Page 18 of Kiss of Light

Boss Vamp snarled.

“Don’t give me orders, Count. We’re not in Palissandra now.” He nodded at the vamps holding Tala down. “Put her next to him. We’ll let the royalty watch while we drain his women, then we’ll take his head.”

“Dinner and a show. Goody.” It hurt to speak but Tala made the effort. “And they say romance is dead.”

“Do you ever stop?” asked Lemar. “At least let me have the pleasure of dying in peace.”

“Shut the fuck up, both of you.” Cillian grabbed Tala’s arm and hauled her across the floor to Lemar. She was forced onto her knees next to him. He gave her a weary glance.

“Why did you follow me here?” he asked.

“Oh, I don’t know. Your animal magnetism?”

Cillian chuckled and bent to inhale the scent behind her ear.

“I have never tasted demon blood before. It is said to be quite intoxicating.” He nuzzled her neck and she felt her skin crawl. “I will enjoy this.”

His eyes blackened and his teeth started to lengthen. Tala reached out and grasped Lemar’s hand.

He looked at her in surprise but didn’t try to shake her off. Instead, he tightened his grip, as if he was trying to give her comfort.

“Hold tight,” she told him. And held her left hand in the air, concentrating furiously.

It worked better than she could have imagined.

The white light pulsed from her palm and into every corner of the apartment, its brightness intense enough to make her blink.

Cillian was annihilated first, his body decomposing so rapidly that she saw first his muscle structure then his skeleton, before his form crumbled entirely. The sword dropped to the floor, fragments of bone drifting across it before they, too, were dissolved by the light.

The ultraviolet was merciless. Every vamp in the vicinity was stripped apart and broken down into nothing. Even the decapitated one in the hallway disintegrated into dust.

All of them gone in the blink of an eye.

All of them, except Lemar.

Eight

Tala closed her palm, shutting off the light. She waited for pain or weakness, the ‘cost’ Mama Xiaoling had warned her about. But all she felt was a faint weariness, as if she’d just done a strenuous workout.

Huh. Ifthatwas all it took from her, she could manage that easily.

She turned to Lemar, still holding her hand. His eyes were closed and she studied him for a moment.

He’d told Cillian to let her go. True, his exact words were ‘throw her out of the window’ but still. Had he been trying to save her?

His lids flew open and she found herself gazing at him from mere inches away. His irises weren’t entirely dark brown, she saw. They had flecks of amber in them.

Realising she was staring at him, she got to her feet. He followed suit, stretching languidly.

“Nice rescue,” he commented. “How come the light didn’t work on me?”

“You were shielded because I was touching you. Can you check on Camille while I find my blades?”

“No. I can’t.”

“What do you mean, you can’t? Get over there and make sure she’s alive.”

Tala glared at him angrily, but stopped when she saw his expression. She followed his gaze to the woman on the couch. At the blood streaming down her neck. Lemar was staring at it like a lion fixating on a gazelle.

---