Dangerous Lovers (5 page)

I stared down at it and was momentarily distracted from the window. I looked back up to see that someone, or rather
something
had entered while I’d been distracted.

It resembled a woman, except it wasn’t a woman at all. As soon as I set eyes on her, I knew something was very wrong. Alarm bells sounded off inside my head, and it took me a minute to interpret the message. This
thing
standing in front of me was here to kill. Not sure how I knew, but I did. The look in her almost-human eyes was one I knew all too well. A predator’s regard. I recognized it undoubtedly. It was there every time I looked in the mirror.

There were no whites to her eyes, just a deep, gleaming black like polished marble. Her skin was a translucent white, and what looked like red veins webbed her hands and her neck. Other than that, she looked like any other woman, save for the fact that she had an extraordinarily beautiful face. I felt like I could get lost in her black eyes and fall out in a different universe.

I shook my head hard, trying to clear what suddenly felt like muddled thoughts, and dragged my eyes from the woman’s face. This took more effort than it should have. I don’t remember doing it, but I was already in a fighter’s stance, and I clenched my fists tight in anticipation.

I felt a cold and tingling sensation rush up my arm, and that’s when she opened her mouth and hissed. It was a vile sound, the same I’d heard earlier, just before I’d sent Nelly from the room. Goose bumps broke out across my skin, and my chest constricted slightly. I hated that sound. I wanted to stop it.

But something other than that unbearable noise had caught my attention. In opening her mouth, lips pulling back in a manner too wide to be human, she’d revealed multiple rows of razor sharp teeth.
A hissing shark
, I thought.
What does that make me?

She lunged for me before I could process anything else. I tried to duck out of her way, but she was
fast
, and I ended up getting slammed against the wall, nearly causing me to drop what was in my hand. The wind was knocked out of me, but it was a feeling I was accustomed to, and I brought my knee up hard and slammed it into her stomach.

She didn’t even flinch.

In a blink my hands were pinned to the wall.
Oh, shit. Not good
.

The thought might have made me laugh had fear not seized my vocals. I bucked in wild desperation, but she was as moveable as a brick building.

At that point, raw panic threatened to overcome me.

Her exquisite, chalk-white face hovered before mine, and burning cold breath seared my skin. As I stared into those endless black eyes, I became too scared to move until she opened her mouth to speak, once again revealing those very sharp-looking teeth.

“You’ve got ssssweet blood,” she hissed. “I can ssssmell it—” I head-butted her.

I hadn’t known what else to do, but it occurred to me that if I didn’t do something, and fast, she was going to kill me.
Kill or be killed.
The thought came to me calmly. My survival instincts kicked in, and I slammed my foot into her stomach with all my strength, forcing her back several feet.

She let out an ear-piercing shriek, and I involuntarily brought my hands up to cover my ears. As I did this, something cold and smooth brushed my right ear. I looked at my hand to see I still held my mother’s gift. It had produced a long blade, and I guess my mind had just skipped over its importance in my haste to get the shark off me. But I had returned to the here-and-now, as if the blade had cut through my mental fog.

This glance left me vulnerable though, and she lunged for me again, but this time
she
wasn’t fast enough. I side-stepped her attack and spun around fast, putting as much force into my swing as I could manage. I aimed for the neck. At the time, I hadn’t thought about it, but I realized later I did exactly what I’d been taught to do.

The blade stuck midway through her neck, and she was shrieking so loudly I was sure I was going to lose my hearing. Black liquid stampeded out of her wound, landing on my face and hands. I yanked the sword back out and swung it again, completely decapitating her. She fell silent.

I fell to my hands and knees. I’d never been in shock before, but I was pretty sure this was it. Everything seemed to slow down, and I couldn’t even really process what had just happened. It was all just a blur. A strong surge of what felt like pure energy ripped through me, so potent I almost vomited. I realized then that I was trembling.

Then my body went completely rigid.

Because that’s when I heard Nelly scream.

Chapter Ten

I jumped up so fast I dropped my weapon. My stomach dropped, too. Cold sweat broke over me. Scooping up the sword, I raced out of my bedroom and down the hall. My heart thundered in my chest, and every instinct told me to run in the opposite direction. I wanted to go sit in a closet and curl up into a ball—but no, I had to find Nelly.

When I reached the living room, a silent scream ripped up my throat. The living room looked as if it had been swept by a small tornado. Pieces of broken furniture lay scattered everywhere. My mother had a silver sword too, and she was currently fending off two more monsters. Nelly huddled in a corner, cowering from another one closing in on her.

It was all so surreal, so much to take in. It was as if I had walked onto the set of some horror movie and forgotten my next line. Only this was no movie. I was rooted to where I stood. I couldn’t move, couldn’t react. Until my mother snapped me back to grim reality.

“Little help here, Lex?” she said. She was calm and focused, and I knew that she was in warrior mode now. She was also losing her battle.

Talking to me had made the creature approaching Nelly stop and turn to face me. By this point, I was already charging toward her, my body insisting I do what my brain couldn’t seem to figure out. Before we collided, I brought my sword up swiftly between us, slicing her body in a vertical line. That horrible black blood spilled out, sprays and rivers of darkness gushing to open air. The creature shrieked that ear-piercing sound, and I used the time to spin around and throw all of my weight into my next swing. My blade went through her neck without any hesitation. I didn’t think I could replicate that move if I tried.

