Page 72 of The Hunt of Night

“Hey.”

“What are you doing?” I balk, earning a side eye from her as Arlo saunters up beside her.

“Getting a manicure. What does it look like I’m doing?” she retorts, making Arlo snicker. She winks, a proud glint in her eyes before she takes off toward the remaining vampires with Arlo at her side.

Holy fuck.

A dozen or so vampires take off down the narrow pathway to the left, wreaking havoc and leaving chaos in their wake, and I follow after them, acutely aware that they’ll be nearing Pearl’s in a matter of seconds.

“I’m right with you, Dagger,” Brody hollers from behind me, his boots pounding the ground with urgency as we take off into the night, chasing vampires like it’s a casual affair.

“Like we’ve practiced,” Raiden snarls, his deep voice cutting through the night air making me frown in confusion, but I can’t stop to ask what he means. I can’t let the vampires get away. Especially not when I see the entryway to Pearl’s come into view.

I need to act, and I need to act now.

“Praesidium. Tutela. Praemunitio. Arx. Umbra. Praesidium. Tutela. Praemunitio. Arx. Umbra. Praesidium. Tutela. Praemunitio. Arx. Umbra.” Brody’s chant flickers through the air, casting darkness around us with every word he mutters.

Suddenly, Pearl’s is no longer in view. Nothing is. Just an inky darkness that touches everywhere around the five of us, and the vampires intent on destroying the city.

“Now,” Raiden grunts, and Cassian takes off running. He leaps through the air before he reaches the vampires, and I watch in awe as he shifts before my eyes, a hulk of a wolf in his place as he hits the ground.

His teeth are bared, his eyes narrowed, and his body coiled tight, ready to unleash his pent-up adrenaline on the enemy.

He charges for the closest vampires, his teeth sinking into their throat as he grapples with them. Blood splatterseverywhere, marking the inky darkness with a deep-crimson hue.

My view is quickly blocked by a vampire tearing toward me with purpose. Instinctively, my hands twirl around the handles of two daggers again, and when he lurches forward, arms out to grab me, I duck, slicing the poisoned silver into his thighs.

He howls in pain as his blood splatters across my face. He drops to the ground in a heap but quickly rises to his feet, ready to charge me again as the poison slowly takes hold.

Before he can take another step toward me, Kryll is behind him; hands clamped down on either side of his head before he twists. The sound of snapping bones resounds in my chest with every breath I take, leaving me to gape with my lungs heaving as Kryll winks and moves on to the next target.

Fuck.

Sheathing my daggers, I reach for two more, silently thanking the trinket gods that I had a few viles of the vampire toxin in my possession.

Blood seeps into my clothes, causing it to cling to my limbs, staining my skin. I swipe at my face, but it’s futile. All I’m doing is spreading the mess. I can worry about the state of me once I’m done here.

Settling my gaze on the next vampire, I take off, approaching from behind before I pierce him from either side, wedging my blade between his ribcage to cause the most damage.

“You bitch,” he snarls in a choked voice, his gaze locked on mine as he sinks to his knees, and I twist the blades for good measure, just like I did earlier. His blood drips from my fingers as I retract my blades, returning them to my holster before I use my air magic to aid the satisfying sound of his neck snapping.

I shouldn’t like the sound of it. It should make me recoil, but it’s the sound of justice.

“Two more, Adrianna. Are you with me?”

I peer at Raiden, surprise tainting my vision as I blink at him. He cocks a brow like he expected an instant answer, but I’m too startled.

“What happened to the asshole from earlier? The one adamant that I needed defending at all costs? The one believing I couldn’t do this?” Now isn’t the time to be asking, but I can’t help myself. The man standing before me, hand outstretched, inviting me to slaughter the remaining vampires, is a complete contrast to earlier.

“That man was an asshole. An asshole desperate to protect you from the world and completely forgetting that you don’t need protection from anyone or anything. You’re a fucking warrior, Troublemaker. Now, are you going to do me the honors or not?”

Well, when he puts it like that.

I nod, taking his hand at the exact same time a flash of white blinks from behind him, and teeth sink into his neck a moment later.

My eyes widen, terror bleeding through me as I watch Raiden’s body tense under the bite of a frenzied vampire. My breath lodges in my throat, adrenaline coursing through my limbs with such force that it takes me a second to remember how to move.

“No!” I croak, like the word will make him stop, but it goes unnoticed as I bolt toward them.

---