Lover Mine (Black Dagger Brotherhood #8)(149)

Her body was lithe and strong as she burst after him and the two of

them came around in a fat circle. Just as he got to the door, she leaped into 380

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the air and took him down in a flying tackle, catching him around the neck and shoulder and wrenching him around, using the combination of her

strength and her trajectory to crank the guy into a living, breathing question mark.

They landed hard, but even as the air punched out of her lungs, she

was smiling.

God, she loved a good fight.

John saw Xhex flash out the front door, but he couldn't go after her

because he had a pair of initiates so far up his ass he was coughing on their eyebrows. But he was going to take care of the crowding PDQ.

Funny how when your female beat feet into the night on her own you

got an extra burst of energy--

Not that she was his female.

Funny how reminding yourself of something like that made you mean

as a snake.

Reaching out to the slayer in front of him, John snapped the bastard's neck clean off the top of his spine. As he bowling-balled the head, he thought it was a goddamned pity there wasn't time to do the same to the kid's arms and legs--so he could beat the other one senseless with the stumps.

Unfortunately, number two had just grabbed John around the chest

and was trying to bear-hug him into hypoxia.

John palmed those wrists and locked the f*cker in place, then pivoted around, jumped up, and pulled a straight horizontal in midair. They slammed onto the ground with John on top and the slayer putting the L-E-S-S-E-R in mattress. Rearing upward, John smashed the back of his head right into his opponent's face, turning that nose into a geyser.

Quick flip and John raised his fist high in the air.

His second strike caused a round of twitching, which suggested the

guy's frontal lobe was having serious electrical transmission problems and the bastard was now in seizure-land.

Wasn't going to be any trouble as he waited for Butch to come at him.

John lunged for the doorway that Xhex had dematerialized out of, his

shitkickers skidding on the blood that was now running both rusty red and glossy black.

Just as he came to the open doorway, he caught himself on the jambs.

It was the most spectacular tackle he'd ever seen. The lesser she was chasing was gunning back for the house, having obviously rethought his escape strategy, and he was hauling balls, his bare feet screaming over the 381

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frosty grass. Xhex, however, was closing fast, triangulating an interception that was possible only because she was stronger and more focused than the former human.

John didn't have time to intervene even though he wanted to: Xhex

jammed into the air, springing up and stretching out for the lesser. She clipped him right around the waist and winged him around, pasting him on the ground and slicing the backs of both his thighs so deep he screamed like a girl.

She dismounted and was ready to go again--

"John! Behind you!"

As she shouted at him, he swung around and got faced by a slayer, the guy bull-rushing him right out the door. John landed on his ass, skidding back on the crappy concrete walkway.

Which proved why you needed to wear good leathers.

Dermabrasion much?

Pissed off that he'd been parked on the front lawn with Xhex playing

witness, he grabbed the hair of the slayer and yanked the thing into an arch that would leave the guy's spine humming like a motherf*cker.

With a soundless growl, John pulled a reveal on his fangs and bit the f*cker in the neck. Ripping all kinds of gross former human anatomy free, he spat the shit out and then dragged the gurgling thing back into the party by the hair. As he passed Xhex, he nodded at her.

"You're welcome," she said with a small bow. "And nice move with that bite action."

Looking over his shoulder at her, the respect she paid him hit him

harder than any of the slayers had or could: His heart swelled and he felt as if he filled out his skin better all around.

Fucking sap that he was--

The unmistakable pop of a gun going off behind him froze him where

he stood.

The loud ring was so close his eardrums felt pain rather than hearing anything specific, and for a split second afterward, he wondered who'd done the shooting and who, if anyone, had been shot.

The latter was answered when his left leg went loose under his weight and he went down like an oak.

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FIFTY-SIX

Xhex's knife flew from her hand a split second after she saw the lesser come around the corner and level a gun muzzle right at John's back.

Her dagger traveled hilt over tip through the air, crossing the distance in the blink of an eye, winging past John's ear so close she prayed to a God she didn't believe in that he wouldn't suddenly decide to turn his head for any reason.

Just as the slayer pulled the trigger, her blade caught him in the meat of his shoulder, the impact shifting his torso, the pain making him drop his arm.

Which meant John took the slug in the leg instead of the heart.

As her male went down, she leaped over him with a war cry.

Fuck Butch O'Neal. This kill was hers.

The lesser was scrambling as he tried to disengage her weapon from his torso--at least until he heard her yell. Then he looked toward her and shrank back in horror--which suggested her eyes were glowing red and her fangs were fully extended and flashing.