Slayer(44)

“How do you know?” Artemis asks.

She’s the one who wanted me to chase the vampire, and now she’s questioning my instincts? “Because I’m terrified and I also feel like I could lift a car over my head.” Slayer feelings are no joke. It’s like little jolts of electricity are shooting through my body, pumping my blood closer to the surface of my skin. I’m attuned to every physical sensation inside, and every emotion and potential in the air outside of me. I feel myself being pulled in the direction of danger.

Artemis grits her teeth but nods. “Behind me,” she says, prowling forward.

I should be the one taking the lead since I’m technically the strongest, but as soon as that thought pops up, it disappears. I may be the strongest, but Artemis is the most competent. And even with my new powers, I don’t see that changing.

My shoes sound loud, though not as loud as the pounding of my heart. Up ahead there’s a building with the windows boarded up. Every window, in fact. Most of these buildings have the windows smashed out, with nothing replacing them. Why board up these? Unless there’s something inside that has a personal reason to avoid sunlight.

I stumble, my body tensing with remembered trauma. Leo’s not going to save me from a vampire tonight. Now it’s my job to save people. And I know this is our building as surely as I know I’m not ready to go in.

“There,” I say.

Artemis stares up at the building, hands on her hips. “There has to be a way in. Leo and I will scout. Nina, you stay by the door and alert us if anyone is coming.”

“Shouldn’t Athena—”

Artemis cuts Leo off. “We’re the ones with training. We’re not putting her in harm’s way any more than we have to.”

Part of me is glad she’s taking charge. But part of me is annoyed. It’s my Slayerness, my dreams, that brought us here. I shouldn’t be on lookout duty. Except I don’t want fighting duty either.

The closest door is boarded up from the outside. Huge new planks have been nailed in place. Why did the vampire do it from the outside, instead of the inside? It looks more Keep In rather than Keep Out.

There’s a ladder halfway up the building’s brick wall, rusted iron from the looks of it. It’s hard to tell in the dark if it goes all the way to the roof, but my guess is it does. And if there’s a ladder leading up, that means there’s probably a way to get in from the roof.

It’s too high to reach, though, thank goodness.

Then I cringe. It is too high for a normal human. Artemis won’t approve. She wants me outside, safe. But I have to believe that I have these powers for a reason. I crouch and then jump with all my might. I overshoot, sailing up past the last rung and scrambling for a hold somewhere in the middle. The ladder groans in metallic protest, but it holds. Unfortunately.

“Dammit, Nina!” Artemis stomps her foot. “We can’t get up that way!”

“Go around and find a door.”

“No. Come back down. Now.”

There’s a popping noise. I climb up as fast as I can, the ladder pulling free from the wall. I jump the last few feet, hanging on to the roof’s edge as the ladder swings drunkenly away from the building. No one else is coming up that way.

“Nina!” Artemis hisses.

“I’m fine! Go around the back. I’ll look for a way in from up here.”

She curses. “Don’t you dare go in without us.”

I hear them running and pull myself up all the way onto the roof, rolling to the flat surface and lying on my back. For a second I’m tempted to obey Artemis—to wait for her and Leo to find another way in. But that’s not what a Slayer would do. My sister may have more experience hunting vampires, but I have Slayer powers, and it’s not safe to let her go in first. Even if she is treating me like I need a babysitter.

Propelled by anger, I jump to my feet and scour the roof’s landscape in the dark. There are a few bulky metal boxes that look like air circulation units. And there’s one square set low against the roof. I hurry over to it and find a hatch door.

I don’t have a sword. Or a flamethrower. Or an Uzi. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and whisper, “I can do this.”

It was only one vampire in the alley and in my dream. I have holy water in my pocket and a stake. I can scare off a vampire. And I don’t even know if the vampire’s in there. Like Leo said, Slayer dreams don’t exactly come with a time stamp. I open the hatch and peer inside, trying to make out any forms, but the room is dark. I climb through and drop down, planning to land in a badass crouch. Instead I land on a metal structure. One of my legs falls straight between two bars. My stake slips out of my hand.

And then I look down to see half a dozen snarling creatures, every single blood-crazed eye trained on me.





14


WITH SIX HELLHOUNDS BENEATH ME, I consider several things at once:

First, that my leg is stuck through the bars and it’s within their reach.

Second, that it’s unfortunate they’re named after hounds, because it’s really souring me on the idea of ever getting a dog.

And third, the same as the first: My. Leg. Is. Stuck.

I tug with all my might and it pops free just as the nearest hellhound leaps. The hound smashes against the roof of the cage, jaws closing around one of the bars.