She swallowed down the lump in her throat asthe three of them stopped before the porch. The woman reminded herof a fairy with her short pixie blond hair sticking up at everyangle around her angular face. Her features were as small anddiminutive as her size. Paige felt like she could lift her leg andstomp on her. She may look like a flyswatter would take her down,but Paige knew it would take a lot more than that.
The man to the right of the woman looked tobe in his mid to late forties while the other looked closer tothirty. Both the men had bags under their eyes and shadows liningthem. Their upper lips curled into sneers at Ian before they turnedtheir attention to her. All of their eyes glistened like rubies inthe dusk settling over the clearing. A smile curved the woman’smouth as her gaze raked Ian from head to toe and back again.
“Well, now, who might you be?” the womanpurred.
Paige bristled at the woman’s words andthrust her shoulders back. She’d gladly stomp the pixie lookingwoman if she kept undressing Ian with her eyes like that. “No oneyou should mess with,” Ian replied.
Ian’s gaze slid over them, mentally tallyingup their weaknesses and which one would make the first move. Heglanced back at Paige, but she remained unmoving with her chinjutting out. His eyes traveled to the still open cabin door. Hecould get her shoved inside before she knew what was happening.
“We have no bone to pick with you,” theolder of the men said. “We’re only here for the girl.”
“What do you want me for?” Paigeinquired.
One of the men smiled at her in a leeringway that caused a snarl to tear from Ian. Paige’s hand on his armstopped him from launching at the man, but the man did take anabrupt step back. “There’s someone who would like to see you,” thewoman replied.
Despite her training to remain calm, Paige’sheart knocked against her ribs. Her gaze flew to the tree line, butshe didn’t see anyone else out there. Beside her, Ian stiffened,his nostrils flared as he scented the air and scanned theirsurroundings.Shecouldn’t see anyone else out there, butshe didn’t have his eyes, and she certainly didn’t have hisnose.
Ian focused on the three before him again asthe woods and surrounding area remained clear. Whoever had sentthem here, had the brains to stay away. “If you plan to survive, Isuggest you leave,” Ian told them.
“We really don’t want to fight you,” theyounger man said. “Just give us the girl.”
Ian lifted his arm and held it in front ofPaige, he moved forward in such a way his body almost completelyblocked hers. “That’s never going to happen.”
Paige’s eyes flew up to him when the threevampires moved closer. She couldn’t allow him to be hurt because ofher. “Look…” the younger man started.
“If you say one more word, I’ll rip out yourtongue. Now, I’m only going to tell you this one more time; I’llkill every one of you before you ever lay a hand on her. I suggestturning around, going back to whoever sent you here, and tellinghim he’s fucking with the wrong vampire. I will find him, and Iwillkill him.”
Paige’s mouth fell, not because of hiswords, though she couldn’t remember the last time someone haddefended her, but because his skin looked to be taking on astrange, reddish black hue. It had to be because of the settingsun, she told herself. What else could it be?
The woman placed her foot on the bottom stepand rested her elbow on her knee. Paige tried to move around Ian;he kept his arm firmly pressed into her shoulder and his body infront of hers. Frustration filled her, but she’d have better luckat moving a mountain than budging the large man before her. Hepushed her back another step, angling her toward the door as thewoman climbed onto the stair.
“We can’t do that,” she replied.
“Don’t come any closer,” he warned.
The woman’s eyes ran over him again. “Andwhat are you going to do to stop me?”
“You’re not going to like the answer to thatquestion,” Ian growled.
A smile played at the woman’s eyes; shelicked her lips as her eyes flickered to Paige. “I think Iwill.”
The woman burst forward in a wave of speedIan had been anticipating. He lunged to the side, throwing up hisarm and pushing Paige back. He’d been hoping to shove her into thecabin, but she sidestepped at the last second and bumped into theframe instead of going through the door. The woman crashed intohim, but it hadn’t been him she’d gone for, Paige was her mainprey.
A knife the woman brandished from a holsteron her hip sliced across his ribcage, spilling his blood. A hissescaped him, he dodged backward, sucking in his stomach as sheswung the knife at him again. He grabbed hold of her arm andsmashed it over his knee. The bone gave way with a resoundingcrack, the jagged piece of it sliced through her skin and burst outof her forearm. The woman squealed, her fingers released the knife.It clattered onto the porch before he shoved her down thestairs.
The two men ran at the porch, but instead ofrunning up the stairs, they leapt over the banister and landed onlyfeet away from him and Paige. “Get inside, Paige!” he bellowed ather.
Paige’s head spun over the velocity andbrutality of the attack. The realization Ian had been cut and wasnow bleeding caused her to take a step toward him. She couldn’tstand the sight of the blood spilling down his side. He didn’t seemto be aware of it though and showed no sign of discomfort as hespun to face the other two vampires.
The woman’s bone protruded from her arm, butshe still spit with fury. Violence vibrated through the air; Paigecould almost taste the coppery blood spilling onto the ground. Herhands fisted; she braced herself for the woman’s attack. She maynot have a weapon, but she’d never backed down from a fight, andshe wasn’t about to start now.
Before she could move to help him, Ian spun,grabbed hold of her arms and pushed her through the doorway. Shetook a staggering step and almost fell on her ass, but managed tokeep her balance by spinning her arms. Turning away from the chaosreigning outside, she searched frantically for anything to use as aweapon. She sprinted into the living room, snatched up the smalltable beside the couch and lifted it over her head.
With a loud grunt, she smashed it onto theground. Bits of debris scattered around the room, her arms vibratedfrom the force of the impact, but she was rewarded with a fewjagged pieces of wood she could use. Grabbing hold of a foot longsliver, she spun away from the table just as the window of theliving room blew apart.
A startled cry escaped her; she threw herarms up as glass and wood sprayed over her. Shards of glass slicedacross her arms and tore into her flesh. Wood bounced off of her,knocking her back a step. Thrown through the window, Ian slidacross the floor on his back. He came to a stop only a foot awayfrom her. At first she thought it was blood, and perhaps dirtstreaking his skin, but that made no sense, the blackish red colorcovered him from head to toe. She realized the color she’d believedshe’d seen on him earlier hadn’t actually been the sun. It reallyhadbeen his skin.
The reddish black hue brought to mind theimages of demons she’d seen over the years in artwork and books.Paige couldn’t stop her jaw from dropping as her gaze continued torake over his strangely shaded, massive frame. How was thatpossible?
