Page 110

How trite.

I waited until it made a complete circle around me before I jumped, landing on top of the coil. I then ran up the length of its body all the way to its head, hanging tight to its scales when it shook to fling me off.

I made a calculated jump and managed to grab its fang, but the snake proved to be smarter than I estimated and bashed its head into the road to dislodge me.

Yes, this is far too much trouble for a slayer, I decided.It’s stupid. I can’t believe I’m doing this.

Dimly, at the back of my mind, in an insidious voice I would have liked to silence, I was reminded that I was a few blocks away from my apartment building. I didn’t care if the building got trashed: Jade was probably at work tonight, anyway. But if any of the humans in the building got hurt, she was never going to stop sniveling about it.

I’d have to kill the rotten reptile.

I sighed as I watched the snake rear up and inflate its hood again—presumedly preparing to strike.

I guess I’ll just let it bite me. The inside of its mouth is likely sensitive. I could probably puncture it with my apartment key. Or at the most brutish, I could just choke it from within.

Neither option was particularly fun, but at least I’d get it over with. So, I folded my arms across my chest and waited for the snake to make its move.

It opened its mouth wide for another strike when a shot rang out followed shortly after by two more.

I stayed frozen for a moment, taking inventory of my body.

Assumedly the slayer had taken the opportunity to shoot me.

But I didn’t feel like I’d been injured.

The snake, on the other hand, writhed. Waving its head back and forth as it bunched its body up in obvious pain, it slithered past me to worm its way up and down the street.

I blinked as I watched it.What just happened?

Something pressed into my back. “Are you insane?” The slayer shouted, her voice going squeaky. “I thought you could fight it!”

I peered back over my shoulder catching sight of the slayer standing back-to-back with me and clutching her handgun—with the barrel aimed at the road like the goodie-two-shoes she was—her masked face pointed in the direction of the snake.

“You shot it,” I said, noting the additional damage she’d dealt to the snake’s already wounded eye.

“It was going to eat you!” Even though her voice was muffled by her mask, I could feel a hint of heat in it.

“That was part of my plan.”

“It was an insufficient plan.” She checked her gun, then swiveled to look in the other direction covering my blind spots.

She was upset, but I couldn’t quite figure out why.

“It’s vulnerable in its mouth,” I said. “And it’s not like I have a weapon I can use on it.”

“Then you should have asked.”

“You’d lend a weapon to a vampire?

“I said I’d help!”

“Oh. I didn’t think you meant it,” I cocked my head. “Why are you angry?”

“Because I’m apparently worse at my job than I thought if you decided the easiest option of all the possibilities that I could help you with was to get swallowed!”

“No, you’re quite skilled,” I assured her. “That’s why I agreed to do this. It would be a pain to find another slayer with your talent and abilities.”

The slayer made some kind of half-strangled, angry noise.