A few seconds later, I saw my chance. They were only a foot from me, eyeing each other warily and looking for a weakness to exploit. Neither of them seemed to notice I was there.
I didn't want to accidentally hit Marcus, so instead of ejecting the prongs I lunged forward and touched them to Marcel's neck, praying the Taser would do its job against the vampire. If nothing else, maybe I could distract him long enough for Marcus to take him down.
The grip vibrated in my hand and I barely heard the faint crackle of electricity over the pounding of my heart in my ears.
For a split second, I thought that I'd been wrong, that it wouldn't work.
But Marcel shuddered and collapsed on the street, his eyes rolling back. Marcus bent to grab him, but he vanished in a crackle of purple lightning and tendrils of black smoke.
Had I killed him?
I nearly dropped the Taser at the thought. I hadn't intended to kill him.
Before I could process the thought, hard, callused hands grasped my arms and hauled me off my feet. The world moved by at a blur as Marcus ran up the front walk and into the house.
"Is he dead?" I asked, my voice catching over the question.
"No, he traced. The bastard."
"Traced?"
"You'd call it teleportation," he answered in an absent tone and opened the front door.
"If he can teleport, he can get in here," I said, looking around wildly.
Wait, what was I doing? I was in the arms of a vampire. Sure, he'd been nice to me so far, but that didn't mean he was trustworthy.
I shoved myself away from him and thumbed my pepper spray spout to the ready position.
Marcus stepped back and lifted both of his hands, palms out. "Whoa."
"Stay back," I said. I didn't want to shock him just in case he was wrong about the whole killing thing. I didn't want to risk killing him unless I had no other choice. I backed up to a corner and kept my eyes on him.
"I'm not going to hurt you, Merry."
I laughed, the sound harsh and nearly hysterical. "Sure. I've heard that before." I chanced a quick glance at the front door to make sure Marcel wasn't there.
"He can't come inside," Marcus stated, his hands still lifted in a gesture of surrender.
"That myth isn't true and I know it," I retorted. "Vampires don't have to be invited."
"They do if the house has been warded by an extremely powerful witch and the mother of all vampires."
I blinked. Okay, that was a new one.
"You're lying."
Marcus shook his head. "Don't say that in front of Ava. You'll hurt her feelings and then she'll feel like she has to prove that she's not only powerful but the mother of all vampires. She'll make Callum call her 'Mommy' or something equally ridiculous."
"What?"
He sighed. "I shouldn't have said that. Please don't mention it to Ava because it'll give her ideas."
I had no idea what he was talking about.
"Look, I swear,I swear, that I only want to protect you. I don't want to see you hurt, especially by my hand."
"How can I trust you?" I asked, pressing my back deeper into the corner.
