Page 90 of Obsidian and Frost

“Aren’t you going to seek them out?”

“Yes. But I need to move fast. There’s magic up, I can feel it around them, just hiding their scent and sound, the latter working both ways so they can’t hear what I’m saying.”

“But you can hearthem? Moving? Rustling? Breathing?”

“My resistance to magic is extreme, but not that extreme. The power I’m sensing is great. It’s not hearing that I’m using… it’s something more primal, instinctual, knowing there’s a presence, feeling the threat of it whirring through my veins.”

“Then what—”

“Walk to your bike. Look like you’re going to head out back to the Academy. I’ll follow—for a moment.”

“Lazriel, I’m not just going to leave you to—”

“Please. As if I don’t know you spelled the bracelet you gave me so you could track me with it, to make sure I’m okay.”

She paled. “I… uh…”

“No worries. I actually liked it a whole lot.” I grinned. “Showed just how much you truly care about me. You thought I was gonna spiral afterThe Fadething, and the aftermath of that vampire attack had you worried I’d take it further.”

“It might have crossed my mind. But you didn’t.” Her eyes shone. “And that says a lot.”

Shit.I wanted to lean into what she was saying, to revel in it.

But I couldn’t—not with these stalkers in our midst.

I led her toward her bike and moved as though I was going to mount mine alongside her.

The second she threw her leg over hers, I took off, darting down the backroad and then through the trees with the full rapid-fire propulsion of my vampire speed.

The wind whipped harshly around me, twigs snapped, my feet scorched the dirt and grass, I dodged low-hanging branches, the world around me almost completely stilling with the speed I was traveling.

My senses carried me forward right toward my targets.

Predators mistakenly believing we were prey.

How wrong they were about to be proven.

Cocksucking fools.

I locked in on them visually, the moment I felt myself passing through an invisible magical barrier, the air around me reverberating with brief disturbance before I made it to the other side.

Three shadows hidden in the dark of night in the middle of the surrounding forest—or so they believed.

Vampires.

All wearing dark hooded cloaks and metal masks that only left their eyes visible.

A brief scenting and study of their energy told me they were near Ancient status—perhaps six centuries old each.

I slammed into them, causing a domino effect that ripped all three of them off their feet in moments and had their hoods blowing back in the process.

As one reacted faster than the others, flipping back to his feet, I snagged him around the throat and drove him into the nearest tree. I called my claws to my free hand as I felt the other two recovering all too quickly as near-Ancients were want to do. They approached from my left side and I held my wolf claws at the ready.

Hold up.

The guy wasn’t resisting.

He didn’t even make a move to fight back at all.