Shadows of Ourselves (2016 Original Edition)

THIRTEEN: I'm a Vampire, Duh

Althea didn't blink. She spoke slowly and deliberately. "Ursa, lead Hunter and Sky out the back. I'll handle these two. It's about time they were taught some respect."

The blond cracked his knuckles. "I have no problem hitting an old lady as ugly as you."

"That's rich coming from a guy who looks like Draco Malfoy after a steroid bender," I said, glaring.

The girl at his side laughed in a sort of surprised, delighted way. She looked back and forth between us in shock, and let out another choked noise.

The blond glared down at her. "Shut up, Destiny."

"What's the matter, big boy? Vertically-challenged Barbie got your tongue?" She licked her lips. "You can have him, anyway. I want the big one. He looks like fun."

"Freak," I mumbled.

Her head tilted towards me. "On second thought..."

God, I would love for her to swing at me. I would love an excuse.

I just wanted to fucking be done with this, and the whole attempted kidnapping thing? I was over it.

My priority was the bond, and this was an interruption and a waste of time.

At that point Ursa stepped forward to usher us out the back door. Hunter's long fingers wrapped around my upper arm and he began to lead me away, but I jerked back and stepped out of his reach. I was not leaving an old lady here to fight two twenty-somethings, magik or no.

I turned in time to see Axel charge Althea at full speed. He pulled back his thickly-veined fist, aiming a punch at her head as he steamrolled into her.

The impact never came.

Althea raised both arms into the air and shoved as if she touched a solid wall. Her muscles strained, gown whipping behind her. Axel was knocked back as if he'd been hit by a truck. He sailed across the room, crashing against the rock wall so hard it cracked under the blow. Dust crumbled over him as he slumped to the ground and didn't stir.

There was a blur of dark movement on my left, and I whirled to meet it. I knew what I'd find when I turned, and I was right.

Let's do this.

"Sky!" Hunter rushed after me, but I had eyes only for Destiny.

She was raising her arm. She held something in her hand—her eyes met mine, Destiny grinned, and then she threw it.

The tiny package hit the ground before I could get a close look at it. It burst apart and red dust swept out and poured into the air, thick and hazy. I coughed and stumbled back. Christ, she carried around smoke bombs? Ursa called out somewhere behind me and Hunter shouted my name again, but it was too late for any of us to reach each other as the cloud of smoke spread. Within seconds I was lost in a sea of ruby powder hanging in the air. I charged through the cloud at the spot where I'd last seen Destiny without thinking, and burst out of the cloud, where she stood smiling like she'd just won an Olympic medal or some shit.

I kept back, tense. "It isn't classy to pick on old ladies, you know."

She laughed, flashing fangs again. "Who are you talking to? I'm over a hundred years old."

"What?"

She scrunched up her face, dripping superiority. "I'm a Vampire, duh."

Duh. Like I met Vampires every day. But I'd suspected it, and I was right. Holy shit. Besides, any doubt I might have had was erased when a lie didn't register.

"For someone over a hundred," I told her sadly, "you sure dress a lot like Hannah Montana."

"Oh, fuck you kid."

Vampires existed. Skinwalkers. Wolves made of shadows.

What was next?

If the effing tooth fairy turned up to party, I was killing someone.

Destiny glared at me and bared her teeth, showing off gleaming fangs. I became a lot more aware of my exposed throat. Not great.

I tried to drag up that well of power from deep within, the energy I'd felt snapping around me, like wires pulled so tightly they snapped from the pressure, when I made my phone float. Like stretching a muscle I'd never bothered to exercise.

But I couldn't tap into Hunter's powers again—not on command. Maybe the bond wasn't strong enough, or close enough to settling (thank God for small miracles) but I couldn't force them to wake up and work for me.

Destiny lunged, and something caught spark.

As the vampire reached me I threw out my arms, a sloppy imitation of Althea's earlier pose, but it worked. I felt the power flood me like a shot of adrenaline straight to my heart, and a coffee table flew out of the scarlet fog coating the air to slam in the slim girl's direction. She dodged the heavy piece of furniture, and it smashed into the wall, shattering instantly. Wooden splinters rained down, and she laughed as she strode toward me.

This was what fear looked like: a girl with a fancy charm bracelet and a pair of very real fangs coming at me with a grin on her mouth and thirst in her eyes.

A blur of motion sped by me and straight at her—Hunter had broken through the smoke, and he was after her with a vengeance, lightening fast. His movements reminded me of the violence of a storm out at sea. I could feel myself painting it—the crook of his elbow in the intersection where sky met water, the curve of his hunched back as he lunged like the wide arc of a full moon, nestled among clouds of blood red smoke. There was beauty in the terror, and I didn't know if I was more afraid for myself, or for him, or of him—what he would do to her. Was I about to see him murder someone? Was that what he'd done for this ex-boss?

Had Hunter been like her, before?

He crashed into the Vampire and the two of them flew at the wall. The impact came with a sickening crack. Destiny slumped over, dazed, and Hunter dropped her like a broken toy.

He turned to me, and I took a half-step back and raised my arms, a fighting position—

Not your enemy. I caught myself at the last minute, and forced my fists to unclench, but it wasn't before Hunter registered my stance and looked regretful for a second.

He blinked, and the emotion was gone.

Striding forward, the Charmer boy grabbed my wrist and yanked me along as he passed.

Behind us, Destiny muttered a dazed curse.

"Come on!" He tugged me after him like a child.

I was too focused on finding the others to tear my arm free. Ursa stood in the back doorway ahead of us, bouncing up and down with nerves as she waved us forward. She held open the curtain and we slid by.

At the last second I looked back at what we were leaving behind.

In the front room, Althea stood alone as Axel and Destiny rose to their feet. The old woman's back was to me, her posture confident as she waited for their attack. Then the curtains fell shut, blocking her from view.