the billowing
smoke made me cough. The nearer of the two invaders turned, startled by my sudden
appearance and state of undress. Surprise only slowed him for an instant. Still, that instant was
enough for me to find my jacket in the pile of clothes and pull out the first weapon that came to
hand. I threw the boomer hard, not at him but at the floor by his feet. Covering my eyes, I was
rewarded by a flash of heat and light I could feel through my upraised arm and a roar of sound
meant to temporarily deafen anyone in range.
I managed to get my gun pulled and safety off quickly enough to step out of the way of the
man charging blindly toward me. He might not be able to see now, but he‘d glimpsed me
before the light show and was attacking based on that knowledge. Not a stupid move in close
quarters like these. There wasn‘t a lot of room between me and the railing and he was bigger
than me.
Still, I had the advantage. I could see. Rather than waste a bullet I might need later, I stepped
aside, ducking beneath his outstretched arms. Coming up behind him, I leveled my hardest
punch at his right kidney. His knees folded. He probably screamed, but I couldn‘t hear it. My
ears were still ringing from the boomer.
Hitting the safety, I pistol-whipped him, and he went down. A
s I shoved him under the
railing into the welcoming ocean, I realized that I‘d seen him before. At La Cocina. He‘d been
with George Miller.
What the hell?
It didn‘t matter. Well, it did, intellectually. But it didn‘t in reality. Because the second man
had positioned himself, legs spread and braced between the railing and the cabin wall. Blindly
but methodically, he was firing off shots, holding his weapon at waist level. Shoot, adjust an
inch to the left, shoot again. Smart. Because if I was blinded, too, he‘d get me eventually,
based on the limited space. I dropped to my stomach, braced my elbows, and flipped off the
safety. Then, just as methodically, I shot him. The bullet took him between the eyes. Gruesome
but effective. I was on my knees, getting ready to rise, when a man came around the front of
the cabin, apparently checking to see what had happened.
I fired at him, but I was in an awkward position and he was damned quick. I missed.
Swearing, he ducked back behind the cabin wall. I had to scramble to get out of his line of fire.
The bullet missed me but embedded itself in the wall, sending fiberglass chips and wood
splinters into my naked flesh. Damn it. Ow. I was backing up when I saw the shadows shift on
the wall beside me. Instinct made me whirl and I fired into the chest of a monster.
It was tall and oddly shaped, with a long, eyeless head. Its russet body was scaled, naked,
and hugely male. Its body was oddly shaped, with knees that bent the wrong direction. Half a
dozen curved bone horns surrounded its head where the brow line should be and wicked brass-
colored claws sprang from the ends of its hands and feet.
An imp. A lesser demon. A demon.
Oh, shit, oh, shit, oh, shit.
It turned toward me, its mouth opening to show wicked fangs that dripped venom. A long
black tongue flicked out in a gesture reminiscent of a snake scenting the air.
I scrambled backward, tripping over my empty holster in my haste to make sure I was out of
the reach of that thing. I fell on my ass, hard, dropping my gun, which skittered across the deck
to fall into the ocean. The impact made me bite the inside of my cheek. Blood filled my mouth
and I spit it out. The creature turned, tongue flicking faster at the smell of fresh blood. It and
me, quite a pair.
I reached down to the deck and began rummaging through the pile of clothing, digging for
the one thing that might help me against the monster I was facing. I managed to get my right
hand wrapped around the plastic handle and was about to pull the little squirt gun free when I
heard movement behind me. Heard it—which meant my hearing was coming back.
―Well, if it isn‘t Ms. Graves.‖ Miller‘s silken voice was condescending as hell. Of course,
considering the advantage he had over me, he had reason to be. ―I did warn you not to cross
me.‖
The demon leaned forward, reaching toward me with its claws. ―Halt!‖ Miller‘s command
was sharp and the creature jerked back as if it were at the end of a leash. Throwing back its
head, it screamed, a harsh, hateful sound with all the musicality of nails on a blackboard or
static feedback.
―It‘s a little extreme, isn‘t it, dealing with the devil just to get back at your ex-partner?‖
He shrugged, albeit mostly with one shoulder. The other wasn‘t working so well. ―In for a
penny, in for a pound. I‘m damned in either case. And the only way I can put off my eternal
unrest for even a little longer is by killing Creede. So, where is he?‖
―Haven‘t got a clue.‖ Absolute truth. He could be anywhere. He was probably on the boat.
But I sure as hell hadn‘t seen him. For all I knew, he was already dead.
―Don‘t make me do something you‘re going to regret, Ms. Graves.‖
The imp strained against its invisible tether and he let it come just a fraction closer. I could
smell its breath and a tiny drop of spittle splattered against my leg, burning it like acid.
I screamed. The pain was incredible. Just that one drop had burned through my flesh nearly
to the bone.
