One of them is moving.
I keep my eyes on the one in front of me, my attention locked, my body loose and ready. I’ve been waiting for this. Waiting to see which one is stupid enough to try.
Unfortunately, Cassia isn’t.
She doesn’t know what I know. Doesn’t have the same instincts I do. Years of honing my powers and abilities.
She doesn’t hear the scrape of a boot against concrete behind me.
She doesn’t see the glint of a blade forged with something darker than steel. Steel, I’m sure this group thinks will do damage. It won’t.
She only sees me standing still.
She thinks I’m in trouble.
“Orpheus,” she shouts.
Then she moves.
She steps in front of me just as the vampire lunges.
Time fractures.
I see everything at once. The attacker’s arm swinging wide. The weapon aimed for my ribs. Cassia’s body moving withouthesitation, without thought, driven by instinct and something fierce and stupid and beautiful.
“No,” I roar.
I grab her.
Not gently.
Not carefully.
I hook an arm around her waist and twist, pulling her back into me as the blade whistles past where her chest had been a heartbeat before. I turn with momentum, using it, slamming my shoulder into the attacker before he can recover.
The impact sends him flying into the brick wall with a wet crack.
Cassia gasps, breath knocked from her lungs, her back flush against my chest. I can feel her heart racing, wild and terrified.
In the same instant, I raise a hand and freeze the remaining group of vampires in place. Whimpers and groans erupt into the air when they realize without a doubt that they’ve fucked with the wrong vampire. This won’t be an easy win for them, no matter how many of them come for me.
With them incapacitated and the attacker still curled on the ground, I focus on Cassia.
“You do not,” I snarl into her ear, “step in front of me again. Ever.”
“I thought he was going to kill you,” she breathes.
The words do something dangerous to me. She doesn’t know that they can’t kill me. I’m not the typical vampire. I’m immortal. Nothing can kill me.
I push her behind me again, one hand splayed over her sternum, holding her there. “I was waiting.”
“Now, let’s play.”
I wave my hand, releasing the stiffness from the vampires’ bodies. They don’t hesitate.
The alley erupts.
Two of the vampires rush forward, fangs bared now, all pretense gone. I move.