Another surge of energy racked me. I rocked back on my heels and my eyelids fluttered. It was a magnificent feeling—a terrifyingly awful, magnificent feeling that ended much too quickly for my approval. By the time I regained control over myself, I saw that my mother had taken down one of her attackers, shifting the odds in her favor. I moved to help her, but she gritted out, “No! Get Nelly out of here!”

I hesitated. I was confident she could handle her opponent, but what if more showed up?

As if on cue, three more creatures charged through the open doorway. Again, they were all women, or I guess
female
would be a more accurate word.

My mother decapitated her attacker and now stood in between the three new ones and Nelly and I. “Alexa! Get. Her. Out. Of. Here.”

Again, I hesitated. I could help her; I knew I could. But could I do that and protect Nelly at the same time? I had no idea. However, I did know I had very little time to decide.

My mother met my eyes for only the briefest of moments, but a whole conversation seemed to pass between us. Everything she’d ever taught or told me came slamming back into me with a force that almost made me dizzy. This was Nelly we were talking about. My little sister. My little sister’s life on the line. Really, there was no choice at all.

I picked up two heavy bookends from the mantel beside me. I threw them as hard as I could at the bay window behind Nelly. She ducked, even though they weren’t going to hit her, and I rushed over and jerked her to her feet. A couple of strong kicks at the glass cleared the remaining shards so that we could squeeze through.

I shoved Nelly through and glanced back at my mother, who was gallantly managing to keep all three creatures from reaching us. The way she fought was amazing—the most deadly, beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Her blade sliced through the air with the precision of a well-oiled machine. That’s when two more creatures rushed in, coming from seemingly nowhere.

My heart stopped. She was good, but I doubted even she could take on five of them at once. A jumble of options came tumbling through my mind as I stood there, trying to decide what to do.

I could send Nelly ahead of me and help my mother fight, but that would leave Nelly unprotected. And I was unsure if she even knew where to go, and I was sure that if she encountered one of those creatures by herself, her chances of surviving were pretty much zero. I could keep her here with me and help my mother fight, but again, that would put Nelly at risk. Or, I could run. I could take Nelly and run.

I made my decision less than a heartbeat later. I only hoped I was making the right one.

Squeezing out of the window, I found Nelly waiting for me. The sky spat thin bullets of rain and the wind whipped her hair around her face. Her hazel eyes were round and filled with shock, but there was also understanding in them. I had made the decision, and she trusted me, though it must have been heartbreaking for her, too.

So, for the second time in just as many days, I breathed, “Run,

Nell. We have to run.”

Once again, we did.

Chapter Eleven

We raced through the forest, making enough noise to rival a stampede. At least, that’s what it felt like. I cringed at the sound of every crushed leaf and snapped twig. The rain and wind had me blinking my eyes and gritting my teeth. I’d never been so afraid in my entire life.

My fear allowed my body to run, but it seized my mind so that I couldn’t really think any coherent thoughts beyond:
run, Run, RUN
. Nelly was running right in front of me, and we stumbled into each other a few times, scraping our skin in various places as we smashed through the trees.

I’m not sure how long we had been running. It felt like hours, although it couldn’t have been that long because we hadn’t yet reached our destination, when I heard it.

A low hissing sound and the crunch of leaves as something approached us.

Something approaching
fast.

I barely had time to process these thoughts before it tackled me. I hit the ground hard enough to blur my vision. Pain shot through my head. For the second time that night, raw, unadulterated panic threatened to seize control.

The creature that had knocked me down was now on top of me. I could smell her sugary, rotting smell so strongly that bile surged into my throat. I swung my fists as hard and as fast as I could. It was like trying to shake off an enormous insect, that same feeling you get when a wasp lands on your hand. Only this was that feeling amplified by a million. I couldn’t get her off me fast enough.

One of my blows connected hard with the side of her head, and the creature jerked up. I delivered one more strong blow, and she was off me, lifted by the force of it, reminding me of Riley and my mother. My mother. Whom I had just left to die.

I pushed those thoughts aside, trying to focus on the task at hand. Afraid that if I didn’t, I might lose control and give in to the fear and anger that seemed to be stewing in my blood. I’d grieve later. First, I had to get Nelly to safety.

The damned thing leapt to her feet, and I scrambled to get on my feet before she regained her bearings. We stood across from each other, her stance mirroring my own. Part of me wondered what she was waiting for; all of the others had simply charged me. Was she afraid?

Looking into her soulless black eyes, I realized that she was not afraid. If I thought my mother was incapable of feeling fear, I clearly had never encountered a creature such as this. I got the feeling any emotion at all was beyond this thing’s capability. She was simply calculating her next move.

I clenched my fists to keep them from trembling. I wished I hadn’t dropped my sword. It seemed to lend me strength. But, I knew this: I had to either kill this monster, or she would kill me. And, if I died, Nelly was sure to follow. That could not be allowed to happen.

Easier said than done.

I had stood like this facing my mother many times in our training, but this was nothing like pairing off with her. This was like dancing with the Devil. Every time she moved, I moved. Every time I shifted, she’d shift. Round and round we went.

She grew tired of this first, rushing me when I hadn’t been expecting it and landing a painful blow to my head. The force of it knocked me down and, once again, my vision dimmed. I landed in a patch of mud and roots and sticks. A few screws must have knocked loose, because I made a quick decision and hoped it wasn’t as stupid as it sounded in my head.

I played dead.

Okay, not dead—but I pretended I’d been knocked out. This was a risky choice because I had to rely on my other senses to alert me when she got near me.
If
she got near me. For all I knew, she might turn on Nelly.