Page 32 of Blood & Ash

Marcus threw the first scalpel at her face. She twisted away, and the blade buried itself in the doorframe. He used the opening to close the distance and slashed the second across her thigh.

Silver met skin. Smoke rose from the cut, carrying the same scorched-metal smell that filled the clinic after their first fight. Sable struck him across the jaw before he could withdraw.

The floor hit Marcus’s shoulder. He rolled as her boot came down where his throat had been and cut upward with the scalpel. The blade opened her calf, but the wound sealed around the silver before he regained his feet.

Del stood inside the broken doorway with both hands raised. She spoke three sharp words, and the split ward flared blue along the frame. The light ran across the floor toward Sable and wrapped around one ankle.

Sable stopped. Her gold eyes dropped to the binding, and something like surprise crossed her face. Then she drove her claws into the floor and tore the glowing line apart.

The backlash struck Del in the chest. She flew backward and hit the stone steps hard enough to empty her lungs. Marcus turned at the sound.

Sable reached him before he took a step.

Her claws entered beneath his ribs. Pain burned through his side as she lifted him from the floor and drove him into the wall. Plaster cracked behind his shoulders, and the scalpel fell from his hand.

“Arrow told you to stop,” she said.

Marcus caught her wrist with both hands. Blood filled his shirt, hot for the few seconds before his body repaired the damage. “Arrow talks too much.”

Her expression didn’t change, but the claws twisted.

Luca hit her from behind. He locked one arm across her throat and used his weight to pull her away from Marcus. She released him and drove backward, crushing Luca between her body and the opposite wall.

Two nest members came down the stairs. The first carried a sword with a silver edge, and the second had a length of chain wrapped around both fists. Sable looked up at them.

“No,” Marcus said, but they were already moving.

The swordsman reached her first. Sable caught his wrist, broke it, and turned the blade into his chest. The silver passed through his heart and emerged between his shoulders.

The vampire with the chain roared and swung for her head. She ducked, seized the loose end, and pulled him forward. Her claws opened his throat before the chain hit the floor.

Both bodies fell within seconds of each other.

Silence struck the corridor. Luca froze with one hand braced against the wall, and Marcus pressed his palm to the wound beneath his ribs. Sable stood between the bodies with their blood running from her altered hand.

Footsteps sounded from the upper landing. An older vampire appeared at the rail with a crossbow raised. Sable looked at him, and hesitation interrupted her movements.

“Get down!” Marcus shouted.

The bolt left the crossbow. Sable moved aside, but she didn’t retaliate. The bolt struck the wall where she had been standing, and she backed toward the open door.

The older vampire fired again. Sable caught the second bolt and snapped it in one hand. Her gaze shifted past Marcus to Del, who had regained her feet on the steps.

“Sunrise,” Sable said. “The work ends, or the next visit doesn’t.”

“Whose words are those?” Del asked. “Arrow’s or yours?”

Sable’s face emptied.

For a fraction of a second, the gold vanished from her eyes. They became dark, human in shape if not in age, and filled with something Marcus couldn’t identify before the wolf returned. She stepped over the injured vampire on the threshold without killing him and disappeared into the night.

Marcus started after her. Luca caught the back of his coat and pulled him to a stop.

“Let her go,” Luca said. Blood covered half his face, and one shoulder hung lower than the other. “We’ve people alive in here.”

The truth turned Marcus back toward the corridor. He dropped beside the swordsman and pressed both hands around the silver blade, but there was no pulse beneath his fingers. The second vampire’s throat was closing, though not fast enough to replace the blood already spreading across the floor.

“Bring my kit,” Marcus told Del. “And every clean towel you can find.”