Page 25 of A Vow of Shadow and Blood

“Are you going to continue to stand there and stare, or do you intend to help?” he says, throwing my dagger toward me. I catch the hilt and pin him with a look before nodding. I turn from him and run over to two vamps fighting a woman dressed in the same dark cloak as him. She stands protectively in front of Tori, blocking her from the onslaught of the vampires’ attack.Thank the Gods, she’s ok.

I bound across the room, twisting my wrist at the last minute and sinking my blade deep into the neck of the vampire nearest to me.

So, you do pay attention in training.I hear the cockiness in Athriel’s voice.

Sometimes.

He laughs at this.

I roll my eyes and turn my attention back to the room. The woman has taken down the other vampire, and Tori races past her, surprising me when her body slams into mine and her arms engulf me.

“I thought you were dead.” She sobs.

I relax for a second, letting my arms tighten around her. “I’m glad you’re ok, too.”

She catches herself and steps back, her eyes glassy from tears that threaten to spill. But my attention sways as her eyes focus on something over my shoulder. I turn. Corpses of vampires and humans litter the floor, while seven cloaked figures stand unnaturally still, their leader forcing the female vampire who nearly killed me down to her knees.

“Such a wild thing, aren’t you?” he teases.

She spits blood onto the floor before hissing at him. My nose wrinkles at the display.

“I thought you may wish to have the honor of killing this one,slayer.”

I grit my teeth. “Don’t call me that.”

He laughs as he holds the female in place with an ease that makes no sense. He looks human. His eyes do not bear the crimson red shade of the sired nor the black of the born, so what the hell is he?

“Why deny the reputation you have worked so hard to build? The vampires have been searching for you for an entire year, and you have been right under their noses.”

His eyes fall to study the black blood coating my blade, and my grip tightens around the hilt. The move only seems to amuse him.

“Now, how about we hurry this along so we can talk business?”

I don’t hesitate, my blade slicing across the pale white flesh of her throat. I watch as her body convulses on the ground like all the others. It takes only a few seconds for her to reach her end.

The man claps his hands together, not even bothering to hide his excitement, and yet the others remain silent and still as if they only move on his command.

“So very fascinatin—”

“Who the hell are you?”

He laughs at my interruption.

“So eager is your generation. You lack the patience necessary for the task at hand.”

“How about you stop talking in riddles and answer my question?”

He watches me for a moment as though I am a rare jewel he has been searching for. A cold ripple travels up my spine, and I can’t shake the feeling of familiarity again.Why the hell does it feel like I know him?

“My name is Julian, and I have been searching for you for a very long time, Adina.”

My name slithers off his tongue like the prayers the acolytes send up to the lost Gods. His hands are clasped together, but his eyes are firmly on me. Tori shifts beside me, a small reminder that I’m not the only life I need to get out of here alive.

“How do you know my name?”

He tsks at me.

“You are asking the wrong questions.”