Page 10

He managed to spit off the tape, which flapped under his hot breath. “You gave me your word, you filthy, cold-blooded, traitorous rat!”

“I’m not particularly insulted by that, actually,” I said, sliding out my hunting knife, tilting the blade up to the light.

In my periphery, a figure shrank behind a tree. My skin prickled.

No, just the shadows deepening.

“Have you no honor?” he spat. “Have you nopride?”

I leveled my eyes at him over the blade, no longer smiling. “Exterminating a creature that has no right to be on my planet—no right toexist—has nothing to do with honor or pride. There’s an infestation, and I’m dealing with it. End of story. I don’t have to think too hard on that.”

He glared at me. “You gave me your word.”

“Yeah, you said that. Starting to sound like a broken record.” I vaulted into the back of the car and advanced toward him.

He recoiled. “You and your doublespeak. It sickens me. Release me,human.”

“Logic. Let’s try it.” I held the knife to his throat, calculating the best angle to cut. “Two reasons I can’t let you go. One, you make portals. Kind of counterproductive, if you think about it.”

He jerked his head to the bucket. “I can’t make portals without my hands. Right now, I’m powerless.”

“Two, first thing you’re going to do is run home and tell all your aunties and sissies and cousies who I am. And Iknowyou know who I am.”

The creature’s lips curled. “Jame Asher,” he spat. “Hunter of Infernari. Of course I know who you are. You’re supposed to be dead.”

“And I’d like to keep it that way.” I sank the blade into his throat, and his last words died in a gurgle.

Lana

I pressed mypalm to my mouth, forcing my scream back down my throat. This was some horrible nightmare. Jame Asher, the infamous Infernari hunter back from the grave. Back, and butchering Fidel, the portal master.

Asher sawed away at his neck. As if the hands weren’t enough

He’d taken Fidel’s power with his hands, and now he was taking his life.

A silent tear trickled down my cheek, then another.

I was surprised humans even had a word for honor if they were capable of this.

Save him while there’s still time.

A native might be beyond resurrection, but not us. The soul didn’t leave the vessel immediately. And while it lingered, a body could be repaired and life restored.

Dropping my hand from my mouth, I turned to my satchel, my resolve overriding my terror. I hurriedly unpacked all twenty-six blood bags, careful to keep my movements silent.

This blood was supposed to help dozens, if not hundreds, of lives.

Today, if I was lucky, it would save just one.

I began murmuring the old language under my breath, moving my trembling hands over the blood bags again and again, calling it to me. A wisp of smoke rose along with it. Immediately I felt the magic respond, drawing towards my fingertips and palms. I breathed deeply as I culled it.

Inside the bags, the blood began to bubble. Tiny, ethereal flames bloomed along the surface of the blood, blackening the plastic bags from the inside as I converted the liquid from its crude from to something more refined.

My major affinity was healing, and now I used that affinity to reach out to Fidel as I continued to cull, the magic building up in my veins.

He was dying; I’d seen it, but now I could feel it. Like a fire starved of oxygen, his essence grew dimmer, dimmer...

I spared a brief glance over my shoulder. Asher had walked around to the driver side of the car, leaving Fidel unattended.