―Where is he?‖ Miller‘s voice was right behind and above me now. I turned my head,
craning my neck upward, and was rewarded with a close-up view of his suit trousers:
lightweight wool, gray, with a light pinstripe. But past him I saw something that heartened me.
The other bad guy stood silent, empty hands at his sides, Bubba‘s .38 tucked firmly under his
chin. Creede stood behind Miller, gun at the ready.
―I‘m right here.‖
Miller actually jumped a little. With his loss of concentration, the imp lunged forward, but
not at me—at him. I pulled the One Shot, rolling out of the way of a clawed foot, shooting holy
water into the demon‘s open mouth.
I was too late. The creature‘s clawed arm swung forward, punching completely through
Miller just below his breastbone. He screamed, though his lungs had to have been damaged,
his left hand clawing weakly at the pocket of his jacket.
The demon was screaming, too. Each, painful, earsplitting shriek was accompanied by a
belch of flame as the holy water burned it from the inside out. Throwing Miller aside with a
vicious swing of its arm, it turned. Without eyes, I wouldn‘t have thought it could find me. But
it knew precisely where I was and that I was the one who‘d injured it.
It stalked forward, claws extended, following me as I backed away. I was in trouble. The
man who had summoned it was dead or dying. There were no priests here to banish it and my
little shot of holy water had injured the monster just enough to really piss it off. If that wasn‘t
enough, even if by some miracle Ren popped in and saved my butt, it could follow me.
Anywhere, anytime, with just a taste of my blood, or a hair from my head.
Exactly the way it had been used to trail Creede.
I was on the far side of the boat now, and even using vampire speed I was barely keeping
ahead of those swinging claws. Every time it missed, the imp became more enraged. And
while its bellows no longer belched flame, they did send ichor spraying. It burned through
whatever it touched, be it fiberglass, metal, wood, or skin.
I was on the farthest side of the boat, my path blocked by rubble and fallen bodies. I could
dive into the water, but then everybody else on board would be toast. There was no way I was
strong enough to beat it hand-to-hand, and I didn‘t dare risk closing with it enough to try out
my fangs. It stalked toward me and I had nowhere to go.
The gulls wheeled and dived overhead, drawn by the scent of blood on the wind. They
squawked and squalled above me. I screamed up at them, ―If you want to do something useful,
attack that damned demon!‖ I pointed at the imp and, I shit you not, they actually did it. The
imp screamed as a hundred talons grabbed at it. Birds were thrown to the side, hopefully not
wounded beyond repair. But they were actually beating the demon back.
Holy shit.
Creede‘s voice shouted something incomprehensible and a whirlwind formed around him.
Magic flared so hard it made my skin hurt. There was something amazing about seeing Creede
on the deck of the boat, arms outstretched, eyes glowing with fire, wind whipping at his
clothes, looking for all the world like a pirate mage from a history book. All he needed was a
red cape and sword to complete the image.
He advanced, words spewing from his mouth in a jumble of incomprehensible syllables.
Though I didn‘t understand the sounds, the demon did. It froze in its tracks, howling in
frustrated fury as the birds continued to tear at it. Again Creede called out and this time I felt a
wave of magic accompany the words. The beast shuddered and seemed to waver, as if it were a
heat shimmer or a mirage. A third call and with it the crack of ceramic breaking. The air
pressure changed as our dimension opened just enough. The birds scattered frantically and I
grabbed onto a railing as my feet rose into the air as a sudden vacuum tore at me. Though it
fought and clawed with every ounce of its being, the imp was sucked back into hell.
I collapsed onto the deck, my heart pounding so loud that I couldn‘t hear anything else.
16
I was going to have to buy Bubba new sheets for this bed. Oh, hell, who was I kidding? I was
going to have to buy him a new boat.
Mona’s Rival was still afloat—just. But the deck and cabin were riddled with bullet holes
and demon claw marks. And one of the magical explosions had taken out a wall.
Of course, this fight had really been because of Creede. But Bubba would blame me.
Speaking of the attack, who were we supposed to report it to? Did Serenity count as a
country? They did have their own law enforcement. But were they internationally recognized?
If the siren government couldn‘t, or wouldn‘t, handle the whole thing aboveboard, Bubba
couldn‘t claim on his insurance. And Miller and the others would simply disappear, which
wasn‘t really fair to their families, if they had them.
As I was thinking all of this, I lay on the sheets in intense pain. I‘d been too busy to notice
what was happening, what with avoiding the imp and all, but the battle had taken place in full
daylight. I had been nearly butt naked and hadn‘t sunscreened anything other than my face.
Between the fight with Adriana and the one with the demon, I had second-degree burns over
most of my body. Third-degree burns where the acid had splattered. I had all kinds of nasty
little injuries and there was that remaining embedded piece of baby food jar that needed to be
dug out. So to try to distract myself from the pain, which wasn‘t being eased all that much by