Page 36 of Bleeding Love

“I’m a vampire. I’m always ready,” I replied, mustering a smile.

She looked like she could see through it, to the part of me that was torn for very different reasons. Yet she just nodded, pulling the hood over her head. Once her coppery hair was safely hidden between the folds, she raised her green eyes to me.

“Are you sure you want to do this? You’ll be making a lot of enemies tonight. This is not going to be swift and quiet, and you will not be an unnamed assailant. They will know your name, your face, and if anyone gets out—”

“I have made my bed, darling. With you in it,” I interrupted her, catching her chin between my fingers. Her look was firm, unyielding, and for a moment, I wished we could just stay there, forgotten by the world. But I doubted the world would let us fade into oblivion, especially her.

I brushed my lips against hers, delighting in the simple fact that I could do it because I wanted to, whenever I wanted to, however I wanted to. She didn’t pull back, didn’t cower. Instead, she pressed herself closer to me, deepening the kiss.

I let her, just for a moment, then broke it off and adjusted her cloak.

“Let’s paint this town red,” I smirked as I picked her up. I gave her a few seconds to adjust before I broke into a run. She was but a feather in my arms, yet when she clung to my neck, her hot breath burning my skin, it felt like I held an entire world in my grip.

The sky had turned black by the time we reached the outskirts of the city. There were lanterns lit up on every corner, a lot more than usual, and there were so many people walking about in the dark that I almost laughed. They weren’t trying to be subtle, were they?

When we passed the first house, Celeste muttered a spell, her eyes locked on the sky. It took her all but a few steps to have heavy clouds rolling in, and the wind that gushed from behind us had one of the houseplants of the nearest house falling off its windowsill.

Several people shouted, urging each other to get home or gather the merchandise—some even cursing the damn weather that took them by surprise. The hunters continued on their walks as if not noticing the change—only their bodies seemed stiffer, their hands hidden in their heavy cloaks, no doubt holding blades ready to fly.

A light touch on my arm had me turning to look down at her. Despite using all that energy to cast, she looked rejuvenated, her skin glowing with so much life that I had to fight the temptation to drink from that charged blood. She gave me a slight nod, then moved past me, venturing into the next street alone.

This was the hard part. Watching her from the sidelines as she gathered attention, keeping away until the witches showed themselves. Apparently, there was a coven after her which she had conveniently not mentioned before, but seeing how relaxed she was, I didn’t think it would be a problem. She had made me promise to leave the witches to her, even though it made more sense for me to take care of them. Their spells wouldn’t work on me and I doubted there would be capable necromancers among them. Still, she was determined to give them a chance even after they had betrayed her.

I jumped, landing effortlessly on the roof before I followed her from above. My eyes darted to every man who turned to look at her, to every pair that changed direction to follow after her. Gritting my teeth in frustration, I kept to the shadows until there was a small group catching up to her.

When one of them withdrew a pistol from his pocket, I lunged. I was beside him in an instant, grabbing the barrel and twisting it. By the time he pressed the trigger, the weapon backfired, catching him straight in the face. The others jumped, finally noticing me, but I was already moving. The first two were dead before they could make a sound, the other two moved back into defensive positions.

One of them withdrew another pistol—even got to fire it at my back as I was sinking my teeth into his comrade—but he quickly realized that the silver bullet didn’t do more than annoy me. He unsheathed a knife, charging me instead, only to end up with the blade between his eyes a moment later.

I looked to the opposite side of the street, realizing it was empty. Celeste hadn’t stopped, hadn’t looked back, too focused on her search. I had to talk to her about a little concept calledcaution. Just because she was a powerful witch didn’t mean she had to be this reckless.

I glanced at the bodies, then jumped to the roof again, rushing to catch up. When I spotted her again, she had reached the town square. There was a trail of bodies behind her, which meant she wasn’t entirely oblivious to the hunters following her. Did she leave those for me, because she trusted me to take care of them? She hadn’t even glanced back.

A movement caught my eye just as she stopped. A few figures stepped onto the square from all directions, the pale light surrounding their bodies confirming they were definitely not hunters. I drew closer as the wind carried their scents toward me—sweet, angry, powerful.

Celeste pulled her hood down just when a flash of lightning cracked across the sky, followed by ear-splitting thunder. A drop hit my face, then another, and after several heartbeats, the rain was pouring so viciously that I could barely see Celeste as more than a smudge of red.

“I will give you one chance!” I heard her shout over the storm. “Leave and never show yourselves in front of me again! There was enough witch blood spilled!”

Even if there was a reply, I heard none as another thunder shook the world. The air buzzed with so much power that the hair on my body rose. I jumped down on the street, running a hand through my hair to get the falling droplets away from my eyes. Shrugging off my already-soaked coat, I let it fall to the ground as I prowled into the square. There were so many heartbeats singing around me that it was hard to concentrate.

The hunters, no longer rushing in to get slaughtered, kept to the shadows from where they watched the witches. I could see several pistols and crossbows raised at the ready, but nobody attacked. Almost like they were hoping the witches would kill each other. Or maybe they were working together as unlikely as that was.

“You killed our sisters!” One of the witches screamed, raising her hands in preparation for an attack. “You slaughtered them! You are a monster! Even if we die today, it will be worth it if we rid the world of you!”

Celeste stared at her with a somber expression, the rain matting her hair and sliding down her pale face like tears. Yet all she gave was a somber nod.

“So be it.” Her words were too quiet for the witches to hear, but I caught them as I moved closer. “I don’t even know why I still bother.”

Light exploded from the hands of the witches, darting in Celeste’s direction like countless deadly arrows. I shouted her name, ready to rush into the fire, when I noticed the strange way the flames moved. As they rebounded, crawling up the closest buildings and devouring everything in their way, I saw her.

Wrapped in a protective bubble, she had shifted her weight to one leg, looking exasperated. When the screaming started from inside the houses and several of the hunters ran out, she finally dropped her ward and her expression changed.

“Keep the humans out of my way, will you?” she said too quietly for anyone without supernatural hearing to hear. I stared at her while she pointed a finger toward the witches, magic surging under her skin like the sun right before sunrise.

I lunged for the closest hunter, grabbing him by the throat and tearing it out. Someone fired a gun and I dodged, throwing the body away before charging at the shooter. I snatched the weapon from his grip, breaking it in half before snapping the man’s neck. Something pierced my back, and I looked over to find a stake embedded in there, with a human trying to push it deeper. The wood burned, no doubt blessed, but he had missed my heart.

I slammed my elbow into his face, breaking his nose. Another bullet flew toward my chest, but I dodged it, yanking the stake out of my flesh. Several of the hunters had reached the witches—one of the women was lying on the ground already, lacerations covering her from head to toe while her body convulsed in pain. Her magic was trying to heal her, but the wounds kept reopening. Another woman screamed, falling to hands and knees and throwing up. Except it wasn’t bile, but blood and entrails coming out of her mouth in one painful retch after another.

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