I pursed my lips, not giving him the same perusal. I didn’t need to. I knew what my team leader looked like with his clothes off. The long, hard line of muscles that decorated every inch of his body and the V-shape that I’d spent most of my teen years daydreaming about licking until I’d made it a reality one random night a year ago.
Now, the body that had taken my virginity was covered in hunter-issued black, a plain t-shirt and pants with built-in hooks and pockets for all our gear, and a modified flak jacket to top it all off. The jacket buttoned at the top of the neck and at the end of each wrist, the armor strong enough to hold off the sharpest fangs.
“You know what Tristan always says,” I muttered, ignoring his look of disapproval. “Want in one hand, shit in the other.”
His nose curled up in disgust. “That’s President West, and I’ve never heard him say such a thing.”
I snorted. “That’s because my godfather doesn’t dare break his cool-guy face in front of the underlings.”
“Just because he’s your godfather doesn’t mean you shouldn’t show him the respect he deserves.” Julian continued with the same old lecture he rehashed every other time we interacted, which had been more and more lately, despite my attempts to change my unit.
“You try to respect someone who used to change your diapers and played baby dolls with you.”
The comm crackled. “Uh, Fawley?”
Seeming to remember exactly where we were, Julian pulled the flash bomb out of one of his many pockets and pushed the button on top before throwing it through the glass of the window.
Once thrown, he turned back to me with a scowl. “That’s beside the point. He’s your superior, and you should treat him with respect.”
I leaned forward until I could see the blue of his eyes. “No one is my superior. Three.”
Without warning, I threw my body through the partially broken window and brandished my blades. The blinding light from the flash bomb had dissipated so we could see, but the vampires inside were still covering their eyes or blindly swiping at us.
An old favorite song played in my mind as I twisted and slashed. My body moved as if dancing with each vampire that came charging at me. It anticipated their attacks, shifting one way and then the other before the sting of my dagger slipped into their hearts and twisted, obliterating the muscle inside their chests.
A bolt flew near my face, and I only just shifted out of the way. A tiny sting lanced across my cheek. I glared at the one who shot it, Ives. He gave me an apologetic shrug before turning his attention back to the room.
I rolled my eyes and threw myself to the side to dodge another vampire’s attack. I slashed my blades across the back of a vampire’s calves, ripping a scream from their throat before they fell to the ground, unable to run away as I plunged my daggers into their heart.
What felt like hours of fighting were mere minutes. The house was littered with vampire bodies, some staked through the heartwith arrows, others decapitated, and a few that I had gotten up close and personal with.
A part of me wondered, would this have been easier if the vampires had the same weaknesses as they said in books? Dump a bucket of holy water on them. Throw a cross in their direction along with some garlic. While any help in the hunting part was welcome, I couldn’t help but smile to myself at the thought of me chasing a few certain vampires with garlic cloves.
“You look happy,” Julian commented, his eyes immediately finding the cut on my cheek. Standing half a head taller than me, my eyes came to his chiseled jawline, those pale blue eyes blinking at me with concern.
I shook my head to clear the thought. “Just thinking. We good here? I’ve got somewhere to be.”
“Now, hold on a moment.” He grabbed my arm before I could book it out of there. “We need to talk about what just happened here.”
Oh, joy. A lecture. And here I thought I’d spared myself that pain today.
“Durand, take this seriously.” Julian crossed his arms over his chest, his flak jacket not big enough to hide the bulging muscles beneath it.
Crap, I’d said that part aloud.
“You may have the abilities of a human servant, but you aren’t invincible.”
“How many times do I have to explain it? I’m not a human servant.” My eyes narrowed as I huffed an annoyed breath. “A human servant requires a human to be bonded to a vampire with a form of blood exchange. Since I have never bonded to a vampire, the obvious answer is I’m not a human servant, and calling me one is an insult to human servants everywhere.”
Julian sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Your parents are human servants, so that would make you one as well.”
“Nu-uh.” I shook a finger at him. “Yes, my parents are blood bonded to myvampiredad, Antoine, but that doesn’t mean that I’m blood bonded to him by default. Besides,” my nose curled up in disgust, “that would be icky.”
“Semantics,” Julian quipped, his brows furrowing. “The point is, just because you’re… more empowered than the other hunters doesn’t mean that you can just go running in, half-assing the plan. You could have gotten seriously hurt or one of your teammates killed.”
“They’re fine.” I glanced over at my teammates, who were busy pouring gasoline on the vampires’ bodies. Once we left, we’d light the place up, hiding any evidence of their existence to the general human population. “From what I can see, I’m the only one who ended up bleeding.” I pointed at the cut on my cheek, shooting a glare at Ives.
“Sorry,” Ives grunted, his shoulders bunched up to his ears.
