Once Bitten (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #1)(52)

Now that Arys had successfully hurt and humiliated her, she had nothing left to lose. The onslaught of power that descended upon me in an offensive storm had me scrambling to create another circle. The atmosphere around us grew tight with all of us pushing the limits and laws of nature. Dammit, her power source had to have a limit.

Arys gave up the metaphysical fight and launched himself at her. The two of them went down, sprawled in a heap of fists and fangs like a wolf fight.

Any kind of energy attack risked Arys, so for the moment, I only watched because I sure as hell was not jumping in.

“Stop trying to force yourself on me,” he growled into her face. “How many more centuries will you stalk me before I’m forced to extinguish you? This ends now.”

Her sharp nails raked his face, and her pitifully small fists beat at his chest as he hovered over her, lying in the dirt. A struggle ensued, and they grappled until Arys held her tightly by the wrists.

“Have I ever been anything more to you than a nuisance?” Catherine never ceased struggling beneath Arys but from the way she wriggled her skinny ass, I guessed that she was trying to jog his memory. I rolled my eyes. I should have walked away and left them to it.

“Baby, a nuisance is all you’ll ever be. You’re backing me into a real corner here, you know.” Arys’s tone was low and smooth but as deadly as they come. “You’re starting to take my options away. Pretty soon, I’m going to be forced to finally do away with you.”

He said it so easily that I knew he would do it with no regrets. What did that say about how he looked at me?

“Do it then,” she hissed. “It’s about time you finish what you started. You killed me long ago. Finish the job, my love.”

She leaned up just enough to brush his lips with hers, and I choked on the jealousy that was becoming too commonplace for my liking. I watched in extreme discomfort as Arys returned her kiss.

My attention was momentarily distracted by the vibrations of my cell phone in the front pocket of my jeans. A quick glance revealed a text message from Shaz that read simply, ‘If you don’t reply in two minutes, I’m coming to look for you.’

I managed to tap out a quick reply of, ‘Wait, not yet.’ My stomach flipped as the vampire kiss deepened, and I glanced around the alley.

I felt more than awkward and decided that I might as well leave. I’d just taken a step when Arys, in a blur of speed, sank his fangs deep into Catherine’s throat. A strangled cry broke from her as the blood began to pour from the gaping wound.

Everything happened so fast then. Catherine propelled Arys a good thirty feet, where he landed against the back fence of a property across the alley. Judging by the sharp splinter of wood along with his steady stream of curses, that had to have hurt. I shook my head. The poor bastard was simply too much offense and too little defense.

When nothing stood between us, Catherine rounded on me, tattered and bleeding. Her red dress was caked with dirt, and I heard more than one pebble fall from her hair. A softly glowing red amulet had spilled from beneath the neckline of her dress. With blood streaming down her front, she gasped and choked.

Between her madness and her desperation, she was an unpredictable opponent, and I regretted mincing words with her. Still, the scent of her fear tantalized my inner predator.

“You,” she pointed a bloody finger in my direction. “You got to him first. You warned him I’d come.”

“Sorry to break it to you, but he’s not afraid of you.” I advanced on her with a psi ball, warm and pulsing with swirls of gold and blue, in my hand. “This is your last chance to leave here in one piece.” I winced at my own choice of words as an image flashed in my mind of David’s dismembered corpse.

What sounded like a war cry erupted from Catherine, and she rushed me like a mad woman, with her arms stretched straight out in front of her. The pungent aroma of her blood struck me, and my natural power began to grow in excitement but not from the heady elixir of prey. No, I vibed off my foe’s impending doom. As her blood continued to spatter, I could feel her growing weakness.

I let the energy ball dissolve but took the energy back into me. I tensed for the impact of her approach. When she hit me full force, I threw my weight into her, which sent the two of us rolling in a tangled heap. With gritted teeth and years of experience, I ended the roll so that I was staring down into her face.

Blood was beginning to form at the corner of her mouth. I could clearly see the wound that Arys had made, a gaping hole in her jugular that would be hard to heal but not impossible for a vampire of her age. He should have gone for the carotid artery if he’d really wanted to bleed her. Could it be that the dark vampire was unable to dispatch the one that he had once loved?

Regardless, the wolf within me truly loved a physical fight to the death. I lost all control, letting fly a series of blows that would have killed a human. Catherine’s head snapped back and forth, and I thought I had her until she suddenly threw me.

The amulet blazed, and I reached for it, but I was already airborne. I tucked and rolled painfully along the graveled road. Rocks and broken beer bottles cut and slashed at me as I tried desperately to protect my face and head. My bare arms stung as the gravel scraped and burned into my flesh.

I was running out of time. My white wolf was due to rescue me, and the chance of innocents stumbling across us was increasing by the second. There was only one way this was going to end quickly. I’d never had the guts to try it, but I knew it would work for me now. I’d witnessed Kale kill more than one vampire by forcing his energy inside them until the pressure built beyond capacity and the vampire’s heart exploded.