Kisten’s head came up at the sound of metal tearing. My face went cold. He was dead inside. Though he breathed and his heart beat, Kisten was dead, killed by an anger and betrayal that I’d never comprehend. He’d known Piscary his entire life. Bound his life to him. Was given power and authority over others through him. Found and relished the power of living above the law because of him. And Piscary had ripped all the promises away and thrown him to the curb without pity or thought. Discarded. Given to someone as a gift to take pleasure in killing him. This is who I wanted to buy protection from?
“Please,” I whispered, both wanting and fearing Kist’s turning his black eyes to me. My hand was on his shoulder, and the muscles of his arm tightened as he made a fist. I saw his determination before he voiced it.
“I need to hurt someone, Rachel,” he said, brushing my hand from him. “Don’t stop this until I can’t move.” He pulled a pool cue from the wreckage and hefted it.
“Kisten!” I pleaded, but he shoved me backward. I stumbled to catch my balance, frightened, and Kisten went to meet them, never looking back. Panicking, I shifted my weight to follow, but Jenks dropped down to block my way.
“Let him go,” he said, his hands on his hips and a grim determination on his face.
“They’re going to kill him!” I said, pointing to the advancing vampires as Kisten took up a stance between me and my car, but Jenks shook his head.
“No they won’t,” he said, eyes never leaving them. “He belongs to someone else.” His eyes went to me, filled with deep fear. “After they finish beating him up, you’ve got to get him out of Cincy before whoever that is finds him.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do!” I shouted, almost stamping my foot. Stupid, asinine men. How could I give Piscary the focus now? But then a thought hit me, painful and hard. If the focus was as important as I thought, then maybe I could buy Kisten’s safety as well as mine? I had to let Ivy find her own way out, but Kisten…
My panic rose anew, and I shifted from foot to foot out of helplessness as the men closed on Kisten. One of the vampires slid across the hood of my car while four more continued forward to trap him against the trash. The one in the lead was familiar. I recognized the slant to his cruel smile. It was the guy Kisten had beat up last year before taking me down to see Piscary. Sam.
“Jenks…” I said nervously. My bag with my splat gun was out of reach in my car.
“It’ll be okay,” he said, his voice high, but I didn’t believe him. “Stay out of it.”
“Jenks?” I said louder, then jumped when Kisten shifted his grip and swung his pool stick at Sam. Sam blocked it without slowing down. Smiling to show fangs, he followed it with a hop-step and a side kick to Kisten’s middle.
Kisten took it, turning his body into a roundhouse. His face was ugly with hatred: I’d never seen it raw in him before, and I backed up, a fist to my chest. Do they really expect me to just stand here and let them beat him up?
Almost too fast to see, Kisten and Sam exchanged blows, the other vampires ringing them. No one was paying any attention to me, but I couldn’t get to my car.
“Kisten, behind you!” I shouted when one of them grabbed Kisten as he rocked back.
Teeth bared, Kisten took the second vampire’s arm. A soft pull and a savage twist, and a scream of pain ripped from the vampire’s throat. Kisten licked his lips before smacking the butt end of the pool cue into the vamp’s throat. Black eyes intent, he snarled and shoved the downed vampire to the pavement, kicking the writhing man as he tried to breathe.
Sam charged him, and Kisten swung his broken cue like a knife. Sam danced back, taunting until Kisten followed, coming away from the downed vampire. I didn’t think he was breathing yet, still convulsing on the pavement.
A third vampire wearing a backward cap came forward, hunched and cautious with that chair leg in his grip. Lost in battle lust, Kisten jumped at him, fangs bared.
The vampire sprang sideways, and Kisten shifted, falling to the ground for a leg sweep.
The metal chair leg pinged as it hit the ground right before the vampire holding it. I gasped when Kisten moved too fast to see, covering the man for the span of a breath. His cry of pain cut off with a frightening quickness, and Kisten rolled away, the metal leg in his hands now. It was aimed at Sam, and the vampire cautiously backed up. Howling like a mad thing, Kisten attacked, his movements blurred and fast.
The twitching of the vampire Kisten had left on the pavement stopped. His eyes stared unseeing at the faultlessly blue sky. His hair shifted in the wind. But the man was dead. I could tell. And I hadn’t even seen what Kisten had done to him.