“Stay with me, no matter what. I don’t want you hurt and I don’t what you bitten. Understand me?” His voice was almost hypnotic and his eyes held hers. If she was going to lie, she would have to do it face–to–face with him and he knew she could not do that.
“I’ll stay with you. I really don’t want to get bitten. I’m really not in the mood to go rogue. That would totally suck.”
“Actually, I think it would bite.” His eyes twinkled as she laughed and punched him lightly on his upper arm. She took a single step back but it felt like a thousand. She could have stayed in his arms all night.
She couldn’t though. She couldn’t allow the rogues to destroy any more of the Tribe than they already had. Even though the men who had died were not Kris, they were still her family.
They set out. She did her best to walk as silently as Sebastian did. The moon was barely over a quarter and she looked up at it, wondering how long they had before the rogues appeared, or if they even would.
The streets were crowded, as usual. It was a weekend and tourist season. Young people her own age frolicked on the streets. Looking at them made her feel ancient.
It wasn’t fair. She shouldn’t know the things that she knew. She should never have seen her mother die at the claws and fangs of a rogue Wolf. She should not have had to move constantly to avoid the Fallen. She shouldn’t be stuck with power she didn’t want and a family of criminals.
No wonder she was so attracted to Sebastian. He was justice personified. He was a Hunter, and because of that, he was judge, jury, and executioner. Her family had not always been criminals; once upon a time, they had been dispensers of justice. She wished that they could return to that time, even though it was many centuries since they had been honest.
Was there a way to use her powers to return her family to who they had once been?
Maybe it wasn’t enough to simply be a lawyer and try to bring some justice to the world that way, maybe what she would really need to do was dispense justice in the sides of the world most never saw. Maybe this, this hunting down of rogues, was the only thing she could really do to make sure that there was justice in the world.
That thought depressed her greatly.
Sebastian saw the rogue perched atop the building long before she did. His hand shot out and his arm barred the way, preventing her from walking directly into the path of its attack.
The rogue was jet black with eyes that glowed with an orange–red light that reminded her of a jack-o’-lantern she’d once carved for Halloween. Its lip curled to reveal fangs covered in foamy saliva. Even from a distance, she could smell its madness, its bloodlust.
Sebastian pulled his silver blade from its sheath. The whisper of the blade leaving the leather made the hair stand up on the back of Cara’s neck. The rogue began to stalk Sebastian, circling him as it looked for a weak spot.
Without thinking, Cara she hurled a spell into the air. Bright blue runes appeared; the rogue yelped in pain but quickly shook off her spell. Sebastian took advantage of the momentary distraction, getting in a shallow cut on the Wolf’s flank.
The Wolf howled but quickly recovered. Cara could tell that Sebastian was as shocked by that as she was. This rogue was stronger than anything she had ever seen! It had felt silver in its flesh and had not even fallen! What kind of rogue was this?
A long undulating howl sounded. Cara’s heart almost stopped. The Wolf backed up, its powerful body moving toward the street with all the people on it. It would eat human flesh — they had to make sure that it didn’t get the chance!
Sebastian pulled a longer blade from second sheath, this one strapped to his ankle. Cara reached out, chanting, and flames shot from her fingers, creating a circle of fire around the rogue.
Holy crap! Cara had known she had the ability to make fire, at least in theory but she’d never tried it. To see it working so well was empowering.
Just to see if she could do it again, she shot another bolt of flame from her hand. From the Wolf’s right side, the smell of singed fur rose in the air and she gagged. The Wolf howled and Sebastian leaped forward into the circle of flames with both of his blades raised high in the air.
Just as he was about to bring the blades down and into the Wolf’s body, another rogue appeared. It could’ve been the first rogue’s twin, they looked so much alike. It leaped straight towards her, knocking her off her feet and into the ring of fire.
She had created the flames, but they still had the power to burn her. Her knees bit the concrete and the fire licked at her legs. There was nowhere to go but into the ring with Sebastian and the other rogue.
Her fall had distracted Sebastian, and the rogue used his momentary lapse of concentration to escape. It jumped past the border of the fire and landed beside its partner. Cara climbed to her feet, her anger overriding her caution.