My eyes did not leave the vampire as I pushed my Mori back and threw up a wall to protect it before I opened my power. The comforting heat flowed through me and I reached for it, trying to shape it into the weapon I had used on Nikolas and the demons. Nothing. What was I doing wrong?
There was a shout to my right, and Brent turned to see Jordan deliver a killing blow to his female friend. His eyes widened in fear at the sight of the other vampire falling. It was the opening I needed. Using the last of my borrowed strength, I launched myself at his back and wrapped my hands around his neck and face. All I had to do was hold him long enough for Jordan to finish with the female.
As soon as my bare skin made contact with his, a surge of electricity ripped through me, making all the hair on my body stand on end. Static crackled up my arms and sparks flew from my fingertips. The vampire jerked and stiffened like he’d been electrocuted and dropped to the floor.
I lay on top of him in shock as the sickly smell of burnt flesh filled my nose. Was he dead? I got my answer when he moaned and tried to push himself up before collapsing back to the floor. Whatever I’d done to him, he was down for now, but vampires healed quickly. I looked around for my dagger and saw it on the other side of the loft.
“Here.” Jordan held out one of her blades. I didn’t hesitate; I took the knife and plunged it into the vampire’s heart.
Chapter 15
THE VAMPIRE SHUDDERED violently and went still. For several seconds, I sat still and stared at the grisly scene around me.
“Holy fuck!”
Jordan’s voice snapped me out of my trance, and I realized I was sitting atop a dead vampire. I rolled off the body and onto my hands and knees, panting and trying not to vomit.
“You okay?” she asked, and I nodded slowly. To prove it, I got unsteadily to my feet.
Jordan stared at me. “What did you do to him?”
I glanced at the corpse lying face down on the floor, the burns on his face hidden from view. “I – ”
“Sara? Jordan?”
Trembling, I went to the window and saw at least half a dozen people below. “Tristan?”
“Is Jordan with you? Are you girls okay?”
I looked behind me at Jordan, the three dead vampires, and Derek who was still out cold. “We’re fine, but we could use some help. We had a, um, situation, and there’s an unconscious man up here who probably needs a doctor.”
“We’re coming up,” he called back.
“Just don’t freak out, okay?” I said as he started up the ladder. I stood back and took in the bloody scene again, and my only thought was thank God Nikolas wasn’t here to see this.
Great, we take down three vampires and the first thing I think about is him.
Tristan was the first one through the hatch, followed by Chris and Callum. The three men stared at the carnage in shocked silence.
“You two killed three vampires by yourselves?” Tristan asked, looking at me. I felt an absurd rush of pleasure that he didn’t assume Jordan had done all the work.
“Baby vampires.” I knelt to check on Derek and heaved a sigh when I found a strong pulse. “He’s alive,” I told Jordan.
Callum joined me and did a quick exam of Derek’s head. He pulled out some gunna paste and winked at me as he put some in the unconscious man’s mouth. “He likely has a concussion, but the gunna paste will take care of that. He’ll still need medical attention.”
“Young vampires?” Tristan murmured.
“He knew them.” I pointed to Derek’s dead friends. “They’re from town. Their names are Seth and Dana, and according to Derek they were supposed to be on vacation in Vegas. I don’t know who the other guy was. She called him Brent.”
The three men exchanged grim looks, and I could tell they knew more than they were saying. “What are you not telling us?”
Tristan shifted as if he was carrying a great weight. “We’ve had reports of an increase in missing persons in certain areas the last month. Las Vegas has been the worst.”
I didn’t say that I had also heard about the missing people. “Vampires.”
He nodded silently.
“Young vampires are still strong. How did you girls manage to take out three at once?” The look Callum gave me said he still didn’t think much of my fighting skills even though my training was going better.
I let Jordan tell the story, and her narration was a lot more colorful than mine would have been. She was pretty psyched about her first vampire kills. When she got to mine, she paused like she didn’t know how to continue, and I took it from there.
“He came at me and I got him good in the throat, but I lost my knife. He had to cover his throat because blood was going everywhere.” I waved a hand at my blood-splattered clothes for emphasis. “I jumped on his back and knocked him down, and then Jordan gave me her knife to finish him off.”