Chapter 15

Opening Hostilities

Spinning around, I saw the bleached-blonde form of Zo Williams walking across the parking lot. There were three other people with her, about her age, that were probably vampires as well. And me without my sword.

I headed for the door, battle mode already throwing my senses into high gear. I was aware of Holly moving behind me, presumably to keep Milly out of sight. My arm shot out to push the door open, and it hit the side of the building with a bang. All four of them froze in surprise.

Zo was still in her pink shirt and jean jacket from earlier. I could see now that her contacts were blue. To her left was a blond, curly-haired guy that looked younger than her, maybe younger than me. He was decked out in a tight t-shirt and slim-fit jeans that wouldn’t have looked out of place in my closet. Of them all he seemed the weakest link. He wasn’t very tall, barely taller than she was, but physical stature had no bearing on vampire strength. I noticed he covered his aniridia with green contacts. On Zo’s right were two more guys. One was pretty good looking, tall with really dark hair. If I hadn’t known that old superstition about a vampire’s lack of reflection to be false, I might have believed it. He was wearing a green tank-top and leather pants. Only without a reflection would that have been a good idea. The last guy was definitely the bruiser. His sandy hair was cut athlete-short, and his neck was as big around as some logs I’d seen.

I noticed this all in a split second, and I could have counted the sparkles on Zo’s belly just as quickly. When I was battle-ready details were nothing.

Serene in my self-confidence, I grinned. “Well, well. Look who it is—the skank and her three stooges.”

Zo smiled darkly, smug and self-satisfied. “I was just coming to ask the crone what she knew about her son’s latest fuck-pet. Go figure you’d make it easy on me.”

My grin widened. This was going to be easier than I thought. “Oh, I’m sure you know all about making yourself easy.”

The vampires started spreading out in a manner they probably thought was slow and subtle, but with my training they might as well have drawn me a map.

Casually, I started forward. “We haven’t been properly introduced. I am Regan St. James.”

Her eyes widened as she heard my last name. As least she was smart enough to know what it meant.

I flashed her my best shit-eating smirk. “And you are royally fucked.”

Two of them started toward me, but I knew where they were headed as soon as they started to move. It was like I could see blinking arrows in my head. The curly haired one was just a fraction behind the one in the green tank-top. They weren’t quite blurry with superspeed but they were moving pretty fast. It didn’t matter.

Tank-Top got to me first, and I swirled to the side, using my momentum to come around and knee him in the back. He stumbled forward directly into Curly’s path of motion. They collided and went down. I felt a presence behind me and hit the ground, rolling to the side as Bruiser came tearing toward me. My foot lashed out as I came around, impacting the side of his knee cap with a satisfying crunch. He yelled and collapsed, skidding across the pavement. Definitely some downsides to inhuman speed.

I rocked onto my back and then kick-flipped to my feet. Zo was still standing where she’d been, glaring murder at me. I smiled sweetly.

Movement out of the corner of my eye attracted my attention, and I saw that Tank-Top was already rising.

“No, Cam,” Zo said. “He’s mine.”

Zo didn’t waste any time, she was almost invisible to my eyes as she came on. It doesn’t matter how blurry with superspeed you are if I’m just not there. I side-stepped and brought my elbow down on the back of her neck. Her body language was clear as day when she recovered and leaped at me, so I fell backward. My foot caught her in the middle and she went sailing over me. She recovered more quickly than me and once again was flying forward. I didn’t have time to do anything fancy so I brought my booted foot directly up between her legs. It doesn’t matter what gender you are—a good kick to the privates will put you on the ground.

She screamed and doubled forward, and as she was bent over I kneed her in the face. I used the time it took her to fall to dance backwards a little bit, giving myself enough room to see them all at the same time. My eyes raked over the parking lot, looking for anything that I could use as a weapon, but I didn’t see much. I had parked at the side of the building. There were no cars in the front lot, so there was nothing I could use for cover. There’d be no way to break them up if they all rushed me at once. Without a weapon, those weren’t the best circumstances for yours truly.

In spite of all that, I took some vicious pleasure at the fact Zo was breathing hard with rage as she shakily got to her feet. Her teeth were clenched tight against the pain.

“Get. Him.” She hissed.

But suddenly there was someone standing in front of me, facing them. He was a little shorter than me, in loose clam-digger pants and a button-down shirt. The sleeves were rolled up to the elbow revealing lightly tanned skin. I took in his long dark hair. Maybe this guy was Asian or Mexican or something.

“No,” he said.

“Stay out of this, Jen,” Zo spat. “It’s none of your business.”

“There will be no violence here,” the man said calmly. He had a smooth, low voice. “The Lady has abstained herself from House politics. If you wish to push a claim against this boy, take it up with his Lover before the Primus in a proper assembly.”

I thought Zo had been giving me looks to kill, but she was all but mutilating this guy visually.

He was apparently unperturbed as he went on. “You may flout the rules elsewhere, and if our Lord decides to let you that is his right. But you will not violate the Lady’s peace on her own property.”

Zo just stood there, shaking in impotent fury. The man’s voice deepened. “Leave now, Zo.”

With my enhanced battle-vision I could clearly see Zo’s nostrils flaring. Then she left, her posse following after in their own trails of speed. The man turned around and my breath caught in my throat. He was the most perfect-looking person I’d ever seen. I’d always said that Eric was beautiful, too good-looking to be called handsome, but this guy. Hot damn, this guy outclassed Eric so much it was ridiculous. Facing him, I could now tell he was Asian. His sculpted face was blank, his liquid eyes empty. I don’t know why, but something about him made my chest ache.

“They will not bother you here again,” he said simply. And then he was gone, as suddenly as he came.

Goose-bumps raced up my arms. I hadn’t even seen the blur of him leaving. I’d never known a vampire to be that fast. I hadn’t known it was possible.

I stayed where I was for a moment, collecting myself. When my heart rate was even I headed back inside.