6Die, You Undead Motherfuckers
I don’t knowwhat came over me, but something inside me snapped. Maybe it was the collective pack energy pushing in on me, maybe it was simply the hormonal rage of pregnancy, but I wanted every last one of these blood-sucking motherfuckers dead. How dare they come in the night and try to wipe us out? How dare they aid and abet the siren! I was well within my rights to end them all.
The laws ruling supernatural creatures were simple enough. Vamps entered our territory without permission and with aggressive intent, so I was allowed to kill them. End of discussion. Add to that it was a freaking supernatural bounty hunter they were trying to kill, and they were toast. Dry blood toast.
The first vampire rushed out of the trees then, coming at me. With a battle cry, I lifted my katana—which was glowing an angry, dark purple—and plunged it into him. He clutched his chest, gasping in shock as I removed the sword, leaving a gouging hole. Brock, who’d shifted into his wolf form, leapt from the ground to wrap his strong jaw around the vampire’s throat. Twisting his wolf body midair, Brock ripped the vamp’s head clean off and landed on the other side. It was a thing of beauty.
‘Stay near me!’Brock yelled through our link as the undead pushed in on our pack.
Suddenly, a small golden ball of light zoomed past me and I grinned. Cass. Flying on his hoverboard, throwing demon magic at every vampire who crossed his path, he wove his way through the frenzy, precise and swift to reach my side.
The first blast of a shotgun resounded behind me and I looked over my shoulder to find Molly pumping Gran’s shotgun for another round. She didn’t meet my eye, all her attention focused on the vampires working hard to surround us. Even in the dim light of the night, I could make out the ferocity of her expression. Gone was the cute girl with the purple hair. Molly was transforming into a hunter.
Good girl.
Reo and Haru were right at my heels, their backs to mine, protecting me. Their katanas didn’t glow as mine did, but they were plenty deadly all the same. The brothers moved as if they’d been born with a blade in their hands.
‘I’ll be okay. I’ve got my pack too,’I assured Brock, who hovered around me. The pack needed him free of distractions.
I hadn’t spotted Tianna yet, but I had no doubt she’d make a grand entrance. She hadn’t revealed much of her magic in our training, but she didn’t need to for me to conclude that she was wildly powerful. Magic radiated off of her, coloring everything she did. The vamps would get a nasty surprise when she entered the scene.
Pivoting, I cut down another vampire, weakening it so Brock could go in for the kill. Then another. We worked as a team. I would injure them and bring them to their knees while Brock would rip their heads right off.
The vamps were wicked fast, but you didn’t manage to become a supernatural bounty hunter without learning to track the undead as they moved. You certainly didn’t remain a hunter for long if you weren’t good at anticipating vamps’ movements.
Reo and Haru took on their own batch of vampires behind me. They moved together in a dance so fluid it was like a damn choreography. They flanked their attackers and went for kill shots, slicing across necks as though bone and sinew were as yielding as butter. Their arms swung this way and that, as fast as the vamps. I had to resist the desire to watch their mesmerizing flow.
Half of Brock’s pack was firing shotguns, the crisp cracking sound was deafening as the rounds rocketed into the night, the other half fighting in wolf form. I continued slicing through the vamps as the werewolves encased Molly in a protective circle that moved along with her. Werewolves were usually fond of humans, and a wave of relief rushed through me to see that Molly was as safe as she could get given the circumstances.
I was in the middle of wondering how many vamps could possibly be a part of this attack, my muscles heavy from the continuous effort, when Brock and I finally came face to face with the seethe lord.
He stood in the open field alone, chest heaving, dead eyes wild, fangs fully extended as we obliterated those under his command.
Brock moved in front of me and crouched low, baring his teeth while a deep, dangerous growl rang from his throat. The sound made the little hairs on my arms stand on end. The gray wolf was twice as large as a normal wolf … and twice as deadly.
“Come and meet your death, old man!” I shouted. Black, ashy vampire innards coated my blade, its purple glow seeping through the dust in thin menacing rays. This motherfucker was about to realize what I was capable of.
The seethe lord’s nostrils flared and he met my gaze with boiling rage. “A new dawn is coming,” he declared, his voice barely human as it dripped with a tangible feel of death. “You’re either with us or you’re dead.”
He must have recognized he was outnumbered and overpowered, because he growled, a beastly sound, and then, fast as a jagged strike of lightning, he was gone—zipping through the trees in a cowardly retreat.
“Oh, hell no!” I shouted, sidestepping Brock, and gave chase.
I was one of the fastest sprinters at the Bounty Hunter Academy. I tired out too quickly for long distances, but I could run two hundred meters faster than anyone before collapsing into a heaving heap. Could I run as fast as a vampire?No.But I might cut the distance between us enough to put a bullet in the back of his head.
‘Woman!’Brock roared through our link before I registered pounding footsteps on my trail. A whole pack of them.
Without answering, I pushed forward. I was too focused on pumping my legs and arms and keeping from slicing myself open with my own katana. I didn’t like loose ends. Loose ends came back to bite you in the ass. I wasn’t going to sleep with one eye open, fearing this undead douchebag was going to suck me dry in my sleep. I wasn’t about to have a baby with a bunch of enemies running around.
There! His body was no more than a blurred streak, but it was just in front of me. I dropped my katana—it would only slow me down to sheath it—and I pulled my Glock.
I fired two shots at the blur, but nothing happened.
That’s when Tianna chose to make her grand entrance. Light exploded, bright as the fucking summer sun, and I shrank back, raising an arm to shield my eyes. Training my vision on the forest floor so as not to blind myself, I used my peripheral vision to figure out what the hell was happening.
Tianna, in all her glory, was holding her hands out before her, sunlight pouring from her palms in distinct rays.
The seethe lord crashed to his knees with a painful hiss, trying to shield his face and eyes.
