Page 113 of Medium

They looked over at us. “I need a ride.”

MEANWHILE, 200 MILES AWAY…

SIMON

I crept through the woods,occasionally double-checking the app on my phone to make sure the tracking device hadn’t moved. Man, I would’ve killed for this tech all those decades ago. Hell, if we’d had this back in the 1940’s, the entire portal-closing probably could’ve been avoided, and I’d be back home right now.

I had to have been near the rear of the property by this point. I hadn’t dared drive by the front for fear they’d spot me, even though my SUV had tinted windows. Instead I’d used Google Earth to figure out how to approach from the back. Once I could see what I was dealing with, I’d call in the Hunters from TWIST that Shane and Ellis had told me about.

Or, the little voice in my head suggested, I could go inside and kill all the vampires right now. There were only four left, after all. But there’d be several captives, which was more than I could handle on my own. I’d need help getting them medical attention and transporting them somewhere safe.

But being this close to my goal, this close tohim, was making me antsy. I had to make sure I didn’t get careless. After this many years, I could not fail.

Waiting a few more days was better than screwing up and having to start over. Or getting myself killed.

I ignored the old Seer’s vision, the one that had shown me with my mate by my side during the final rescue. She must’ve been mistaken.

The trees thinned out, and I crouched down to stay hidden. There was the house, innocuous and run-down. You’d think it’d stink of the evil perpetrated within its walls.

The crunch of a boot on a twig was all the warning I had. I spun around and up, just managing to get inside Tormod’s swing. I shoved my chest against his, blocking his knife thrust with my forearm. So much for waiting for backup to arrive.

I twisted under his arm and put some distance between us so I could draw my mek’leth. I couldn’t use my gun without alerting the others.

“You won’t die. You’re like one of those Earth cockroaches, always showing up,” Tormod spat.

I grinned at him. This crew always wasted time on idle chitchat. “You ever watch that showThe Boys?”

“What?”

As his mouth opened to form the word, I executed a move I’d been practicing ever since I’d seen that iconic episode.

I transitioned to fog form, but instead of dispersing into an amorphous cloud as we’d been trained, I spiraled into a thin thread. I arrowed between Tormod’s teeth, slamming into the back of his throat. I felt him bring his knife up as he fell back, but it was too late to save him. I retook my human form and focused on holding the mek’leth against his spine as I solidified. Fuck, that hurt.

Not only did his bones scrape against my skin as the ligaments and muscles tried to stay in place before they tore, but he’d been lucky with the placement of his knife. It ended up right in the middle of my gut. Dammit.

We fell to the ground with a nasty squelch, and I rolled over, hissing as Tormod’s knife jostled, slicing more of my innards. Fuck. I was bleeding out. I wouldn’t die from the wound, but if I couldn’t heal myself fast enough, the other three would find me, alerted to Tormod’s death through their connections, before I could get away.

And apparently I wouldnotbe performing a heroic single-handed rescue today.

I wiped the gore from my eyes and licked it off my hand. Tormod had fed recently, and I shuddered in revulsion. I knew where the magic on my tongue had come from, but I didn’t think the original donors would begrudge me having it. Probably the opposite, considering I’d killed Tormod.

I couldn’t heal myself without more blood, even if it was secondhand, but I couldn’t get to his body without removing the knife. I braced myself for more pain.

I gripped the knife hilt, but the sound of footsteps through the grass and leaves made me pause. Shit, I was in no shape to fight off another of them.

My mek’leth had dropped somewhere close by, but it was useless if it wasn’t in my hand. I’d have to pull Tormod’s knife and kill the new arrival in one move. I turned my head to see which one of them it was.

He wasn’t a vampire.

He had the most amazing pair of brown eyes I’d ever seen.

He scowled down at me. “That was fucking disgusting.”