Page 16 of Phoenix Falling
They did try, though, I’d give them an A for effort.
I stalked them slowly from behind, savoring their fear as they clawed desperately at the mess obstructing their escape. The boys began to whimper like frightened puppies as they threw terrified looks over their shoulders. The sound of their heartbeats drummed in my ears, faster and faster, as I let my fangs descend fully, the red light from my glowing eyes allowing them to see exactly what they were facing. Exactly how they were going to die.
Then one of them got smart. Cupping his hands together, he shouted, “Come on, Tommy! Come on!”
Tommy, delicious tears streaming down his face, saw the hands and quickly thrust his foot into them.
“One, two, three!” As the taller boy propelled him upward, Tommy vaulted to the top of the pile. Before he could reach back for his friend, I was on top of him.
The taller boy’s scream cut off abruptly when my hand slapped over his mouth. “Now you wouldn’t want to be inviting anyone to join us, would you? No no no. Better be quiet,” I murmured in his ear, shaking my head. The sound of the other boy falling down the opposite side of the dumpster reached us both, and my captive squealed—with gratitude for his friend’s escape or despair at his own fate, I wasn’t certain, but I savored both possibilities. “He’s left us all alone, but don’t worry, you won’t miss him for long.”
As I spoke, a tingle of awareness hit the back of my neck. Not from the boy or his companion, but from a presence behind me, tickling my senses. I continued whispering sweet nothings in the boy’s ear, relishing his terror with half a mind while the rest of my awareness centered on the presence behind me, feeling it move closer, anticipating my chance. Holding my prey easily with one hand—really, sometimes it was almost pathetic how easy it was—I dropped the other to the short sword strapped to my thigh and flicked the strap open.
“Now, you’re going to help me, aren’t you?” I whispered. “In just a moment, I’m going to let you go. Are you going to run, or are you going to fall? Can you even hope for escape? There are more behind me. How would you like to feed them too?”
The words registered in the teen’s mind a second after hearing them. He bucked in my arms, just as I’d anticipated, and at the same time I dropped him. The boy fell. Allowing his move to camouflage my own, I ducked into a crouch and swung my blade around and up, catching the beast behind me in the throat as I heard the boy’s frantic attempt to scramble over the debris in front of us. My knife sliced like butter through muscle and cartilage to hit bone—the spine. I more felt the crunch reverberate up my hand than heard it as the steel sliced straight through. A millisecond later a flash of light lit up the alleyway and ashes scattered across my body.
A chuckle rumbled through my chest. “Well, that was fun.”
“Was it?” a deep voice said at my back. The slide of a step on concrete reached my ears, then a blade pricked the skin at the base of my neck.
I froze. “How the hell—”
“Ah,” the voice said. “I’m just that good.” He chuckled. “How about we play round two?”
Shadows moved in the darkness surrounding us—more shifters—but the one at my back remained hidden.
“Who the hell are you?”
The steel sank slightly deeper. “No one you know. Yet.”
I let my hands dangle at my sides, the blade still in my grip. All I needed was one opening. “That’s unlikely.”
Someone snickered in the darkness. “Not if we’re new in town,” one of the shifters pointed out.
I growled, red light flashing from my eyes. “Do you know who the fuck you’re dealing with?”
“Considering you just axed one of my soldiers, yes.” The voice moved slightly closer, as if the male was leaning forward. “Do you want to know who you’re dealing with?”
But I already had a good idea. These guys had the stench of Anigma pouring out of their every cell.
I forced myself to relax, to let my tension drain away. To be ready when the chance came. “So, what do you want?”
A chuckle. “Information we can’t get anywhere else, of course.”
I shrugged. The tip dug deeper, and I felt a trickle of blood wind its way down the neck of my jacket. “Can’t help you there.”
“Oh, we think you can. We’ve been watching you.”
Have you?I scoffed. “And you think you can get me to betray my lair?”
From the alley entrance, another figure moved into my line of sight. Big. Broad. I watched him approach, and the air of menace that surrounded him had the spit drying up in my mouth. Holy shit, who was he?
“If the price is right,” the new male said, “we think it will.”
“Who’s ‘we’?” There weren’t many people that had the power to give me what I might ask for.
“Helios is my name. Ever heard of me?”
