Page 121 of Commanding Blood And Bonds

Then: soft rubber soles on asphalt.

I spun, sprinted for the opposite edge, and caught the tail end of her black cloak fanning out around a building’s corner.

Find her, I snarled down the line, misting into the in-between as the Wings followed. She doesn’t leave the city, do you hear me?

You have the Reaper’s gun? Carr pressed.

Yes, but that was our ghost. She takes precedence. The heiress and our debtor both had stakes in her capture.

You’re certain? Nix scoffed. Even mind-to-mind, I wanted to throttle him. My pulse ached in my throat as I moved feather-light through the streets, gun low.

The city mercifully slept, save for the occasional car. My senses burned with adrenaline.

Maybe I was fucked in the head, but the fact that she’d just vanished into nothing made the historian in me smile. It would’ve been disappointing if she didn’t at least attempt to live up to the legend behind the moniker.

Pretty fucking certain, I muttered, checking an empty alley, shadows coiled to strike. We need her alive, I reminded them. Human targets bored us. But this? This was a real fucking hunt. My fingers twitched.

My eyes jerked skyward at the throaty cry of a raven.

She’s yet to leave, Poe seemed to warn before he vanished again. I cursed when the next street up buzzed with nightlife. Clubs, bars, streetlights washing my shadows across the concrete.

I hesitated at the corner—that’s where I’d go. Disappear into a crowd of bodies, laughter, and lust.

Firearm hidden at my side, I moved. We couldn’t get too close in uniform without suspicion. I kept my mask up, guessing she’d shed hers. Probably ditching her Paladin gear in some bar bathroom as I stalked the sidewalk.

At your back, the shadows hissed—too late.

She hit me like a launched missile, slamming us both through the nearest shop window. Alarms shrieked. People screamed. I tucked my chin, eyes shut tight.

We hit the floor with an impact that ricocheted down my limbs, pistol skidding from my grasp. She popped up like the nightmare she was and slammed a forearm into my face.

I grabbed for her, yanking her away from the gun.

Rolling, I shoved up—but she hauled me back by my fucking jacket. I kicked hard, but agony flared as her blade tore through my ankle tendon with a vicious, growled, “Kee-ahh.”

Tears blurred my vision and I roared, flinging her into a brick column. Her head cracked back into it with a promising thud.

Panting, I struggled up, but my leg refused my weight as fire raged in my nerves.

Feral fucking demon creature.

I limped toward the reception desk. Scouring the shattered glass, where it glimmered in the flashing red alarm lights, I found our prize against the wall. I dragged my ruined leg toward it.

She released a blood-curdling battle cry and leapt onto my back. My knee buckled, and we hit the ground.

Then—teeth. Right where my neck met shoulder.

She just fucking bit me.

I bellowed, reaching behind us and wrapping her hood around my fist to heave her over my shoulder, my skin screaming as she tore through it. She landed flat on her back with a sob, mask torn where she’d bit through the damn thing. Again.

“Fuck!” I snapped a hand to the wound. “Rabid vampire bitch!”

“Get. Fucked,” she wheezed, staggering upright. She vanished, reappearing beside the pistol. “Oh, fucking finally!” she cried, snatching it.

I braced.

But she didn’t aim. Not at me, not anywhere.