Page 16

By the time I reached Rummy’s house, I had slain five more decrepit beasts. Old, rotting blood now splattered my face, smeared down my chest.

I spit to get the foul taste out of my mouth.

My feet marched one after the other, hardly controlled by me but rather by the desperate need to get to her. To kill anything in my way.

I’m coming for you, Rummy.

I turned the corner, finding two vampyres in the street outside the door to Rummy’s unit.

My limbs screamed in exhaustion, my palm blistering from holding onto Venom so tightly.

The vampyres both turned and locked their attention onto me. My shoulder now bled from one of the dead creature’s claw marks, which practically made me a beacon.

I spun Venom in my palm, raised my arm, and attacked.

They weren’t fucking touching her.

My limbs screamed at me, but my anger was stronger than any exhaustion. I would stop at nothing to protect these people from the beasts that had taken everything from me.

These two vampyres were fresh—they still looked sane. One of them had long brown hair and wore a thick red dress, one that made me wonder what she had been doing when she lost her sanity and became this.

It didn’t matter. Once the vampyres lost themselves to the bloodlust, there was no turning back.

I reminded myself of that as I let out a battle cry and pierced her in the chest.

Her friend—a male with blood dripping from his mouth—clawed in my direction. He was tall, an entire foot taller than me, but it didn’t matter. I ducked below his outstretched hand and stabbed him in the chest.

Missing his damn heart.

He cried out, almost as if he could feel pain. He couldn’t. Once the soulless creatures became these monsters, all emotions and feelings left them.

This vampyre wanted nothing but blood. My blood.

His long arms got to me before I could pierce his chest again. His disgusting fingernails raked themselves across my neck and chest, ripping the front of my shirt and drawing even more blood.

Did I mention how much I fucking hated vampyres?

I screamed out, more in anger than in pain, and stabbed him again, my aim true to his heart. He froze for a moment before falling to the ground, his body slipping away from Venom as I stood over him.

Another scream pulled my attention away from the couple—Rummy’s scream. I bolted up the few wooden stairs to her unit and kicked the ajar door fully open.

Rummy struggled on the ground, a vampyre seconds away from ripping into her throat.

I threw Venom, and the blade landed in the side of the monster’s neck, spewing blood.

“In the chest, Rummy!” I screamed.

I made my way over to her, grabbing the beast by the arms and hauling it backward so she could grab Venom and dive the dagger into its rotting heart.

She struggled at first, her hands shaking as she tried to grip Venom. Eventually, though, she did, and her screams echoed off the walls as she delivered the fatal blow.

Rummy and I both froze there, waiting to ensure the creature was really dead.

Two seconds passed. Three. I threw the corpse to the floor beside us and dropped to my knees, heaving for breath after the ordeal of running and fighting to make it in time.

“Thank you,” she gasped, her own chest rising and falling with adrenaline as well. “Thank you, Huntyr.”

“You can’t die,” I said between breaths. The words came out angrier than I meant them. “Who else would keep me sane, Rummy? Hells, that was too fucking close.”