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“What are you saying?! I look amazing,” Green Dude argued, continuing the odd, mid-battle conversation.

I thought through attack strategies, but Sloan’s grip on my wrist was firm, and his sharp gaze suggested I shouldn’t make any moves without him. I hadn’t fought with the other Hunter since Eros, but I knew himwell enough to know that whatever this dude was, it put Sloan on edge. He wasn’t moving or attacking for a reason.

“Hand over the girl and I’ll spare you.”

I clicked my tongue and chuckled without amusement. “You need to stop watching so many poorly-scripted action movies. Or at the very least watch some good ones. No villain ever lives after saying shit like that, dude. It’s lame.”

“This one always does,” he countered, smirking.

A grin reached my lips. “That’s about to change.”

Green Dude snickered into his hand ghoulishly, the latex creaking with the movement. “Oh, youthful ignorance.”

We’ll see about that, asshole.

The wind picked up around us, the leaves at our feet taking flight, and Sloan’s grip tightened. It was all I needed to act. We moved in sync as green flames spiraled our direction and exploded against a tree. It wasn’t like Eros’s magic, and it took me by complete surprise.

Of course he’d have weird green flames. I mean, why not? It wouldn’t be the first time my story deviated from its original plot.

My partner was quick to defend our position by throwing several daggers he’d retrieved from his belt at the green-haired nuisance. Flames shot up from the ground and consumed each blade, instantly liquifying them. Liquid metal splattered over the dirt, and my eyes dropped to it with nothing short of confusion.

What the actual fuck?!

“Is it hot in here, or is it just me?” our foe cried out, cackling like he was the main villain in some B-rate anime.

Whoever wrote this dude’s lines needs to seriously re-think their writing career.

When Green Dude tossed me a self-confident grin, I swear I saw fox ears coming out of his neon-colored hair. “My hellfire is faster than even you, little girl.”

If this dude was Yokai-inspired, then I was almost confident after seeing a set of fox ears that he’d be what they called a Kitsunebi. Well, something like it anyway. I’d learned very few mythologies had it right. More like bits and pieces sewn together. Kitsunebis used hellfire, too. Or at least I think they did.

I needed to read more.

“I can teach you things you’d never learn as a Hunter, little girl. Things that would make your entire race cry.”

This asshole really liked to hear himself talk. And I swear, if he called melittle girlone more time, I’d forget my training and just go for a kick to the balls.

Death by hellfire would be worth it.

“I’m good, thanks,” I snapped back, then lowered my voice, hand over my mouth like we were cute girls sharing secrets. “What beats this sort of magical fire?”

Thanks to Mr. Confident, I could ask questions. Normally during fights, mid-battle conversation was limited to grunts and necessary, last-minute warnings.

Full of himself, Green Dude didn’t bother to act in any way defensive. Not that he needed to when his hellfire liquified metal on impact. But he barely paid the two of us any mind. As if we posed no challenge at all.

Not a greatsign.

Sloan readied his crossbow, but my companion’s eyes never wandered away from our enemy. Whether or not he had a reason to be that confident, clearly Sloan took this Kitsunebi-like villain seriously. “Nothing beats hellfire. Don’t let it touch you. You can’t regenerate if it consumes you,” Sloan whispered finally, our stand-off epic in nothing but daylight.

“Wait, what?!”

“Just don’t leave my side,” Sloan demanded before taking a protective stance in front of me. “Against this sort of magic, our only advantage here is he’s full of himself and we have each other. But never let your guard down.”

“Rude. I can hear you, Hunter,” the asshole muttered, feigning insult. “You people have no manners.”

“There are codes of conduct when it comes to killing and kidnapping innocent little girls with you evil types?” I asked searchingly, hoping to keep him occupied while Sloan slid his hand out of eyeshot.

“Clever trying to distract me, but I see what your companion is doing. Better luck next time, Hunter,” Green Dude taunted. “I already know who you are by how quickly you killed my vampires. Normal Hunters would’ve been overcome by those kinds of numbers.”