Her eyebrows flew up. Really? You trust me to do it by myself?
You could handle those boys with your hands tied behind your back, he said proudly.
Don’t you want to read their minds first to see if any are worth recruiting?
They aren’t. They’re broadcasting as loudly as a bloody boom mobile and I’m getting nothing but depravity. Go get ’em, Tiger.
Are you trying to use slang again or is that a new pet name for me?
Both? I thought, as a warrior, you might want something more fierce than sweetheart.
Rising up onto her toes, she brushed his lips with hers. I like sweetheart.
And I love you. Go do your thing.
She drew her swords and grinned. Will do.
There’s just one more thing . . .
Chapter 17
Krysta confronted the vampires in the shadows where trees and buildings blocked the view of the mercenaries on the rooftops. Only one mercenary lurked nearby, tucked in the bushes several yards away.
Étienne wasn’t kidding about the camouflage. If he hadn’t told her the mercenary was there, then shown her with the scope, she wouldn’t have known it. Even his scent had been dampened so much that it was nearly undetectable.
The vampires stopped short when she halted in front of them.
Yeah. These guys weren’t right. Their eyes were glowing and she hadn’t even confronted them. Their longish hair was unkempt and greasy. Their clothing looked and smelled as though it hadn’t been changed in days and carried the odors of multiple blood types. Their breath alone could kill a person.
Gross. She did not want to know what—or whom—they had been eating.
Breathing through her mouth, she watched them take in her presence, her weapons. They presented an interesting contrast. Two of them constantly fidgeted and twitched. The other two stood deathly still, like twisted mannequins.
The last was a little creepy.
Don’t underestimate the still ones. They’ll be as fast as the others, Étienne spoke in her head.
You just do what you have to do and leave these clowns to me, she ordered.
They didn’t ask if she was an Immortal Guardian. They just attacked.
Krysta began to swing her swords. Her new speed, coupled with her ability to see their auras and anticipate their actions, made it seem as though they moved in slow motion. She struck with such unerring accuracy that they didn’t have a chance.
Don’t get cocky, Étienne warned.
I think you’ve said that before.
She killed them all with an ease that astonished her, earning only the most superficial of wounds herself.#p#分页标题#e#
The mercenary there in the bushes will try to tranq you now, Étienne warned. Act swiftly.
Sheathing her weapons, she raced toward the bushes in a zigzag pattern.
Sure enough, a damned dart shot past her, nearly nicking her ear.
Reaching through the foliage, she knocked the tranq gun from the mercenary’s hands, seemingly by accident, and yanked him out into the open.
He was younger than she had expected. Sean’s age. Maybe less. For some reason she had thought he would be older. Face rough-hewn and hard. Skin lined and leathery from too many hours in the sun.
This guy’s skin was smooth and clean-shaven.
Eyes wide, he reached for the tactical knife on his belt.
Krysta knocked it from his grasp and, clutching the front of his shirt with one hand, yanked him close. So close the automatic rifle hooked to the strap around his neck was forced to the side and back, out of reach.
“Run,” she ordered, calling upon all of her high school drama class lessons to present a facade of fear.
“What?” he asked as he pried at her hand.
“Run!” She unobtrusively planted a tracking device on his rifle, then grasped his shirt with both hands and shook. “While you still have a chance. He’s coming. He’ll kill you!”
“You’re one of them!” he spat, unable to break her hold.
“I was turned against my will.” She wished she could squeeze out a few tears, but wasn’t that good an actress. “I—”
“What are you doing?” Étienne demanded behind her.
The mercenary’s fear magnified as he looked over her shoulder.
Krysta released her hold on the mercenary and moved to his side.
When he gripped his rifle, she stayed him. “Don’t. You’ll just piss him off. Run!”
“What the hell are you doing?” Étienne demanded. Remember what I told you. Give it your all. He has to think it’s real. He charged toward her.
Heart stopping with dread, Krysta drew back her fist and swung with all of her preternatural might. Pain shot up her arm as her fist hit his jaw.
Étienne, with all of the flair of a stuntman in a freaking action-adventure blow-’em-up movie, flew backward and struck the wall of the building behind him with a grunt, then collapsed to the ground.