‘That’s rude,’ he snapped.
‘You started it,’ I pointed out mildly.
He rushed me again, too fast for me to track, but I’d planted my feet. When he reached for me this time, I let him come closer, right into my web.
As his hands reached for my neck, I jammed the steel blade into his chest, into his heart, and drove it home with everything I had.
He froze.
Just for a second.
Long enough for his eyes to widen in shock, for his mouth to open on a breath he didn’t need.
His body convulsed, skin greying and cracking like old parchment. He collapsed in on himself, disintegrating into ash, his remains scattering across the pavement in a silent plume.
Goddamn it.
I grimaced as I watched the ash catch on the night breeze and scatter away, leaving nothing behind but the acrid scent of burnt chicken. I’d let my emotions get the best of me. I should have blasted him over and contained him. Despite dropping his fangs, he hadn’t once tried to rip into me – wizard’s blood was hugely addictive to vampyrs and made them lose their minds, turning them into nothing more than a feral animal. Though he’d wanted my death, he hadn’t wanted to risk a drop of my blood on his fangs.
Fuck! I shouldn’t have killed him. Now I had nothing.
No body.
No face.
No evidence.
I stood there for a long moment, heart hammering, the switchblade clenched in my hand.
To my disappointment, I didn’t believe the vampyr had contained Jingo. I’d felt no attempt at taking control of my body.
Though perhaps I wouldn’t have, I mused. As a secret unregistered subterfuge wizard, my mental shields were far stronger than the average wizard’s. Maybe Jingo had tried to grapple with me, to subsume me, but failed?
No, I’d felt nothing. It was too much to hope that Jingo was dead, just like that. The vampyr’s death had been easy. I hadn’t even needed to use my dad’s pocket watch to access the Third and slow the vampyr down.
I chewed on my lip. Had it beentooeasy?
I looked back the way I’d come, then towards Mum’s house, very aware of how exposed the road felt. Enough. Time to get home.
The wind had already blown the crime scene away, so I flipped the blade closed and marched the remainder of the distance to Mum’s.
Chapter Four
Mum was happy to see me, even though I was late.
‘Long shift?’ she asked, kissing me on the cheek.
‘Very. Sorry I’m late. I caught one just before my shift ended. I haven’t had dinner yet,’ I confessed as she hustled me in.
‘It’s 9pm!’ She frowned at me. ‘Stacy, you must keep yourself fed and looked after or you won’t be able to catch the bad guys.’
I thought of my attacker, now dust and ash. ‘I still do okay.’
‘Polly!’ my cheeky caladrius called out to my mum piteously. ‘Loki starving.’ He flew to Mum’s shoulder. ‘Wasting away.’
Mum stroked his white plumage, careful to hide her smile. ‘We can’t have that. How do you feel about some beef?’
My avian friend gave an enthusiastic trill, leaning into Mum and nuzzling her neck. ‘Please!’
