Page 40 of Bloodhunter

But I was no one’s prey.

Not anymore. They were right. I was crazy—at least a littlebit.

I couldn’t fight, not really. Sure, I’d taken self-defenseclasses and learned to shoot a gun, but classes only went so far and I hadn’tbrought the gun.

Then Amias slid from the darkness and stood between me andthe men. The men didn’t see him, butIsaw him.

Even though I’d known he was there, even though I’d preparedmyself, even though during our last encounter I’d softened, my familiar hatredand rage rose up and roared over me.

But I controlled it. I controlledme. Barely.

I couldn’t have done that a week ago.

And Silverlight woke up.

“Holy shit,” one of them murmured. “The fuck is that?”

“Guys,” I murmured, finding it difficult to talk through my clenchedteeth.

They tilted their heads, listening. Intrigued.

“Remember the vampire who slaughtered my family?”

“Yeah.” The talkative man nodded. “We just said.”

I smiled. “He’s right in front of you.”

Amias showed himself.

The group of men broke apart, yelling, and scattered likespilled BBs across a hardwood floor.

Amias turned to me, and he was smiling, as though we shareda joke. As though we werefriends.

I forgot the men and went for the master with Silverlightleading the way. It didn’t matter if I couldn’t kill him. I had to try. I hadno other choice. My control had fled with the humans.

“Like a baby,” Amias murmured, tenderly. “But you willgrow.”

And then, before Silverlight and I could slice out thebastard’s heart, he was gone.

“Oh, shit,” one of the young men yelled, as he and hisbuddies milled about, unsure whether to run away or stay and get something torecord on their phones for YouTube.

Now that Amias had fled, they saw no threat, and they turnedtheir phones on me and Silverlight.

Silverlight hadn’t dimmed with Amias’s departure. She buzzedin my hand, as though aware of something I wasn’t. Likely, Amias hadn’t gonefar.

The sword would kill in a fight and defend against attack,but it couldn’t run after him, and my human legs were just…human legs. Theyweren’t going to catch a master vampire.

So how was I supposed to catch and kill vampires if they allran away?

I got my answer in the next few minutes as vampires raced fromthe darkness, their fangs flashing in the light from the tall streetlamps.

And I had a strong feeling that even though Amias would bewatching, he would let me handle it. He would not interfere.

He seemed more inclined to protect me against the humansthan the monsters. He wanted me to learn, after all.

He wanted to see what I could do.

Maybe even if it killed me.