Page 86 of Roses & Ruin
“Kill him,” Julian says, and all of a sudden, snow is flying and their bodies become a blur. I witness the fight in snapshots. One moment, Julian is pinned beneath Hayden. But then Bianca’s on Hayden’s back. More blurs. A tree explodes, Bianca lying in the debris. Hayden is gasping at one end of the snowy clearing, Julian at the other. More blurs.
The next snapshot is grim. Julian’s on his back, Bianca’s helping him up, but on the other end of the clearing, Hayden’s panting, down on one knee.
I see him before Hayden does. A blur moving at Hayden’s back with a sharp branch in his hand.
Chris.
“Behind you!” I shriek with all I’ve got.
It happens so fast. In a flurry of movement, Hayden seizes Chris and launches him at Julian.
Julian quickly grabs Bianca and holds her as a shield, just in time for the sharp branch in Chris’s hand to drive through her chest.
“You fucking moron,” Julian says scathingly. “That could’ve been me.” He tosses Bianca’s lifeless body to the side. Chris and I watch on, aghast, as Bianca’s body twitches and transforms. Her skin goes from smooth glass to something mottled and decayed, her body now bloated and rigid with rigor mortis.
Her dead body is human once more.
Instead of turning on Julian, Chris snarls as he pins Hayden down and lands a vicious blow on his femur. I scream at the sickening crack as Hayden howls in pain. Another vampiric set of blurs and Chris goes sailing thirty feet away. Hayden staggers to his feet, hissing at his leg. A wave of nausea crashes through me when I see the shards of bone pushing out of his ripped jeans.
“Hayden!” I call, sprinting toward him. I pass a deadly-looking branch in the snow, snatch it up. “Catch!” I yell, slinging it at Hayden.
He snatches it from the air and aims it at Julian’s chest.
“You sure you wanna do that, lover boy?” Julian says silkily.
Cold hands wrap around my throat and middle, and I feel two tiny teeth at my neck. Chris.
Hayden’s eyes snap over to me, terror flooding his gaze.
“Drop the stake or he drinks her dry,” Julian says.
Hayden drops the stake immediately.
“No!” I scream and thrash in vain against Chris as Julian stretches and leisurely picks up the branch.
“This could have been a much more enjoyable fight,” Julian says. “Get on your knees.”
Hayden’s face is impassive as he sinks into the snow. He shows nothing, even as he leans all his weight to one side. Even when I see that his femur’s nearly broken in half.
“Pity,” Julian says.
“No hard feelings, sweetheart,” Chris says in my ear. I suppress the shiver of revulsion and act. I grab the flask of holy water from my sleeve—the one Hayden insisted I always carry with me—and splash it into his face. He releases me with a horrible, gut-wrenching shriek.
“What the fuck did you do to me?” He claws at his cheeks and nose, shredding the skin.
I grab the nearest broken hemlock branch. Not the sharpest but should work. With all the strength I possess, I shove it into Chris’s chest.
Chris’s curses die immediately in his throat. His mouth hangs open and he falls back, shaking as his body reverts to a human corpse.
Julian’s head whips over at us, eyes flying open in shock.
“It’s a pity, alright,” Hayden repeats Julian’s words, back on his feet now that I’m safe. “Pity I can’t take my time.” He grabs the stake clutched in Julian’s hand and sinks the dull end into Julian’s chest. Julian’s eyes bulge.
“Wait—” he chokes before a fountain of blood spills from his mouth. Hayden shoves him to the ground, doesn’t even look at him or wait for him to die as he stumbles toward me. I can’t take my eyes off Julian’s twitching body, the rigid contorting of his fingers and limbs, the vacant eyes wide and horrified, the gaping mouth.
“Rose,” Hayden grunts, dropping to his knees. Blood spreads out beneath him, a red pool growing in the white of the snow. I rush over to him, catch him before he collapses. Where’s all this blood coming from? It’s way more than just his leg.
“Hayden? Are you okay?” My hands track all over his neck, his shoulders, his torso, searching.
