Page 71 of The Hunt of Night

Ilose my breath as the air rushes past me, but all it serves to do is fuel my adrenaline.

My air magic comes to life before I hit the ground, softening my fall as it guides me firmly onto my feet.

There’s no time to take a deep breath and ready myself. It’s carnage down here. Civilians rush for cover, but if their doors are already unlatched, it’s too late.

I take one step forward when a hand lands on my shoulder. In my chaos-induced haze, I turn, ready to attack, to see it’s Cassian.

“Together.”

I gape at him, lost for words, but there’s no time to hesitate so I nod.

“Together.”

Raiden, Brody, and Kryll descend beside us. “Together,” they say in unison, bolstering the insanity I know I’m exuding right now, but for the good of my kingdom, I’ll do whatever it takes.

One word.

One word, and we’re on the same page.

A rarity for us, but we’re going to need to make the most of it.

A man’s scream of horror rips through the air, spinning all of our attention to the destruction unraveling around us, and we’re off.

No more words. No more observing. No more thinking.

Just action.

I run, barreling toward two vampires as they try to break down the wooden door to a storefront. The owners are on the other side of the glass, sobbing in fear. The terror in their eyes tells my soul they’re humans. Defenseless.

Fuck.

Quickening my pace, I shove up my t-shirt to reveal eight of my daggers. Blindly grabbing one in each hand, I lunge the rest of the distance, stabbing both of the fuckers in the throat.

Wild eyes meet mine, and both of them reach for me at the same time, eager to exact their revenge, but I twist the handles, driving home the venom exuding from the silver tips. Their movements sag, the pair dropping to the ground on their hands and knees. As they struggle to find their last breath, I conjure the air around me, using it to my advantage as I sheath both of my blades and use my bare hands to snap their necks.

I ease my magic, the air no longer adding to my strength to get the job done. Kicking them both over, I make sure they’re bothdeaddead before I glance at the humans inside the store. The woman’s hand is pressed against her chest, eyes wide under the light of the moon as she hyperventilates with every breath. The man beside her, however, stands ramrod straight, lips in a tight line as he looks from me to the dead vampires.

“Do you have a barricade?” I ask, stepping up to the glass, and the man shakes his head. Fuck. “You need one. Let me in,” I blurt, and he shakes his head. Taking a deep breath, I flex my hands at my sides. “I’m trying to help you.”

“I don’t want no help.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to point out his use of a double negative, but I fight against it, scanning my surroundings to see what there is. A crash echoes behind me and I glance over my shoulder in time to see a wrought-iron gate fall beneath three vampires.

What the fuck are they even doing?

Shaking my head, I focus. Summoning my magic to my fingertips, I use the air around me to bring the mangled metal toward me. When there’s enough, I use fire, desperate to be released from my touch, to weld the metal together.

Pulling and stretching, I morph the searing-hot iron as quickly as I can before dousing it with water in an attempt to cool it. There’s no water source nearby, so I work on transforming the steam from the heat into water droplets until the chaos behind me reaches new heights and I have to stop.

“I’m going to leave this here. It should be enough to withstand any further attack, but it would be better from the inside,” I state, my gaze locked on the man on the other side of the glass, who doesn’t utter a word in response.

The woman beside him, however, nods her head profusely. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

Satisfied, I turn to the carnage that continues to unravel around us. The numbers we’re up against are dwindling. We’re taking them down. One at a time. The next one falls, the distinct sound of their neck cracking ricocheting off the walls as a flash of red hair makes me pause.

“Flora?”

I gape, watching as she presses her fingertips into the skull of a vampire on his knees at her feet. He falls in a heap a moment later, lifeless, as she smiles at me.

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