“Rough night?” he asked, pouring the amber liquid with practiced ease.
“Let's just say I'm not here for the atmosphere,” I replied, downing the whiskey in one gulp, welcoming the fire in my numbness.
“Another, then,” he chuckled, obliging without further question. His eyes, however, lingered with the soft edges of sympathy. In another life, maybe that would've mattered.
The second drink went down easier, and by the third, the world had softened at its edges.
My gaze wandered over to a group nestled in a corner booth: two couples lost in their happy little bubble. The men were beautiful, flawless in a way that screamed unnatural.
Then, as if fate itself sneered at my attempt at an escape, I saw it, the smallest glint of darkened veins flickered with the lights in here under their eyes. Shit.
I knocked back another shot, the sharpness of the alcohol a pathetic weapon against the resurgence of hate. Their giggles were a siren song, drawing me back to the hunt—back to the purpose that had consumed me.
“Looks like my night is looking up,” I muttered to the bartender, who raised an eyebrow but didn't pry. He had probably seen enough to know some stories were better left untold.
I tossed cash down on the bar and then pushed off of it.
With legs steadier than my conviction, I slipped through the side door into the alleyway. Bricks cold and unforgiving pressed against my back as I waited.
Thick vines clung and crept up the sides of the building, giving me more coverage from the monsters that now lurked just ahead in the alley, chatting.
There were two of them, seeming to be a lower class of vampire, changeling, and I hadn’t yet figured out what they were truly capable of. There were three classes, all deadly and dangerous, but the lower vampires, the ones that were new, were always too cocky.
I could practically taste the arrogance as they talked and flirted their way into the pants of their next meals.
These women had no clue what awaited them.
I clenched my wooden stakes to my chest and calmed my racing heart. Not from fear but rather adrenaline; wild and reckless adrenaline. The rain had started about a half hour ago, making loose strands of my braided wet dark burgundy hair slip down the sides of my face.
I had hidden within the darkness of night, blending into their surroundings more times than I cared to remember. Tonight was no different.
Some called the Velika family fools for hunting the monsters that saw us as prey. Especially since we were delicate humans compared to their impeccable strength, hearing, magic, and power. But regardless of my disadvantage, my family name made the monsters shudder, and I wasn’t one to run from the creatures made from nightmares—I would become theirs.
Especially now. I had nothing to lose.
The only things that could defeat a vampire were the sun, fire, and wooden stakes. And although there were many more monsters that lurked in this world that my blades and guns were thirsty to kill, I wasn’t after them. Not right now.
At least, not until they got in my way.
I was afterrevenge.
I was after the vampires that took my father from me. And maybe these two would have an idea of where to go next.
When things began to get more hot and heavy between the four of them, I struck. I pushed myself off the wall and began stalking toward them.
I was sure these vampires could smell another human present, but why would they care about that when they were about to feed?
Why would a mere human scare them?
Right before the first male was going for the blonde woman’s neck, I shoved my sharpened wooden stake through his back into that perfect spot. I used all my strength to push it through as he gasped out a pained hiss before falling to the ground. Both women screamed and ran.
The other vampire was gone at this point, but I could feel the burn of his eyes against my skin. Goosebumps pebbled across my neck as I walked further into the dark alley away from the dimly lit street.
The moment his presence was behind me, my body could practically feel him readying to strike.
I shifted around on my feet, sending my second stake into his stomach. He hissed in pain before ripping free of the stake, moving at speeds so fast my mortal eyes couldn’t keep up with him.
He came from nowhere, ramming his body into mine, sending me flying through the air before my body cracked against the stone wall of the club we had come out of. Pain radiated through me.
