Slayer(43)

A light hand on my shoulder tells me Cillian is here too. “Cillian, call emergency services. We don’t know how much blood she’s already lost. Tell them to hurry.” I look at the ground, knowing I won’t see anything helpful. And sure enough, there’s no pool of blood.

Vampires are efficient, I have to give them that.

“You’re doing great,” I say. “What’s your name?”

“Sarah,” she whispers, locked onto my eyes like I’m the only thing anchoring her to consciousness. I probably am.

“Sarah! I love that name. Just try to take nice, deep breaths. I’m going to keep pressure on the wound, and soon the paramedics will be here to get you to a hospital.” I keep my tone low and soothing, the way I would want to be talked to. The way Artemis used to talk to me when I woke up from nightmares insensible with terror.

“I don’t see anything,” Artemis shouts. “Are you sure?”

“Kind of busy!” I shout back. Sarah tries to look in Artemis’s direction. “Hold your head still for me, okay? That’s good.”

Artemis runs back to us. “Your attacker. Did she make you drink blood?”

I glare at her in exasperation. Sarah needs to relax right now, though I get why Artemis is asking. If the vampire had forced Sarah to drink its blood and then she died, she’d come back as a vampire. But she isn’t nearly so far gone, which Artemis would understand if she knew as much about human bodies as she does about vampire attacks. Or if she had asked me.

Sarah keeps her focus on me. “No. We met online. She seemed nice. Said there was a cool club hidden back here. And then she— God, do you think she was rabid?”

“It might be good to get checked out.” That’s probably a less horrifying scenario than reality. Poor Sarah.

“Nina,” Artemis says, “we’re losing time.”

I take Sarah’s wrist with my free hand. Her pulse is weak but steady. The vampire didn’t take too much if Sarah’s still coherent enough to talk. She must have heard us coming and run.

Leo rejoins us, shaking his head. “Nothing.”

“Did you call emergency services?” I ask Cillian, ignoring Leo.

“Yes. They’re on their way.”

Leo speaks again. “We need to go.”

“She won’t come back,” I say. “Not with all of us here.” Surely Sarah is safe now, and I don’t want to risk moving her.

“No.” Leo’s voice is as slow and careful as my own, as though I were the one bleeding out on the ground. “I mean we need to go find Sarah’s friend. She probably needs attention too. You should be good at finding this type of person.”

“Should be,” Artemis says, emphasizing the first word.

My face burns with shame. My instincts are all wrong. I’ve been thinking about keeping Sarah stable rather than chasing after the monster that hurt her in the first place—a monster that could end up hurting so many others if we don’t take it down. I’m thinking small. Like a medic.

Not like a Slayer.

“Rhys and I will stay with her,” Cillian says.

Rhys eases his hand under mine. “You go do what you need to. We’ve got this.”

I press to show him the right amount of pressure. “Keep talking to her. If she passes out, note the time so you can tell the paramedics how long she’s been unconscious.”

“I want her to stay!” Sarah says, eyes getting wider. “I want you to stay, please.”

“Nina,” Artemis says.

“I’m sorry,” I say, avoiding Sarah’s desperate gaze. “You’re going to be fine. I promise.” Everything in me knows it’s wrong to leave her. This is what I want to do, how I want to help. But it’s not my calling.

I take off for the darkest end of the alley, where the vampire disappeared and where, according to Cillian’s map, we’ll find the warehouse. Running by my side, Leo passes me the stake I had left behind on the ground. It feels like a promise that I’m not sure I want to keep.





13


ARTEMIS PAUSES AT THE ALLEY’S end. Buildings stretch in either direction, their facades as blank and unhelpful as a dead cell phone. “We wasted too much time back there.”

Anger flares, but Leo speaks before I can. “Athena saved that girl’s life.”

It sounds like he’s talking about someone else. Maybe that’s what I liked about him when I was thirteen—it felt like he saw someone else when he looked at me. But now I worry he still sees someone else: Someone capable. Someone who can do this. Someone like Artemis, not me. Because I did save Sarah. But what if the vampire kills someone else before we stake her? That’s on me.

Artemis looks from side to side, checking for threats. “Which way is the warehouse?”

I’m disoriented too. Most of the lamps are broken. The buildings back here are derelict. It’s almost totally dark now, the full moon obscured by clouds.

I look to the left and see nothing. I look to the right and see nothing either, but there’s a sick twist of my stomach and a spike of adrenaline that make me suddenly sure I do not want to go that way. Not for anything in the world.

Artemis turns and stalks to the left.

“Down here, I think.” I point to the right.