Fuck that. I’ll live with the fact I’m a killer, but I won’t let him take me.
Shoving a hand into his face, I suck the shadows up. I call the shadows from him, from around him, from within him, the same way I did with Prince. The shadows race inside me, cold and warm and overwhelming. Power flows through me and I grin. I grin when I see the vampire’s face turning pale and shocked, and fear taking his features.
Yes. That’s who you’re fighting. A Shadow Mage.
Whatever is inside him flows into me. It pours like a waterfall, racing into my chest until I stumble back, knowing he’s empty. I expect him to look at me, full of shock and awe, and then drop to his feet, dead like Prince. It’s different, though. There’s no reaction on his face. His body goes limp immediately, his eyes glazed over, and he’s dead before he hits the ground. I watch the vampire as I release the surrounding shadows, allowing them to go back to their places, feeling the slashed skin on my face knitting back together.
He’s dead, but he died faster than Prince and... I blink. His cheeks are hollowed and his skin strangely paper-thin. Like he’s a husk now. Talk about weird.
The sound of steps reaches me and I shoot a look over my shoulder, wide eyes as I search for more vampires. There is a vampire, but not the way I expected. Fuck. I should have ran faster.
Donatello and Apollo skid to a halt next to me, gazes shooting between my body and the vampire’s at my feet. My shoulders drop. I hate how slow I am. They caught up to me just fine.
Apollo’s hands cover my face, search my arms, my body. “Are you hurt?” he asks, desperate eyes looking for the source of the blood on my skin.
I wipe a hand over the drops. “No. I’ve already healed.”
He nods, then shoots a look at the vampire on the ground, then a glare at the vampire standing next to us. “How the fuck did you miss that?”
Donatello shoots me an apologetic look. “He was nowhere in the vicinity..”
Ren and Tristan arrive a moment later, Oreo racing in front of them. He barks, then jumps on me. I pick him up, cradling him to my chest. His feet are that red shade I can’t explain. Oreo whimpers.
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” I ask, racing a hand down his fur.
He buries his face into my neck, and I’ve never seen a dog appear sad. I bounce him in my arms, stroking his back, looking between the others, confused.
“I guess he was worried,” Donatello says with a shrug, turning to Ren. “This is the guy who got her. We missed him somehow.”
Ren’s brows shoot to his hairline. “No way.” He shoves a hand through his long, dark hair. “Damn it. How did we?...”
“No one missed anything,” I call out, and the four whirl around to look at me. “He passed me when I came this way. He said he had been looking for me.”
Ren frowns. “When you came this way? Why would you come this far to pee?”
“I ran away.”
The shocked look on their faces would be funny if it wasn’t transforming into mixed reactions of the sadness kind. Apollo goes somber, his brows lowering over his nose, mouth turning down on the corners. Ren’s brows bunch together in doubt, in fear. Tristan’s brows rise and keep rising, his mouth agape like he’s about to be told it’s his fault. Donatello looks like he just saw a ghost.
The four explode in questions, and that with the whimpering dog on my arms doesn’t help with the migraine I’m developing. “Listen,” I say out loud, drowning out their voices. They all stop, Oreo included. “It’s dangerous. Extremely dangerous for any of you to be around me. If I surrender...”
“You are not going to surrender,” Apollo roars.
I glare him into silence. “If I surrender, then I can say you only helped me because we’re mates. The mating bond forced you.”
“The mating bond didn’t force me,” Tristan insists.
“I know, but that would clean your names,” I go on. “Besides, we’re not strong enough to fight this. The Collector, the police...” I jut a chin to the husk of a vampire at our feet. “This guy said Kayn put a price on my head. So other vampires will definitely come after us.”
Donatello drifts closer. “You’ve had a price on your head for a while. I checked during the period I went back to Kayn’s place. He put it up the same night you killed the Light Mage.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “How did he know?”
Donatello shakes his head. “I didn’t tell him a thing, but he knew. And he knew who you are. I mean, that you’re a Dark Mage.”
I chew my bottom lip for a moment and Oreo calms down, putting his head on my shoulder. “So that first vampire who attacked my house was sent by Kayn too.”
“Possibly,” says Don.