Page 21 of Hot for Slayer
A clawed hand grips the back of my sweater, pulling me away. The world goes upside down, and a moment later the vampire is on top of me. “You are in my territory,” he growls, lips and tongue mangled by his own teeth. His eyes are milky white all over, with the sole exception of his pupils.
I was wrong. He’s not an adolescent, and he’s not my age. This vampire is at least a millennium older than me. His power is unstable and impossible to predict. The realization hits me when he tears at my jugular with a swift strike of his fangs, causing my blood to erupt out of my skin.
The pain eviscerates me, and I scream. My neck throbs like it’s on fire.
He’s fuckingancient. That’s why he can take me so easily. I try to kick him off, but he has me pinned underneath him.
“What the fuck is wrong with you,” I hiss at him.
“You should have left when you had a chance.”
“Fuckyou. I was here first.”
His smile is shark-toothed, as if every single one of his teeth is a canine. “You’ll be here last, too.” He opens his mawwider, spit and blood mixing as his head bends over to strike my vein again, and—
It rolls away.
His head, that is.
It wobbles above the vampire’s neck, dangles forward, and thenrolls away.
The vampire collapses on top of me in a puddle of viscous fluids. I push his lithe body away, smelling the metallic scent of blood as it blends with the rotting sweetness of the trash behind us, then scramble to my feet before his juices can soak through my clothes. “What the—” That’s when I notice that Lazlo has regained consciousness. He stands behind the remains of Ancient Dirtbag, a dagger in his grip. But he’s not staring at his handiwork.
No: He’s staring atme.
Thank you,I want to say. And:Are you okay?And:He’s not dead yet. We need to expose every part of him to the sun.
But there is a light in his eyes, new and old at the same time, that tells me that there’s no need for me to explain anything. He already knows all of this. Killing vampires is second nature to him—first, maybe.
I open my mouth. Then, unsure of what to say, close it. Suddenly, I feel like crying, and I’m not certain I know why.
Until Lazlo says, “Aethelthryth.”
My name. The one my mother gave me. Probably because it was all the rage at the time—over a thousand years ago.
It can mean only one thing.
That’s why, without any warning, I charge Lazlo Enyedi and begin to attack him.
Chapter 11
Over the centuries, I’ve battled Lazlo more times than I can count. If there is one thing I’m certain of, it’s that when it comes to physical strength and fighting skills, he and I are equals.
That’s why it makes absolutely no sense that only a couple of seconds pass between the time I start running in his direction and the moment the blade of my dagger touches the ink wrapped around his neck.
Sure, he’s a little banged up. But I’m still bleeding profusely from where the vampire gnawed at me, which means that we’rebothin poor shape.
And yet, here I am. Looking up at him with my knife at his neck, trapping his larger body against the wall with no difficulty. I have, at last, the opportunity to excise him from my life once and for all.
It would be so,sofreeing. It might take fifty, even one hundred, years before the Guild finds someone else to hunt my bloodline. It would earn me decades of not watching my back. Of not having to move to a new continent because my hideout was discovered. Ofpeace.
And yet, I hesitate.
Do it. Do it now. He’s not the person who snored in your ear at two a.m. Who pretended to no longer understand therules of cribbage once you started beating him. He’s not the man who kissed you. He wouldn’t have done any of it, not if he’d remembered what you are. He finds you disgusting. He hates you. His entire purpose is to eliminate you, which ...
Doesn’t explain why his eyes, all of a sudden, seem so soft. Or the fact that instead of pushing me away, instead of hitting back with his own weapons and his own strength, he touches me tenderly. One hand lifts to cup my face, and he gently thumbs my cheekbone.
“What are you ...?” My voice trembles. I can’t bring myself to finish the question.
